Sales tax is not a new occurrence

[FenigDurak]

Here in Denver County there is a different sales takx rate on food and drink items than there is on non-edible items. 8.1% on food stuffs and 7.72% on the rest.

so I tried my best to go through all my drinks and candy bars to round out the price so that after tax it was a round number. Something that Docs and Nurses could toss at me as they go. Gum is $1 after tax, as are all the King Size candy bars. Bottled soda is $1.10, canned is $.80. All this after tax. Which means the prices listed on the case are $1.02 and $.74, etc.

Girl, my age (about 25ish) brings a can of Sunkist to the register. I scan it and tell her $.80 without even looking. Remember how I rounded down? Yeah.

G - Girl
Me- Hi there!

G- It says 74 cent. (Yeah, no plural there)
Me- That's before tax. After it's 80 cents. I rounded most of the prices down to avoid pennies. (typically thats all a customer needs to hear)
G- But it says 74.
Me- Right, but that's before sales tax.
G- This is a hospital, you can't charge tax.
Me- ?? Uhm, I'm required to.
G- Whatever. Take your 6 cents and shove 'em.


At least she can do basic math...

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Too bad you couldn't take that extra 6 cents and charged a Moron Tax.

Sideways, of course.

[Cia]

Okaaaay - she's a bright one there.

Just cause the hospital is sales tax exempt when it buys material doesn't mean that the gift shop/cafeteria doesn't charge sales tax.

[Jadedcarguy]

Interesting that you got it from a young person. I usually get it from the old farts in overalls.

Me: That part is $30 plus tax

OF: I'll take it

Me: Comes to $32

OF: You said $30!

Me: .....groan.....

[Hon'ya-chan]

Reminds me of the time I "politely" snapped at this one tourist:

Me: That'll be $XX.XX!!
SC: But I calculated $XX.XX!!
Me: You do know this state charges X.XXX%, right?
SC: Not in my state!!
Me: ... Well, welcome to XX, where we charge X.XXX%. It's $XX.XX. Cash or Charge?

[SnapAddict218]

Reminds me of the time I "politely" snapped at this one tourist:

Me: That'll be $XX.XX!!
SC: But I calculated $XX.XX!!
Me: You do know this state charges X.XXX%, right?
SC: Not in my state!!
Me: ... Well, welcome to XX, where we charge X.XXX%. It's $XX.XX. Cash or Charge?

Thats great!

[myswtghst]

I get people upset ALL the time because they forgot, even though our repair pricing is quoted $flatrate plus shipping, to count in the $$ under the PO# for shipping.

[SuperB]

Yeah I had a gem like that. Total comes up and the husband starts to question it when I said, "tax". The wife popped up from the counter she was inspecting said, 'no, we're from Oregon'.
"Yes and you're purchasing in California. You pay the tax based on where you buy not where you live."

[katie kaboom]

Gah, i have a story about taxes. Kind of the opposite of everyone else's stories.

Awhile ago i had a lady return a dress that, for whatever reason, she didn't get charged tax for. (don't ask me why or how that happened, as i have no idea.)

So i process the return and tell her to sign the signature pad. Well she starts in about how that amount isn't right, she should be getting blah blah blah back. I told her, no, there was no tax on this item, so you paid X dollars for it and so that's what you get back. So she kept arguing with me, and we went through this same conversation at least 3 times.

Finally i got annoyed enough to call a manager to come deal with it. So what does the manager do? Refunds this woman the tax that she never paid in the first place! Oh boy was i steamed about that one.

[LadyAndreca]

In New Jersey, there's no sales tax on clothes or grocery food, but there is on prepared foods. It confused me at first when I moved here (those $80 shoes aren't actually $86? Cool!), but I got the hang of it quickly. Still, some people who have lived here all their lives can't figure it out. You pay sales tax at the food bar. You do not if buying most things from the shelves.

We had one SC try to argue at the service desk that his box of x brand granola bars shouldn't have had tax on it. (Actually, it shouldn't have, but he didn't wind up coming to me--I know how to fix it--and was a total SC to the other girl so I didn't offer.) After a manager sent him away, he called the store when he got home and tried to whine to another manager instead. All over 7 cents from a box of cereal bars. *sigh*

Some days I just want to send some of these people to where I USED to live and have them deal with sales tax being taken not only by state, but by county and sometimes city too! (4% state...3.5% county...oh wait, this city has .5% tax too...) I used to calculate with 10% because it was easier than remembering what the tax was where.

[jb17kx]

Has it occured to anybody else here that a lot of this trouble could be saved by giving people the price after tax? It just seems strange to me that you endure so much asshatery when you could just label the item with the full price.

[LadyAndreca]

Has it occured to anybody else here that a lot of this trouble could be saved by giving people the price after tax? It just seems strange to me that you endure so much asshatery when you could just label the item with the full price.

Yeah, but it makes it seem cheaper if you put pre-tax prices on it. $14.99 sounds better than $16.04.

Also, many major stores put the price on their tags/labels, then ship the items all over the country. It saves THEM money if they don't have to print new tags for every variation of tax possible, then make sure the right label gets to the right city.

[Hon'ya-chan]

Has it occured to anybody else here that a lot of this trouble could be saved by giving people the price after tax? It just seems strange to me that you endure so much asshatery when you could just label the item with the full price.

I just usually say "It's XX.XX BEFORE Tax." Or if I know the price already i just up and say it.

[jb17kx]

Well, I suppose that the obvious solution in this circumstance would be to standardise sales tax across the country - but then it would probably end up being standardised as the highest level possible...
Ah well. At least I don't have to endure it - the only sales tax we have is 11% on certain goods, which is nationwide and included in prices.

[bigjimaz]

I sometimes get that online. They buy something for 30.00, pay shipping and handling of 10.00 then bitch when they get hit with 2.40 in tax I have to charge them because they live in PA too. I explain that it's the law and they still don't care. I had one guy who argued with me so long I told him that the only way that he is going to get his item without paying the tax was if he moved to New Jersey.