Nov 05

In Indonesia there is a widely accepted practice in stores country-wide, that instead of small change they give you candy. That means for every Rp 100 they owe you, you will get a piece of candy. Sweet or annoying? A welcomed treat for sweet tooths – annoying for some; as some Aussie smart pants tried in reversal to pay his purchases with the same coin. Read on from The Bali Times:

000001In Reversal, Expat Tries, Fails to Pay with Candy

Seminyak, Bali – In what is believed to be the first case of its kind in Bali, an Australian expatriate attempted to pay for purchases at a Kuta supermarket with a wallet-full of candy, shop management said. The 32-year-old, who accumulated his bulging wallet of cheap individually wrapped confectionery during months of supermarket spending, failed in his endeavor, however, Made Kusama told The Bali Times.

“Putu, who was on checkout number 3 on Tuesday lunchtime, was surprised that he proffered a fist-full of candy to pay for his items, which included a head of broccoli, three cans of beer and a chocolate bar,” he said. “And a pack of condoms.”

“She demanded cash,” he added. The man, identified as Stuart Longhorn, a civil engineer, said he had accumulated his stockpile of candy as part of the store’s policy of giving candy as change and saw “no reason” why he couldn’t use the unusual-yet-accepted candy currency to pay for goods.

Kusuma said the Kuta-area supermarket would continue with its candy-change policy.

The Blogger Mad Dog (don’t get confused with the Amazon layout), who is also residing in Bali, mentions this and other money practices, scams, traffic horrors and ATM stories in Bali as well.

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!


or save article to your Facebook with 1 simple click:

Share

written by Chris



3 Responses to “Bali: Expat Tries, Fails to Pay with Candy”

  1. nomad4ever.com reaches 100.000 Visitors - thanks to YOU! | nomad4ever UNITED STATES Says:

    […] Day with highest number of Visitors: 5/11/2006 (5.107 Visitors due to ‘reddit.com’ Traffic for Bali: Expat Tries, Fails to Pay with Candy), other peaks on 2/5/2007 (1.578 Visitors) and 31/7/2007 (2.556 Visitors) due to ‘Boing Boing’ Traffic […]

  2. Kasi - Bali » Blog Archive » Some Candy for Your Thoughts UNITED STATES Says:

    […] From The Bali Times by way of Nomad4Ever. […]

  3. Honey ManzanoNo Gravatar PHILIPPINES Says:

    This is also common in some parts of the world. When they have no smaller bills or coins, they will pay you with a candy. However, there is nothing wrong with this.

Leave a Reply

Hey, if you want a picture to show by your comment, why not get a gravatar?

;-) :twisted: :roll: :oops: :mrgreen: :lol: :idea: :evil: :cry: :arrow: :?: :-| :-x :-o :-P :-D :-? :) :( :!: 8-O 8)