Honesty Pot

[WonderingSpaniard]

Well, I didn't know where to post this... Recently I came across that term. In my dictionary it reads, under the epigraph Honesty box: vessel where money is laid down for purchased items when no shopkeeper can collect it.

Now, here: "[I've been to] offices where a cuppa cost 7p (with an 'honesty pot' for your change)". Does that mean that you leave your 7p in the pot or that you insert your 2 quid somewhere else and then honestly pick up the correct change from the pot?

I would also like to know what you people understand as a "tea run".

Thank you!

Regards,

WS.[/i]

[Brazilian dude]

Does that mean that you leave your 7p in the pot or that you insert your 2 quid somewhere else and then honestly pick up the correct change from the pot?

p, quid? Come again.

Brazilian dude

[tcward]

I've never heard of an "honesty pot" before, but I am familiar with the honor system.

On a side note, many shops here in the US have a small bowl with change that other customers have chosen to leave, called a penny jar, right at the register, so customers who are short a penny or so can just borrow from it.

-Tim

[Apoclima]

Really, Tim, you are officially allowed as much is in there, if you are sincerely short, and not just pulling the "penny jar" scam all over town (and I warn you, word does get around)!

Apo

[WonderingSpaniard]

The thing is supposed to be next to a coffe-machine...What I doubt is whether this is a dispenser with a coin slot and no change return dish incorporated so that you have to honestly pick the correct amount up from the "honesty pot" or some more classical gear with that "honesty pot" at hand to honestly leave those symbolic 7p for your coffee.

Did I make myself clearer? XD

Regards and thanks for your help!

WS.

[uncronopio]

We do have a 'honesty jar' and a 'swearing jar' at work. If a tea cup is 50c and biscuits (cookies) 20c and one is paying with, say, five bucks one just puts the note in the jar and gets the change from there.

[Garzo]

Quid is the Latin word for what?. Therefore, it is generally used in the UK and Ireland by classically-trained paupers when confronted with money.

The honesty pot is a place to put the money for a purchase when the seller is not present. Honesty pots are generally not found in the showrooms of BMW dealerships beside a pile of car keys. They are usually reserved for items where dishonesty is cheap: like tea and coffee.

Where I used to live in Northern Ireland, the local had a lock-in every night. When time was called, the cash register was opened and the barmaid went home. After time, one would pull one's own pint and put the money in the register.

I think I've got a new idea for a tagline...

-- Garzo.

[WonderingSpaniard]

Thanks uncronopio!! Your example fits perfectly!

Garzo, yours is also a very illustrative one, although I didn't quite understand the meaning of your first phrase...Quid dixit?

Regards,

WS.

[KatyBr]

I don't know what it's called here but people around here (a rural area) sell the best Roast'n'ears (a Texasism for corn-on-the-cob-still-in-the-husks) at roadside stands with a coffee can with a slit in the top for our dollar USD for a dozen cylinders of heaven.

No change.... but we know to take a single sawbuck for our choices. and a bag...

Katy