The great change exchange

I do not understand how there can be no change in this country. One is constantly on a quest for change, and always carefully apportioning out what coins and small bills one has so there will be some when you really need it.

What confounds me is if you’ve been selling your little packets of groundnuts, or your oranges, or papayas, or whatever, all day for 100 francs a piece, how can you possibly not have change to break my 500 bill?

In the market, if you press them to take your big bill, insisting you have no change, someone will run away with your money to confer with all his friends, returning some minutes later having found someone who has change.

But the one that really made me shake my head was when it took over 24 hours for our hotel to come up with change for our payment for three nights.

What do people do with all these small bills and coins and why does the bank only make huge bills available if they're nearly impossible to use?

Comments

Anonymous said…

I was two thirds through this post before I realized you were talking about monetary change, not social, political or economic change. It suddenly made cents. Happy New Year.

January 1, 2008 at 10:39 AM

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