Count your change!!!

[Maryeliza]

I dont mean to tar every Argentinian with the same brush, but please be aware that some of them will want to scam you - especially when its obvious you are a foreigner! This morning at the subway ticket desk, I gave $100 peso note because that is all I had, I bought two tickets, I was given a wad of notes back. In $2, $5 and $10. Usually you grab the change and run - but thankfully I was in no hurry, and I decided to stand at the counter and count the change. He had short changed me by $50 pesos!!! I was so shocked at the cheek of this, I just looked at him and made a noise, and he throws another $30 pesos at me. Which I then responded with "No! mas" He then gave me the rest of the change he owed me.
This has also happened to my boyfriend too. So just be aware, always count your change!!!

 

[Ries]

Funny, I always count my change, and of the 30 plus countries I have been in around the world, Argentina is the only one where they routinely give me back MORE than they owe me, because its too much trouble to make change, and they just round my bill down.

Of course, its never 50 pesos- its fractions of one peso, but added up, I have gotten my 50 pesos back and more over the years.

In my 56 years of buying things in the USA, this has never happened to me once- but in Buenos Aires, its hard to go by a week without some kiosk just shrugging and rounding down.

 

[gsi16386]

You used a 100 peso note for a 1.35 subway fare? You're lucky he sold you a ticket (or two in this case). It could happen in any major city, BUT odds of getting ripped off are certainly greater in the BA (especially at a subway booth). You've gotta stay on your toes my fellow traveler!

 

[nicoenarg]

You used a 100 peso note for a 1.35 subway fare? You're lucky he sold you a ticket (or two in this case). It could happen in any major city, BUT odds of getting ripped off are certainly greater in the BA (especially at a subway booth). You've gotta stay on your toes my fellow traveler!

Okay you need to use the subway more often. Its 2.50 a ticket now. But yeah, a 100 pesos for two tickets is still a pretty big bill.

However, that doesn't excuse the thieving attitude of the guy at the counter.

 

[syngirl]

Count your change! Every once in awhile a (gasp!) Argentine will give you the wrong change... in (shock!) your favor. The other day I paid for a couple of coffees to go with 50 pesos, and the girl gave me change as if I had paid with 100... I could have walked away with a nice extra 50 pesos in my wallet.

I'm just saying, a lot of the time these things happen, and it's not just because you're foreigner, or just because the person you're dealing with is local -- sometimes people are flustered, sometimes (often) they are caught up in a conversation at the same time they are giving out the change. Occasionally it is a scam, but more often than not it is a mistake, so don't necessarily jump the gun and go into super offense mode right away.

 

[nicoenarg]

It happens both ways. People make mistakes. That should not be considered stealing but the OP is talking about someone who deliberately messed with the change. She is shorted 50, then he gives her 30 more which is still not enough. You can make a mistake once in this, not twice in a row.

By the way the OP started with this:

I dont mean to tar every Argentinian with the same brush

 

[Zissou]

To be blunt: doesn't matter what country you are in. If you don't count your change, you're a fool.

Humans make mistakes AND some are dishonest. Everywhere. This should not be news to anyone. *yawn*

 

[sam3g]

The same thing happened to me last month at Farmacity on Libertador y Juramento. I was in conversation with my girlfriend and counted as I was walking out the door. I came back and said "Uhhhh yo creo que falta.." and he already had extended the 10 pesos out to me (he didn't even take it out of the till).

 

[wreReynolds]

Since I arrived here 4.5 years ago, many, many people, usually Argentines, warn me about: being ashortchanged, counterfeit money, theiving taxi drivers. As a journalist I move around a lot during the day. In all that time I have exactly two taxi drivers try to rip me off. One gave me a countefeit 20, they other went 4 blocks too far (I simply refused to pay him and suggested he call the cops). I have never been short-changed and I generally count my change.

What I used to love to do was point out to cashiers that if the total of the bill is 9.99, they have to either give me the 1 peso coin or round down until they can provide the correct change. Only once did a woman at Disco actually go to the office to get my 1 peso. The looks on their faces were delightful.

 

[katti]

Ever since I was a child and I went to the store my parents would tell me to count the change. I taught my kids the same. This has nothing to do with Argentina : it is universal. People make mistakes, on purpose or not...