One day, on my way to Makkah with a friend, I stopped at a gas station to fill up my car. I asked the gas station attendant to fill the tank and when he finished, I gave him the money and waited for my change. Instead, the worker walked away. Thinking that he might have forgotten to give me my change, I called him back and asked for it. He looked at me surprised and said: "It is only one riyal!" I said: "Even though, I want my one riyal back." He gave me the one riyal and then I gave it back to him saying: "I do not want you to take my money behind my back, but I will give it to you with my full knowledge." After we left the gas station, my friend told me that thousands of people use these gas stations but not many ask for the exact change. My friend told me that this sort of thing is common in most stores where workers do not give small change to customers. What created this phenomenon is the carelessness of many people who think that there is shame in asking for small change. However, those who are unconcerned about small change will end up losing even more money in the future. I told my friend that I understood why some rich people are stealing millions, but I could not understand what a gas station attendant would earn from stealing small amounts. My friend laughed at me and said that small amounts add up and one day will be a large amount. I was reminded of this situation when I read a story of a charity commission in Jeddah that was able to collect SR6 million and pay the housing rent of the families of martyrs. The strange thing is that they collected the entire amount from the small change donated by customers of Panda supermarkets. Then I remembered my friend saying that small change would add up to large amount one day. I wonder why we do not ask for small change and donate it so that it can be used for a good cause? I know that our society is charitable and will approve such an initiative. I call on the Ministry of Labor and Social Development to adopt this as a social initiative and spread it everywhere.
