I'd like some change

Aman (my husband) and I went to the Shindagha Carrefour a few nights ago to do some shopping.



We spent AED187.75 and paid AED190 cash to the cashier. (For those who don't know, AED is Dirhams which is the currency of the United Arab Emirates.)


A basic calculation reveals that the expected change I was meant to receive amounted to AED2.25.


What I actually received was AED 2, because the cashier “did not have 25 fils”.

Now, you might be wondering how an amount as seemingly small as 25 fils might inspire me to write an entire blog post. You see, it’s not necessarily this specific 25 fils that I’m never going to see that irks me, it’s the cashier’s assumption that I don’t need my 25 fils, and that I won’t ask for it. And, in my experience, this 25 fils situation happens often, in petrol stations (in the form of gum being handed back to customers instead of their change), supermarkets and taxis across Dubai.

Okay, so I have a relatively decent paying job and I can afford to ‘lose’ 25 fils occasionally, but I find that our city is filled with businesses that simply “don’t have change”. When you start adding up the amounts of change you’re not being given - even when it’s rightfully owed to you - it amounts to a small fortune.

A case in point: I catch a cab from home to work and back everyday as it doesn’t cost as much as renting a car and saves me money in the form of parking fees, not to mention the stress of finding parking and facing traffic. The average drive to work and back comes to about AED26 a day (AED13 to work and AED13 back home). Now, on the majority of my work days, the taxi drivers driving me simply “don’t have change”, which means I have to leave them a AED2 “tip” (assuming I pay them with a ten and a fiver) even if the taxi stank and the driver was rude and driving like a bat out of hell.
Add all this involuntary tipping up and you’ll see I’m paying AED30 a day instead of AED26 a day, meaning my monthly taxi expenses to work and back come to AED600 per month instead of the AED520 it would cost if I chose not to tip. “So, it’s only AED80 you say”. Well, I can think of several things I’d like to have that cost AED80, including a rather stylish clutch bag that’s now on sale during DSS.
It’s not that I don’t like tipping. I do tip when I think it’s deserved. I just don’t appreciate the assumption that I don’t need my change. Let’s be honest, if I owed Carrefour AED23 and simply told them “I don’t have the change”, they’d laugh at me.

I did another basic calculation relating to the above, illustrating how – in the case of big organisations especially – this bad “I don’t have change” habit can lead to major profits that essentially land in the organisations’ pockets without them having to do anything.
Let’s assume 10,000 people shop at the Shindagha Carrefour everyday.


Let’s assume every one of those 10,000 people is not given their 25 fils in change.


That comes AED2,500 everyday.


If Carrefour is open seven days a week and makes AED2,500 in this manner everyday, it’s making an additional AED17,500 a week, and AED70,000 a month.
Some people may think this is petty, but I have resorted to insisting that I get my change whenever possible, unless of course I’ve been provided with excellent service.


I’ve learnt my lesson. Added up, 25 fils is clearly worth a chunk of money.