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geolefrench wrote:

After 18 years in the Philippines, it is the first time I hear this kind of problems with the change ! The only cases of dishonesty I encountered in the Philippines were with taxi drivers...So maybe you could test again with the same lady (send somebody else for the test) and see if there is a pattern. If she does that again talk to her boss. Otherwise maybe she thought that she gave you the change...

It bothered me that she gave no change, then gave only part of the change, was not friendly and offered no apology for having shorted me twice.

FortuneFavorsTheBold wrote:

Don't worry about it. When corrupt cops threaten your life while extorting serious money, then you better be VERY worried because they WILL kill you.

Not while Duterte is around... LOL!

samahantayo wrote:

Couldn't tell what city you are in but I disagree about condoning her actions. There is nothing wrong by you asking her for the change. And definitely nothing wrong if you decided to ask for her "boss". That would have put the bigibis on her bc these actions are not normally tolerated by management  in order to maintain their reputation. That still matters to Filipinos.

A few years ago, i was shopping at a store called Japan Store in QC. I lost my US drivers license there. Realized what happened when I got home (15 min away). So I called them and they knew about it and they said to stop back to pick it up - which I did. It was one of the sales ladies that found it on the floor and she turned it in to the owner. I thanked them and offered some reward but she refused to take it. As I hopped back in my car outside, I gave some money to their security guard and asked him to give the girl who found my DL XXX pesos and keep some for himself.

Filipinos are typically honest ppl. I don't want to go in to a rant and point out the obvious but the Philippines is so over-populated that it begets poverty and corruption. There is a strong class system and quite a disparity between rich and poor.

Some see foreigners as cash cows. But there is definitely nothing wrong with standing your ground when you think you are being scammed. They'll respect you more.

I have done over 100 transactions over the years, I was surprised because this was the first time I had a problem with change, first time the employee was not polite and friendly.

pej1111 wrote:

Mugtech,

the girl may have being trying to take the money, but only to protect her income, (let me finish) If a cashier make a mistake (to the stores detriment) the cashier, earning about 100 php a day has to pay the difference in her till out of her own pocket.  (yep it hurts them greatly when the accidently hand over extra change of 100php)  In your case she may have made a mistake earlier in the day and was trying to recover some money to do so.

Is it "theft" yes.  But my gut filling is that she only did it to cover her mistake made earlier in the day, if she got caught out for theft, she would lose her 100php a day job,   straight away.  So perhaps she was only doing it to recover from an over payment earlier in the day.

You would be the best one to judge as you would have seen how she reacted when you asked her for the 7php. 

I would expect to be given the 7php in change, and unless in a real tourist area am always given the right change, because they don't want to loss there jobs.

Seems like a possible scenario, or she could have been turning a 100 peso/day job into 107 pesos or more/day job.  I was surprised because it never happened before, not seeing what language had to do with it as the register had  "change 7.05" up there in lights.

FortuneFavorsTheBold wrote:

EVERYTHING to do with the culture.

Depending on where you go and the crowd you hang out with there will always be certain elements - anywhere in the world.

I experienced something similar to mugtech's story when I was in Merida, MX last year. After paying for lunch at a hole-in -the-wall seafood place I was not given the correct change. The lady short changed me. I tried asking her for the rest but she muttered something in spanish which I did not understand. The money involved was not enough for me to argue with her so I let it go. I ended up giving the place a bad review on Tripadvisor. I did not take that experience and generalize it as the culture of Mexicans. On the contrary that was the first time I've seen that in travelling there.

My wife and daughter travel to Europe and they are always on guard for pick-pockets and scammers in Spain and Italy.

In the Philippines, one of the things to watch out for are insurance agents/brokers that peddle variable life insurance disguised as investments. I have friends who purchased this and were told that the monies are placed in mutual funds - which they are. The problem with this type of "investment" is the brokers live off the high monthly commissions taken from the principal amount you paid. Plus, the returns on the mutual funds are negative. By the time your policy matures in 5 years your principal amount is down by a significant amount. Guess what. Those were popular in the US too until people caught on.

geolefrench wrote:

I suppose you are jocking  . It happens everywhere even in rich countries!  go in tourists areas in France, Spain, Italy etc.. And you will see this kind of behavior of owners of shops towards foreign tourists!

Wasn't a tourist area, I was the only Caucasian in the store.

FortuneFavorsTheBold wrote:

Drop it,  Forget about it,  get over it,  and move on with your life.

Thank you for your 8 posts on this thread.  We certainly have benefited from your professional experience and expertise.

FortuneFavorsTheBold wrote:

I rescue victims that have been kidnapped for ransom for a living. My experiences are not relevant to this 7 peso discussion. Getting extorted by corrupt cops and having your life threatened is because it is an all too commonplace occurrence here.

Sounds like a topic worth knowing about. Like what areas this happen and how it comes about. Since I'm originally from the Philippines I may have some insight on the matter.

samahantayo wrote:

FortuneFavorsTheBold wrote:

I rescue victims that have been kidnapped for ransom for a living. My experiences are not relevant to this 7 peso discussion. Getting extorted by corrupt cops and having your life threatened is because it is an all too commonplace occurrence here.

Sounds like a topic worth knowing about. Like what areas this happen and how it comes about. Since I'm originally from the Philippines I may have some insight on the matter.

Perhaps it is top secret, classified information not for public consumption.

bob18 wrote:

This is quite a thread with many tangles.   The writer of the beginning post is looking of comments and suggestions, as he is troubled about the cashier shorting him 7 pesos for his bag of cashews.....and the last post is saying that A US man may be only worth 7 pesos, but the Chinese businessman is worth much more... So, if we link these articles altogether, the cashew cashier may have mistaken the customer as being Chinese!
Have a good day !

Yes, her problem is perception, not dishonesty.  Someone who thinks I look Chinese has a more than 7 peso problem.  Sounds like she might have failed the Electric Koolaid Acid Test.