This afternoon I stopped by a petro station to fill-up my moto. The Cambodian currency is called Riel, but the US Dollar is still preferred. So, when you go to the petro station (where attendants always pump the petro - no self service pumps here) the attendants prefer that you tell them how much you want in USD. But today, I asked for 10,000 Riel (Dop Palm) - the equivalent of $2.50 USD. The attendant looked confused and although he took the Riel he only set the pump for $2.13. After he finished pumping I said I wanted $2.50 and that began about 60 seconds of a very unusual conversation where we both agreed that 4,000 Riel was $1 USD, but he seemed clueless as to why I should get more petro and then when I pointed to the pump showing $2.13 he pressed a button that erased the entry. I continued to stand there and then he entered in .37 cents onto the pump and asked if that was what I wanted. (He obviously was much better at math than he was letting on.) As I left I thought that it would have been much easier to have just left and not draw attention to what we both knew was an intentional action on his part. But then I thought that this is the kind of thing that cannot be tolerated whether it is 37 cents or thousands of dollars. Corruption is corruption whether it is a pump attendant for 37 cents, a factory owner not paying workers their due overtime, or a government skimming money from businesses.
And yes, $2.50 really does fill up a moto tank.
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