Where is My Change?

Where is My Change

           I’m an Australian student. During my short course in Bali I went shopping at one of the shopping malls near the school. It was the first time I had ever been shopping in a foreign country.

            After paying for my goods, I waited at the cash desk for my change-around a few hundred Rupiah, but the cashier said, “Sudah.” I thought this was a question so I replied, “ya.” I carried on waiting for my change and eventually asked the cashier, “where is my change?” she looked confused so I rephrased my question to “where is my money, the Rp300.00?” she understood but just pointed to a small  plastic announcement stuck on the cash register that said, “Please apologize. Small change will be replaced with candies.”

            Yes I had three candies with my receipt, but I thought they were complimentary from the mall. I was rather angry about the change, especially when I thought I had to apologize for the inconvenience caused by the mall.

                                                Later I found out the mall had mistranslated the word “apologize” and                                 what they meant was “sorry”. Both words are “maaf” in Indonesia. So, were                                       sorry they had to give me candies instead of my change, and I didn’t have to                                        apologize!