Do cashiers in Japan not like giving change (with coins)?

I recentally traveled to Malaysia with my family (my mom is from there), and we passed through Japan on a layover. I went to buy some makeup and snacks at a pharmacy, and I paid in 2 1000Â¥ bills.

However, when I gave the cashier them/ put them in the tray, she looked kind of annoyed (although I could have just been self concious and imagining this) and asked if I have any coins. I asked if she could just give me change (because I didn’t want to hold up the line fumbling in my little money envelope for yen coins) and she looked annoyed but did it.

Weirdly, same thing happened in Malaysia, which I don’t remember ever happening before.

Is this common in Japan/Malaysia/ Other countries (I’m from the US)? I’m a cashier and I always give people change, it’s just what people expect in the US.

Thanks!

https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/vzc11r/do_cashiers_in_japan_not_like_giving_change_with/

12 comments
  1. I’d say no, they are fine giving change.

    Only one place in Tokyo ever asks if I have coins and it’s a small, independent greengrocer. I assume they don’t want to make a run to the bank to get more change so they try to minimize what they give out. Any chain employee doesn’t care at all and is more typically confused by me giving them *odd* amounts of change to get less change back (ie. paying 102 yen on something that costs 97 yen to get one 5 yen coin rather than three 1 yen coins).

    Either that store you went to was low on change or they were just asses.

  2. I would still say it’s good manners to apologize for not offering any small change ( a curt Sumimasen when laying down the 10,000 note/bill). If the till is short on smaller notes or certain coins, it could make things awkward for cashiers at busier times when they may need to make customers wait for change. You will almost always be thanked for giving the exact amount.

  3. The only time cashiers ask about coins is when they want to give you better change.

    If something costs ï¿¥1502, and you hand them ï¿¥2000, they might ask if you have ï¿¥2 because a single ï¿¥500 coin is a lot more convenient for everyone than 13 coins to make ï¿¥498.

  4. I don’t know what’s up in Malaysia but at the airport maybe they wanted to help you spend your coins because you can’t exchange those when you get back to the US. The perceived annoyance might also be that they expect a signal from you that they can go ahead and take your bills, i.e. you’re not digging for exact change. That’s something that’s a little more explicit in Japan in my experience.

    The cashier may have just had a bad day, or they were low on coins for whatever reason. Don’t feel bad about it!

  5. I’ve never once experienced this in 24 years in Japan. Giving change is the cashier’s job.

  6. Probably just wanted to make sure you didn’t have any coins you wanted to use. A lot of stores around me will wait a second to see if I wanna make it exact or not but it’s not because they don’t want to give me change, they just probably don’t want me to feel rushed looking for coins and fumbling with my wallet like a fool trying to hurry before they take the bills.

  7. Usually they are totally fine with giving change. Never had an issue.

    But they might have been short on change. Especially if you’re at a tourist spot or airport etc, many people will pay with bills, and the small change will disappear quickly. They usually have a sign up informing about this in these situations, so if they had that, they might have been a bit annoyed after many people are ignoring it/don’t have change. But the annoyance may also have been in your imagination.

    If you don’t have change, there’s not much you can do, unless they have a change machine nearby, but if you have change, it’s a good idea to use it, since small change can add up quickly.

  8. I think it has nothing to do with not wanting to give change and more to do with giving the customer a chance to put coins in if they want. Many times a person smacks the paper bill up and then rummages about for the 2 yen or 12 yen or whatever so the change comes back in bills or large coins. Same as they wait before saying “Do you have a point card?” It’s a pause of “Did you want to add coins here too?”

  9. This is just based on personal experience and observation.

    I think that you can expect transaction to be like that. The clerk tell you how much it is, you put the money on the tray. Then there need to be a confirmation that it’s ok, so I would personally say “hai” (yes) when I’m done putting money down. If I say nothing, they might ask if that’s it. Next they verbally confirm the amount, give back change, verbally confirm the amount and if they give back bills, count them.

    My interpretation of what could have happened is that you putted money on the tray and said nothing, then the clerk is waiting for your confirmation or that you add coin and asked you if you have coin. If the clerk was really annoyed, it it not impossible that it was more about the way you replied than because they had to give back change. That or you are overly self conscious.

    Of course, I would also not exclude the possibility that they were running low on coin or wanted to be nice and offer you to take your coins.

  10. At the airport, a lot of people try to get rid of their change since coin cannot be exchanged. She was probably used to people digging for coins and didn’t want to assume you were paying solely with bills.

  11. I have too much change haha. My bag is swimming in change. I can’t get rid of it fast enough.

  12. The only time I have a problem is if I try to pay with a 10,000yen bill, but I always ask if it’s ok first as it can clear out all the change from a smaller shop.

    A lot of conbini these days are getting the automatic tills where the money gets dumped in by either the customer or employee and it spits the change out with no human effort.

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