Cafe rejects cash pulled from underwear

Fascine Coffee Lounge - a cafe in Carnarvon, Western Australia - has issued a bizarre edict for its customers. It has put up a sign declaring that it is no longer accepting payment from people who store money in their underwear, because it's not hygienic. The final straw apparently broke when a man tried to pay using a note he had been storing in his pants. The sign has gone viral

The main offenders were said to be women. The cafe said they came up with this odd solution when they wore outfits without pockets.

Elsewhere around the world, in cities where pickpockets are rife, it's fairly common for women to store money safely in their underwear (usually inside a purse or plastic bag) - and a number of versions of 'security pants' and 'bra purses' are on the market featuring secret cash pockets to hold everything from your credit card to your passport.

The cafe says this is no headline grabbing publicity stunt, it's actually something they face on a regular basis, and since bringing in the new policy they have had to turn people away. However, it's fair to say that if it had been a publicity stunt, it would be classed as a success, as it has been reported by news outlets around the world.
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Viral signs

It's not the first time a sign has garnered an enormous amount of publicity.

In November, it was the garden centre in Lewes, East Sussex, which posted a sign adding a 10% 'Tory Tax' for anyone who voted Conservative in the General Election. That sign went viral.

Earlier in the year there was the French cafe, which put up a sign highlighting the different prices of a cup of coffee depending on whether the customer said please. The owner admitted it had been a joke and he hadn't had to charge extra so far, but still the story was covered worldwide.

Then there was the woman who runs a sandwich shop in Oklahoma, who saw a man looking through her bins for food. She put a notice in the window asking him to come into the restaurant for a free sandwich. He didn't take her up on the offer, but the sign went viral, so she set up a fundraising page so that people could pay for meals for people who couldn't afford one.

And finally, in July 2013, Brasserie Blanc in Cheltenham responded to press coverage of breast-feeding mothers being turned away from cafes by putting up a sign offering breastfeeding mums a chance to sit down and drink a free cup of tea, with no obligation to eat.