Mix-up over Canadian cash almost costs Port Angeles a convention
Lions Club District Gov. Sid Roemer sits in front of the Red Lion Hotel in Port Angeles on Thursday. -- Photo by Chris Tucker/Peninsula Daily News
By Jim Casey, Peninsula Daily News
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The hotel wouldn't accept Sid Roemer's Canadian cash, he said.
It wasn't a big deal - it could have been an enormous deal, thousands of dollars conventioneers would spend in Port Angeles.
The hotel's manager said at the end of the four-day misunderstanding that the convention will go ahead as planned.
Here's what happened:
Roemer, district governor of 55 Lions Clubs on the North Olympic Peninsula and Vancouver Island, visited Port Angeles on Monday to book 75 rooms for a convention next April.
After he finished negotiations with the hotel, he tried to buy a snack there with a Canadian $5 bill.
The desk clerk said she'd check with the accountant, who wasn't sure of the exchange rate between Canadian and American dollars, according to hotel manager Dennis Williams.
The answer Roemer received, however, was, "We don't take Canadian money."
The clerk was wrong.
Clerk made mistake
"A front-desk agent made a mistake and said that we didn't take Canadian cash," Williams said Thursday, "which is untrue."
On Monday evening, Roemer traveled toward Quilcene to meet with Lions there.
When he tried to book a room for the night at a Jefferson County motel, the motel - which Roemer didn't identify - wouldn't take Canadian money.
Neither would the US Bank branch in Quilcene exchange his Canadian cash for greenbacks, he said.
A bank employee Thursday confirmed the bank does not exchange currency.
"I could have used my credit card," Roemer said Thursday as he recited the chain of rejections.
"But it got to the point of being personal. I got to a point where I just said, 'Enough!'"
Roemer, a 69-year-old amputee who often uses a wheelchair, chose to spend the night in his Volkswagen Golf.
The 6-foot-2 Roemer said, "You get kind of cramped in there.
"Was it bull-headedness? I don't know.
"The biggest thing I felt was insulted. And hurt."
Restaurant: No loonies
Driving back to Port Angeles on Tuesday morning, he went to Gordy's Restaurant, 612 S. Lincoln St., hoping to eat breakfast.
However, owner Shirley Gargile also told him she wouldn't accept his loonies - so called for the waterfowl that's pictured on the Canadian $1 coin.
"I just haven't taken it for quite a while," Cargile told the Peninsula Daily News. "As of right now, I say, 'No.'"
Roemer said he also complained to Russ Veenema, executive director of the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Veenema said Thursday he didn't know how many businesses accept loonies.
"We've encouraged businesses to take Canadian dollars," he said, "but I don't know how many are doing so."
Some Port Angeles merchants display signs that say they accept loonies at par, Veenema said, "but there are a lot of businesses that do not take Canadian dollars."
By Thursday, Roemer was angry - outraged, really - especially after trying two more restaurants that spurned his cash.
'Slapped in the face'
He was considering booking the Lions conclave elsewhere.
"I will not have the Lions in my district insulted. It was like I was slapped in the face."
By Thursday, people who'd learned of Roemer's experience were calling the PDN.
The Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce was willing to line up hotel rooms for the convention, according to Roemer.
The convention would be the first time in 12 years that the Lions have convened in Port Angeles, said Roemer, who'll remain in the U.S. today before returning to his home in Ladysmith, British Columbia.
"I want to get it settled before I leave," he said.
In the meantime, though, Williams gave Roemer a free room at the Red Lion on Tuesday night, and Roemer used a credit card to stay there on Wednesday.
Williams said the mix-up has been corrected.
"It was just the mistake of a front desk agent," he told the PDN. "It was just ignorance.
"We are very excited to have the Lions."
Canadians take greenbacks
Will Williams accept their loonies?
"Absolutely," he said.
"Why not? The Canadian loonie cashes just as easily as the American dollar."
The Lions may get their change in American cash, he said.
But the Canadians will be able to spend it easily when they go home, said Dennis Stepp of the Victoria Tourist Bureau in Port Angeles.
"There's such a small difference in the exchange rate right now, you lose money from the fees when you convert it," he said.
Williams said the misunderstanding won't happen again.
"The associate at the front desk now knows the rate," he said.
"I think he and Mr. Roemer have a really good understanding.
"Moving forward, it's not an issue."
________
Reporter Jim Casey can be reached at 360-417-3538 or at jim.casey@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: September 27. 2007 9:00PM