Free Bank Please ?

[LochNessMonster]

True story last Friday I was on local bus when Polish women I know came on and asked to go to the free bank. Driver looked confused said there was no such place in the town she was going to.

She paid her fare however, and boarded the bu,s as she was leaving at her stop she pointed to the free bank to the driver, it was the local benefits office?

Driver and I just looked at each other what could be say !

[anotheoldgit]

Ah, the good old days when one had to pay into a bank before one could take out.

[sandyRoe]

A lot of the local ATMs have signs saying: Free cash withdrawal. How does that work, then?

[Gromit]

Polish women or a Polish woman, you seem a bit confused?

If you know this woman/women why did you try to help her and the driver to assertain the destination?

A free bank and free money are entirely different things. Perhaps she was smarter than you and the driver.

Maybe she was going to the bank after an appointment at Jobseekers. It is not been called the Benefits Office for many years (if it was ever was) and a recent immigrant would not know that term.

[Svejk]

At least she paid her fare.

[rojash]

"At least she paid her fare. "

But how did she know how much to pay? She asked for the free bank, and nobody knew where it was.

[bibblebub]

and i believe that the Loch Ness monster really does exist

[Gizmonster]

........ brings back memories of when a friend of mine was asked the whereabouts of the "free money house" .............

[saxy_jag]

I don't know any eastern european languages, but it could well have been the only way she knew how to describe what she wanted. If 'bank' is a place where people keep or get money for a fee, then what might she call such a place where you can get it for free if she doesn't know or comprehend the word 'benefits'?

[factor-fiction]

Seems odd to me. Maybe her English vocabulary was limited. If you know her did you offer to help? But in my experience you never get given cash at the job centre so maybe she was winding you and the other passengers up, LNM

[karenmac60]

It could have been a literal translation of the Polish equivalent. For instance, the direct translation for the term the Polish use for 'not my problem' is 'not my circus, not my monkey'.

[zebo]

In Germany, a lot of new UK arrivals were surprised that they had to pay at the Freibad (literally free bath) which in fact is an outdoor pool.

[Hopkirk]

A pub I used to go to had a sign behind the bar "free beer tomorrow"