Within the last month two Australian cafes have taken down signs making light of Greece’s financial situation following complaints and disapproving comments from customers.
The first incident occurred in Sydney, when a chalkboard sign was placed out the front of a northern suburbs café stating: “What do you give a Greek with a scratchie? … A coin to scratch it with.”
The joke was not well-received by all, with one customer complaining on the business’ Facebook page, followed by several comments debating whether the sign was racist or not. Angus McLellan, managing director of the venue, told SmartCompany the chalk board was “humour more than anything”.
“We have three Greek staff members who work for us … they were just taking the piss out of their own country.”
In another incident, a family-run café in Canberra posted a sign on the cash register last week with the wordplay: “EU announced today – that all future euro notes will now be printed on Greece-proof paper”
According to owner Peter Zimmerman, whose wife is of Greek Cypriot background, many of the patrons – including Greeks – had a laugh at the inscription. However, the comment was received with dismay by an individual and was subsequently taken down.
“The problem is you can no longer say something or do something without offending one person.
“It had no intention to really offend somebody but if some people can’t have a bit of humour then I feel really sorry for them,” Mr Zimmerman told Neos Kosmos.