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Show CASHING CHECKS IN GERMANY Customers Hang Up Hats and Sticks and Then Prepare for Close Examination. Bank etiquette in Germany Is unique. In one great Hanover bank I watched the customers. First they walked to the center of the big marble lobby and hung up their hats and sticks just as you would do here on entering a hotel dining room. You soon understand why they strip for action when you see what an exhaustive test of endurance It Is to get a check cashed. You pass it In at one window ; clerks gather, whisper, study the check, telephone upstairs, make notes on its margin doubtfully. "Augenblick I" they finally tell you which means wait an eye-wink. eye-wink. You wait Others crowd about the window. Finally you, too, hang up your hat and coat and sit down to look at a picture book on the reading table In the lobby. If you glance up suddenly, sud-denly, maybe you catch a bunch of clerks whispering together, looking at you suspiciously. Finally, If you're lucky, you hear your name shouted, and at another window a pile of marks is pushed out Every deposit account here has a number, and this number must show on your check. Some firms even print their official hank account number on their letterheads. Saturday Evening Tost. ..W |