Change, change, everywhere there's change ...

[Pixelated]

This is not even remotely sucky ... it was pretty funny. But only because we weren't slammed at the time.

Two young girls come in and order a drink apiece. I ask if they want a cookie or something. They ask do I mind if they see how much money they've got.

Me: "Of course not."

At which point each girl, looking identically sheepish, pulls two handfuls of coins out their pockets.

Nickles, dimes, quarters ...

And the total of their bill was $11 and change.

Thankfully, as I said, we weren't slammed. There was one, maybe two, customers behind the girls.

"Here," I said, "Why don't you guys go over to one of the tables and count that. I'll ring you out later."

I took care of the other two customers and then the girls started coming back. "Here's one dollar" ... pushing some nickels and dimes across the counter ... "And here's two ... three ..." More nickels and dimes and a few groups of 4 quarters apiece ... oh, and ONE lonely little loonie ...

Eventually they reached their $11 and change total, and I rang out their drinks. And no, I did NOT try to count out all that change. If my till is short, they can take it out of my next paycheque, or my share of the next tip jar share-out.

As they were walking over to pick up their drinks, one of the girls (still a bit embarrassed) said, "Well, you can always use change ..."

"Yep," I said. "Next time somebody tries to pay for a coffee with a $50 bill ... I'm gonna hand AAAALLLLLL this back to them." (I'd had TWO people pay for their purchases with $50 bills today ... c'mon, people, GO TO A BANK ...)

They laughed, took their drinks, and left.

[Marmalady]

That reminded me of the time when I was working for the car parking department, when a taxi driver came in to pay a fine. Somewhat disgruntled at having to pay, he naturally thought he'd make a point (who to, I don't know - none of the office staff issued him with his ticket) by handing the whole amount over to me in change. At which I gave him a huge beaming smile, said 'Wow, change! Thank you so much, this will save us having to run over to the post office to get more!'

I then made him wait while I counted it out very slowly and carefully (twice) to make absolutely sure that he hadn't overpaid us, of course. You want to be awkward? Have it back with usury thereto, son.

[greek_jester]

Reminds me of the time I was temping at the Magistrate's Court and someone decided to pay their £1,000 fine in £5 notes. We ended up having 3 people count it out on the table in the middle of the office while he waited. I didn't count too fast; didn't want to miscount, after all!

[EricKei]

Marm, GJ - I love making them wait during the count. After all, it'd be a shame if you had to assess them a late fee because the money they brought was just a little bit short. Good incentive for them to stick around. That, and, if another customer complains about the wait, you can just say something like "Sorry about that, Sir! I just need to properly count all of this gentleman's payment to make sure he didn't give us too much! It's all in coins, so this may take a little while..."

[evilhomer]

I get rid of my change with my coffee. But I make a point of keeping the small coins to under 50 cents so that I'm not doing this kind of thing.

[Cecily]

I try not to overburden people with small change, it takes too much time to count. Whatever change is left in my pocket/purse at the end of the week goes into the "fun jar". Once a year, I roll up the change, go to the bank to get bills and go on a shopping spree at the comiccon(s) .

[wordgirl]

Cecily, my best friend does the same thing, only she does it every day. She never gives change, and dumps it all in the "fun jar." Usually by the time it's full there's enough there for something *REALLY* big.

And Pixelated, they probably really appreciated you being sweet about it. The days of piling up change on the counter are over for me but the fact that they were abashed about pulling out coins makes it into a cute story

[notalwaysright]

the fact that they were abashed about pulling out coins makes it into a cute story

Yes, and the fact that they were young... When grown people walk up to the counter and apologetically dump coins at the cashier, that's annoying. It's something I hope most people learn from and grow out of, but there's always those people who think nothing of adding extra work to the cashier and holding up the line.

[Sparklyturtle]

Once I had a huge amount of cash and checks after an estate sale. So, I made an appointment with the customer service person at the bank where the estate's account was, and we counted all that money and all those checks twice in a back room (and got the same total both times, so we must have done it right). This was a small bank in a very small town, so they probably wouldn't have been swamped even if I hadn't made an appointment, but I felt I should at least ask if I should. Not sure how I would have handled this with a bank in a large city, but, again, I'd at least call and find out what I should do.