Small money…

“Mafiish fakka” = “I have no change”

Nobody here has change.

Giving anything as “large” as a 20 pound note (for, say, an LE8 purchase) brings the question, “fiih fakka”. (Do you have change?)

When answered in the negative, there is much sighing and eye-rollling.

Today I wanted to buy a small bottle of water. LE1.25. All I had was a 10LE note. The cashier asked if I had change. I did not. Much sighing. At the table next to him was a guy who obviously collects the cash and stocks the cash register. He had piles of bills. I pointed at him and said, “go get change”.

He went over and there was much gesticulating and talking and (seemingly) arguing. The cashier came back.

He gave me LE8.75 change. All in 50piaster notes (1/2 pound). I could SEE the 1 pound notes sitting on the table. But nooooo….

The other oddity (to me) is that there are NO coins. None.

The pound is divided into piastres. I have seen:

• 50 piaster notes
• 25 piaster notes
• 10 piaster notes (which are very colorful and cheaply made. I swear they look like play money).

All the cash registers will ring up the “actual” purchase price. Say, LE8.78. If you give the cashier LE10, if you are lucky, you’ll get LE1.25 back. More likely you will get LE1.20, and more likely still, LE1.

It is the first (non-US) country I have been in that doesn’t have coins for the “change”, let alone coins for the small denominations (LE1, LE5 etc).

And there does not appear to be any official “retiring” of money. It keeps getting circulated until it falls apart. You will often get bills taped together, sometimes with multiple pieces of tape.

Some merchants will refuse to take money that is “too” torn. The idea is to keep the “good” notes and give out the torn ones.

What a country.