In France, I remember my fellow foreigners and I held onto one and two euro coins like miners who found gold nuggets deep in Earth’s core. Notes, or bills, were easy to find but the larger the note the greater the task of ridding oneself of it. At the time this seemed partial to Western Europe since prior to my study abroad experience paying a $30 bill with $100 wasn't arduous.
By the end of the scholastic year, we were jaded by our small-coin collection. It was inconceivable banks mass-produced one, two and five-cent coins. In nine months, these coins accumulated in a jar at the bottom corner of my bedroom’s armoire.
Once, shortly before I departed the worthless-small-coin-infested country, I went to a brasserie with a friend and ordered my usual hot chocolate—drinking coffee preceded studying abroad. When the server brought the bill to the table on a small plastic saucer, I knew it was either now or never. The opportunity presented itself to be free of this nuisance. I paid my portion of bill with only one, two and five cent coins and bolted out of the brasserie as if I stole cutlery or left without paying. Really, what was I going to do with those coins in the US? Start a coin collection? America already had enough hoarders and I figured the act was also karmic retribution for France’s superior customer service. America undoubtedly takes the cake on customer service. It occurred to me much later to return all small coins to a bank in exchange for larger bills.
In China, it was the exact opposite. I wanted those insignificant coins. Shit, I needed all coins!! One thing I knew for certain: China and France make it difficult to pay a small bill with a larger note. Between the two, France was definitely the lesser of two evils—at least France accepted torn or faded notes. In Shanghai, one morning after my friends and I celebrated life, we dragged ourselves to a restaurant and bought a few sandwiches to hopefully cure our hangovers. An hour or so later it was time to pay the bill and leave, but I had a 100RMB note. Grâce à dieu, the server had no qualms about breaking the note; well, at least not my roommate’s 100RMB note. Such was not the case for me. He told me he couldn’t accept mine. Confused and agitated, I immediately analyzed the note, checked to see if it was counterfeited, and concluded it was fine. The server protested and after several minutes he finally exclaimed he couldn’t accept it because the upper-right corner of the note had a pimple-size piece missing. This infuriated me. But what could I do? Hang out at the restaurant all day? The server insisted I walk to a bank to exchange the “bad” note for a “good” one. I obliged and walked approximately 50 yards to the nearest bank, found an open teller and after he exchanged the bill I asked him straightforwardly, “Where does the ‘bad’ money go?” The teller said there is a shop that specializes in repairing notes. Of course there is! How silly of me!
Monetarily, Togo is France and China in one.
In the beginning, I thought Togo had it right. The coins I used daily—e.g. twenty-five, fifty, one hundred, two hundred and five hundred—were practical. Tout à coup, a vendor gave me 50 cents worth of 10-cent coins. THERE IT IS! The piece of France I had forgotten. And it didn’t end there. Not even a week passed before someone handed me a five-cent coin. Come on!!!
Oh but it didn’t even end there. The last couple of months I received water and electric bills with unusual figures: water for 3,295cfa and electricity for 12,060cfa. Really??? It’s not as though I’m stateside where I could easily write a check for such amounts. Because of this, I either lost or gained five or 10 francs with each bill. Brilliant.
When it comes to money and traveling in Togo, it is important to remember two phrases:
“100 francs, 100 francs.”
“On va chercher la monnaie.”
The former is a phrase often said by vendors. In markets, women who sell fruits and vegetables often place them into small piles and when a customer asks the price, they say the number twice. Almost always.
The latter is a phrase said by everyone, i.e. vendors, motorcycle taxi drivers, Togolese friends, etc. Unlike in China, if one can’t break change in Togo…the person will find someone who will. Boom. One point to Togo.
In what is in no way a slight to your previous posts, this was the most interesting one yet. Coming from a country which relies on small change, I find the American note system baffling at times, especially as it's rare that I'll find a use for quarters, cents etc (except perhaps in vending machines) despite always being handed such coinage.
ReplyDeleteI love the little things you don't think about that prove to be such a change (and a challenge) when you live in a new place.