Most recent horror story

[Lms526]

I work as a cashier in a major department store. This past Tuesday I had a horrible experience with a customer.

It was an lady and a kid about 10 or 11. I'm guessing it was probably her grandson. The lady was probably in here 50's. I rang her up and gave her back her change, which was 97 cents. All of the sudden, I hear change clanging on the counter next to the bag holder. I thought she'd dropped it, so I bent down to help her pick it up. She screams at the at the top of her lungs. "Keep your hands off it! I'm counting it! Don't touch it!" Then she proceeds to pick up each coin one at a time and says "25, 50, 75, 85. 95, 96, 97. Thank you for my change!" Then she storms off. From across the store I hear her say to the kid "They are supposed to count the change back to you."
Seriously? What cashier counts back the change? Bills yes, but not the change! I have a pretty thick skin, you have to if you work in retail. But this lady upset me so much I was on the verge of tears. I am not someone who cries very easily. It takes a LOT to get me upset enough to cry. But this is the second time at my current job that I've almost been brought to tears by a customer. The store manager, the front end supervisor, and my boss could all see I was clearly upset. I actually had to excuse myself from the register for a few minutes, go into the bathroom and pull myself together. I am so done with retail. I want to get a different job.

[EricKei]

You're among friends here Vent away.

And, Welcome aboard!

[Sapphire Silk]

Maybe in the Great Depression, when every penny counted, did cashiers count coin change back to customers. It's the 21st century, you old bat. Don't sweat the small stuff.

to

[emax4]

While at work I was thinking of this story and thought to myself that I would have replied, "what do you mean 'supposed to'? Corporate designs approves the policies m'am, not the customers, and corporate says I don't have to count the change." then I got to thinking of how long the line would keep growing if I'm not keeping it moving, and would have said something that I'd rather lose one customer and keep the 4 in line happy than lose the four in line to keep one customer happy.

[Argabarga]

I've found no real consensus.

Sometimes, they'll count back my bills and change

Sometimes, they'll count bills, but not change

Sometimes, they'll count change, but not the bills.

Sometimes, they don't count either, especially when the register has the automatic change-tosser dishy-thingy.


Probably a bygone artifact of the days before automatic calculators when such was just a way to check everyone's math. I don't bother to really pay attention, it's just a ritual at this point, I really don't believe anyone out there is deliberately trying to short me, and if it happens, it's just an accident that will inevitably even itself out at some point down the line when I get too much back, like when the soda machine gives you the extra quarter, for whatever reason.

[AnaKhouri]

I've always counted bills but not the change. No one has ever lost their shit over it before. Although, I have always worked in specialty stores (a bookstore, right now) so people who are there probably have at least some disposable income and don't have to keep track of every penny.

Still, what a harpy, screaming like that. She could have nicely told you she was counting it instead of acting like you were a thief or contaminated or something.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I figure if my change needs counting, I'm capable of counting it myself.

On the flip side, does the customer count out the change when they give it to the cashier?

[Catwoman2965]

I've always counted bills but not the change. No one has ever lost their shit over it before. Although, I have always worked in specialty stores (a bookstore, right now) so people who are there probably have at least some disposable income and don't have to keep track of every penny.

Still, what a harpy, screaming like that. She could have nicely told you she was counting it instead of acting like you were a thief or contaminated or something.

I do this too. we don't get many cash sales in my store, but I'll hand it back and say "five, six, seven, eight and 16 cents" or something to that effect. and if I'm paying cash, and getting change back, i don't care whether its counted back or not. i dump it in my purse, so even if it was short, its less than a dollar, and I won't know anyway as it all collects in the bottom.

Try not to let the customers get to you. Just kill them with kindness, and ignore the rudeness. that being said, there have been days wher I want to cry as well. It happens.

[MelindaJoy77]

I figure if my change needs counting, I'm capable of counting it myself.

On the flip side, does the customer count out the change when they give it to the cashier?

Actually, in my area we have a large population of non-English speakers who will take for-e-ver and count out all their bills and change to me (which is kind of irritating because then I have to pick it all up and count it myself because I feel weird if I don't count it). They're really in favor of having exact change whenever they can.

When I'm the customer, if I feel the need to count my change I will do this after I've stepped away from the register so as not to hold up the line.

[Sleepwalker]

It's a good way for people with not-so-solid cash handling skills to keep track of transactions, but for people with better cash skills, and amounts small enough not to attract fast change scammers, it's a waste of time.

[EvilEmpryss]

My first job was at a little Mom and Pop restaurant, and Mr Metcalf was serious about making sure we counted back change properly -- as in "Okay, $2.57 out of $10. Forty-three makes three," drop the coins in their hands and then start counting bills "four, five, and five is ten. Have a nice day!"

As anal as he was about that, he never insisted that we count back the coins, and I'm pretty sure he grew up during the Depression. There's just some things that aren't worth doing. What a bitch.

[Jester]

I have to pick it all up and count it myself because I feel weird if I don't count it...

It's not about feeling weird or not feeling weird. If you are responsible for a till/register/drawer/bank, YOU are responsible for it. Not the customers who count everything out exactly, not the customers who just hand you the money blindly, not your coworkers, not your manager, not the janitor, not even Batman. YOU. You alone. So if the drawer is off, who is held responsible by management? Right: you.

So you SHOULD be counting any and all moneys that go into or out of the drawer. I certainly do at my job. Hell, when I'm getting change for a customer or one of the servers, I take the large bill they've given me, count the smaller bills out of the drawer to myself at the drawer, and then hand it to them by counting it out to them. "One, two, three, four, five, ten, and ten is twenty."

Why? Because until the point of the day at the end of my shift where my manager says to me, "Your drawer is good," it's my damn responsibility.

So...anyone wanna guess how often my drawer is off?

[Sheldonrs]

...So...anyone wanna guess how often my drawer is off?

Depends on how much you've had to drink.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Depends on how much you've had to drink.

And you owe me a new laptop, Sheldon.

Pics or it didn't happen, Jester!

[Argus]

So...anyone wanna guess how often my drawer is off?

Probably less often than one cashier I interacted with. The manager had to step in the time I was buying something, but afterwards I concluded that her system for handling cash payment was this:

Accept the cash.
Hit the "CASH" button on the register (because ... it's cash!)
Put the cash in the drawer.
Look at the last money amount on the receipt.
Give that amount as change.