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I was in Beirut last week and shopped a few times at this fairly upscale supermarket (it's HUGE and pretty slick). So, first time I checkout the cashier shortchanges me by 10 cents, I try to mention it and he shrugs and pretends not to understand what I am saying. I thought maybe the culture there is to round off to the nearest due to small change problems. Second them same thing happens, this time about 15 or 16 cents. I once again draw attention but again he pretends not to understand and says something back in Arabic, I am a bit upset (it's not the money but the principle!)...
The 3rd time I try the reverse, I give the cashier 15 cents less, immediately the guy tells me I am 15 cents short. Suddenly the math is all perfect LOL! I ask him to page the manager, who comes by and I explain to her what happened to me on 2 previous occasions. She apologizes profusely and insists I do not pay anything more and to report to her immediately when such a thing happens and I thanked her...but the other people in the store and the staff probably think I am nuts LOL!
So, do you think I made a big deal about nothing (a few cents) or was I right in bringing it to the managers attention? I know I should've done it when it happened but I let it go since it was "just a few cents" but one needs to take a stand and be assertive about these things I figure....
In many third world countries, the prices of almost everything are rounded off to whatever is the convenient coin, which might be 10c or 20c. For example, in Mexico, everything is rounded off to the nearest peso, which is about ten cents. However, grocery prices of things that are sold by weight will come out to odd amounts, like P6.41. Small coins are rare, and it's not worth searching for nine centavos (about a penny). So they will round it one way or another.
It may be that in Lebanon, they just round it up, or certain cashiers assume that they can round it up. The LBP-100 coin is probably the smallest in circulation, and it's worth 7 cents, so you change is never going to be any closer than that.
Classic skimming. It is much more common than you might think, even in the U.S.. Bartenders are famous for stuff like this, and the entire Point of Sale industry is built on trying to thwart cashiers like this.
I don't know enough about the culture there to say if you did right or wrong in notifying the manager. It might be a cultural thing - for example in America one normally tips a waiter unless they provide really bad service, but in much of Europe tipping the wait staff is not normal.
What I am saying is: "Don't be an uglo-American". If this is culturally normal, as they say, when in Rome do as the Romans do.
You're at a grocery store in Beiruit and you expect everything to be on the level?
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