Do You Have Centavos?

There is a question that has been on my mind for the past few months. Is there a change shortage in Brazil?

I’ve never in my life been asked so often for centavos (cents) when making a purchase with cash. The bill can be R 9.80, I will hand them a 10 and they will ask me, “Tem oitenta centavos?” Do you have 80 cents?

It can be 5 cents, it can be 95 cents – they always ask for it. They will patiently wait hours for you to sift through your bags to find it. If I have it, I give it. If it is not convenient for me to get to, I forget it. I’m not going to dig through things while my yogurt starts to boil on a 90 degree day just to give them change. Money is money. I gave them enough to cover it. I’m sorry that it wasn’t in the correct form.

I mean, I don’t like to walk around with a pocket full of change so sometimes it is good to clean it out. I also understand that cash registers can sometimes get low on change and I'm happy to help out when I can. But I am asked EVERY time. I just want to pay and go.

It gets frustrating hearing this question day after day. Luckily we have the bank card issues worked out so I don’t use cash so much anymore.

I was reminded of this little annoyance while in the US. After the whole situation passed I almost laughed out loud about how incredibly different it is there. I was purchasing a coffee (yes, it was to-go). I forget the exact charge, but having adapted to being asked for cents every time I shop I told the cashier to hang on because I had the change.

She waited impatiently, as did those around me, as I searched through my wallet to pull it out. I was getting dirty looks and glances at watches. She didn’t care if I had the change, she just wanted me to pay and go. The people behind me just wanted their coffee. I almost turned around and said, "Hey, you should be grateful you can even get to-go coffee!"

It was so funny to me to recognize these complete polar opposites. In Brazil, they will wait for hours for the change and get a bit short with you if you don’t have it, while in the US they get pissed at you if you offer it and have to take 20 seconds to locate it.

I think I’ll just stick with my bank cards in both places. Things are much less frustrating and it decreases the chance of making people angry.