The Chick Filet's Guide to the Economy

[An Haddock]

This was an odd exchange.

Went to the Chick Filet last night (apologies to the LGTB members/supporters in the audience, but sometimes a brotha just wants a damn chicken sandwich)

Total was $9.84

I had literally just finished cleaning out my car's center console moments before heading there, so I had a bunch of extra change in my change bin that I had found amongst the bank receipts, petrified french fries and Asian masseuse business cards.

I paid the girl with a $20 bill plus (I thought) .84 cents.

Get my food from another kid. Wait for my change.

She hands me a $10 bill and .83 cents.

lolwut

"Did I not count that correctly?" - maybe I'd inadvertently dropped a coin or didn't grab one.

"You only gave me .83."

"Um... I could have given you the extra penny."

I was more in a state of shock, plus a state of sadness and depression for our educational system. As I was in the drive-thru and it was the middle of dinner rush, I didn't want to waste the time of anyone behind me. And I didn't want the cashier to get in trouble. I've done my time in fast food. I sympathize for anyone who does that for a living. It's usually a thankless ballbuster of a job.

I pull away and do the math. I got my .83 cents back, but if my order was $9.84 - anyone? Bueller? Bueller? I got shorted .16 cents. Again - not going to start something over a miniscule amount of change (unlike some SC's I've read about on here who have a kitten over .04 or similar idiotic amounts they've been shorted) but it was just a weird, funny exchange. For the life of me I can't imagine what the girl was thinking... I had a multitude of pennies I could have given her. Were her math skills really that sucky? She couldn't figure out that if I gave her $20.83 that the intention was to get a $10 back, and all she needed to do was ask me for one more penny? I was horrible at Algebra in high school, but I know basic math.

At least it was a pretty good chicken sandwich.

[cindybubbles]

Actually, if you put $20.84 on a $9.84 tab, you would expect to get $11.00 back, not $10.00.

But since you put $20.83 on a $9.84 tab, you would expect to get at least $10.99 back, right?

But if she gave you $10.83 in change, instead, well, yes, you would be shorted 16 cents.

[bainsidhe]

Were her math skills really that sucky?

Possibly, yes, although that likely had little to do with the transaction. Registers nowadays do the calculations, so a cashier simply needs to type in the amount they were handed and then give back the amount of change the register tells them to. It's sad, but counting back money is a skill that has gone to the wayside.

[Seanette]

I get a fair number of customers (usually older ones) commenting on how impressive they find it that I count change back.

[winner every time]

I had to post void a sale once, because my cashier accidentally exact tendered when they were given a large bill... instead of counting back the change, they re-rang the sale so that the register could tell then how much to give back... and they have calculators in their reg kits too...

[BrenDAnn]

And this would be why I taught myself to count change. It's almost becoming a lost art, I swear. The more the machines do it for people, the less they learn how. Sorry about your getting shorted!

[An Haddock]

Actually, if you put $20.84 on a $9.84 tab, you would expect to get $11.00 back, not $10.00.

But since you put $20.83 on a $9.84 tab, you would expect to get at least $10.99 back, right?

But if she gave you $10.83 in change, instead, well, yes, you would be shorted 16 cents.

Just realized my own math error - I had meant that I intended to get back $11.00... but I did have the excuse of posting at 6 in the morning on a minimum of sleep yesterday. I'm lucky I didn't fall asleep halfway through posting and start rambling about unicorns and chocolate cake and tree monsters. Yeah - I have weird dreams.

And this would be why I taught myself to count change. It's almost becoming a lost art, I swear. The more the machines do it for people, the less they learn how. Sorry about your getting shorted!

The day that .16 cents makes that much of a difference in my life is the day I switch jobs, retire, or start selling shrimp out of the back of a van. I refuse to be like one of these old biddies who has a coniption fit when a teller shorts them by 2 cents.

[Monterey Jack]

And this would be why I taught myself to count change. It's almost becoming a lost art, I swear.

Often, I'll give a cashier some bill larger than the total amount (let's say a $10 for something that costs $7.86 after taxes), and I'll add an additional .11 cents, and more often than not, the cashier will look confused or sometimes even try to hand the additional change back(!), until I patiently tell them that the additional eleven cents is so that I can get a quarter back instead of a dime and four pennies. It's like, you don't even have to do the math in your head, just punch it in and the register will TELL you how much to give back! I always need quarters so I can do my laundry, so if I have enough miscellaneous change in my pockets to round off to twenty-five cents, I will.

[gremcint]

look normally I wouldn't do this but now multiple people are making this mistake and this thread is literally about math money errors and it's making my eye twitch.

.11 or .16 cents is less than a penny.

.11 dollars = 11 cents so .11 cents = .0011 dollars

no big or anything.

[cindybubbles]

look normally I wouldn't do this but now multiple people are making this mistake and this thread is literally about math money errors and it's making my eye twitch.

.11 or .16 cents is less than a penny.

.11 dollars = 11 cents so .11 cents = .0011 dollars

no big or anything.

Oh, man, I can't believe I just fell for that! Missed the decimal point completely, too!

No wonder so many people are in debt these days! They forgot how to do basic math, like decimal points!