Learning to count back should be a basic math skill. Sadly, it is no longer taught. I have a great time when I volunteer at the school store and count back money to students and parents who are most generally awed that this is even possible. My first retail job at 10 left no doubt in anyone's mind that being able to make change WITHOUT the cash register was a prerequisite to USING the register.
My peeve?
Cranky customers that are irritated that their time is being wasted by the clerk or cashier who is treating the customer in front of them with dignity and respect.
You know -- that rare breed that still remains in retail and does things like:
Greeting the customer -- with eye contact and a smile. Checking on how they want their goods packaged. Treating the purchased goods carefully. Answering any questions and checking in with the customer to make sure they were able to find everything they were looking for. And counting back change, or checking the driver's license to ensure the person with the credit/debit card is who should have the care, or the person purchasing certain items is actually legally of age to do so . . .
Yeah -- customer service.
Once upon a time, other customers didn't grudge the person in front of them a little bit of customer service. Or the little bit of time it took them to put away their change and/or checkbook, etc.
Nowadays, people are grumpy and pushy and irritable and just plain rude.
quote:11.15 would get you four singles and two quarters.
12.15 gets you a five and two quarters.
And $12 will get you a five, a quarter, and a dime. Do you really think it's that much easier to grab a quarter than a dime? In fact, a dime is lighter!
I'm a bartender. I deal with cash all the time. I've found that people fishing for that extra 63 cents are really not concerned with making things easier or faster. They just want to use up change.
Just take the change and save it en masse for a vacation.
Posts: 5264 | Registered: Jul 2002
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quote:Oh oh, another shopping thing that bothers me: when both of the people in front of you in the 15 Items or Less line at Safeway has obviously more than 15 items. I didn't think running in to buy a half gallon of vanilla ice cream for my milkshake would take more than ten minutes.
I intentionally went to the express line with more than 15 items yesterday for the first time ever.
They only had the express line and self-service lines open, and the express line was empty.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Oh, the change/bills/receipt thing is definitely not my biggest problem . But it IS an issue -- it has caused me many dropped quarters, for instance, in drivethrough lanes. It keeps me from easily counting to make sure I got the proper amount of change back. I always get a little defensive when someone says about an admittedly small gripe: "that doesn't seem like a big problem." No, it isn't, but it DOES bother me. So I try to fix it -- intelligently and politely, but firmly. Nothin' wrong with that, is there?
Posts: 628 | Registered: Nov 1999
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quote:And $12 will get you a five, a quarter, and a dime. Do you really think it's that much easier to grab a quarter than a dime? [Razz] In fact, a dime is lighter!
They ARE! But infinitely less useful - dimes rarely work in gumball machines, laundry machines, etc. Also, the smaller the coin, the easier it is to lose forever into the abyss of the couch/jeans pockets/hobo cups, and the dime is the smallest of them all! Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:Okay, I don't think I understand why you'd give her $12.15. Maybe $11.15, if you wanted a $5 bill back, or $10.15, if you didn't mind singles, but what did you want back for $12.15? One of those singles is just going to come back to you.
????
11.15 would get you four singles and two quarters.
12.15 gets you a five and two quarters.
Oh. Duh. Bad brain day again. I've been having a lot of those, lately.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
I have worked in CS for years, usually with cash handling as part of it, and there is a very good reason why we do this.
It isn't that we can't count, stories to the contrary notwithstanding.
It's because most customers can be really dumb.
They constantly get pissy because THEY can't count, and now days need the receipt to tell them what the proper amount of change is for their transactions. I see it day in and day out. Not everyone, but most people prefer to have it handed to them at once, so they can verify the amount with the receipt.
You don't. That's fine.
I hand people their receipt and change, counting to one, then count back the amount owed to them. NOT to the original amount given, because believe it or not they usually get confused when I try that.
I say " Your change is -----" then hand them the receipt to show them I am right. Then I had then their change, and count back the amount OWED to them.
People have even gotten pissy about handing their change BACK to them, hand to hand. That is why some places put the change right on the table/counter....to avoid ridiculous claims about "how" someone touched their hand.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
There are a couple of shops in my neighborhood where it is considered the proper etiquette not to hand the money to the cashier or customer. You put the money on the counter and let them pick it up. If someone puts out their hand palm up to receive change, the appropriate maneuver is to hold the change a little above their hand and drop it so that it falls into the hand. Then you take the bills and hold them at one end so that the person can take the other end. It is considered to be a faux pas if you accidentally graze the other person's hand with your finger. If this happens, you are likely to see both hands leap back as if burned, with a murmured "I'm sorry".
But then again, I live in an alternate universe where these things are possible. Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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I think the cashiers who get upset when you give them extra money are the exception. I can only remember a handful of times when cashiers got upset about it or even rolled their eyes. If I give them extra coins or extra bills, they know it's because I want my change back a certain way.
I do hate it when they give your change back with the coins on top of the bills, though. Especially in drive-throughs and toll lanes.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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quote:Not everyone, but most people prefer to have it handed to them at once, so they can verify the amount with the receipt.
I worked in retail for a year (which is nothing on you, I know), but nothing in my experience led me to believe that people prefer the method you describe. Neither me, nor my friends, nor my family prefers that method.
I would guess that people are more concerned with their change depending on how large of a purchase it was.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: There are a couple of shops in my neighborhood where it is considered the proper etiquette not to hand the money to the cashier or customer. You put the money on the counter and let them pick it up. If someone puts out their hand palm up to receive change, the appropriate maneuver is to hold the change a little above their hand and drop it so that it falls into the hand. Then you take the bills and hold them at one end so that the person can take the other end. It is considered to be a faux pas if you accidentally graze the other person's hand with your finger. If this happens, you are likely to see both hands leap back as if burned, with a murmured "I'm sorry".
But then again, I live in an alternate universe where these things are possible.
And where what you describe only happens if the cashier and the customer are of different genders.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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In fact, a dime is lighter!
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. But it IS an issue -- it has caused me many dropped quarters, for instance, in drivethrough lanes. It keeps me from easily counting to make sure I got the proper amount of change back. I always get a little defensive when someone says about an admittedly small gripe: "that doesn't seem like a big problem." No, it isn't, but it DOES bother me. So I try to fix it -- intelligently and politely, but firmly. Nothin' wrong with that, is there?
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