Tricky employees in Legian Bali

Bali’s economy has been hit by the 2005 bombing. Things are on the mend and there is a tremendous amount construction work and new places opening all the time. Long term predictions are fine, its just the short term that people have to get through.

Locals re-tool fast and have to out of necessity. Our pembantu Ana’s husband works for a hotel, but now works only 1 week in every 2. He’s a great guy and does our garden.

People who have a job also sometimes re-tool the way they do things, to crank out a bit more money per month to feed the family. I’ve noticed the old ‘not giving the change back’ routine is more prevalent now. That works when my bill at a convenience store is 3,600rp and I pay with a 5,000rp note. My change will be 1,000rp. I have to ask for the rest.

Yesterday I saw a new scam. Sitting in an internet cafe in Legian, the young staff member came over to help me get started. There was the usual login panel, but he quickly clicked open a master panel and got me online. ‘Okay’ I thought ‘I will just have to remember how many minutes I’m online by looking at the clock’. After several minutes he came back and said “Okay sorry, I must start the clock because you’ve been here for a while.” When it was time to pay, my bill was 4,000rp. I handed him a 10,000rp note and got 4,000rp back. “The clock said 4,000rp.” I said. “Yes but this is for the time before too.” he said. This is how he skims his boss, who only sees a list of people who have logged in under the customer profile. In this country, these kind of things going on everywhere and you have to have your wits about you.