No small change? Have this chewing gum, sir!
I was at one of the city’s prominent malls yet again (I should get a life outside these malls too, I know) and saw this strange sight. There was this man in front of me with his trolley filled with a single item – 30 pieces of ‘cloth stiffener for better ironing’.
I was dumbstruck as to what he might be doing with 30 pieces of the same item? Maybe he’s leaving for his home country and had decided to help his relatives get better-ironed clothes, I surmised. It turned out it was not the case after all. As to how I came to know about it, it is an even funnier story.
So, this guy gets in front of me to pay the cashier. The cashier informs him the amount would be QR251.50. Without batting an eyelid, the man whips out a purse, counts out five notes of 50, a 1-riyal note and a packet of orange-coloured/flavoured chewing gum (priced at QR .50).
The cashier put on a mystified look and the man calmly explained… he had collected the same chewing gum, from the same cashier, the previous week, when the situation had been reversed. He had selected the same cashier to give him (and the institution) a taste of his (their) own medicine. He moved out serenely, leaving the dumbstruck cashier holding on to the orange pack of chewing gum.
I couldn’t but help crack a smile. Now I wish I had thought of that earlier…
I seriously think supermarkets should stock loose change to give back to customers. It just is not done to get a chewing gum (which I don’t want anyway) for change (which I deserve and would like to have). No supermarkets in Doha (the big ones I mean) are immune to this system. Everyone’s done it at some point of time or the other.
Now that I’ve seen it in front of my eyes, I’m going to try this out too. Let’s see who’d argue with a severe-looking, white-haired, cherubic-when-she-needs-to-be, grandma sorts.
One final question lingered… why he needed all those ‘cloth stiffeners’ on his own? The slightly miffed and embarrassed salesman enlightened me. He most probably was a small-time shop owner, who bought things at whole-sale rate at the big shopping mall and sold it in his shop at a higher margin.
So that was another fact of life which Grandma Wanderer learned, once again at a busy shopping mall.
and I do really keep and bring coins with me and pay the exact amount whenever I have...
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mai lain pa!
Was just wondering... 30 pieces for 251.50 makes each piece 8.38333333 which is a little wierd...
I am also guessing he could have passed on the chewing gum by buying fewer than 30 units... what I am saying is the story still does not clarify why he was buying 30 units...
Those hypermarkets have about 10,000 customers daily (Could be much higher than that) and imagine if about 4000 of them left their change money ignored they'd earn about 1500-2500 per day for doing nothing. That's a big money we are talking about.
I think Govt Need to take some action.
-- F L A M M A B L E --
wealthy professional who will be summing up an amount of more than QR 20K a month.
I am so not proud of myself..
drvqat, I agree with you. nxt time I won't take the chewing gum, I will let the poor guy add it to his pocket. I think this is charity too
Hi guys, it is apparently eveident that most of the posters here are wealthy professional who will be summing up an amount of more than QR 20K a month to their private bank account.
Think of those at the cash counters in malls, they will be paid a huge sum of 600 - 1000 QR.
If you take the chewing gum, the profit will go to the owner and if you don't take that will give a pocket money to those poor guys..Hope you understand..I know that it is not their right, but your money. But giving them a few bucks doesn't hurt your P&L at the end of year..
They don't drive Mercides or BMW anyway..
And the option of charity, it is not just in Saudi, it is already there at Qatar malls as well. It goes to Qatar Charity. The malls doesn;t give it enough publicity as they don't want to lose their chewing gum profits..
Driving Qatar towards an intelligent future....
I wait in the line until i get my right change. I simply reply that it is your problem why there is no change but i want my right change or charge me .5 Riyal less. I collected enough candy over ten yrs.
That is a great idea.
Lets all do that, and teach them a lesson.
I hope it will help to make them have loose change.
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Hmm.. I don't have a credit card. Not credit worthy.
I just take the chocolate - and either eat it or pass it to one of the guys at work or car wash guy, etc.
Maybe that's why I'm always broke... 50 dirhams here and there would come up to a pile of $$... hmm...
I never complain about those;-)
"if you don't like the heat... get out of the kitchen... but stop trying to fan the flames before you leave... it will burn you on the a** as you go through the doorway...." ME
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Damn. I've found an article where they claim there ISN'T a shortage! I'll keep looking for the one where they say there is (it's definitely out there!).
z
good on him! but i use a credit card everywhere i go.
z
Well paying change in the form of gum...now thats something new.....normally i don't do cash when i am in hypermarkets.....but once in a while Ur bound to use the small groceries.
i remember once i was in this grocery , the shopkeeper had to give me 50 dirhams in change....so he opens his cash counter and coolly gives
me a chewing gum like he was doing
some charity ...... and i like stare
at him and give him my " what the hell " look and blast him coz he had few 50 dirhams coins in his cash tray . then he gives me the coin. what a loser @#$%^!
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The Weather is here, Wish you were beautiful !
Well paying change in the form of gum...now thats something new.....normally i don't do cash when i am in hypermarkets.....but once in a while Ur bound to use the small groceries.
i remember once i was in this grocery , the shopkeeper had to give me 50 dirhams in change....so he opens his cash counter and coolly gives
me a chewing gum like he was doing
some charity ...... and i like stare
at him and give him my " what the hell " look and blast him coz he had few 50 dirhams coins in his cash tray . then he gives me the coin. what a loser @#$%^!
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The Weather is here, Wish you were beautiful !
Those aren't ironing starch, those are anti-static spray ons, awesome for suits...
I just don't take the gums/chocolate, etc, neither do I take 1 riyal bills if it's less than QR5...only because I'm a nice person not because I'm rich :-)
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I apologise for not replying earlier. I'd been on wi-fi when i typed the earlier reply from my iphone. Now I'm back.
To answer you, my reply would be "even if it's peanuts, it STILL IS peanuts. Nobody complains when they get money, however less it may be, for no extra work. I really don't think you got the point I was trying to say either. They (big supermarkets) are intentionally doing it because nowhere do I see their boards saying "please tender exact change". So they know we may not have the change and they know we will accept chewing gum for cash. THAT is what I am against.
You may argue that no small shopkeepers have that board up either. But then again as someone said, your relationship with small time shop owners, who you are a regular with, is much different from a salesman at a big shopping mall. My regular guy says first off that he's running short of change. So I just remind him the next time I shop there and he adjusts it sans complaints.
Furthermore, I am yet to see proof that there is indeed a coin shortage in Qatar. Where did you hear it or read about it? I'm curious. can you point me to a link? Because except for gold coin shortages, I cannot seem to find it. Thanks.
u r absolutely correct
its me
Wow! Thanks for this very enlightening topic! ;)
This is one of the many small things that REALLY IRRITATES me most - giving you a gum/candy instead of a real change. We can buy a gum if we want to.
And another member said it right, those are not punched into their cashiers (not registered). Now, I won't try this on my next grocery, but really insist and be firm on giving me a QR0.50 instead. If not, gimme a whole QR1.00 instead 'cause I don't need a gum.
Same thing I do with taxi cabs. If you do not have a change, drive me to the nearest small store, get some change, and drop me back where I need to be dropped.
[A li'l off-topic...]
Beware also of BUS DRIVERS who issues you USED TICKETS left by earlier passengers. Argh! This just irritates me more. Also TAXI DRIVERS changing the 1 and 0 (or I and O) on their meters. Report them to Karwa.
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local shops around the corner do this routinely!
the difference is that in these shops, u know the seller and he knows u! the trade is more like a personal business. he greats u, will ask u about family, health, will even offer tea or coffee. u become his friend or so to speak. he wants u to always buy from him even if his prices are not competitve as those in hypermarket.
on the other side, he will give u a hand if u have a flat tyre, or a minor problem in the vicinity. or at least he will wave his hand if he sees u!
in hypermarket, ur a number. a custumer in line. the employee prays no one comes so he works less. if he/she smiles it is that they force them to.
Greeker - QR7500 is peanuts for a large supermarket chain.
And I think you missed the point of my last comment - I was saying that many small shops DONT give sweets as change, but instead give you a whole Riyal back instead of a fraction of a Riyal. Do you think they'd do this if there were enough coins in circulation?
if the cashier does this to 20 customers/day (and i'm sure he/she sees more than 100) it's 10QR/day/cashier
or 300/month/cashier. howmany cashiers is there in carrefour?
same with banks!
try to converse currencies,they'll nail u
do the correct calculation of the interest
the days that r required to validate a check, deposit, transfer
all this small scratches that u don't notice make a difference for the employee.
waiters gain from tips more than they do from their salary.
I noticed a recent bill from Opera restaurant added a 'rounding' fee. They rounded the bill up to the next whole QR. This was not posted on the menu or in the store.
If there is a coin shortage, then the store should just post a sign at the entrance saying this is the store policy - no change or gum/candy as change (and the rounding up or down rules). If you enter the store, then you agree to this policy. Otherwise, people assume you are trying to scam them out of money.
Really nice. I think of doing this everytime I get this stuff from the cashier, but later forget. May be everyone should try this, so that the supermarkets think of keeping enough coins with them.
As I noticed they just don't bother to keep any coins
tall, I agree its a common practice among small as well as big shops. You say supermarkets dont need to resort to such tricks.
Just think of this as a hypothetical situation. There are at least ten cashier counters in ANY big supermarkets. If each of them gave 50 gums each a day, that would be 500 gums or 250 riyals. Now multiply that by 30 days in a month and it'd be a whopping qr7500 at least, a month. I really really dont think ANY shopping mall in Qatar would say no to that sort of money, however much their turnover might be.
I gave this example because the numbers were easy to calculate. In reality isn't the numbers likely to be much more mammoth? I strongly feel so.
If it was a trick by the supermarkets, then why do many local shops give you back a Riyal when they only owe you 25dhr? If there wasn't a coin shortage, they'd give you back the correct change wouldn't they?
Or are you suggesting that the supermarkets have hoarded all the coins and are keeping them in a box somewhere so no-one can use them?
The supermarkets make plenty of money - they don't need to resort to tricks like this to try and make a bit extra.
many a times have faced the similar situ .... but sometimes when we don get the gum or candy they somehow manage to find a coin and give us ... some times we just wave off... wut to do hen when both ( me n my hubby) of us don use gums.
some petrol station also does the same thing.
last week i fill up my car to QR34.20... and the attendant said it's QR35...
normally i will give a 1 riyal tips for those people... but because of that.. he will never get that tip.... ever..!!!
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"An eye for an eye, and soon the whole world is blind." - Mahatma Gandhi
You just did, chum.
And you've been doing it regularly too, for about a year and a 16 weeks more than me, on QL...
Delighted to hear a nice word from as old a member as you.
P.S: I haven't been writing on QL in quite some time, though. Just don't find that kind of inspiration anymore, i fear...
i would never be able to reach your level if you start writing..
thanks anyway.
I love the way this discussion is going.
Tall, I looked up in google too. i can't find any mention about coin shortages in Qatar either. I personally feel it's a trick by the supermarket people to earn a quick buck.
after a fruitful discussion with carrefive management, their new policy vis-a-vis "gum for change" is as follows:
25 dhs - banana flavoured
50 dhs - orange flavoured
75 dhs - mint flavoured
the 75 dhs mint gum cannot be exchanged for 1 banana flavoured + 1 orange flavoured since that will increase the net value of the gum.
the 50 dhs orange flavoured gum cannot be exchanged for 2 banana flavoured since that will also increase the net value of the gum..
However, the banana flavoured gum can be exchanged for a raspberry flavoured gum subject to availability..
In addition, if you find a competitor giving away similar gum flavours at a cheaper value (Eg: orange for 25 Dhs, Mint for 50 Dhs), carrefive management will refund you 10 times the price difference (subject to the terms and conditions that are yet to be made)..
we have a small grocery store down in our office building and every time i buy something the owner keeps on giving me a gum as a change even if i don't want to.i noticed nearly all his items are priced w/ 50 dirhams.the idea of giving back the gum came to mind but instead told him im going to get my 50 the next time i visit his store,the next day we get even.we do this every time and now he remembers not only my name but as the guy who doesn't need a gum.
I like the trick of turning back their orange flavored gum, I used not to take it and don't like it's taste, I'll re-think it now.
Salam
wanderer - google anything Qatar related and Qatar Living will come back as the first result :)
(well, at least on the first page!)
Its about about money making; instead of selling it they make it as a change,at least they would be able to dispose the gum & candy's easily instead of selling it. imagine how many hundreds of riyals they may profit in a day by disposing hundreds of gums in a day.1 gum will not cost .50dh, 1 pack of gum 8-10 pcs. inside cost only @ 2-3 QR.
imagine how they make money with a single gum.
Yep , Panda it was and also Othaim stores..:)
A significant fight broke out a few months ago at a toll bridge when someone presented 10 candy bars as the full toll amount; he had collected them at various times in the prior 3 days as change from the same spot ;)
It doesn't look like shops here feel proud about giving you candy/gum instead of change; they seem like victims of the circumstances for the most part.
I did the same two months ago at Giant Stores, but it was chocolate (this awful Ghandour brand) instead of gum; then I filed-up a complaint in their customer service box... I think they started minimizing this practice since then, because ironically and by magic they have small change now at every counter!!!!!
at TallG... I googled for 'coin shortage in Qatar' and came up with only one such story for it, on Qatarliving. Here is the link: http://www.qatarliving.com/node/304249 . All the other stories were pertaining to shortage of gold coins. Sincerely, I haven't heard that Qatar was having a shortage of coins. Now that you have said it, I'll enquire about it. But until I hear positively, what these big chains are doing IS INDEED day day light robbery.
at Qatarilady and chmb... thanks. That possibility never entered either mine, or the cashiers, minds.
at Britexpat... that's indeed a wonderful thing to do. Wonder if they'll start that in Qatar as well?
at Scorpio... LOL about the signboard idea... maybe they could say banana flavoured--> 25 dirhams (since it's the most popular), orange flavoured--> 50 dirhams (since that's what the man gave instead of 50 dirhams) and mint flavoured--> 75 dirhams (I guess you also get that taste when you chew a banana and orange flavoured gum together, LOL)
at ka78... sigh, I know...
me too.. i always have in mind that what if, since they give me the gum as change, why not give them back when you have to pay the the dirhams...but it was just a thought, never think of really doing it in actual.. but that guy...thumps up to him ei...
alpha1..that is such a calculations..every big things start from small thing, from a penny to a million..lol
...CHO RAH MO...
Happy Happy...small corner shops are good in that way...they either give the change or round it off to the benefit of the customer.
Aha!! Wanderer was at Carrefour...again..lol
I buy from small corner shops, they have no ATMs, but usually they give me back my coin. I either choose to waive it or buy Extra gum to add up and leave in peace..:)
Salam
Hahahahaa, the next time we will be the one to give chewing gum in return of 1QR to us. I doubt if they will accept.
Honestly....thats the only reason I keep a bank account in Doha...to pay through Card.
Nice write up, Wanderer. In the Arab world, we're so accustomed to this small change shortage all the time, I see it as blatant theft, but I'm not bothered, if you are, have your own coins with you at all times to prevent it.
Salam
well thats there tips
an many people they dont mind for 50 dirams
let say they have 100 comtomer a day every one left 50 dirams end of the day they got 50QR a month 1500 year 18000QR .......? LOL
Make thousands of riyals a day from this scam. Shortage of coins my tail!!
If the government passed a law saying they must always deduct (Round the amount down - never up) you would see all the coins they need suddenly appear.
And as someone else mentioned - for the people who appear to be more affluent - they often offer NOTHING. Just close the draw and start on the next customer as if you don't care. If someone needs 50 durhams just ask me I will give you 5 riyals to help, but these big chains and their owners are much richer than you and I can even imagine. It is simply a form of institutionalize robbery.
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"A Wise Man knows what he does not know!"
I always ask for something else instead of Chewing gum Since it doesn't taste that good.. Either I ask a chocolate or some Candy... thats it.. It's not the fault of the cashier of giving such option... Also, if they will ask us a Coin, we don't have it...
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" ..mAny aRe cAllEd, but fEw ArE ChOoSen.."
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i adore your wonderful experiences you come across.
The thought of returning the gum came to my mind always but never ever thought that one could really try it.......i am pleased with this man's manner.
So long as I still have the "option" of getting my small change OR giving it to a charity of MY choice. It's not the money, but I want to choose which charity it is donated to - not Carrefour's choice.
Signature line > "You can't fix stupid"
It is a wonderful idea to give that small change a the end of the month to some charity instead of giving Gum / chocolate which most people dont want.
I think this idea should be put forward to carrefore
an interesting fact of shopping in qatar..
perhaps Carrefour should advertise "Gum accepted as change" in front of each cashier and make things easier for all..
Wow britexpat... what a nice thing to do...!
Now that I would love to have here... donating the change.
Very nice idea indeed.
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Obstacles are what you see when you set your eyes off the goal.
Ah, Brit, That would be Panda :o)
.... and it was a proper charity too, helping disabled kids if I remember right.
What a great idea, esp since I don't chew gum! And, Baldrick, it happened to me even though I used my card, because the guy had accidentally hit the key for an extra riyal. I thought it was "the custom," since it was my very first time shopping in Qatar, and I didn't want to argue, but I will now. Or save the gum & use it as small change. What a hoot!
Britexpat, I like that idea - I'd much rather give to charity than have chewing gum.
Perhaps they were to "stiffen" other things...
I swear I was thinking of doing that next time!
I am fed up with the gum I am being given each time!
Lately, I've been requesting other gum flavors than the ones they offer (banana the most famous)...
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Obstacles are what you see when you set your eyes off the goal.
do give gums and candies equivalent to 50 dirhams. Like the guy, I keep those candies and when I come back, i give them the candies back...SERVES THEM RIGHT.
USAexpat did right, usually, cashiers remembers those who don't accept candies...so they will have the spare change for you next time ;-P
This has happened to me regularly at Carrefour..
What gets me irritated is that many a time, the cashier doesn't even bother with the chewing gum. He / she assumes that you don't mind foregoing the small change. A cynical person, other than myself ofcourse would think that at the end of the day, this "small change" can add up to a few riyals for the pocket of the cashier.
I liked the practice adopted by a chain in Saudi.. They didn't give you change, but the receipt showed that the money would be donated to a charity.
Carrefour should do the same..
Usually what I do when they offer gum is I smile and say I don't chew gum and patiently wait for my change. Usually then the offer chocolate, and I say no thank you I would prefer the money. Actually the other day my bill came to 9.75QR and I gave the guy a 10 note. He took it and began to move on to the next customer. I then asked as nicely as I could, "can I have my change?" He stammered a bit since it had not even occurred to him to offer change. Eventually he gave me a 1QR note. :)
It's the principal of the matter, not about the actually cash.
I always use my credit card and pay the exact amount :o)
QR8 = 1 Q.A. Airmile!
I have seen many people buying stuff in bulk, I assumed that they are small shop owners....
Last time the cashier in one hyper market asked me... 'Madam is that okay if I dont give you the change?' I was like... dont you have chewing gum?? yes Mam, we have chocolate? not that I want them...I said if you need few riyals I can give you...but I dont encourage this practice...
The cloth stiffener must just be for a launderette.
I heard a few years back, some people collected this gum together they were getting as change from Qmart, and went back with this stash to try to pay for their items with - saying, if it's good enough to give to us as money, then it's good enough to pay with ... No idea what the outcome of it was though - would v much like to know!
hahaha nice one.. You don't see it anywhere in the world I guess. Perhaps who invented it was a chewing gum distributor!
Why the coth stiffener? Maybe he works in a laundry business.
They should stock small change, but since there is a shortage of coins in the country they can't. It's not their fault. They offer sweets as alternative, but you can request the money instead and they have to give it to you.
I dont mind them giving the chewing gum as long as it is added to the bill which they dont...
Wonder when they do the closing at night how much money they get to pocket out of these chewing gums.
Aana free, jaana free,
Pakde gaye tho khana free.
hahaha! Im going to try that too...I dont even chew gum so I rarely accept them from the cashiers but Im sure there are a few thrown about. Good one!