This piece was originally published at A Life Overseas.
We were on our way home from church and stopped at a petrol station.
We fished around for cash; credit cards weren’t an option in our host country. My husband had only 50,000 shillings on him.
As the attendant filled the tank, I triumphantly rustled up another 30,000 shillings from the depths of my purse. “Aha! We can top up now!” I declared.
I leaned over and asked the attendant, “Please add another 30,000.”
But instead of giving us more gas, the guy pulled out a wad of receipts from his pocket and rifled through them. He pulled out one for 80,000 shillings and offered it to me with an arched eyebrow.
I stared at him, baffled. What on earth was going on?
Suddenly it dawned on me: he didn’t realize I was asking for more gas; he thought I wanted a receipt for 30,000 more than what we had paid. Why would he make that assumption and then nonchalantly comply?
Because it was a commonplace request.
In our host country, hiring a driver to run errands was routine. It was also routine for that driver to fill up the gas tank and then bring his employer an inflated receipt for reimbursement, making himself some profit on the side.
So when customers left their receipts behind, the gas station attendants collected them, ready to dutifully pass them on to pilfering drivers. If I had wanted a false receipt, all I needed to do was ask. Embezzlement was that easy.
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I sat in the cubicle next to the designer’s computer as she put the finishing touches on the banner I was requesting.
“Looks great!” I exclaimed. “You said 150,000 shillings, right? Please put the name of my school on the receipt.”
“Oh, if you want a receipt, it will be an additional 20%,” she quickly corrected me.
20%: The government sales tax.
Why wasn’t the tax automatically included in the quotation? I didn’t need to ask why; I had heard the answer before. Many customers would go elsewhere if she included tax in her quotations. If her business wanted to compete, her only choice was to offer under-the-table prices. She was trapped.
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I entered my new culture in my early 20’s, idealistic and naive, ready to change the world. The reality of ethics in a developing country smacked me in the face.