Shanghai Bob

I’ve been keeping track of my expenses (i.e., recording everything I spend) so I can produce an accurate account at the end of my trip. I’m planning to spend money as I normally would for the first month, then categorize my expenditures and see what I can reduce (taxi fares!) and what I should increase (books, excursions).

Two things are becoming clear: I spend a lot of money on sweets, and I get shortchanged a lot. When I say I’m being shortchanged, I mean I’m getting the wrong change from purchases, and that it’s never in my favor. When I say “a lot”, I meant it has happened three times in the past week (I just started keeping track this month).

Yesterday I didn’t get shortchanged, but I got an incorrect bill. I went to the fish and chips shop around the corner on Endell Street and had cod and chips and a coke. The bill came back as £25 ($50). I asked if it was correct, the server said Yes. I asked him to check again, he said, Oh, I’m sorry, crossed out £25 and wrote £21. I said, What’s 11+3. He said Sorry again and gave me the revised bill for £14 (the correct amount). I think it was a genuine mistake, but I never would have noticed if I hadn’t been writing my expenses down in my notebook.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 25th, 2008 at 10:15 pm and is filed under economics, london.