It's now or never

Having been in Japan for more than 3 years, one would think (well, I did) that when it comes to yen denomination, one should be (if not an expert) quite familiar by then. Well, I was proven wrong ...

[Note: One habit I have acquired in the land of the rising sun is giving the exact amount (or an amount that would spare us from receiving 1, 5 or 10 yen as change) when paying for stuff. ]

A couple of weeks back, my friend and I stopped by a grocery store to buy drinks before embarking on a long walk to the moviehouse to watch Shrek (which by the way is one hilarious movie). When I was to pay for my stuff, the cash register displayed ￥370 as the total amount of my purchase. So, I handed over three 100-yen coins and two 10-yen coins and waited for the transaction to finish when I heard,

"あと５０円．．．" (50-yen more...)

In a span of more or less 10 seconds, I was thinking "what's wrong with this guy? why ask me for 50yen more when it fact I should be receiving that amount as change." when I suddenly realized the boo-boo I made. =)

I relayed the incident to my friend and we were reminded of what happened to K (one of our dear friends) at the same grocery store which had us burst into a fit laughter all the way to the moviehouse. Well, K was in a similar situation a year ago, but for her it was,

"あと１０円．．．" (10-yen more...)

Unfortunately, she was not as lucky as me (hehehe ... luv yah gurl!). She also thought "why ask me that when it's you who owes me a change"; but still she checked her purse, found a 1000-yen paper bill but didn't find any 10-yen coin and so she replied,

"ないぃぃ．．．" (dont't have one...)

Thinking that K didn't understand her, the lady cashier again said,

"あと１０円ください．．．" (10-yen more please...)

While mumbling to herself "ang kulit naman nito", she searched her whole bag for a 10-yen coin but found none (later on, she said that she looked for me to borrow 10-yen from but didnt't find me nearby) and so again she shrugged and said,

"ないぃぃ．．．" (as in with her pa-cute look)

The lady cashier, finding herself in an awkward and hopeless situation, kept on muttering,

"どうしよう．．．どうしよう" (What now? What to do now?)

Finally after a minute or two of ないぃぃs and どうしようs, before the lady cashier suggested paying for the 10-yen herself, K finally realized the blooper she did. She then willingly handed over a 1000-yen bill, got her stuff and hurriedly left the counter.

Lessons learned:
1) Always have a 10-yen on hand.
2) Review your math before doing some shopping. (^.^)v