I doubt many people pay cash anymore. But it always surprises me when a cashier can’t figure out math that I can figure out (and I am lousy at math). If the customer gives you a few pennies (well when they were still legitimate currency) it’s so they can get back quarters instead of pennies, nickels and dimes.
My first job was at the Dairy Queen and the boss had set it up so that the price of the item plus the 4% Michigan sales tax at that time would come out to an even number like 25 cents, 50 cents, a dollar even, etc. It didn’t work so well with multiple items but if you ordered only one thing. If it didn’t because of multiple items it was easy to figure that if the order came to say $1.26 that they don’t want 74 cents back so they’ll give you $2.00 plus a penny. So you give them back 3 quarters. But many cashiers that came after me couldn’t figure out what the extra penny was for.
The problem is, it’s not just doing math in your head. It’s doing math out of the blue, on the spot, while multiple people stare at you and blame you for the line slowing down, AND while also knowing that if you get it wrong, not only will you get yelled at by the customer, you’ll get in trouble that night when your register count is off.
When you’re at work, tired, and worn down from retail customers in general, standing on your feet for hours, then yeah, you’ll likely perform worse on a pop math quiz than the customer who is *expecting it* and *knows in advance what they want to happen* (getting back a certain amount in total or certain denominations of coins). Especially these days, when a cashier in training might not even see anyone pay with cash while they are being trained (or for weeks afterward), and might never have paid for anything in cash in their life, so they won’t get any guidance on what is supposed to happen.
Ironically now that pennies are no longer being minted, many stores ask that if you pay cash, you pay with the exact change so they don’t have to give you pennies back. I know some stores just round up or down but some don’t want to do that.
I doubt many people pay cash anymore. But it always surprises me when a cashier can’t figure out math that I can figure out (and I am lousy at math). If the customer gives you a few pennies (well when they were still legitimate currency) it’s so they can get back quarters instead of pennies, nickels and dimes.
My first job was at the Dairy Queen and the boss had set it up so that the price of the item plus the 4% Michigan sales tax at that time would come out to an even number like 25 cents, 50 cents, a dollar even, etc. It didn’t work so well with multiple items but if you ordered only one thing. If it didn’t because of multiple items it was easy to figure that if the order came to say $1.26 that they don’t want 74 cents back so they’ll give you $2.00 plus a penny. So you give them back 3 quarters. But many cashiers that came after me couldn’t figure out what the extra penny was for.
The problem is, it’s not just doing math in your head. It’s doing math out of the blue, on the spot, while multiple people stare at you and blame you for the line slowing down, AND while also knowing that if you get it wrong, not only will you get yelled at by the customer, you’ll get in trouble that night when your register count is off.
When you’re at work, tired, and worn down from retail customers in general, standing on your feet for hours, then yeah, you’ll likely perform worse on a pop math quiz than the customer who is *expecting it* and *knows in advance what they want to happen* (getting back a certain amount in total or certain denominations of coins). Especially these days, when a cashier in training might not even see anyone pay with cash while they are being trained (or for weeks afterward), and might never have paid for anything in cash in their life, so they won’t get any guidance on what is supposed to happen.
Ironically now that pennies are no longer being minted, many stores ask that if you pay cash, you pay with the exact change so they don’t have to give you pennies back. I know some stores just round up or down but some don’t want to do that.
Once I hit the button, that’s it, I don’t allow the cuntstomer to try and add coins after the fact, it’s a good way to avoid the shortchange thieves