Phone-shop-man

My telephone bill was due at the end of July. I went into the Chinacom shop to pay, as that's the way it works here.

I gave the phone-shop-man my telephone number and he typed all my details into the computer. "How much do I owe?" I asked him.

"Don't know. It's past the 1st so I can't see your bill."

At this point I realised that I would have to guess how much I owed. After a few weeks in China this is the logic one comes up with. Sometimes it works.

I handed phone-shop-man 300 RMB (RMB =Yuen =  Kuai)

He typed on his keyboard for a minute or so and then asked "Invoice or receipt?" pointing at to two piles of blank forms behind him. One white pile. One pink pile.

"What's the difference?" I asked.

"I...I can't tell you"  he replied with a blank stare. 

It was my move.

Something inside me told me receipt was the right answer.

"Receipt" I said. It was a 50 50.

"Receipt is for personal. Invoice is for business" phone-shop-man replied

I had guessed correctly.