Counting out change

[Merriweather]

Ok, I will admit to occasionally paying for something using more than necessary change when my wallet is beginning to not close from so much change (and I've no idea where a coinstar is, am too cheap to pay to convert coins anyway, and don't want an extra stop/going out of my way to go to my bank.

However, I have at least most of it counted out before getting to the counter, I wouldn't do it when there's a long line behind me, and I ask the cashier if they mind some extra coins (often they tell me they can really use a bit more change). I may be mildly annoying, but I do try to be nice about it.

[Trixie]

I once had a guy pay for a pack of cigarettes with a dollar in pennies along with his other cash. I made him count it out. Too bad buddy if you're going to have that many pennies you can count 'em out.

What gets me though are the people who want to get rid of the change they have and then only hand over a nickel when they clearly have enough to cover the entire change amount. Doesn't matter to me, but why make a big deal about "getting rid of all this change" if you're not going to spend it?

[blas]

People did that at the gas station all the time.

Now, remember as I tell this, this was back in 2005-2006 before the giant cigg tax hike, so smokes were less than $4 a pack, so I guess maybe it wasn't that big of a deal with change cigarette customers.

Every once in a while after work, I stop at Walgreens for candy to share with the girls at work, and for my beloved Starbucks because Kwik Trip and Wal-Shart don't feel like carrying Caramel flavors. Anywhore, I only get 12 hours between shifts, on top of the fact that I have to clean house as soon as I get home, work out, and whatnot. So, as asshat as it sounds, I am kind of in a hurry if I have a stop after work.

I was behind this old lady getting milk and a magazine or something, and she had to have exact damn change, digging through her giant purse.....I just kept thinking to myself, why always me!

[vloglady]

When I use the UScan at a store, I use up lots of change. Just stand there and keep feeding the little slot. But at a cashier, I use bills.

[EricKei]

Or the ones who pay for a $20 order in all small coins! Take it to the bank already!

It's my understanding that, at least in some US states, that businesses are not actually required to accept large payments all in coin.

Whenever I have THAT much in coin, I just head to my bank and deposit it. They have a coin counter machine (and, unlike the one at the grocery store, it doesn't keep 9%...)

[Dreamstalker]

I was watching selfscan last night, and a lady comes up to the cashier station and drops a bag full of pennies on the ledge (it promptly fell off the ledge and landed on my instep--#$@!OW) and wanted me to cash them in...no. Even if I could open my drawer to give change, they won't fit and whoever counts the drawer later will be pissed off at me.

Doesn't matter to me, but why make a big deal about "getting rid of all this change" if you're not going to spend it?

The only change I will hang on to are quarters; everything else is fair game.

Jester, out transactions are timed as well; there's a weekly 'cashier ranking report' up in the office. I'm pretty sure every part of a transaction is taken into account with those reports, as some weeks I score lower than I thought I should. ASM has told me to ignore the reports and just do the best I can; he understands that there are shenanigans at the register utterly beyond anyone's control (scale failure, someone waiting until each item is scanned before placing another one carefully on the end of the belt, etc)...like people digging change out of a massive backpack or deciding to give me a ziplock bag full of coins. I wish I knew exactly how the timer worked...does it time until the receipt is printed or just up until the order is subtotaled?

[Tama]

Xcashier, I can beat you in that. I had some idiots pay for a gadget (I think it was a DVD player, all I remember for sure was that it was something electronic), price about $100...

...with penny rolls. 200 of them.

[Jay 2K Winger]

When I still worked at the wholesale club, I used up the change I accumulated over the course of a week, to buy food or drinks at the food court, but rarely paying multiple full dollars at a time.

Now that I'm not in retail anymore, and if need be I can load money onto a sort of loyalty card good at the food court at The Client or on The Client's vending machines, the only change I keep in my pocket is quarters. And even then, I stockpile them in an empty aspirin container. Everything else is deposited into a coin jar at home.

It's getting full. I may need to go to the bank soon and cash it out.

[emax4]

Xcashier, I can beat you in that. I had some idiots pay for a gadget (I think it was a DVD player, all I remember for sure was that it was something electronic), price about $100...

...with penny rolls. 200 of them.

With something like that I would have advised them to go to a bank to cash it in but that you'll personally hold it for them so nobody else sells it.

A good comeback to these change people could be, "Hey, what do I look like? A Coinstar Machine?!?!"

[Tama]

They actually said that they cashed a check and ASKED FOR IT like that.

[Jester]

Although I do feel sorry for the few customers I've had (in the supermarket) who've gotten everything totaled up and suddenly ... don't have their wallet. That's probably no more excusable than b2addm's customers, but ... it's still funnier, for some reason.
Probably the expression on their faces.

I know that expression quite well, as I have worn it. Not at a supermarket, but at a restaurant. It was rather embarrassing.

Back when my favorite sushi place was in their old less swanky digs, I went in one night, had a lovely sushi dinner, washed down with a couple of Kirin Ichibans (of course), and when the bill came, I reached for my....WHERE THE HELL IS MY WALLET!!??! It's not in the pocket it should be in...not in the other pocket...or any pocket. Oh, holy hell! I must have left it back home.

And that's when it dawned on me. I am actually going to have to tell these people that I don't have a wallet on me to pay for my dinner. Fanfreakintastic! So I called the waiter over and said, "Hey man, I'm an idiot. It appears I left my wallet at home. I will be RIGHT back." As I was a regular there, and they recognized me, they said it was no problem. And I RACED home, grabbed my wallet off of my dresser, and raced back to the sushi place, paying the bill and tipping well (of course).

A month later, I walked in for dinner again. First words out of the mouth of the hostess (aka the Owner's Wife): "So...do you have your wallet today?"

[TechieGirl87]

OK, seriously, what is up with customers and paying with coins? Not trying to discriminate, but especially with elderly customers, they'll yank a crapload of coins out of their nasty backpockets, shove them at me and force ME to pick them out of their grubby hands and count it out for THEM. Are people really that lazy and pathetic that they can't count out a few flippin' pennies on their own? I didn't know that on top of being a cashier, I'm suddenly a mathematician as well...

And while we're on the subject of counting out change, what really irks me more than anything is when they take 10 frickin' hours to pull a few cents out of their purse just so that they can get another dollar back from the register rather than coins. Meanwhile, there are tons of customers behind them who are already pissed off to begin with. And because of these turtles, they become even mroe pissy and then proceed to take it out on ME as if it's my fault that the idiot in front of them moves at a glacial pace. Why are people so ridiculous? Just hand me another flippin' dollar and take the change for Christ's sake! What's so bad about having a few extra cents? Just take them to a Coinstar or something!

Has anyone else encountered this problem? Does anyone else find this extremely annoying?

I HATE that! I think what I hate more than people who do that is someone who gives me a wad of money all crumbled up and wrinkled

[BrenDAnn]

Ah, yes, change...people seem to for some reason think that C-Store is actually C-Bank or something, I swear. We have at times built up more than $40 in quarters from everyone paying with them. That's loose quarters...not rolled quarters. I walked into work a couple weeks ago to find, in the safe, a cup with quarters and a cup with pennies in it, because people were paying us with them so much that our drawers couldn't hold anymore. So yes, while Jester has valid explanations... it still sucks. Very much. As for the 200 rolls of pennies...WTF? They asked for their money like that? They were being douches, then. No ifs, ands, or buts about it!

[South Texan]

Are people really that lazy and pathetic ... ?

I knew just from that question that you had to be new to this board.

Welcome!

[Chromatix]

I carry around a small amount of change - it's handy for topping up lunch vouchers when the meal costs slightly more than the voucher will cover. Or, when I go back to visit the UK, I often carry cash because in many shops it's more convenient than using a card (especially when that card is a Visa Electron from a different country).

But I would never pay for something entirely in coppers unless it was a low-value thing and coppers were all that I had. Indeed, carrying around a large number of copper coins is pretty awkward - I tend to get rid of them by making up the least-significant digit(s) of the total exactly. It helps to be good enough with numbers that I can work out appropriate coin combinations very quickly, even though I never worked retail.

And fortunately I've never encountered the type of cashier who doesn't understand making change from unusual totals.