Scammed! (language)

[AnaKhouri]

Got scammed at work today. It was a new one.

Old guy comes up. Obviously Appalachian mountain person (I won't go into details but you can usually tell when someone is from the mountains around here). I've seen my co-workers be really condescending to these people so I always try to be really nice and help them out. Big mistake.

He has a stack of small bills ($10s, $5s, $1s) and he wanted to trade them for 4 $20s. OK, we do this shit all the time, he claimed he had to mail the money to a relative who was getting married. If I had a choice I wouldn't do cash exchanges but it's 'world-class customer service' or some shit, and if I'd refused and he complained I would have been chewed out.

Anyway, I count out 4 $20s, place them on the counter, then place his stack next to it and begin counting. He takes the $20s (I didn't like that but what was I going to do, slap his wrist?) while I'm counting. He puts the money in a card and that into an envelope. I was watching him like a hawk. He put the money into the envelope for sure, I even asked him to take it out once so I could recount it and I put it back in MYSELF.

His cash came to $79. He said, "Oh, I'll go get the last dollar from my wife, I don't want to shortchange anyone. Here's the envelope with the $20s, I'll be right back." Fucker.

After 10 minutes I had a sinking feeling and yep, the envelope was empty. Prick must have been a fucking magician.

So I lost $80 to a scammer because I was trying to be nice. I'm not worried about getting in trouble, because I won't, we don't get in trouble for that sort of thing, only for stealing. I haven't run into a money scam in years, at the bookstore usually all we get are the people who try to return stuff they haven't bought. I'm pissed at him for taking advantage of my kindness (I could be fired over this, he doesn't know) and at myself because thinking about it now it seems so fucking obvious.

If I ever see this motherfucker again I will call security myself and smirk as they escort him out. But that's not a scam you can run more than once in any given store, so I will probably never see him again.

I hope he dies in a fire.

[SnapAddict218]

He takes the $20s (I didn't like that but what was I going to do, slap his wrist?)

Uh, yeah. You don't get to touch the money until I am done touching the money and I hand it to you. Count first, then give the change or whatever. If you lay it out, people will grab it-good intentions or not. Banks will keep all the money where you cant touch it when they change out bills for you, and you *are* being used like a bank.

But he was only shorted you a dollar? Or did he take the $79 back too??

Buttmunch!!

[BookstoreEscapee]

(I could be fired over this, he doesn't know)

Nor does he care.

Never put the money down where they can take it until you are finished counting their money. Count their money, put it on top of your drawer, then take the money out of the till.

That sort of transaction is a big no-no at B&N. We're not even supposed to make change for a dollar. We'd do it anyway, sometimes, but regular cashiers can only do it if the drawer is open for a cash transaction. I was a supervisor, so I could open the drawer if I wanted to, but usually I would just say "sorry, can't open the drawer without a cash sale." Large trades like yours...no way.

[Kogarashi]

Wal-Mart's registers also don't open unless there's a cash sale (or specific types of checks that the check reader can identify). So I get to tell people who ask me to make change that I can't open the drawer without a sale first.

I agree with the other posters. Don't put the $20s where the customer can reach until you're done counting out their money. If I did get a customer trading in some cash with my till at Wal-Mart (and I had the drawer open), I'd use my hip to keep the till almost closed so some schmuck can't just reach over and pull the drawer open, count out the money they want to trade in, then set it aside where they can't reach (without effort) and then get out the larger bills from the drawer. And heaven help if anyone gets itchy fingers and reaches for the till. I'd slam the drawer shut on their fingers if I had to.

[bigjimaz]

This is the very reason they told us not to do money exchanges at my last job. One of our service desk godesses got nailed for $160.00.

[delorean623]

I REFUSE to do anything like that, even 2 dimes and a nickel for a quarter. One of my co-workers, who doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut said (right after I told a guest "no") "Yeah, we can do that, I do it all the time" I chewed him out royally after that. He has since learned to keep his mouth shut and his opinions to himself.

It's not a corporate policy, but up to each store leader. I don't really care what my lead says, I'm not doing no sales for change, or going above and beyond for those who want "2 dollars in quarters".

[GolfCart34]

At my bank, we have a screen for change orders. Basically, I take the money in, enter the number of bills in each denomination, then push enter and the computer automatically tallys up the total. I also count the money straight out so that it's counted twice. Only after the money that the customer hands me is counted, then double counted, will I go into my drawer and pull out the appropriate bills for the exchange. #1 rule in any money handling situation is to never give money out until the money coming in is counted.

Each company deals with shortages or overages in a different way. At my company, the worst that will happen (provided this is a one time incident) is you will be written up and possibly sent for some retraining. The big bosses understand that mistakes happen and they are unavoidable. If they catch you stealing money, however, that's a completely different story. A co-worker of mine in Virginia got caught "borrowing" money out of her change drawer. Supposedly she was going to be paying bills or something and was going to put the money right back. Yeah, right! They kept track of her change and there was less and less and less in her bag until there was only about $100 left out of the $400 that was supposed to be in there. That's blatant and it's definitely cause for termination.

[Record Store Tough Guy]

I don't know if I ever encountered a short-change artist while at the record store, mostly because I kept control of the transaction from start to finish. We didn't give out change, usually because we were always running short. We would, on occasion, ask for ones when running low on a Sunday, but that was an exception.

I did, from time to time, have someone who would start talking to me as I was counting out the change. Sometimes they'd ask for bills in certain denominations ("Can I have X instead of Y?") and that was usually enough to put me on my guard. If they made a special request before the transaction ("Can I have at least a dollar in quarters," "Can you give me fives instead of tens," etc) I'd be more than happy to accommodate them, but once they started as I was counting, I'd ask them to hang on a second, then finish counting, give them their bills, and shut the drawer. If they kept on, I would stop, look at them, and tell them point blank to let me finish counting. If they started in after I had counted with the "Here, let me give you X bills (not just a penny to even a dollar amount, which was fine) and you give me Y bills," I'd just close the drawer and direct them to the bank. I did mistake a fifty for a twenty once, and gave the girl back the wrong change. I counted my drawer down and apologized.

Something else that I encountered was the "Hey, how much is that box set behind you?" while the till was open. I always, always always asked them to hang on until I finished and closed the till before turning around.

I really don't know how many were potential scammers that I shut down, and how many were just clueless customers with poor timing.

[powerboy]

Where I work, we are sitting down behind a high up counter. So when they hand us the money, we have it right out in front of us. I will count it up to a couple of times, just to be positive. Then I will hand back the change if need be.

[Ree]

I've read through a couple of times.
I think I understand how it worked, but I'm not sure...He only ripped you off for $1, right?

He gave you $79 and kept the $80?
...or did he take the $80 and his $79?

I don't pull out any money for the customer until I have counted theirs and it's safely in a spot where they can't grab it back.
If they start pulling things to confuse me, trying to change money back and forth, I stop and say, "We'll deal with one thing at a time here."

[Boozy]

Sounds like he just stole $80 outright.

I think he probably took his $79 with him when he went to "get his wife". Otherwise it just sounds like too much trouble to go through for a buck.

[tangrid]

The scam goes like this:

Guy asks for small bills to be changed to larger ones, hands you the bills.
You count out larger ones, which he snatches up and puts in the envelope.
You count the money, realize it's short (it's close enough it looks like an honest mistake, also close enough that you have to count it to find out).
Either while you're counting, or as it appears he's putting the money into the envleope, guy pockets the large bills.
Guy apologizes, hands you back the envelope, takes his money back, and says he'll be "right back" with the full amount.

End result: He leaves you with a 5 cent envelope, and takes your $80

[digilight]

And this is why we have to believe that each and every person could be a potential scammer. The easiest way to combat this type of scam or any other bill/coin changing scam is to treat the cash as if it is comming directly out of your own wallet. Like others have said, first count up the cash they are giving you, second - recount the cash (you always want a double count, bills stick together, you may have a brainfart and go 1,2,3,5 etc, 3rd - place the cash they gave you in a place that is still visible but not easy for them to reach it (always keep it in plain view, don't give them a chance to say that they gave you more then they did), 4th count the money out of the till, 5th count down the bills on the counter just like a bank would do.

THe cold hard truth is that people suck, and they could care less if you get fired over their scam. If you handle cash, or even product you have to be on your game and believe that even that gray haired grandma could try and pull a fast one.

[tangrid]

True story. I've had the little old granny type try to pass off fake $50 bills in Oklahoma City. For those who don't know, Oklahoma's the buckle of the bible belt. Just goes to show that scumbags come in all shapes and sizes, and from every corner of the known world. (btw, I know she was trying to scam us, because she turned white as a sheet when I pulled out the counterfeit detector pen. Hooray for following policy! )

[Andara Bledin]

Way back when I did the whole cashier thing for a little over a year, we were instructed to take the customer's money, count it, place it on the top of the register, out of reach (especially so, since we worked in little booths, selling guest passes). Once the customer's money had been secured in a transparent manner, only then would you reach into the till to start working with the company's money, whether it was to give change for the sale or to exchange bills.

I don't know how people are trained these days, but I can't imagine a situation where something along those lines would not be effective for shutting down most scammers.

^-.-^