Very French

We have a bunch of motorcyclists coming to stay with us this evening, and since you can't carry much on a motor bike, they asked us to lay on some extra things for them so they didn't have to transport them.  The list included some draft beer.

You can get nice little beer chiller/dispenser machines into which you put a metal beer-filled cask, and the machine does all the necessary.  You just choose your beer from a list of excellent options, put it in the chiller/dispenser, and off you go.  The only problem being that we haven't got a dispenser machine.

So we're down the local catering supplier, and they sell the beer casks and also the dispensers, but at a bit over 200 euros a pop, we figure that buying a dispenser just for a one-off weekend is a bit much, so I speak to the store manager and ask her if we can rent one.

 - Can we rent one of the beer machines?
 - You buying the beer from me?
 - Yes of course
 - How long do you want it for?
 - Just the weekend
 - OK, you can have it for free.
 - Great!
 - In fact you'd better take two, in case one fails
 - Do they often fail?
 - No, but it's important that they don't
 - OK
 - You'll have to sign some forms and leave a deposit cheque
 - No problem.

So we collect the two machines and the guy explains how to set one up.  No forms are presented for signing though, and no deposit cheque is requested.  And we end up at the cash desk, and explain we're borrowing the dispensers.  A quick internal phone call and we're allowed to walk out with two beer dispensers, no contract, no deposit cheque.

OK: It's not like they don't know us, and of course they'll get the machines back, but it struck me as being very, well, French.