Change over suck

[Aislin]

Every single night at 10 till midnight we change over our tills. Until one minute past midnight we cannot process any transactions. Due to this we have a relatively small number of sucktomers who choose to raise a huge stink. Most of the time I am able to defuse the sitation but last night I truly was sympathetic to their plight due to three sucky entightled jerks.

Number one paid in 8 dollars worth of change and tried to short change me. I have to count all change but am particularly careful when we are coming against change over because people try to run scams, buy achohol and generally be stupid because be are in a rush.

Number 2 tried to run a short change scam on me by asking for twenty back in ones, oh wait no 2 in quarters, the rest in ones, oh wait, five in quarters, five in ones, and the rest in fives, no wait a ten instead? The whole time she is trying to snatch up bills but I keep stopping her and then count her change onto her hand. She got exactly 20 even though she grabbed the 5 in quarters off the counter I started her count back from the five. She was pissed her scam failed and an old man 2 customers back chuckled.

The last customer before change over price matched everything in her order with made up prices and was annoyed when I refused to honor her made up prices. Her bitter complaining did nothing to sway me. Sadly all these delays pushed us back up against the line.

The eight understanding folks who should have been quickly out before the change over were suck for ten minutes. None of them complained.

The previous evening I had 2 people in my lane. One "only" had bananas so the other lady graciously let her cut. Bad idea. This is a scam. This old lady asks to cut, right against change over every night and then has only half or less to pay for whatever she is getting, then she runs around like a chicken with her head off and the customer is scammed into offering to pay the difference. I sent my second customer to the other open lane and the banana lady miraculously found the cash in her " other" purse.

[MoonCat]

the customer is scammed into offering to pay the difference

Yeah, no....I would never, ever do this. Damn scammers.

[drjonah]

That midnight change over was always a nightmare when I worked at Awful-mart. Things I definitely don't miss about it.

1)The first customer jackass who wants $100 cash back on their debit or pay with a $100 bill and wipe the till out.

2)The trailer trash mother with her 4 kids from 4 different baby daddies who waited until the last minute to use their 20 WIC vouchers. They would proceed to throw a giant fit because she was denied because once it hits midnight of the 1st, the coupons are EXPIRED and NO GOOD! I even got confirmation from the state that it's the customer's fault if they wait until the last minute and under no circumstances are we to allow them to use expired vouchers or we could be penalized heavily.

3)And of course, the people who just CAN'T understand why we 'only' have 3 registers open at freaking MIDNIGHT

[DGoddessChardonnay]

That midnight change over was always a nightmare when I worked at Awful-mart. Things I definitely don't miss about it.

1)The first customer jackass who wants $100 cash back on their debit or pay with a $100 bill and wipe the till out.

Why would you even want a $100 bill at MIDNIGHT??? Was he meeting up w/his drug dealer then or something?

2)The trailer trash mother with her 4 kids from 4 different baby daddies who waited until the last minute to use their 20 WIC vouchers. They would proceed to throw a giant fit because she was denied because once it hits midnight of the 1st, the coupons are EXPIRED and NO GOOD! I even got confirmation from the state that it's the customer's fault if they wait until the last minute and under no circumstances are we to allow them to use expired vouchers or we could be penalized heavily.

NO sympathy from me on this. One, she's had 30 days to use those vouchers and she couldn't make time to get to the store within those 30 days to redeem those??

Second, what's she dragging her kids out of the house at MIDNIGHT for anyways? Kids need to be at home - in bed asleep, NOT shopping w/Mom at Awful Mart.

3)And of course, the people who just CAN'T understand why we 'only' have 3 registers open at freaking MIDNIGHT

It's freaking MIDNIGHT - you don't need 12 registers open that time of night b/c most people are shopping during the daytime and early evening hours.

I know this from previous experience. I've been in Awful Mart at 1 in the morning before and seen only a couple of registers open. Maybe it's the one I shop at but even so, the lines were wrapping around the damn front end (it was around the holidays as well.)

But really? Myself I'd rather be in bed at that time or at least on my front porch in my rocking chair w/my headphones on and listening to some good music at that hour.

[Dreamstalker]

Yeah, no....I would never, ever do this. Damn scammers.

For a nice customer/regular if it's less than 50 cents or so and I have the coins on me I'll make up the difference. The key is you have to be nice about it (like the cute guy on Valentines Day who forgot about the tax on flowers) or I know you.

I get this on SCO sometimes; I'll just void everything out, take the items back and tell them to come back when they have money (suspending the transaction more often than not results in everything being returned anyway as they never show up).

If they put in a few coins before abandoning their shopping, voiding the transaction returns the cash (and usually crashes the SCO, but that's a different rant). There's no official policy on what to do with small change left behind like that--usually it gets held with the void receipt until closing and then whoever voided the transaction gets to keep it.

[Trixie]

In my store they change out the tills around 10 pm since we're a 24 hour store. And it never fails that people always need to change for $100 at 10:30. I mean, I can just call a manger to get it but it holds everything up since at that time there's usually just one person running the register. I love the customers who actually ask if I can break it. All five of them.

There was one guy that muttered something about the small bills I gave him, I think it was mostly fives but at least I had the change. I said in a not very nice way "Well, that's all I have." He backtracked then.

[xxscooterxx]

We do changeover at 5am. I work 3rd at the deadest store in town. If you come in with a 100 dollar bill and only want a pack of smokes I will tell you sorry I don't have enough change. Because I don't. We don't keep enough in the drawer to allow for 95 bucks in change. They usually get ill and day they're going up the street. Please do. They have ample staff and plenty of registers.

[Sapphire Silk]

My guess WIC lady is trying to run a scam and get more bang for her buck out of the WIC coupons. If she can used expired coupons, she can sell good coupons and still get her benefit plus some cash besides.

Just a guess.

[Enjis]

Why do people even have $100 bills anyway? No ATM gives them out. Why would you get that big a bill at your bank, even at the teller's window?
I hate big bills.

[earl colby pottinger]

$100s

Why do people even have $100 bills anyway? No ATM gives them out. Why would you get that big a bill at your bank, even at the teller's window?
I hate big bills.

I get them when I am travelling between Canada and the US, makes it easy to carry $2,000-4,000 with me, but i also get $400-$800 in smaller bills as well.

If I am going to a gas station and want to use a $100 bill I only go when my tank is near empty and fill it up to the point that the overflow sensor stops the gas. I then will wait and give the clerk time to check the bill and even wait silently if they call a manager over to check the bill also.

Guess what, except for stations that have signs saying they don't take $100 bills they have always taken my money. I guess not making $1-10 purchases with a $100 and not making rude remarks about they wanting to spend time checking the bill first really works.

[Seanette]

We get $100 bills at the thrift store I work in fairly regularly. Does take a minute to get a lead or supervisor over to check it, and shortly after opening, making change is a pain.

OTOH, a lot of our clientele, for whatever reason, do not apparently use banks, but go to check-cashing places, which seem to like to give out big bills. We do get some customers who probably think it's impressive to be dropping Benjamins. Sorry, dudebro, I just rang up your second-hand stuff, you do NOT look like a high-rolling player to me.

[drjonah]

My guess WIC lady is trying to run a scam and get more bang for her buck out of the WIC coupons. If she can used expired coupons, she can sell good coupons and still get her benefit plus some cash besides.

Just a guess.

No it's not a scam, just bad planning and a too generous state. The state can be pretty generous with the vouchers because technically they are for the children. But they ARE quite strict with the rules, once the corporate clock hits midnight of the first of the month, the previous month's coupons are NO GOOD. It doesn't matter if they were waiting in line for a long time, it's their own fault for waiting until the last minute.

The only exception to this rule was if the transaction was started and typed into the register at 11:59 and in the middle of the transaction it clicked over to midnight. As long as the transaction STARTS before midnight, they can still use that voucher but none of the rest.

[Food Lady]

^ That's like alcohol in our store. If I ring it through at 8:59, it will go through even if payment happens after 9:00. I have no idea if that's technically illegal; one local grocery will close 5 minutes early, making sure customers are out.

[bankworking]

OTOH, a lot of our clientele, for whatever reason, do not apparently use banks, but go to check-cashing places, which seem to like to give out big bills. We do get some customers who probably think it's impressive to be dropping Benjamins. Sorry, dudebro, I just rang up your second-hand stuff, you do NOT look like a high-rolling player to me.

Not always a case of the customer really wanting the hundreds. Could be, they just accepted the default when they cashed their check. A lot of time, the places cashing the checks try to give out large bills unless the customer specifically asks for smaller.

One reason for that could be vault space. At a small bank location (or, I imagine, a check cashing place) they want to have a LOT of cash on hand for payday, but may have a relatively small vault to keep it in. So, a lot of the cash at the bank is in big bills. Which means the tellers want to pay out in big bills because they know they have more of them on hand.

Also, bank tellers have cash limits on their drawers for insurance purposes, just like stores (only more). And while they might get a good mixture of $20s and $10s to start the day (assuming they don't have a permanent drawer assigned just to them, that they balance, lock up, and get out again next morning with whatever it had in it the last shift they worked), after a bit, the drawer starts to be filled with 100s and 1s from deposits and starts lacking those middle-range bills. Calling over a manger to sell or buy money to/from the vault may be a pain in the a$$. So they try to keep the drawers under insurance limits by giving out what they have.

Last customer just deposited $3,000 in hundreds? Every withdraw over $300, the teller may try to see if they can slip a Benjamin in there and see if the customer objects. Just got a few hundred 1s? All right! Everyone who doesn't specify is getting $5 in ones mixed into each cash out transaction.

[Firecrackers Not Included]

I have been noticing a lot more big bills coming into my store in this last year. It is severe pain. Today, in mid-afternoon, there was a run of four (4) $100 bill transactions in just as many minutes time. All for totals less than $10 or so. Cleaned out two registers right quick. One more bill would have been bust. Can we just save that for at least a $50+ transaction, people? Handing out two $20s is far easier than FOUR.