Clerks that can't make change!

Grandson told me he stopped in at a local store in his area to make a purchase and his item came to $5.25, he handed the clerk a $10.00 bill and she gave him back 75 cents.  He told her she still owed him $4.00 and she told him, " No I don't," He looked at her in total disbelief and ask her, " Yes you do...how many bills did I give you?" She said, " One," then he said , " so you are saying I gave you a 6 dollar bill?" She said, "oops!"   LOL

I have had clerks ask me " Is that right?" @@

Molly

too funny. i am surprized she did say he had given her a $6.00 bill. give a clerk a $50.00 and watch them try to figure out the change. a $100.00 bill will really floor some clerks.

i know thati have to think twice when making change as simple math is very hard for me. i struggle with it but i do try.

LOL - I am totally amazed at how the 'younger' kids make change - I was taught to start from the pennies and work your way up - (makes sense to me)  .... now days, I see that they have to look at the cash register display to see what the amount of change is that they are to give back - and they start with the quarters and work their way down..... doesn't the school system teach them the basics of math any more?? 

TheSittyZoo

(makes sense to me)

Don't you mean it makes CENTS to you?

The school system doesn't take the time any more to do diddly squat in teaching even basic math, reading, and writing. I get so floored at how children are passed through the system. Plus many students do not have parents at home to help them. Because the parents are economically working or doing their own thing, and many students are not even taught the basics school stuff at home or have help with homework or have it checked by a caring parent. This has been a problem for 30 years or more. I know for I have worked in the system of helping students learn even the basics or help them with math and other things of school, because no one else cares.

I remember when a family member was with another friend who wanted a $1.00 lotto ticket. The clerk looked at them and didn't know how much the $1.00 lotto ticket cost at the cash register. The family member and friend made the manager aware of the clerk not even knowing what a $1.00 lotto ticket cost.

I have witnessed many times where people young or old can not count. If they don't have a computer, calculator, or cash register or brains they just look at you with this deer in the head light look!

How many of you really count the change you are given to see if it's right? How many clerks even count out the change any more back to you? I see them just look at the amount at the register to return and plop! it into your hand with no counting it out in your hand.

enjoynature

How many of you really count the change you are given to see if it's right?

enjoynature

How many clerks even count out the change any more back to you?

I teach counting back change! I work at a private school and the students learn the basics.  Our philosophy is one that how can you do more complicated, critical thinking without knowing the basics?  We start counting back change in 2nd grade.  I tell the students that they are learning something that many adults do not know! (They love that!) I bought a latte at a coffee shop for $3.25.  I gave the gal a $5.00 and she used a calculator to figure out the change!

RidingintheRain

I bought a latte at a coffee shop for $3.25.  I gave the gal a $5.00 and she used a calculator to figure out the change!

Truthfully, I would find it a bit annoying to have the line held up while the clerk counts each person's change out to them, penny by penny.

And it wouldn't reassure me, since that's not how I do it in my head.  I subtract.  If my bill is $6.42 and I hand the clerk a $10, I'm thinking... $4 less $0.42 is $3.58.  So I'm expecting three dollars, two quarters a nickel and three pennies.  I'll mentally adjust if I get a pile of dimes instead of the quarters.

I'm not thinking, and one, two three, makes $6.45, and five cents makes fifty, and fifty makes $7, and one, two, $3 makes $10.  That's not how I think it, so it's not how I expect the clerk to think it.  Doesn't make Sitty wrong to count it her way, but neither am I wrong to count it my way.


On the other hand, I'm mildly dyslexic (or dis-numeric, I guess), and so are many people, so I don't look down on people who use calculators and get the right result.  If it works, if you get the correct change back, that's what matters.

I usually get the right change, but the way they give it to me really irks me. It is very hard to handle coins placed on top of bills. Please give me the coins first or separately..

If your purchase ends in pennies like $11.43 and you give them a twenty plus the three pennies, unless the register tells them how much change to give....and most do now days....they are completely lost. Can't figure out to just deduct the three cents from the bill and go from there. They are not taught how to count change back into the customer's hand. If the power goes out....and I've been in stores and restaurants when that has happened....they are unable to proceed until it comes back on. No way would I leave the register without counting the money in my hand. I have found too many mistakes especially when the register does not tell them how much to give back. If that takes three more seconds, tough. Back in the eighties a very young lady....still in h.s. .....was working in the restaurant I was working in on a temp basis just to help out the manager who was a friend of mine. This girl was trying to subtract in her head to give the change and was doing a pretty bad job of it. Never had it right on the nose and the customers were complaining. I had to keep her off the till because we were responsible for shortages and no way was I going to pay for her mistakes.

When I was in second grade we played store. The teacher brought all kinds of empty food containers from home, lined up a shelf, and we purchased items, paid for them and learned how to count change back. The calculator has taken the place of thinking on your own.

My very first job was when I was 14 and worked in the grocery dept of a dept. store.   Our cash registers were not electric.   I punched in the amount and pulled the handle for each item.   At the end, I hit "total" and pulled the handle again.   Then I counted out the change to the customer.   Years later, I worked as a cashier in a big supermarket and we did have electric registers!   But they didn't make change like they do now.   I counted out the change to each and every customer, and didn't put the money they gave me into the drawer till the customer was satisfied they got the right amount back.   That was the standard way of doing it, so I could prove what they gave me.   Now the clerks put the money in the drawer before they even get the change out.

Many of my customers had no clue how much change they should get if they gave me a $50 or $100 bill.  So I gave them back the $100 in smaller bills and had them pay me with an amount they felt comfortable with.   Actually saved a lot of time that way.  

Try asking some of these clerks to count your money back to you --- and the fight is on!

I don't think it's such a horrible thing that clerks don't know how to count change if the register does it for them.  And it's rather silly to insist that they count it back to you, when you can see the register displaying the change amount just as easily as they can. 

Besides, who the heck uses clumsy, cumbersome cash in this day and age??

I think it's great that RtR is teaching change counting to 2nd graders, because it's a concept best instilled while people are young.  Counting change (counting UP) is exactly the reverse of how children are taught math.  Subtraction is counting DOWN and that is the basic thing that lodges in people's minds.  I didn't learn to count change until I was 16, and it still gives me trouble on occasion.  The concept is simple enough, as long as people keep it simple. You owe a dollar and 53 cents.  You give me two dollars.  I can count your change back to you.  Maybe you're not wanting to carry as much change, so you give me two dollars and 3 pennies.  I can count your change back to you.  But maybe you're a smartass who gives me, for no earthly reason, 2 dollars and a nickel.  Up yours!  I can't figure out what to do with the extra 2 pennies, and there is no reason I should have to! 

cast_iron_king

And it's rather silly to insist that they count it back to you, when you can see the register displaying the change amount just as easily as they can.