Sunday, October 23, 2005

A law of nature… Survival?

I’ve been noticing that when I make purchases in the last year, many times I have been short changed.

Today when I went to purchase bread, to total should have been 220 dram, but I was charged 230 drams. Not a big deal, but this happens almost every time with one particular lady that works in the bakery next to our house. The larger breads that are 170 drams, this particular lady always charges me 180 drams.

The other noticeable shortchanging is often done with taxis.

Last night my wife and I went to visit a friend and the 5 kilometer ride should have cost us 600 drams, but the driver gave me 4,300 drams change when I handed him 5,000 drams. I would have given him a 100 dram tip anyway, but it would have been nice if I had received the full amount and handed the driver 100 drams.

So what is all this shortchanging about? Are there people here who are dishonest, or is this what they need to do to survive?

I know that those that shortchange for the most part are people who work in stores or drive cabs and receive very low wages.

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