Should I Report Retail Dishonesty?,

Haha that is funny one, I never even look at my little change at all, but if they give me some gold tiny coins I just leave them on the counter I do not bother with it, I know my wife collect them and stay in the car, when I get sick of looking at them I pick them up and in to the trash .

It's not just the principal, it's the fact that she is doing this hundreds of times per day.

The Bold you know Philippines by now, hmmm they will always expect some thing for services even they get payed, i have learned this at early stages here, it is what they call consideration for service to you, very very clever how to make extra money, and what do you think Police are doing to us, same, they pull you up for no reason make some bull crap and ask for consideration so they don't issue fine, haha how they make pocket money for lunch dinner or what ever.. even if you report it who is going to believe you, NO ONE, you are foreigner and will always be that here, means do not believe them and do not trust them..

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...

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.

If she thought that she gave you the change but at the same time she was not sure of it, she was simply not confortable because she could have some troubles with her boss. I am just the devil's advocate 

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.

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.

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.

If you haven't already try to learn the dialect or at least Tagalog. That'll throw them off in a good way.

DU30 does not have control over the police at the street level.

Forget it and move on. You can't change the culture.

Nothing to do with culture!

EVERYTHING to do with the culture.

So you mean to say that if an American or Australian etc are dishonest it is a problem of culture?

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.

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.

A MacDonalds franchise in the Philippines sent out a memo explaining how shorting drive through and delivery customers an order of French fries amounts to 10's of 1,000's of pesos profit. You can't change the culture. Get over it and move on, and pray you don't get extorted by life threatening corrupt cops.

HI GUYS SO TO GET EVERY THING IN PERSPECTIVE HERE, WHAT HAPPEN HERE AND SHORT CHANGE DOSE NOT HAPPEN EVERY WAY IN THE WORLD, IT WILL HOW EVER HAPPEN IN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES, FOR MANY REASONS AND I HOLD NOTHING AGAINST THEM, IT IS THEY WAY OF LIFE AND HOW THEY CAN MAKE EXRA MONEY, THEN COMES TO YOU, TO DO THE RIGHT THING CHECK YOUR CHANGE AND IF SHORT ASK FOR THE REST, THEY WILL ALWAYS AND EVERY TIME GIVE IT BACK TO YOU, GOOD TRY THAT IS ALL I CAN SAY FOR THEM, BUT THEN AGAIN HOW WORRIED ARE YOU FOR LITTLE CHANGE, I SAY LET THEM BE LET THEM MAKE THAT LITTLE BIT EXTRA AND I AM SURE THEY DESRVE IT TOO, LONG HOURS WORKING FOR VERY LITTLE RETURN. AND IF THEY HAVE FAMILY WITH KIDS, HOW THEY GOING TO FEED THEM? THERE IS LOT INVOLVED HERE TO SAY THIS PERSON IS WRONG WHAT THEY DID, IS IT WRONG TO FEED YOUR FAMILY? THEN AGAIN IF THEY RANDOMLY STEAL FROM CUSTOMERS THIS WAY, THAT IS WRONG AND MUST BE REP[OPRTED TO MANAGEMENT, BUT HOW WILL ONE KNOW WHAT THE CRIME IS HERE, MAYBE BEST IS TO ASK IF THIS PERSON HAVE FAMILY TO FEED, WILL YOU GET THE TRUTH? BEST IS TO LET LITTLE THINGS GO..

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!

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.

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

Yes the bold drop it, but before that must ask this guy french who thinks France, Spain and Italy are rich Countries, my friend now joke is on you, you just named wrong Counties. you name Countries that are straggling.

Fftb, I don't get it. I don't  believe this is a topic that should be ignored or forget about. They are experiences  that won't be the last an expat will encounter. I believe sharing these experiences is beneficial. It tells us it's not all nice and rosy all the time. To keep saying that you'd be lucky if dirty cops don't kill you does not help. If you have encounters related to that maybe you can share it with us.

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.

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.

Really??? Well, as the saying goes - you can be part of the problem or be part of the solution.  It would be senseless not to discuss it.

As far as I know the main areas to avoid when it comes to extortion and kidnapping is in Mindanao. This no secret. It's in the news and it's in the US State Department website.

If its happening anywhere else and expats have encountered it I don't see why it should be kept secret. Totally senseless.

Who said anything about anything being secret?

I said what I do for a living is not germain to this discussion about being shortchanged 7 pesos.

Mindanao is not the only area people get kidnapped for ransom here.

Chinese businessmen are routinely kidnapped in Metro Manila and foreigners are oftentimes kidnapped from luxury resorts in places like Palawan.

My point is that 7 pesos does not warrant a Tremendous amount of discussion from my perspective.

Filipino-Chinese business men are definitely targets. Foreigners especially US citizens can be a different story. Kidnappers will have to contend with the wrath of the US. It gets complicated for them so they think twice as to who they pick. Even in Mindanao.

Yes you are all right about been targets here in Philippines, now I know why they will take Chines business man, as it is self explanatory business man, why will they take USA man that is on pension, what will they get for him, 7php ??? any way people with little cash are ok here, again providing they are good citizens of this Country, in most countries they say (do as they do), but this do not apply here, do not do what they do, bad mistake haha..

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 !

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.

Well just this week I ran into two problems. I sent my son to have a prescription filled at Mercury Drugs, when I saw the receipt I thought Holy Shit I'm going to grow broke with these prices. I sent Mercury an email & asked what the generic price of this prescription would be (about 75%) less. I answered their email why are they quoting me a price on something they don't have? THEY NEVER ANSWERED THE EMAIL.                                                                                            Second incident at Capital Care Pharmacy inside Landers in Pasig City. Ask for Centrum Silver Vitamins came to 1245 Peso's for 100 Vitamin Pills. Later checking online at Lazada they had a bottle of 325 for 1150 peso's.

When it comes to drugs and vitamins I shop around, never wind up buying anything at Mercury.  Some of their prices were 4 or 5 times what I paid elsewhere. That's not a rip off, that's just the nature of retail sales.

I have been back to the JTC Superstore twice in recent months, did not see the girl working as a cashier.  Perhaps she got promoted.