Candy for change

It seems now on the island of gods that candy is money. This is the case when it comes to uang kembali or change. Many stores such as Bintang Supermarket, Circle K and Matahari department store in Kuta give their customers candy in lieu of a Rp 100 coin.

It's not the fact that Rp 100 is a large sum of money but they often try to give candy as change for Rp 300 or sometimes even Rp 500 citing "sorry no change".

This is unacceptable. Not only is it against the law not to give a customer change but bad business practice. I wonder just how much "extra revenue" these stores generate. It must be a lot.

Matahari in Kuta actually flaunts the fact that small change will be returned in candy. I recently attempted to give change using candy, it was only Rp 200 at the same store that had given me candy for change two days before. Of course they laughed and refused to accept it.

So my query is this, shouldn't this candy-as-change scam work both ways? Those of you coming to Bali for a holiday, ... bring a lot of coins to ensure you don't get shortchanged.

JAY GRAHAM

Bali