On holiday in France I made a morning trip to the campsite’s
bakery for fresh baguettes. The price each is 90 cents and I bought 3 for a
total of 2.70. I paid with a fiver. I was talking in French and could blame
this for my carelessness, but is it a real excuse? Money is a common language
in the Euro area. I should have received 2.30 in change. However, as I hastily
put the money in the change compartment of my wallet I only noticed one euro
coin as well as small money. Shortly afterwards, as I walked home I realised
that I had only received 1.30 in change.
There is a lesson. It is a cheaper lesson than the last one
about the concert tickets, and one that I can solve with only a small
adjustment to my behaviour. I decided that the mistake was genuine on the part
of the shop assistant who gave me a one euro coin instead of a 2 euro coin by
accident. I could easily prevent it happening in future by looking at my change
and counting it at the counter before putting it in my wallet. The one euro
this lesson cost me could save me many times that in future by this new
adjustment to my behaviour. Later on when I bought drinks I always looked at my
change and counted at the bar. It was always correct but soon I expect I will
reap the benefit of my lesson.
But more importantly that the money I will save myself in
short changing in future is the lesson I reinforced about not sweating the
small stuff. The major benefit was that I could take a minor annoyance and not
overreact. I was out of pocket by one euro – very little. I often willingly
make decisions that cost me much more than that. I had decided that instead of
being annoyed with the shop assistant for not giving me correct change, or
being annoyed with myself for not taking a moment to check, I decided that I
had just learned a very important lesson and it had only cost me one euro. That
outlook on life is priceless.
