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When in Rome, do as the Romans do

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Akima:
Credit cards pretty much all have the embedded chip in Australia now, and the "RFID" ones that you don't have to swipe or insert in a slot are coming in rapidly. I have a credit-card and use it regularly, particularly for shopping on-line. I'm one of those annoying people who pays off their entire balance each month. I am very careful never to carry a balance on which they can charge interest; as everyone knows, their rates are ruinous!


--- Quote from: Loki on 15 Sep 2013, 05:16 ---They had similar stuff for the chopsticks at the sushi place I was at recently.
--- End quote ---
Chopstick rests (hashioki in Japan, kuaizi zuo in China) are common all over East Asia. They're generally a formal dinner or restaurant thing; not something people bother with much at home.

Out in the country, there are still "full service" service-stations in Australia, where they pump the fuel for you, but in the city I don't think I've ever seen one.  I think "servos" all have CCTV recording everyone's number-plates, as PWH described, and I've never heard of "drive aways" being a problem.

Diesel-engined cars are still much less common than petrol here, but they're steadily becoming more popular. Typically a servo will have two pumps that can supply diesel, and the rest will be unleaded petrol (91, 95, or 98 octane (RON), though not all sell the higher grades) or E10 (petrol with 10% ethanol) or LPG (most of our taxis run on it). You still see diesel sold as "distillate" here, especially in country districts, which some visitors find confusing, but that is getting less and less common. Also, in the country, you still find diesel sold in the traditional way, from an isolated pump, unsheltered from the rain, surrounded by oily gravel rather than a paved surface, and often located rather too close to a large dog of the junkyard variety...

ankhtahr:
Well, 92, 95 and 98 octane (ROZ) are the common types here. They are named "Benzin", "Super" and "Super Plus". Diesel is called Diesel, it's named after a German inventor after all.

You'll also get some expensive stuff with additives and an octane number of up to 100.

Diesel is very common here. It costs a bit less than "Benzin", and while you have to pay more vehicle tax, it's generally cheaper to buy a car with a diesel engine if you drive more than 20000 km per year. And you can get almost every car as a diesel if you want to.

Barmymoo:
I've heard of "flatware" but I always thought it was plates?

Grognard:
Here on the US East coast, we have 87 Octane, 89 Octane and 93 Octane.  Different vendors have slightly different mixes for their 89 and 93 octanes, so we get GOLD and SILVER and SUPER...
And then there is Taxed (Road) Diesel, and untaxed offroad (Farm) Diesel.

In NC, you can purchase 103 Octane Racing fuel at some filling stations.
as a teenager, I put some in a walk behind lawn mower. 
Sucker blew a 12" (30cm) blue flame out the exhaust until it ran out of gas.
Made my Dad a little angry.

Papersatan:
I am positive our gas stations have cameras and prosecute people.  I don't think drive offs were very common, but common enough to be annoying, or at least to enter public contiousness.  You have to think in a matter of a few years our gas quadrupled in price, and because of our previous super low gas prices, many people were driving suvs with big tanks and terrible mileage, so a tank of gas in the family vehicle could be $80, and only get you  300 miles, which since we also drive more than people in other countries (for a number of reasons) might not make you a whole week,  (our average commute distance is 16 miles, and an SUV from the start of this century only got 20 mpg *highway*). 

I think though, if I can be a cynic, pre-pay, with the pay at the pump card readers saved gas station owners money, not because they reduced drive offs (which would be prosecuted, though that takes time/money to do) but because it reduced worker load inside the store and therefore the number of workers needed.  It is not uncommon now for gas stations with a store to only have one person working, because there is rarely a line, because we are all serving ourselves at the pump.  I think that drive offs entering the public consciousness just gave a way to justify the change.

There is a whole other conversation to be had on that though, the trend in allowing/forcing consumers to do their own work, (looking at you "self serve check outs) which is not really more convenient for the consumer, but does reduce the number of jobs (and isn't, as it ought to be, increasing the wages for the remaining workers)



Flatware = silverware, but with the notion that it is likely not made of silver.

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