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It's not the cashier no doubt thought you were trying to scam her and I don't blame her a bit -what a ridiculous azz backward bizarre request- I had to read this several times to even comprehend wtf you were trying to accomplish-(and I'm still not sure).
Exactly. I had a hard time understanding what the OP was saying. When I first started reading the post, I thought it was going to be one of those cases where the item rang up as $4.04 and the cashier got confused when he handed her a $5 Bill and a nickel so he could get $1 and a penny back. But no, it wasn't anything like that.
In fact, it sounds to me as if it was the OP who made the process unnecessarily convoluted or that his own instructions to the cashier confused her. If you were owed $4 and change and wanted $5, what you normally do is give the change. You don't give an extra dollar. That's literally the opposite way that everyone else does it. If you don't want change, you give the cashier the change so you will only get bills back. You don't give an extra bill. It makes no sense to do that because the whole point of giving extra money is so you can get less change but OP was giving her an extra $1 bill which would've still given him a bunch of change, anyway? No wonder she was confused.
To make matters worse, the OP told the cashier that he was giving her a dollar to get back $5 when he would've been owed $5 plus the difference in change. So that must have confused the cashier even further, had her thinking, "Well, it sounds like he only wants $5 back but he would also be owed this extra change, too. Does he want the change or no?"
Last edited by EastFlatbush; 01-07-2018 at 09:52 AM..
I stopped doing this.... too many people were confused. I used to do it all the time. I have also handed people pennies when things were $1.79 (and I paid $2.04). They usually try to give me the pennies back. Like I gave them too much money.
You should visit Mexico. They abhor giving back change. We go 2-3 times a year and it's the same everywhere. You give them a $500 peso note for a $110 peso amount due and they'll ask if you have a smaller bill. Give them a $200 peso note and they'll then ask if you have $10 pesos. Nobody wants a $500 note (when the amount is less) and it's all many ATMs give out. We are constantly running out of smaller notes and coins for tips and taxis (who somehow never have any change at all).
This is about the inability of many of today's kids to perform basic arithmetic functions, despite the fact that this is supposed to still be taught in school, not YOUR unfamiliarity with how to use obsolete tools and devices.
LMAO, I'm close to retirement, have been in retail for most of my life and can do this kind of math in my sleep.
You do realize that doing this kind of math is pretty much obsolete, that it's not a skill set that gets used very often any more?
I doubt very much this is taught in school beyond perhaps a quick unit in elementary school that no kid today remembers or uses. My kids were allowed to use calculators in math classes starting in middle school and that's been a good fifteen years ago at least.
Right or wrong that's just how it is and it's silly to me to blame kids for not being proficient in a skill they have no need to use.
You should visit Mexico. They abhor giving back change. We go 2-3 times a year and it's the same everywhere. You give them a $500 peso note for a $110 peso amount due and they'll ask if you have a smaller bill. Give them a $200 peso note and they'll then ask if you have $10 pesos. Nobody wants a $500 note (when the amount is less) and it's all many ATMs give out. We are constantly running out of smaller notes and coins for tips and taxis (who somehow never have any change at all).
Gas stations routinely will ask to not break $50s or $100s, unless the sale is close to that. Why, because it will run their tills short. Gas stations have to make drops fairly regularly to avoid robberies. They have $50-100 in the till and then have to make drops for every $100 added in. Giving a $50 or $100 would zero out change unless we are talking a $50 bill for a $42 purchase.
Now to bring up a point in a series of different posts... Honestly, I was taught to countback while working at a major theme park. Through working in other locations, counting back that way is "too slow" amd not THEIR way. The reason is, the companies trade efficiency for speed. Most stores now want 40 items scanned per minute and faster transactions so they can increase sales volume. This means that they press buttons before you tell them $21. They see a Washington and another bill for a total of $10 and change and they think $11. Then you get mad because they inserted the wrong thing, even though they are working on speed more so than accuracy.
Right or wrong that's just how it is and it's silly to me to blame kids for not being proficient in a skill they have no need to use.
I know! Wouldn't it be annoying to have one of these people who are so proud of their stupid-pet-tricks from 1972 of 'counting money back' to be waiting on you?
What if there's a long line: "Let's see that's 96, 97, 98, 99, for $1, that makes $5, add another 5 and that'll be 10, here's a ten and now you have 20...."
It would be hard not to interrupt them and say- "just give me my money for Chrissakes".
I'm looking fwd to self check out, only. Everywhere. Then they can make snide remarks to the terminal scanning the items and dispensing change Efficiently.
"These damn kids are ruining everything I tell ya!"
Ha! Exactly.
If I want an even amount of change back (which is never) from a young cashier and I see the color leave their face, I just help them. There are people who purposely scam/try to confuse cashiers into giving incorrect change so I just assist them...not a big deal.
"you get 4.59 back, ma'am." "Ok, thanks. I'm going to give you .41 so you can give me a $5 bill. I hate change..." or whatever. Simple.
It's not that cashiers don't understand math; it's that change-making is a skill requiring practice to perform accurately and consistently. Very few people use cash to make purchases any longer, reducing the opportunities cashiers have to make change. If every person a cashier saw throughout a shift paid with cash, he or she would be making change easily by the end of the day.
I stopped doing this.... too many people were confused. I used to do it all the time. I have also handed people pennies when things were $1.79 (and I paid $2.04). They usually try to give me the pennies back. Like I gave them too much money.
I guess kids no longer have those cash register toys. And they don't play the bank game. Or even have piggy banks. I guess they have an allowance app or something.
People were getting confused because of your own confusion over how this system is supposed to work. You're only supposed to give extra coins when you don't have exact change and don't want to get nearly a dollar's worth of change back. For example, if something rings up as $3.02 and all you have is a $10 Bill, you give the $10 Bill plus a nickel, dime or quarter so you're not getting back 98 cents in change.
You're not supposed to be giving extra change for the reasons you're doing it. That's not why people came up with this system and if cashiers were getting confused it was because you were completely throwing them off with your own muddled take on it.
People were getting confused because of your own confusion over how this system is supposed to work. You're only supposed to give extra coins when you don't have exact change and don't want to get nearly a dollar's worth of change back. For example, if something rings up as $3.02 and all you have is a $10 Bill, you give the $10 Bill plus a nickel, dime or quarter so you're not getting back 98 cents in change.
You're not supposed to be giving extra change for the reasons you're doing it. That's not why people came up with this system and if cashiers were getting confused it was because you were completely throwing them off with your own muddled take on it.
Huh? I worked my way through college as a cashier (eons ago), and people rounded up to the nearest quarter all the time. Back in the stone age, when vending machines did not take credit cards, quarters were very convenient. Today, I imagine anyone living near a cash toll road would also find it handy to have a few quarters and probably does the same thing. I also imagine cashiers in the vicinity of toll roads are familiar with the practice and can do it easily.
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