I am a compulsive shopper and it has always been my favourite pastime – be it clothes, jewellery, shoes, grocery or even cosmetics. My statement may raise your eyebrows but it is true. The only thing that I being a calculated person was very particular about the price of the product, especially discounts on MRPs etc. But I had never gone in for any purchase if I don’t have money. I mean to say on EMIs – Easy Monthly Instalments.
However, with the coming up of malls and stores culture even in small towns left me totally confused me all the economics and arithmetic – being a father of the daughter with commerce degrees, who had been very particular in arithmetic that I had never any interest except in making payments and receipt of balance in cash.
These malls and stores outlets of a famous chain - are so decorated with new arrivals and offers, I too decided to ditch the humble ‘Sardar Ji’ shop popularly known as papad wadia wale. So far as I remember, our family had been frequenting for years and shop from this shop.
The other day, I entered the mini-mall, got hold of the trolley as a status symbol for the first time, to have a foreign tip feeling and paced up and down the mall, accompanied by my daughter, happily pausing at each stack of goods nicely placed, although I did not buy much.
My daughter finally compelled me to put an end to my revelry on the first visit and stand in the queue at the cash counter. When the customer just ahead of me was making the payments, I heard him arguing feebly with the cashier regarding the return of change, but was told that it was not to be so. The old customer did not deem it fit to argue further for a small amount and went away quietly.
On my turn, I emptied the trolley on the counter, all the goods were duly scanned and a printout of the bill was handed over to me. The bill was of four hundred and twenty-four rupees and seventy paise. Taking a one thousand rupee note from me – before the demonetization - the cashier returned me five hundred seventy-five rupees, “rewarding” me with a big smile and a bigger ‘Thank You, Sir’.
Returning the smile, I politely asked for a change of 30 paise. The cashier’s smile vanished quicker than it had appeared, and somewhat abruptly I was told that he was unable to pay back the change. On being asked to give a candy instead of the change, like most shopkeepers do these days, the cashier sounded horrified and said, the candy costs fifty paise Sir, and we owe you only thirty. Meaning thereby, that I had to leave thirty paise with him but he could not give me a candy worth twenty paise extra!
I asked the cashier to call the Manager, who after having a look at my extra casual in kurta-pyajama, decided that I was thoroughly immature and patiently started explaining to me on a piece of paper the arithmetic of rounding off the digits — anything more than 0.5 ought to be considered as one and hence 0.70 paise equaled one rupee.
I told him that I am well aware of this rounding off arithmetic but it applies only to marks and percentage in exams. I could well afford to let go such a pretty amount but it was a matter of principles, not paise. I also took the liberty of asking him as to how many customers a day was subjected to the same arithmetic and how much money was “earned” this way. Needless to add, I returned back the whole items I had bought and left the mall.
Frankly speaking, once outside the store, I asked my daughter who was commerce post-graduate, a mute spectator during the entire episode, if she was ashamed of what I did just now. She raised his thumb and said, for once you have taken the right decision, Papa. I chose to it as an experience to the mini-mall, but I decided to stay loyal to our ‘Sardar Ji’s” shop.
Photo courtesy: Livemint.com
-
-
HARISH MONGA, Feature Writer
harishmongadido@gmail.com
Phone No. : 9815087107
Disclaimer : The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the writer/author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Babushahi.com or Tirchhi Nazar Media. Babushahi.com or Tirchhi Nazar Media does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.