Imagine going to the money changer and receiving 10 times the amount you’re supposed to get.
Would you happily take home the extra cash? Or would your conscience get the better of you?
While most of us would take some time to get over this moral dilemma, one ‘lucky’ customer caught in this situation made up her mind fast.
Last Thursday (18 Oct), a woman visited a local money exchange to convert 100 British Pounds (GBP) into Singapore Dollars. She was reportedly a Filipino domestic helper.
While one would reasonably expect an amount in the region of S$180, this woman received S$1,793 instead.
You might wonder,
WHY THE DISCRIMINATION?
Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t intentional.
Apparently, the money changer made a costly mistake of entering an extra “0” when calculating the exchange rate. This turned 100 GBP into 1,000 GBP with just a single stroke.
Talk about a costly typo.
The staff involved has since turned to Facebook to identify the woman.
He uploaded a screenshot from the CCTV footage showing the woman. He also shared the receipt of the transaction.
However, it seems that his chances of getting the money back are pretty slim at this point.
5 days after the incident, the identity of the woman remains unknown.
From the look of things, it appears that her S$1,614 profit was enough to subdue her conscience.
The staff also wrote in his post that he would notify the police if the woman doesn’t return the excess money within a week.
Lianhe Zaobao broke the story on Tuesday (23 Oct) and Facebook users had mixed reactions to the incident.
This netizen posed a hypothetical situation where the tables were turned.
Translation: If a customer confronts you (money changer) claiming to have received $1,000 less, would you reimburse the customer?
Another netizen wondered how the money changer knew that the woman was a domestic helper. Could they be unfairly labeling her by just her appearances?
Translation: How did you (money changer) conclude that she’s a maid? You’re clearly labeling her by her appearances. Will this be reported on the papers if you (money changer) short-changed a customer instead?
Finally, one netizen who worked as a NTUC cashier insisted that the staff at the money charger was at fault.
Translation: So your (money changer) staff wasn’t at fault? When I collected less money or gave more change to customers during my time as a NTUC cashier, I had to bear the damages myself.
In this situation, is it really logical for us to blame the woman?
Or can we only blame the staff working at the money changer, who made a costly blunder?
Let us know below.
Featured image from Lianhe Zaobao.
The authorities have investigated and closed the incident with no follow-ups required, MFA said.
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