I was at Target today and bought some items. The total was $13.87. I handed the (young) cashier a $20 bill and four $1s. She took the money, counted it, and said, "Sir, it's only $13.87." I quickly looked down, and then up (to calm myself :bang and politely said, "Yes, but I would like a ten-dollar bill back." She then proceeded to manually key in the amount tendered on the register like if I was the first person on the planet to pay a certain way to walk out with less loose bills. Is it justified to be upset (on the inside, I am never impolite to others) that some cashiers don't "get it?" It may be a generation thing with many now paying with debit/credit cards.
...or maybe she thought you made a genuine mistake in handing her too much. You can't really assume that she can read your mind and instantly know you did it on purpose because you dislike carrying around a larger number of bills. It would my guess (just my guess, no evidence to back it up) that probably around 80-90% of people she deals with would have given her a twenty. The fact that you gave more than that was therefore unusual, which prompted her to inquire if you had given her what you intended. Not to mention that her inquiry took all of two-seconds. Nothing to get upset over in my book.
I don't see why. People can hardly be held responsible for never having come across a certain custom.
I wouldn't get angry or annoyed... but I would probably quietly sigh to myself that something that should be really, really obvious to anyone with basic mathematic skills is, these days, completely over the heads of most cashiers.
I'd probably be thankful to the person, if I were the cashier. Much simpler to grab a $10 bill and 13 cents than a $5 bill, 2 $1 bills, and 13 cents.
Maybe she is new to this, so she didn't grasp the idea yet. I know most cashiers actually DO ask for extra money so they'll have easier to pay the difference.
Cashiers are not taught to count back change anymore. If you count back change it makes sense, if you are used to just looking at the computer output and not questioning it, then being given to much would be confusing.
Cashiers deal with so many people a day. Mistakes do happen where customer misheard the cashier and handed them the wrong money. I generally just key in what they handed me anyway just so i don't look stupid when I couldn't read their mind and figure out what they were doing and wait for the inevitable, "oh wait, i think i have a penny".
I recently bought an item at an office supply store, and paid with two $50 bills. The cashier made this huge display of holding them up, staring at them, than taking that pen and marking them, to see if they were fake. My change was something like $35. I wanted to ask her if I could borrow that marker, to see if my change was fake. I can see wanting to be cautious of counterfeits, but the way it was done, I felt like I was almost being interrogated...I think I'm buying one of those markers!
My grandma back in the 70's once told me she went to a McDonald's to get dinner for their family of two parents and my teenage dad and his three siblings. She said she walked in and was greeted by a 15-year-old and this was what ensued: "I need a dozen hamburgers." "So 10 would be..." "No, no a dozen." "Well that's ten, right? No, how many is a dozen?" "Twelve. I need twelve hamburgers." "Will that be for here or to go?"
Imagine if she would have asked for a gross of hamburgers. "So that'll be one?" "No, not a gross hamburger, a gross of hamburgers."
A lot of times when people hand me money I've already got the proper change figured out in my head for the smallest single bill that would cover the transaction. So when people start bringing out extra bills and coins to minimize their loose currency it messes up my calculations and I have to pause for a moment to recalculate.
At my work its all about speed, being handed a note of any denomination is faster than counting what you are given,or waiting for the customer to rake through coins. Personally, it annoys me when folks give me extra coins to get simpler change, cos it means i have to stop and think, and late at night with others waiting for the till its just a pain in the arse!! Also means they wont give tips
i am in that category lol. my maths is awful. i think im dyslexic though, but ive never really been tested haha. i get numbers mixed up a lot especially when someone give me their id lol. to op - i get given extra money sometimes but i never question it, just put it in my till and give them the right change.
It always makes me sad when the person working the register cannot do the math themselves if they accidentally just push cash. We went into this flea market once and there were too older teenagers running the register. The girl rang things up and it came to like 2.37 or something. I handed her a 5 and she just hit cash instead of 5.00 then cash so it did not show what change to get. She called her ?brother? to help and he got out paper and a pen, tried to figure it out that way a while then had to grab a calculator. I just hurt me because that was math my kid could do when she was five and these kids were well over three times that age. Sad
Or, you know. Most of the higher/newer bills have water marks, strips,and other protective things that can only be seen by holding them up to the light.
