When your change is – KULANG..

I really hate it when retailers don’t give you the exact correct change.  What I hate more is that they expect you to understand without informing you that it’s kulang!  They will just hand you the change and be silent.  I’ve often asked these cashers why their change is kulang and they will just reply with ‘Wala po kaming sukli eh!’  or they will just give you more – just to silence you.  To me, that is not the point.  The point is – inform us that it is kulang.  I would appreciate it more and disregard the fact that it was kulang.

Case in point:

I know it’s a teeny tiny amount – but my point is, will a cashier accept it if our payment was kulang?  Of course not, right?  They will demand that we pay in the right amount or not buy the item at all!  So, the same logic goes for me – demanding the correct change.  I called the attention of the cashier on this – and she looked at me with apologetic eyes and said that she didn’t have change for it.  I then asked her to call her supervisor.  When her supervisor arrived – I told her the situation – I told that if the change was kulang, all the cashier would need to do is tell the customer that it’s kulang, apologize and hand the change.  Her answer surprised me actually – she said that during training, these cashiers were told instructed that if the change was kulang – they were to round off the amount to the nearest 5cents.  That meant for a change of 23cents – the cashier should hand you 25cents and so forth!  So ayun naman pala!  If that was the instruction – why did the cashier just give me 20cents?  Argh!! Frustration!  The cashier said – she ‘forgot’  sigh… lapses again!

I’ve had previous experiences with Candy Corner handing me change that is kulang by P5.00 because they didn’t have coins!  Limang piso din yun!!  It will be practically alright for me to let it go, if they practiced giving discounts of the same amount when we purchase from them right?  But that NEVER happens!

My point is – inform us, if its kulang.  We would understand!  Tell us and don’t just push the kulang change to us and be silent!  Put yourselves in our position, what would you feel?  Sigh….

Why do we even have those alanganin na denominations?  I mean why if there is no legal tender to split them out?  Why not create 1cents to make everything EXACT?  Dagdag bawas?

Sigh…

Update:  June 11, 2014

This too, happens in the bank!  Of all places, in a bank right?  Well because our country doesn’t really have loose change that the 1cents!  Its really sad to be honest.  Look at this deposit slip – the amount was P4,822.42 – I gave my messenger the amount of P5,000.00 and the change that was given back to him was just P177.50, so where did the 8cents go?  I’m sure that in a bank they would have 5cents right?  Bank yan eh!  Yet, they only gave this much change.  Without informing my messenger.  Siyempre, my messenger will not question – they feel it’s not in their capacity as messengers to call the attention of the tellers.  But still – the issue is the change is not EXACT, the change is KULANG!  Imagine the hundreds of transactions these banks and retailers have daily, they give you the less than the correct change – so for them, its an earning.  Imagine the teeny tiny amount, and the multiply that by the number of transactions in a day, and then multiply that amount to the number of days in a year!  It’s small but imagine the magnitude of a bank!  How many tellers do they have per branch?  How many branches do they have in the whole country?  UNBELIEVABLE!!

I’d like to know who should be report to about this issue??