Count your change

Barya lang pinagkaka-abalahan pa. Precisely, that’s me.

Coins are important to me. My parents were able to send us to school thru barya-barya. From the ice candy factory, from the fleet of jeepney, suso, banka, etc.

As I always say, your piso will never be piso if one centavo is missing.

I think I have mentioned before that I helped my father count and wrap the coins every night when I was little.

Coins indeed matter to me. This is also the reason why I go out of my way and shamelessly pick-up coins I find on the road, even in the canal. This is also why until now, I still keep an alkansya. I always look forward to the day that my alkansya would be full of coins and ready to be counted. Those are my highs.

People disregard the value of barya. Not me. I get so pissed when grocery cashiers don’t give me the exact change. I get irritated when gulaman tinderas intentionally give me sukli that’s kulang.

I also feel sad when drivers give me “discounted” sukli. “Shall I fire this guy over seven pesos?”

Yesterday morning, I sent driver J to the bank to encash two checks totaling P3,982.12. My instruction was to go to Metrobank and deposit P1,460 to pay for some bill and give me the excess cash.

When he came back, he placed on my desk the deposit slip for P1,460 and cash of P2,520. Nagtaka lang ako bigla kasi why was the change so exact, eh parang naalala ko merong mga butal yung checks. When driver J saw me computing, he hesitantly dug into his pocket and placed P2.10 coins on my desk.

“Mam, heto na”.

Mam heto na? What’s that supposed to mean? Obviously, he thought I would be too busy to mind the sukli. Many times, our drivers do that. They umit the sukli thinking that we’re too busy to even count. They get a heyday when we have a party in the office or at home. We’re too busy and are not able to count the sukli and keep track of the receipts. Kinukupit nila. Pambili ng yelo, pambili ng beer, ng softdrinks, etc. This comes out to hundreds and sometimes around P2,000.

When you asked maids or cooks or drivers or whoever to go to the grocery, check the receipts. I found them buying stuff for themselves. One driver bought Kitkat, Maria bought Juicy Fruit, meron pa one time Lactacyd, whitening, etc.

Taking advantage, that’s it. It has become our culture to take advantage.
To cheat at the very first opportunity.

If I will let this things pass, and not mind them because those are small amounts, they will get used to it and next time they would graduate to cheating me with bigger amounts. Maybe their previous employers did just that, “hayaan mo na lang kasi barya lang”. “Tulong na lang sa kanila yun”. I disagree. My tulong is by employing them. I am not helping by enabling them to cheat me. When they leave me and work for others, they would do the same things.

Count your change. There are honest mistakes. But there are more intentional mistakes. Count your money and check your receipt against your sukli, even when in restaurants.

I placed 10 ten peso coins around the base of Sto. Nino in the altar.

Now, there are 8 left.