The meanings of payment have existed for a long time, but they were in the form of goods that were exchanged, or services were paid for in goods. You could also pay in a promissory note. As early as the 3rd century BC, you could pay in the form of a lump of metal weighing a few grams.

But it was around 600 BC that the king of Lydia (formerly Turkey) introduced a coin containing precious metals such as silver or gold. There was also a stamp that showed which precious metal it contained and how many grams. The stamp also showed which authority had made the coin. This gave the coin an actual value.

This changed the requirement for the quality of goods and services, but mainly services in the form of service and the quality of food if you bought cooked food.

The demand for service and quality instead of quantity was high, but then the few newly rich who had access to the new coin knew where to go to get what they wanted.

As the number of nouveau riche increased, the demand increased but now their attitude and politeness deteriorated, so much so that the entrepreneurs lost their joy and felt depressed and over time lost their pride. This affected the non-newly rich, who were often treated badly by the entrepreneurs and their staff, even though they were the most loyal customers and paid the most, albeit with other means of payment than the precious metal coin.