Сдача

Russia is a land known for vodka, harsh winters, beautiful girls, and bad customer service. Outside of one babushka at the Peter & Paul Fortress, I haven't run into the last much yet--sales clerks are approximately as grumpy here as they were in the states. It doesn't even bother me much--I'll take an honest scowl over a false smile any day.

What I fail to grasp, however, is the Russian продавец obsession with change. Observe: Tonight I went to the большие продукты (big quickie mart) up on the corner to pick up a snack and a can of Coke. (A little sweet tooth is one of the small luxuries I'm allowing myself here.) This продукты is a tiny bit cheaper than the one right next door--18.80 rub vs. 21 for a can of Coke--but they seem to be constitutionally incapable of quoting a price in whole rubles. Всегда копейки с ними. So my bill comes up to 61.30. (Funny--I just noticed they actually use a decimal point on the receipt, not a comma.) In a perfect world, I'd have had a 50 and a 10 and a one ruble coin and a 50 kopeck coin. In the real world, I had no 50 ruble note. So I handed over a 100, fully prepared to take the pocketful of change that would ensue. My 100, however, was apparently not good enough for the at the касса. So I fumbled around and came up with a 1 ruble coin and my 50 kopeck piece. This I figured would get me four ten ruble notes and a couple of ten kopeck coins. Fine. Except that this wasn't good enough either. She said одинадцать--eleven. Completely baffled by what my money lacked in negotiability as it stood, I produced a ten ruble bill and forked it over, thus bringing the total amount I'd given her to 111.50. This, apparently, was satisfactory, and I got a 50 in change.

In the states, sometimes folks will ask if you have change so that they can avoid giving you a pocketful of coins. Here, I'm convinced that If I'd only had a 100 ruble note in my wallet, I'd have walked out empty handed. Worse, she stiffed me 20 kopecks--an insignificant sum, worth about a penny right now, but if we're going to make paying a major production, then I want all of my change so that I can slow down lines everywhere by counting it out to the last kopeck.

Peculiar counter-example: Last night I went to Дом Книги and bought a book I can't read and a little pocket notebook for vocab. Price: 330 rubles. I saw a perfect chance to break a 1000, and handed over 1030 so I could get an even 700 back. The clerk refused the 30; I wound up with 670 in change.

There may be a historical explanation for all this, but it eludes me entirely.