Travelblog: Aussie beer accounting
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
It’s harder to buy booze in Australia (or perhaps just in Queensland). Grocery stores don’t sell it; you have to go to a bottle shop. Bottle shops do not (or cannot) keep long hours. Even when you get there, the stuff is expensive. Taxes raise the price of a six-pack of decent beer to AUD15.
That doesn’t keep Aussies from drinking vast quantities of beer, of course. Nor did it keep us from trying to get the stuff. But sometimes we failed, and that was sad.
Thus, we found ourselves on Moreland Island, without anything to drink with our meals. (Yes, water is amazing, but it doesn’t quite complement the cheese and crackers.)
Earlier in the day, we saw a bunch of guys guzzling massive amounts of beer; see photo for their floating fiesta. I walked over to their camp, hoping to buy a few bottles form what I assumed to be a vast supply.
Indeed, they had beer. I asked a guy if I could buy a few beers. “Sure, he said,” pulling two six-packs out of the fridge. “No,” I said, “I just want two beers.”
He looked at me like I was from another planet.
“Nope, can’t do that. I’ll give you this six-pack for 15 dollars.”
“But, I only have ten dollars.”
“Well, then, take it. No worries, mate.”
And thus I discovered how an Aussie would rather take a cash loss than countenance the premature dismembering of a “basic beer unit.”*
Bottom Line: Communication is built on standards; make sure you are using the same units.
* I saw the guy on the ferry the next day and gave him five dollars. When we were hitchiking from the port, he picked us us, taking us to the train station and saving us 20 dollars. That’s how the ebb and flow of “no worries” makes everyone better off…
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