How as little as "having change" may change the nation.

    This article was conceived from my irritation at a sales clerk who had (probably as office policy demanded her to) assumed I wanted Tom-Tom candy in place of my twenty naira change. My first reaction was confusion that quickly gave way to wonder. I wondered when customer service had become this good as she counted four tom-tom strawberry drops out of the jar and squeezed them into my palm. Pleasantly surprised I left the store. Getting home and running my calculations over I realized I was twenty naira short, then looking at the candy it dawned on me. This was only one of many such instances.

    My anger is not at frequently losing little change (as we like to call it) but at the not changing trend of "never having change", the absence of embarrassment, and the sometimes annoying expectant look some courageous traders show (daring to look pleased to not have change). Don’t get me started on the public transport providers who might get aggressive at the idea that you expect your balance, and throw you an intimidating stare as they add ‘ you no see say change no dey ’, or the shops where you are told nicely ‘ there is no change, why don’t you buy something else for the money’. For the sake of brevity I will not mention the petrol stations and the constant one to four naira deficit because we will not use the coins the central bank consistently burns resources to provide.

    So what does "having change" have to do with national development? It shows respect for people’s money irrespective of how diminutive. It creates understanding that a tip or extra sale should not be forced and a service should be paid for at its true worth. Anything extra is a privilege not a right. It is a little thing, i agree, but i disagree with it being 'normal'. How many little things do we turn a blind eye on and call normal that are really not normal at all, and have inadvertently in little ways contributed to the abnormal state of national affairs?