He was told he had to pay RM2.60 for a US dollar and RM1.78 for a Singapore dollar. If he were to buy a lot of greenbacks, it could come up to a big sum.
That's the immediate impact of a weaker ringgit against the US dollar. It also means that Teh, who is going overseas, will have to pay more for his shopping.
Teh, a stock market punter, has also felt another pinch the prices of shares have plunged.
The high interest rates to prop up the currency is no good for the stock market, he was told by his remisier.
For the average Malaysian, that is the immediate impact of the attacks against the Malaysian ringgit, which has been headline news over the last two weeks.
Finger-pointing, with names openly mentioned, has been made against US based fund managers dabbling in foreign exchange as central banks struggle to defend flagging currencies.
The worst hit has been the Thai baht and the Phillipine peso. Indonesia's rupiah has also been hit by regional spillover sentiment.
Unlike in Thailand, the impact of the ringgit speculation is still negligible on Malaysian consumers unless the lower ringgit persists for a longer period.
Should that happen, according to economists, it would cost importers more to bring in their goods and the cost will be passed on to consumers.
In Thailand, motorists found they had to pay more for their petrol as foreign oil companies such as Caltex, Shell and Esso raised their retail prices. In the Philippines, consumers had to pay more for wheat.
Angry with rumours that its economy could collapse, Thai police raided the offices of two large foreign brokerage firms in Bangkok last week, saying they wanted to investigate whether these firms were responsible for talks that five banks would be shut down.
In Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian ringgit dropped to a 33-month low at RM2.57 against the US dollar earlier last Tuesday, before recovering to RM2.55. On Friday morning, it opened at RM2.58.
But, as in everything, there's a silver lining. A lower ringgit will make our local goods more competitive. It will also make Malaysia a more attractive place to visit.
Moreover, the ringgit is still one of the most stable currencies around.
On Friday, the Asian Wall Street Journal quoted economists as saying that the ringgit was not overvalued and was not expected to weaken significantly from current levels.
These speculators, who are said to make billions from such attacks, cannot be trading on the dollar-ringgit indefinitely.
There will come a time when they will move on and start selling.
For the average Ahmad, Ah Beng and Arumugam, they do not understand why TV and newspaper reports about the ringgit speculations use so much of economic jargon.
It does not help when ministers, bankers and the media fail to explain, in simple terms, how such speculations affect their daily lives.
For Teh, his family members have advised him to postpone his trips. They told him to check how many US dollars he has left in his bank safe deposit box.
His daughter, who is no economics expert but who understands the basics of making money, told him: “Sell your leftover US dollars from your last trip … make some money-lah.''
