Keep the change?

It wouldn't be so bad if I learned a little more Chinese. (EMC is offering a 6 month class this fall). "Hello" and "thank you" only go so far. And recognizing a few written words or symbols (person, big, exit, entrance, center, China, Yuan), doesn't really get you to the 3-6000 symbols needed to be literate.

After swimming tonight (with EMC), I decided to treat myself to an ice cream. Let me introduce you to the currency here in China. Everything is based on the RMB (Yuan). There are 1, 5, 10, 20 and 100 Yuan bills. Given the exchange rate 7:1, this means that 1 Yuan is about 15 cents. I've not seen any coins, though I think they exist. I picked out my ice cream treat (Unilever magnum, ) and attempted to pay 3 Yuan. That's what I had. The cashier couldn't make change and would not accept my 3 yuan for something that cost 2.5 Yuan. I tried again, saying its all I had. She would budge. Hmmm. I was flustered. She offered me a different ice cream treat and pointed to the price chart showing that this new one cost 3. No good. I don't want it -- it doesn't look good. I grab the magnum and try to pay 3 yuan, but that isn't going to work. So she finally gives me two magnums and says. "5". I pay her the 5 Yuan and am now stuck with two ice creams. Had I been quick, I would have handed her back the extra ice cream bar and left -- I'm not such a quick thinker, and since I hadn't yet had dinner, it wasn't too bad to have two ice creams instead.