This is simple to deal with. Tell the cashier to just punch in the numbers and see what happens. Then, when it works out nicely, I tell them "Look. I know this can be confusing. I know that if I make a mistake, it's no big deal, but if the cashier makes a mistake, sometimes people make a big deal out of it. So just punch it in and don't worry.

I've also had people give me back change that includes change for a dollar.

Today's Quiz: what's the largest amount of money that you can have in change where you can't make change for a dollar? How is that possible?



Yeah, the smartass answer is any change in foreign currency.

I went to a Burger King once and paid in cash. When the transaction was over, I handed the girl a (fake) $1 million dollar bill that I had with me, and asked if she had change. She took a couple looks at it, and then said, “Hold on I will find out.” At that point I was so embarrassed for her that I just drove away from the window.

It's common around here, but that may be due to the fine education provided by the Milwaukee Public School System. She was only off by a quarter but I remember being able to count early on- she must have been at least 18.

Older people generally know how to count change, but we were taught to do this.

Even old registers, like the ones made by the National Cash Register Co, could show the change- setting the tax and using the correct buttons is all that's required and they even had lettered buttons at the left side, for different types of sales (taxable, deposits, refunds, non-taxable). At the end of the day, it would show the totals for each. I worked at a music store in the '70s and that's what was used for all sales.

If there's a shortage of $10 bills, it's because the banks don't request them.

Referring to the original post, this move WILL present a larger profit, and it's not something new.

Just like "gift" cards, there will always be some portion that doesn't get used, and other part of this is that they have your money in their bank account until it does get used, so the interest thing comes into play.

End of that story.


Regarding the counting back up change and the youth of America?

No one is training them to do this this right way. I blame the management that never learned how to do it right, more than the young cashiers just starting out.

For me, they do not get the chance to put change on top of bills and receipt. I refuse to let it happen. I take the opportunity to teach them the right way.

Sometimes they get the DUH look, and sometimes they actually understand.

Correct.

There could be local factors that cause this, too.
I live in Southern California, and shortage of tens was widespread and ongoing for years and years. A reason finally hit me one day when I went to Disneyland. At that time, parking was ten bucks. ATMs gave out twenties. The parking attendants each had their own wad of ten buck bills. I just figured Disneyland put in a strong, repeated request for all the tens that were to be had in the area. (Parking is now $25.)

On another note, I once thought to ask at my bank if they had any two dollar bills. The "banker" looked. She had $160 in new, sequentially numbered twos. These made a nice Christmas gift. They weren't expensive, and everyone gets some kind of reaction when they pay with a two. I gave my kids fifty bucks each.

Which, by the way, shows that two dollar bills are not only still around, they're still being printed.


It would be ludicrous to blame the novice cashier. Counting out change COMPLETELY falls under the purview of the employee whose job it is TO TRAIN new employees.

How do you stop them from doing it that way? When they start to put bills in your hand, do you pull your hand away and yell "GIVE ME THE COINS FIRST!" ?

I thought I was the only guy who was willing to break the barrier from customer to employee down to person to person. Kudos to you.

A little nicer than that, but along those lines.

I pull my and back and ask it they would please put the change in this hand as I extend one hand, and then ask them to please put the bills and receipt in this hand as I extend the other hand.

Usually that gets a quizzical look, and then I explain why it needs to be done that way

Ask one of these novices if they've ever had the change fall all over the counter, floor or whatnot, and they will then get it.



As a sidebar to this stupidity, I once had a young gal at a drive through window, hand the change on top of the bills, which sent the change all over the ground.

Her comment? "Oh my, What do we do now?".

My reply? "Well, I guess you will need to give me my change properly, and then get the manager to pick up all those coins.".

You know how to keep from dropping change or confusing the walking dead running registers? Use a debit card. Even better is self checkout with a debit card. Then you don’t even have to interact with the future leaders of the free world.

BINGO!!! WINNER EINNER CHICKEN DINNER!

The future of our world is hell bent on building a future of ZERO human interaction, so they don't have to deal with their feelings or anxieties.

The freeking carton Wall-e is not to far off from our future.

Self Checkout - our service is so bad, here's a way to avoid it.

And now, rather than wait until the end to get frustrated with our horrible scanning equipment, you can carry one around the store and watch your blood pressure increase as it fails on every other item.

What? you didn't plan ahead and bring your own reusable save the planet bags, you horrible person.

The only thing that gives inept cashiers a run for their money is inept people at self-checkout. Standing there with their freakin' phone up to their ear, not paying attention to a damn thing and looking at me like I'M the bad guy for making a comment when they're making 15 people wait. This happens often at a grocery store, although it's better now that they added four machines. They used to call it 'The Speed Zone' and originally had a ten item limit, but they removed the signs and no longer have limits.

I was always terrible at math. K thru 2 i was at one school where we worked on addition, subtraction, multiplication, division. Then we moved to a school where the kids were doing fractions. I had a real problem paying attention to things that were boring so i was always behind. It took me 4 years of high school to finish 2 years of math. I didn't really understand fractions until i started buying/smoking marijuana.

But...

I could count money when i was 5. You basically just need to be able to count from 0-100 and you have completely mastered the art of change giving. If i can do it anyone can.

I don’t run across all the change problems you guys mentioned. They just make my subs upside down. The only form of payment I have a problem with is people paying by check in any check out line. Still happens too often in a grocery store. With prices there today, we should go communist and just have our pay checks directly deposited there and get what is left as change back.

Fixed it Fins. Coherent now?

Fixed it Fins. Coherent now?