Is Your Happy, Stress-Free Day Worth 35 Cents?

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Last week, Friday, my bro Ken and I were at the grocery shopping for ingredients and everything he’ll need for our birthday celebration that weekend. When we were checking out, in front of us was this man, in his late 40s probably, who started complaining about the change he received. I thought it was a big difference ‘cause he began mentioning about calling the supervisor. My jaw literally dropped and my eyes (and Ken’s) began to roll when we found out it was just a mere 35-cent difference.

I know, if you think about it, like what the guy kept on saying, if there were about a thousand customers who didn’t claim their missing Php 0.35 change, it can amount to Php 350.00. But, seriously, do you really need to call a supervisor for that?

If it was $0.35, I would understand calling on the supervisor or manager since it’ll amount to Php 14.00+. I think the man was a little overreacting. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very particular with getting exact change whenever I shop. But, I know when not to make a big fuss about something as small as 35 cents!

Let me just make it clear. I’m not siding with the cashier or her management. They should always make sure they give the exact change to customers. But, they do ask if it’s okay every time if your change is a couple of cents off. I’m just saying he doesn’t really have to react so negatively over such a negligible situation.

Seriously, the guy spent, I think, about 10-15 minutes (it was the day before the long weekend so there were a lot of people shopping) waiting for the supervisor to come in and listen to him complain before finally giving the cashier some loose change so she can give him his 35 cents. Was it worth it, I kept asking myself. Was it worth the stress of freaking out over a few cents difference? I don’t think so. There are just some things we need to let go. We’ve got to learn how to brush off negative vibes, really. For sure, the man’s night was ruined by all his stressing over the 35 cents. Again, was it worth it?

After my birthday celebration and having written my musing for that day, I told myself I need to stop stressing about things that I shouldn’t really make a big deal of. I want to get back all the positive vibes that I feel I’ve lost the past months.

I bet there’ll be a lot of negative reactions towards this post considering the bigger picture, but hey, this is MY blog. That’s how I felt about that man’s behavior.

The cashier, though embarrassed by the whole situation, continued on with her job, passing our items on to the barcode scanner like nothing really happened. I pitied her ‘cause I’m sure she didn’t expect that outburst. So, when she asked me if it’s okay that my change was 15 cents less, I said, “No!” and immediately retracted my statement and said, “Joke lang!” (Just kidding’!). I swear, I can hear the nervousness behind her laughter. *LOL* I know, that was mean, but at least, I got her to laugh. ^_^

I feel like I’m more tolerant now of people’s flaws and mistakes, but not to the point of naivety. I want to live with a more positive outlook. Life’s too short to stress on the little things.