One of Brentwood's shopkeepers has hit out at the abuse she receives for refusing to give change for high value notes. Mangala Jhanjee, owner of Paradise Stores is furious at the treatment she receives from some customers who expect to receive change for small value items worth as little as 30p paid for with high value notes.
She claims on Saturday a man wanted to pay for a 60p magazine with a £10 note, but after deciding to buy a £2 lottery ticket to get change when told he had to buy more to get any, he leapt up on the counter to see if there was any in the till.
"He said: 'I've heard a lot of things about you'. I told him that yes, we have principles and we stick by them and we have a notice which says please carry reasonable change and it does say I am happy to change up to 10 times value of your purchase.," explained Mrs Jhanjee.
"He bought a £2 lottery ticket which made it £2.60 and I gave him £7.40 back. When I opened the till, he leant over with his belly on the counter to look into my till. He said he wanted to look into my till to see if I had change. I told him this is totally despicable."
Mrs Jhanjee, who runs the shop with her husband Rajan, says she is tired of the daily abuse she gets from people angry that they can't get change.
She said: "It is not their right to get change whenever they want. On Saturdays, especially, we have to be very careful with our change. All the traders have this problem. One of the other shopkeepers came to me because she was so scared of a man who threatened her after she refused to take his money. We don't take cards because they would add to our overheads. All our transactions are small items. You can't justify a card machine for that. But at the same time, we shouldn't have to put up with this type of thing.
"What are the options to me to make people aware? Carrying change is an obligation. In the past I have had a £50 note for a 30p item and the person came back six or seven times during the day to argue it out. In the end I had to call the police. This is not a bottomless pit of change – it's a till.
"I have to manage my change. I can't run to the bank every time I run out of change. I have to be prudent. From my point I know it is not right to expect change I don't have. Every single day I get abuse for not giving change for large notes. I am furious that I am subjected to this type of treatment."
