When you go to local supermarkets (супермаркеты) in our neighborhood, not so much at stores in mega malls, there is a tradition (I guess it’s a tradition) that cashiers (kacca) expect you to give them exact change, or as close to it as possible. When you try to hand them a 500 ruble (500 py6) bill for an 83 py6 purchase you will get a nasty look and a nasty, scolding response – I’m thinking of one lady in particular we call the cranky kacca and try to avoid if at possible. I don’t know exactly what she’s saying yet, but I’m thinking it’s something like: “What are you doing giving me such a large bill for such a small purchase…you ignorant American…I have a register to manage here and you’re screwing things up!”
To avoid getting yelled at, especially by the cranky lady after we give her paper rubles we hold out our hand with all the change in it that we have and she sorts through it so she can to get as close to exact change as possible. We used to think it was just us ignorant Americans but as it turns out Russians do the exact same thing to avoid getting hollered at. This doesn’t usually happen at stores in bigger shopping malls. Cashiers don’t seem to mind big bills there.
We don’t know the exact origin of the cranky kacca syndrome although all of our friends report the same experience. It may have come from the Soviet days when rubles were hard to come by and big bills were uncommon and difficult to change even if you had one.
So, if you’re planning on coming here to Москва do yourself a favor when shopping…bring exact change or be prepared to get yelled at.
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