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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 watchd 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!" they finally tell you which means wait an 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 bank account number on their letterheads. Saturday Evening Post, |