A petit problem

“Vous n’avez pas le monnaie?” the waitress says, “You don’t have the change?” and she tries to hand me back the bill I just gave her.

“Je n’ai pas de petit monnaie,” I respond. “I don’t have the change.”

I’m lying. I have the change. But I also know that if I wait long enough, she will suddenly find the change. What she doesn’t know is that at almost six months in this country, this game is familiar, and I’m prepared to play.

You have to play this game at restaurants, at bars, at the post office and at some supermarkets. You have to play because of two issues: at the bank, I am paid in bills that are too large for most vendors on the street, and, especially in bigger cities, the general attitude of the Beninese toward change – petit monnaie – is to hoard it, which means lying when foreigners ask if you can break bills.

There are times when you find a boutique that never scoffs at your bills or a street vendor who is willing to run all over the market trying to find change for you.

I never thought I’d miss credit cards as much as I sometimes do.