give someone short change —(also: shortchange someone)
1. give a person less than the correct amount of money:
- After several rounds of drinks had been served, Sullivan accused Cook of giving him short change.
2. treat a person unfairly by not giving him what he deserves:
- The group feel they are given short change when it comes to being noticed.
give someone small change—give smb. coins of low denomination:
- By mistake, I gave some small change, in euros, to the waitress. She pointed this out to me and I forked out the pennies that were needed.