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Johnny Neihu's Mailbag

Cash out of hand

Dear Johnny,

I have been in Taiwan since 1999 and am now a permanent resident. I love this country much more than most of the others I have known, including my own (Germany). People are very friendly, curious, open-minded and nice to be with. I'll argue with anyone about how good it is here.

But there are some tiny little things that I can't figure out and I'd like you to help me. One is paying at the counter.

Lets say I have to pay NT$125 but I only have a NT$1,000 note. I give the note to the cashier, and I wait with the wallet in my left hand and the right hand empty. Then the cashier will most likely give me the receipt on top of the notes -- lets say eight NT$100 bills -- which in turn are on top of seven NT$10 coins and five NT$1 coins (12 coins in total) in my right hand.

There I stand, my wallet in my left hand and 12 coins sliding dangerously close to falling off the slippery new notes in my outspread, upright right hand.

Can you imagine what kind of acrobatics are required to maneuver the hand full of notes -- with coins on top sliding around -- in a way that I can put the coins down on some surface, then put the notes into the wallet, then pick up the coins and stick them in the wallet too?

I can't put the coins anywhere first, as I'm unable to control them. They slide like they're on ice and the slightest wrong move will send them crashing to the floor, while the six people in the line behind me will be even less happy wasting more time when they see me crawling around in front of them searching for money.

In my home country we get the coins first into our hand and then the bills.

Because the coins can be easily held in the hand, the bills can be placed between the fingers and then quickly stuffed in the wallet. The whole operation is over in seconds without any hassle.

It is so much easier to do it this way. So why is it not like this in Taiwan? Is there some ancient fear that bad luck comes from giving coins first?

HansSan

Kaohsiung

Johnny replies: I'd like to be able to say that Taiwan has a special type of feng shui for hard cash and how to hand it out. But we don't.

There are a number of things you can do in this situation. The hard-headed Western way is to suggest to the cashier that "coins first" is the most efficient and convenient way of handing out change. For this, you need to be able to speak the local language.

Alternatively, you can ask the cashier to put all the money on the counter. This is time-consuming too, but at least the people behind you don't have to stare down your buttcrack as you pick up all that shrapnel.

Otherwise, achieve zen by leaving the coins on the floor.
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