I had a gourmet breakfast this morning: A fast food breakfast burrito. (I know, I know) The service was quick, the person working the microphone spoke passable English, and I even remembered to ask for salsa. (Because what crazy person would expect salsa to accompany a breakfast burrito.)
Everything went swimmingly until I got my change back. The tiny window attendant stood on her tip-toes to reach out the window to hand me my change. She had it all stacked up in the following order: Bills on the bottom, then the receipt, and all the loose change on top. Now I’m sitting in my serial-killer truck (link) with my arm extended, holding a tower of change. I slowly bend my elbow to get my arm in the window, and all the change slides off the receipt and falls on the ground. And no, I do not have motor skill issues.
The cashier pretends she didn’t see, and quickly shuts the window. I try to open my door, but I am too close to the window. Just then a car pulls up behind me. Grrr! What to do? Nope. I didn’t have any answers either. So I pulled around again. Hey, it was almost a buck! That’ll pay for my afternoon beverage!
I pulled up to the microphone and a cheery voice asked if I would like to try the “spicy chicken combo” (at 7:00am) I said no thanks, and pulled up behind the car that was behind me. When they left, I pulled up, as far to the right edge of the lane as I could. Then I got out of the truck. Once again, the girl quickly shut the window, but this time she looked a little worried. I scooped up the change on the ground, got back in my truck and drove to work.
At a stoplight, I checked the change to see if I found it all. I did. In addition, I got an extra quarter, a dime and two pennies. Whoo-hoo! I figure the extra 37¢ was how much it cost to drive around the building the extra time. And I knew I was not alone.
The Book of Mormon talks about “Slippery Riches” but I don’t think this is what Samuel the Lamanite had in mind (Helaman 13:31). Since when did stacking the coins on top of the bills become the common way to give change? It makes no sense. My hand is built to hold coins in the palm, leaving my fingers free to grab bills and receipts.
I remember back in the olden days when I worked grocery and retail, we were taught to give change back carefully, and narrate the process. If the bill was $2.50, and they gave me a Five, I would count it back like this:
The total was $2.50. Here is 2.75 and 3, (Putting two quarters in the palm of their hand)
and here is 4 and 5 (Putting two dollar bills in their hand)
Is that so difficult?
Yeah, I think it is. I’m afraid that a lot of people don’t have the math chops to actually do this accurately. Unfortunately, when you get your change in a stack, you have no idea if it is correct. You either have to stop and count it with the cashier watching (and the people behind you waiting), or you just take their word for it and move on – balancing the stack as you leave the counter. The problem is, the change is often wrong. It happens to me all the time. I give a twenty, they treat it as a ten. They give too many, or two few dollars back. I’m not cranky enough to stop them and make them do it right, but I do watch very carefully and try and catch it when it happens.
Oh yeah. Debit card. Nevermind.
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Math? Isn’t that why they invented calculators and change machines? (just kidding) 🙂
One day I went grocery shopping with my cute little 4-month-old in tow. He made it the whole trip without fussing. I knew my luck would soon run out and that I needed to hurry and check out. I checked out successfully and the lady hands me my receipt…before I had swiped my card. (How do I get a receipt without paying?) The lovely lady didn’t end the transaction of the person in front of me…so that person just bought all my groceries. (A good weeks worth if not more.) I argued with the cashier that I really never swiped my card. (by now my little guy is screaming.) I looked at the receipt showed her all my cards and showed her that the last four digits didn’t match up. I had to unload my cart and re-scan EVERYTHING. Huge pain. Glad I was paying attention and caught the error! PS always make sure you leave with a receipt or you never know whose groceries you’ll end up buying 🙂
Why do we need math when we have computers for everything??
They don’t have the math chops to count change. You hit the nail right on the head. I firmly believe there should reach a point in schooling where kids are taught nothing but reading and practical math. “Oh, you’ve reached the 9th grade with no reading or math skills. Guess what you’ll be doing for the next 7 hours a day for the next two years before your legally allowed to quit school?”
Want to really have some fun? Pay for that $2.50 purchase with a 5 dollar bill and 2 quarters. It’ll take the average teenage cashier 5 minutes and a whole lot of encouragement to figure that one out.
I pay this way all the time and you’re totally right!
Paul:
Nice catch! You are absolutely right. So I went back and fixed the mistake – so now it looks like you don’t know what you were talking about in your comment. Awesome!
Thanks!
“(Putting three dollar bills in their hand)”
If you did that too many times, you’d get fired. When giving change from a five for $2.50, there should be only two bills… But, to your point, you’d have figured that out by counting back the change the way you explained!
I use exact change whenever possible — to get rid of coins in my pocket, and to avoid the wrong-change dilemma.
Wow, you’re still using cash? 🙂 the other day I was paying in cash at subway. My 3-year-old said, “what’s that?” that’s right, she didn’t know what money was.