What's Important to Malaysians -- At the shops

        Here you see a cash register receipt.  A simple thing, really, but one that seems awfully important here in Malaysia.  You can never leave any shop, store or eatery without one tucked into your hand under your change. The Malaysians are even more rabid about receipts than the Japanese, if that's possible.   If you don't get one, you're entitled to ask for the sun, the moon and the stars, or at least a free one of whatever they're selling.  In case you fail to ask for it, there are signs all around  urging you to "Request for Your Receipt."  (Not that I've ever had to.) 

    Once you've got that receipt, you really want to hang onto it.  Why?  well, first of all, if something goes wrong and the item is defective or the service isn't rendered, you need your receipt to get things settled properly.  For the past two months--actually longer--I've been trying to get the local newspaper delivered to my door.  If I hadn't had the receipt, complete with two mobile phone numbers of real human beings, I wouldn't have been able to call every month or so, begging to have my newspaper delivered as per our written agreement.  See how useful a receipt can be?  (The subscription was arranged on June 24th. and they say the paper might start coming tomorrow, Sept.1st., but I'll believe it when I see it! ) 

    Anyway, the other reason you want to accept and keep track of your receipt is because it contains a ton of information that you wouldn't want lying around on the floor of a public place.  I don't know quite how they manage to get it, but  the receipt I'm holding in my hand now has my full name, a complete list of the items I bought, the name of the sales clerk, the time, date, branch of the store and lots more.  Any self-respecting, literate thief would just love to have all that useful information, I reckon.  

         Another thing they're very interested in here in Malaysia is that sticky tape they put on at the register to indicate an item has been bought and paid for.  I can understand putting the tape on a big item that can't fit into a bag.  (Though I've often wondered why it's considered necessary to do that when the register is ten paces away from the door of the store.)  But at some shops here in Penang, especially local food stores, the clerks are required to put a bit of that tape on each and every item that you buy.  Can you imagine how long that takes when you've bought a week's worth of groceries? (But then, this isn't a culture where you'd actually buy a week's worth of anything at one time.)  


 I guess this tape-on-every-item is a way to combat shoplifting, but I wonder which causes more financial loss--the occasional shoplifter or all those rolls and rolls of "Sold" tape they use up.  And we won't even go into the time and inconvenience this requirement causes both clerks and customers.

    Another thing that made me crazy when setting up our new household here was the sticky price labels on each and every item I bought.   I spent hours rubbing off the labels wrapped around every piece of cutlery, not to mention every glass, plate, cup and bowl.  But then, what did I do?  I turned around and put my own labels on the drawer so I'd know where each silverware item goes.
       So, really --  who's crazy about labeling things?  Both the Malaysians and ME !