Ever hear of a debit card??

[Pixelated]

So once again, yesterday, I had two people try to pay for relatively small purchases with big bills ... one with a $50 bill and one with a $100 bill!

As I've mentioned before, we don't keep $20 bills in our tills; they go into little locked boxes under the counter. In both of these instances, I didn't even have any tens in my till. So I started digging out the change ... in $5 bills ...

Only to get "I don't want all that!"

Then use a SMALL BILL or your DEBIT CARD, you moron. What kind of idiot thinks it makes sense to pay for a $5.50 coffee with a $100 bill??

Or, again, GO TO THE BANK THAT'S JUST ACROSS THE STREET.

I need to keep that in mind for future use ... start hauling out a fistful of $5 bills and see if that doesn't get them to reconsider ...

[Slave to the Phone]

I once had to do that. It was an emergency. My debt card had been compromised and I was waiting for a new one. I was also on my way to work and only had 1 cigarette to last the whole day.

I stopped at the local c-store and while at the counter, learned that I had $54. 1 50 and 4 ones. I groveled and apologized, but I really needed cigarettes so thanked the cashier for the 5's and 1's she gave me.

To everyone who has ever had to deal with someone like me, I am really sorry. I have never done that since, but I have been known to ask c-store clerks if they need any change and will hand over a fistful of 1's for a 20 if they say yes.

[dalesys]

... I was also on my way to work and only had 1 cigarette to last the whole day. ...

Eating one's clients is frowned upon, and bound to get you talked about...

[Kittish]

I'm sure it would only have been a few bites out of each one. It's the dismemberment that really tends to get the gossip mills going.

[Pixelated]

I once had to do that. It was an emergency. My debt card had been compromised and I was waiting for a new one. I was also on my way to work and only had 1 cigarette to last the whole day.

I stopped at the local c-store and while at the counter, learned that I had $54. 1 50 and 4 ones. I groveled and apologized, but I really needed cigarettes so thanked the cashier for the 5's and 1's she gave me.

To everyone who has ever had to deal with someone like me, I am really sorry. I have never done that since, but I have been known to ask c-store clerks if they need any change and will hand over a fistful of 1's for a 20 if they say yes.

I'm not a smoker but my parents were ... they would understand your situation perfectly!

The difference here is: you apologized ("Sorry, I'm waiting for a new debit card and this is all I've got!") and you accepted the bagful of bills you got back in change. The twits who come into the coffee shop with these massive bills have never offered an apology and then they get sniffy when they see what they're going to get back in change. I have explained to each one that we do not have $20 bills in our tills, so hopefully the customers I had recently are not the same ones I had a few weeks ago who just didn't remember that all we have is $10 bills (and often none of those) and $5 bills ...

[Slave to the Phone]

I'm sure it would only have been a few bites out of each one. It's the dismemberment that really tends to get the gossip mills going.

Maybe not so much where I work as long as one cleaned up afterwards. There is a nice big field next to us, but we do gossip about messy people.

But seriously, I would have been walked out for beating my computer to death with my cane, then throwing the pieces on the floor and beating them again. Even when all of my critical nutrient (nicotine, caffeine and chocolate) levels are at acceptable ranges, its often touch and go when it comes to that PoS.

Funny story at the local mom and pop coffee shop/bakery/gift store today, btw. There was a new young person at the counter who rang my liquid candy bar up lower than it should have been. The barista corrected him and pointed at the sign, but he still asked for the lower amount.

Me: The sign says $X.XX and that's what I've always paid, so maybe its right.
Him: Deer in the headlights look! I don't know how to fix this.
Barista: Don't worry about it, Slave. I'll show him how to do it after I finish steaming your milk and take the difference out of his allowance!

[notalwaysright]

Him: Deer in the headlights look!

Some time ago the Green Mermaid increased it's prices a bit. It added maybe... Fifteen cents to my drink total. Not a big deal, but I was used to the drink ringing up to a specific price, so I must have paused for a second. The barista nervously said that they just had some price increases. I said something like "oh right I think I read that they were going up!" And the poor thing looked relieved not to be yelled at over $0.15.

On the other hand, a barista under-charged me for a drink but I didn't even realize it since I was also using a reward for a free food item and I just thought maybe it got applied to the other item... Or something. You know, it's busy! Anyway, later I saw it was wrong, they charged me for a plain latte and not a floopy sweet silly one, like I ordered. But they also forgot the food item until I had to remind them.

[Arcus]

I always try to use the smallest bill I have, but there is one fast food place that has taken it to a new low. After you order and drive around to the window to pay, you are met with a sign that says "No Debit, Credit, $20, $50, or $100 until after 11:00 am." I stared at the sign as they told me my total and I said that I have a $20. I got hit with "Can't you read?" I sighed and said "If that had been on the order board, I wouldn't have ordered. Don't blame me for not following your new rule when you didn't give me fair warning until it was too late" and I drove off. I called later to let the manager know that I understand the reason for the sign, but the placement and the way I was treated was out of line.

[Monterey Jack]

They wouldn't take TWENTIES?! I can understand the annoyance of buying just a small cup of coffee and paying with a twenty, but that's taking it to an extreme.

[earl colby pottinger]

Hated that

I always try to use the smallest bill I have, but there is one fast food place that has taken it to a new low. After you order and drive around to the window to pay, you are met with a sign that says "No Debit, Credit, $20, $50, or $100 until after 11:00 am." I stared at the sign as they told me my total and I said that I have a $20. I got hit with "Can't you read?" I sighed and said "If that had been on the order board, I wouldn't have ordered. Don't blame me for not following your new rule when you didn't give me fair warning until it was too late" and I drove off. I called later to let the manager know that I understand the reason for the sign, but the placement and the way I was treated was out of line.

When I worked at Arby's I repeatedly complained to the manager that the food sign was in the wrong place or at-least a second one needed to be added. Customers in their car had to enter a lane that they could not exit from early, but they had to go around a corner before they could read the menu, and guess where the mic was, yes right under the menu. So customer had no time to decide what they wanted and our manager was always complaining about the amount of time needed to get an order.

I figure a second menu for customers to read early would cut the order times in half. But management is too cheap to pay for an extra sign even if it will pay for itself in just the first month of use.

[notalwaysright]

After you order and drive around to the window to pay, you are met with a sign that says "No Debit, Credit, $20, $50, or $100 until after 11:00 am." I stared at the sign as they told me my total and I said that I have a $20. I got hit with "Can't you read?"

I'd go get as many pennies as possible and insist that employee count them out. After all, it doesn't say "no small change" on the sign, does it?? Actually I wouldn't do that because it would hold up people behind me in line who hadn't done anything wrong. But sheesh, they only take $1s, $5s, or $10s before 11:00 AM? That's going to piss off approximately 75% of customers I would think.

[Seanette]

Personally, I feel a bit ridiculous using a debit card for small transactions.

OTOH, I don't carry anything bigger than a $20 longer than it takes me to reach an ATM (I do not live in a wonderful part of town and routinely take public transit). It's kind of unusual for me to even be carrying cash at all.

[Arcus]

But sheesh, they only take $1s, $5s, or $10s before 11:00 AM? That's going to piss off approximately 75% of customers I would think.

You can tell they are having trouble already. They have another fast food place right next to them. Before the sign went up they both had about the same number of people in them. Now everyone is going to the other place. Even if they take the sign down now, it could be months before people notice. It's sad to see.

[greek_jester]

Personally, I feel a bit ridiculous using a debit card for small transactions.

Now that contactless technology has come in for transactions under £30 I use my debit card more for drive-through. Just tap the card on the reader and go. They have big posters encouraging it at the local McD's as using cash now slows the line down.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Now that contactless technology has come in for transactions under £30 I use my debit card more for drive-through. Just tap the card on the reader and go. They have big posters encouraging it at the local McD's as using cash now slows the line down.

That reminded me of a VISA ad from 2006. The music is Raymond Scott's 1937 instrumental Powerhouse.