Nickeling and Diming

[bhskittykatt]

So the Hubs and I grabbed a few things during the afternoon rush, and I picked an express lane. Big mistake, because I have the worst luck with express lanes.

Two women were ahead of us. I fished out my rewards keychain from the mess of other rewards thingies on my keychain and laid it out on the belt next to the divider, then loaded the rest of the groceries.

Woman: *poking at my keys* "These are yours?"
Me: "Uh, yeah...I left them there because of the little card thing." *goes to re-find the proper rewards card because her poking messed them all up*

Then it came time for the first woman to pay. The total was $15-something. The other woman fished out a coinpurse...and started pulling out nickels and dimes. She was counting them out and laying them right on the belt. Did I mention the cashier had her hand in a brace? Because the cashier had her hand in a brace, so it was hard enough to pick up change for her, let alone right off the still-moving belt.

Cashier [with just a hint of irritation in her voice]: "Just so you know, there is a change machine right *back there* where you can exchange your coins for dollar bills." *indicates nearby Coinstar*
Woman: "Oh, okay." *continues fishing for change*

Then the women kept asking how much was left.

Cashier: "I still need $5.XX."
Woman: *throws more change on belt*
Cashier: "I still need $3.XX."
Woman: *throws more change on belt*
Cashier: "I still need $2.XX"

And so on...

After the first woman finished her transaction (which took like 8 minutes), it was the second woman's turn. Same thing. $15-ish total, paying in coins. At one point, she pulled a handful of pennies out of her coin purse. She put them back, fortunately. I think I would have lost it. By this point, another cashier had come up to relieve the first one, but the first one was still chained to the till as long as this transaction was being drawn out.

The customer came up $5 short, so her friend pulled out her wallet and handed her a $5, which she fished out of a stack of $20 bills.

Between them it took at least 15 minutes to checkout.

[MoonCat]

OMG f*cking idiots. I'll pay in change...when the cost of something is FIFTY CENTS! Who digs $15 in coins out of their purse, especially when they have $20 bills in there!!

[Spork4pedro]

I can see maybe up to five dollars in coins (as long as most of them are quarters.) Heck, I've been lugging around about $30 in dollar coins since I know that I hate having them in my drawer so I don't want to do that to another cashier.

I get wanting to get rid of change but holding up an express line and paying a large amount in coins? Just rude. The whole putting on the moving belt just pushes them into bitch category.

[mjr]

I probably would have made a disapproving comment under my breath but loud enough for them to hear, then made a show of disgustedly going to another checkout.

[Catwoman2965]

I hate coins and will take them out of my wallet every couple of days, and put them in a jar. but, when I'm traveling or not home, I just keep it until i can. That being said, sometimes, If I'm paying for say a pack of gum, or something small, and I have quarters, and can easily get them out, and counted before i need to pay, i will use them. but anything else, goes to the coin machine at the bank.

[bhskittykatt]

I probably would have made a disapproving comment under my breath but loud enough for them to hear, then made a show of disgustedly going to another checkout.

The people behind us were rather loudly commenting on how if they'd picked ANY other line they'd be done by now. I think the women were simply oblivious. And I had a few bulky items I didn't feel like moving. (We were waiting for our car at the nearby tire place, so we were in no rush. Hubs got a rim job, heh heh.)

[mathnerd]

I sheepishly admit to having purchased items up to 5 or 6 bucks with change, but in my defense, it was the only money I had at the time. And even then I apologized profusely to the cashier and slunk into the store at a time I knew there wouldn't be any other customers to try to minimize the pain.

[Cecily]

I've worked as a cashier part time, so I can count any amount in small change pretty fast. However, I don't wait until the cashier tells me the total to fish out the money out of my wallet/purse.

Putting each coin on the belt separately, waiting for the cashier to add them and tell them the balance after each and every coin is a whole level of suck by itself. That used to drive me crazy. I just wanted to grab their money, count what I needed and feed them the rest using unnecessary force.

I hate making people wait after me at the check out. Can't find my loyalty card in 5 seconds or less? Never mind, I skip my turn. I make sure all my coupons (valid with the right product), loyatly card and money are close at hand before even getting to the register. It's not that difficult and makes going through much, much faster for me.

[emax4]

That's when the cashier should intentionally mess with the receipt printer, and keep fussing and fussing over it, holding up the customer who held up the line.

[Aethian]

When I have a lot of coins and its the only money i have...I head in when I know it's going to be near dead and feed them into self scans.

[raudf]

That's when the cashier should intentionally mess with the receipt printer, and keep fussing and fussing over it, holding up the customer who held up the line.

Goodness knows it doesn't take much to muck up the receipt printer! A wrong tug on the paper and *slip* it's out of alignment and jams like all get out. Open it up, clear the jam and watch it jam again because you didn't hold your mouth just right as you fed the paper back through.

But unfortunately, you don't want to hold up a line. It's fine if it's just the SC and you have time to kill.

[Food Lady]

"How much do I need now?" Seriously?? I see this all the time. People should've learned to count change in elementary school. And what ticks me more is that she touched your keys. Don't touch other people's stuff. I hate when I'm checking someone out and the person behind her shoves her stuff toward to scanner to make room becuse she can't wait. First, it's rude, and second, it can cause stuff to be double-scanned. Don't touch other people's stuff!

[Peppergirl]

*throwing change on belt* ..continually...to a cashier with a wrist brace...

Urge to kill rising.

All I can say is that it's a good thing that CS doesn't condone violence AND that I'm a mod (so I have to behave), AND that I wasn't there.



Honestly, just reading this and getting the visual picture made me stabby. Kudos to you and to that poor cashier for not murdering her on the spot. Bitch.

[Tama]

I would do this...when I was a kid with Oreo packs and lots of pennies. But then when I DID, I always picked an empty self-checkout.

And behind me there would walk up that other beast "she who gets behind kid with pennies and is upset and impatient."

[XCashier]

The people behind us were rather loudly commenting on how if they'd picked ANY other line they'd be done by now. I think the women were simply oblivious.

I wonder how they would've reacted if you'd loudly said, "It's not the cashier's fault. These two idiots are paying with pennies and holding up the line!"

Would they still have been oblivious, or would they have gone and picked up the pace?