Great Coffee And Bad Culture In Casablanca Airport

A barista thought must have thought that I was pretty stupid when offering me a criminal exchange rate when I bought a cup of coffee at the domestic terminal of Casablanca Mohammed V International Airport.

Barista Gives Me A “Preferential” Exchange Rate At Casablanca Airport…

The coffee was 27 Moroccan Dirhams. That’s about 3 USD (the exchange rate was 9.8dh to $1 at the time). There was a sign saying that USD and EUR were also accepted. Credit cards were not accepted.

I had just arrived in Morocco and had not changed any money yet. There were no currency exchange booths in the transit hall or domestic terminal, at least that I noticed.

So I handed over a 5 USD note.

He put it in the register and gave me no change.

Um, what?

I asked him for change and he shrugged like he suddenly did not speak English.

I said that $5 = 49dh, not 27dh.

A scowl spread on his face and he reached into the cash register and handed me a 10dh coin. I shook my head and he handed over another 5dh coin.

At that point, I let it go. It still represented a horrible exchange rate, but I wasn’t going to fight over 1 USD and I grant that the café is entitled to some margin on the exchange to compensate for having to exchange it into dirham later. But not a 100% premium!

At least the coffee was good…had he just given me my change, I may have tipped him more anyway…

I don’t know about you, but I find such conduct shameful…what better way to welcome visitors to your country than to try to cheat them over a cup of coffee?

It’s also an important reminder that to avoid exchange rate tricks, you should exchange money as soon as you land or better yet, in advance. That way you are prepared when places do not accept credit card. Credit cards are catching on in Morocco, but I still used a lot of cash during my trip…it’s like the rest of the continent in that respect.

This is part of my Return To Morocco trip report.