Money order

[aurelemsrealm]

I had an odd one a few days ago. Two men approach my counter. I'll call them Speaking Man and Silent Man since only one of them actually spoke.

Silent Man tells me they want a $400 money order.

Me: "Ok." I ring up the money order and fee. "Will there be anything else for you?"

One of the men: "No, we just need a $400 money order."

Me: "Okay, that'll be $400.79."

Speaking Man hands me a $1 bill. I just sit it on the register assuming it's going to cover the fee, and silently wait for them to give me $400 more in cash.

Both men look at me expectantly rather than sorting money in some fashion as I would logically expect.

*Oh boy.... Really?* I think to myself already seeing the ensuing stupidity surface from across the counter. "Okay, now I just need $400."

Speaking Man: "Yeah, we need a $400 money order."

Me: "And I need $400 cash to sell it to you."

They look at me puzzled.

Me: *subtle eyeroll* I pick up the $1 billl off the register. "This is a dollar bill. I need 400 more, then you can have your money order."

Speaking Man: "Yeah, we need a $400 money order."

Me: "When I get $400 more, then I'll get you your money order."

They finally begin digging for money. I guess their hamsters finally woke up. I watch indifferently as they exchange money amongst themselves, and finally hand me four $100 bills.

*subtle eye roll again* I mark the bills, cash out the transaction, and bundle the money and a copy of the receipt into my drawer. I print out another copy of the receipt, print out the money order, and hand them off to the men. As they walk off, I proceed to type in a safe drop for the $401 I bundled, and drop it in the safe. Then, I go to the office to share this story with my manager.

All I can say is, "Wow, common sense really did die a horrible death."

[PepperElf]

personally, if they were that slow to give you the money, you might also want to make sure the bills are real too

[Sheldonrs]

Maybe they wanted 400 $1.00 money orders and were trying to pay for them separately. :-)

[patiokitty]

I was thinking more along the lines that they thought they wouldn't have to pay the $400 in order to get a $400 money order. As in they figured it should only have cost them .79 for the thing, and if that was the case then they were stoned or something....

[sirwired]

Quoth patiokitty

I was thinking more along the lines that they thought they wouldn't have to pay the $400 in order to get a $400 money order. As in they figured it should only have cost them .79 for the thing, and if that was the case then they were stoned or something....

I think even a stoned hamster would have been able to figure this out sooner.

I suppose we should give them minor kudos for not getting angry about it, although a little bit of sheepish shame would have been nice.

[Cat Herder]

*scratches head*

So...if Friendly Neighborhood Currency Exchange is advertising $400.00 money orders for $0.79 each, I can't just...ummm, you mean I have to pay them ...

Damn! So much for my financial independence plan!

[thehuckster]

I remember having a similar incident back when I worked at CVS 10 years ago. The sign said, "Money Orders: $0.79" and this one customer didn't understand that that was 79 cents on top of their payment for the value of the money order itself.

Granted, he looked to be 14 years old, so I wasn't as upset, but he was pretty disappointed that his evil money-making scheme didn't work.

[Pixilated]

Gee, I have some bills from my last residence that I need money orders to cover; could you send me a few? Here ... here's $5. Keep the change.

[pzychobitch]

I don't know what the policy is regarding money orders where you are but any totalling $400 or more (if they want several and all together it exceeds $400) up to $1000 you need to take down name, address, and how it was paid with (CASH ONLY) at my petrol station.

[MoonCat]

Who wants to bet that they took their money order to a bank and cashed it in?

"Hey, bro, look! We got four hundred dollars!!"