Woah...that's not good.

[repsac]

When I worked at lowe's, we had this problem with some Sku's. namely this one SKU was 1 number off from one of our "base" sku's. Here's the fun that ensued.


I remember like it was yesterday. I had just stepped down from being a Head Cashier (ooooh. No more headaches) So, wandering down to lumber, I proceded to enjoy my day.

About this time, a customer comes in wanting something. Sixteen somethings as I recall. Now I forget what the item sku was, but whatever the case it was exactly 1 number off of a rather expensive sku. One that apparently took a store manager to override and cancel.

Since I didn't have anything to scan, I keyed in the sku, and then the number. Looking to the cust I asked: "Will that be all?" and they nodded their assent. Hitting total, I turn to the register and now see that the customer owes something in the neighborhood of 1.5 million dollars.

The customer says it best, trying not to laugh.

"Woah. That can't be good." and then, without missing a beat. "Will you take a check?"


The guy was rather nice through out the whole thing, and even had a great laugh when the store manager came down. The Cust asked the manager, "What's that for anyway." To which the SM said.. "I really have no clue..."

[Mildew]

I did something to that effect once.

I accidently punched in 333 instead of 3 in the quanitity submenu (our touchscreens aren't that good). So the total was somewhere around $700 for 3 cups of coffee.
I don't remember what the customer said, but it was pretty funny and we both laughed.

[SuperDan]

I don't run register often, so I'm not entirely used to which produce items are sold by weight and which are sold by quantity. When we first changed to our current register system, if you didn't put in a quantity for a quantity item the register just wouldn't let you proceed until you hit clear, then you'd have to re-ring the item as a quantity. Well aparently there was a software upgrade sometime since then, because now it prompts for you to enter the quantity in that situation. I wasn't watching the screen, so I didn't notice that when I tried to ring this one customer's limes up as a weighed item. No incessant beeping, all is good, put in the lookup for the next item (can't remember, it was either celery or lettuce). Customer points out to me that he didn't intend to buy $718 worth of limes. We both had a good laugh at it, then I called the CSM because voids on certain items or over a certain dollar ammount need approval. She, in turn, called the grocery manager because that void ammount was over her approval limit too. Grocery manager joined the customer and I in another good laugh.

I remember walking near the front end once and overhearing the store manager's conversation with a cashier and customer when overriding a void for over four thousand dollars in lettuce, so at least I know I'm neither the only nor the first.

[Ciarrai]

We had a similar issue. If you accidentally hit enter instead of cash, you would ring in an item for over $1,000. You'd then have to have it overridden before you could void it out. A lot of customers were understanding about it, but I had a lot of bitchy ones who would complain and moan to a manager about the cashier's "stupidity."

[Dave1982]

At Staples, the self serve B&W copy SKU is 380979. This is a $0.06 SKU. One digit off (380978) rings in at $9999.99. Found THAT out the hard way once by ringing it in on a QTY 300+. Luckily, the registers allow me to cancel any item myself simply by pressing Item Correct. Still, there was that split second of sheer panic

[Cyanocobalamin]

My register's "X" quantity key is directly above the 9. It's pretty easy to hit 29X or something like that. During the 2005 BTS season, I inadvertently charged a customer for 39 spiral notebooks when it was only 3. The total amount didn't even look funny since it was a pretty big order. Luckily the customer came back a little while later and I was able to fix it.

[powerboy]

Friday night, I was ringing up a coworker, she bought a soda for 75 cents, and some candy that was also 75 cents, so what did I do, rung her up for 222 items of something that cost 75 cents each. Off hand I do not remember what the total was. We all had a laugh about that. Damn register is crappy as hell

[HYHYBT]

I've made a similar quantity error on the Drive-Thru system... which, as soon as you hit TOTAL, sends the drinks to the ABS. Meaning, if you hit 33 L COKE instead of 3, it *pours* 33, or as many as it can before someone shuts it off.

[repsac]

I can just picture the yelling. "Stop it before it gets too many...."

[SuperDan]

I did it again Saturday. At least it was pretty early in the morning. Over eight thousand dollars, don't remember what the item was this time though. CSMs weren't even in yet, and I didn't want to bother the cash office person, and I knew a void that big needed management approval, so I called the grocery manager.

[simplyanother]

Our quantity buttons are disabled. Because if someone buys 40 foam paint brushes, we're supposed to scan 40 foam paint brushes. (Or 20 wreaths...whatever. lol). Yeah. Right. We never just scan one thing 40 times. Because that's totally against the rules. (I can get someone to turn the key for quantities over a certain number, but usually it's faster just to scan the stuff)

But I do that 1000 enter thing instead of 1000 cash. I've accidently put in 200 dollars instead of 20. That time I had the customer sign her receipt indicating that I did not short her in change. lol. (I KNEW she wouldn't have said I did, because she comes in weekly.). But I didn't feel bad, because one of the other cashiers did the samething when I gave her a 5 dollar bill, she typed in 50.

I'm glad I don't have to get anyone to turn the key to void my stupid mistakes. Except when I accidently hit "cash" instead of "check". What fun is that? (And so whenever I am doing a check, I have to say it outloud or I will push the damned cash button. )

I've also learned, if you push too many buttons too fast, the register shuts down and we have to call the help desk..

Also? Our registers beep too much. I hate the beeping. (That BEEEEP "You've screwed up" one, not the "beep" item scanned/ check approved...lol)


4000 in lettuce is one huge salad. Maybe it was for a giant rabbit.

[booger]

I've made a similar quantity error on the Drive-Thru system... which, as soon as you hit TOTAL, sends the drinks to the ABS. Meaning, if you hit 33 L COKE instead of 3, it *pours* 33, or as many as it can before someone shuts it off.

LOL, gotta love the ABS. I have done that a few times in my fast food days. But I have moved on to retail, where I can still have a mind-boggling talent to break and confuse registers with the greatest of ease.

[HYHYBT]

It's great when it works, but when it doesn't...

Some upgrades a while back added three buttons we didn't have before: "NONCASH" so people could pay with cards, "EXACT $" so if someone pays their exact total you don't have to enter the amount, and "NEXT $" if they pay, for example, $6 when the total is $5.09. All very useful. And all too easy to hit one of the last two when you meant the first. Then you have to get an overring, start the order over, and hope the food doesn't get made twice. This usually happens in Drive-Thru, and usually when the line is long and the food for that car and the next several is already ready...

[MMATM]

Most of my register troubles will occur when I accidentally hit $200 when someone hands me a $20. That has happened about 10 times (the buttons of the machine don't line up exactly with the colored keypad on top of them). Once, however, I rang up a guy for 2095 BOXES of coffee (like Dunkies' Box of Joe). Thankfully I noticed the total somewhere around 30 grand before I hit the subtotal button.
Our pricing machine has also caused an uproar before because of PLU#s that were typed incorrectly (read: $40+ for a box of cookies that is really $5.75)

[MadMike]

I accidently hit an extra button, and charged some poor guy $87.50 for a box of dog biscuits. Even now, they're not that expensive. Yet.