Here's a calculator; let me know when you've figured out what you can afford.

[Pixelated]

Not sure if this is actually sucky ... more like totally unprepared.

I was asked to stay late today as somebody had called in sick. I agreed, but the fact is, the longer I'm there, the less patience I have with the customers. This one nearly caused me to seriously lose my shit.

She ordered a medium-sized drink X. Then a medium-sized drink Y (for her friend). Then a pastry.

Me: "Okay, your total is [total]."

She looks at the money in her hand.

"Can I make the drink X a small?"

Me: "Sure." So I grab the cup back and exchange it for a smaller size.

Me: "Your total is now [lower total]."

Her: "Um ... Look, I won't take the pastry."

Me: "Okay ... your total is now [still lower total]."

Meanwhile, of course, the line behind her is growing. I was the only person on till and only one person was making drinks (the third person was on her lunch break, which I am not likely to begrudge her. Management really needs to rethink their scheduling crap ... both the store manager and the higher-ups.)

Her: "Um ... um ... can I make that drink X a medium-sized after all?"

Me:

Barista, understandably, is also losing her shit because I keep changing the cups to keep up with this idiot's mind changes ... and at least at one point Barista had already started making the drink in the size the kid wanted ... at that moment.

I do try not to lose it, especially with young teens and kids, because they are still kinda clueless, but FFS ...

Barista suggested that in future I not put the cup in the lineup until the customer has actually handed over the cash. Sounds good to me.

[Monterey Jack]

Happens all the time at work...customer buys $150 worth of groceries, pulls out their wallet/purse, then sheepishly makes us take off $50 or so of food. Bonus Suck Points!!! for when they want weighed and/or sliced items from the produce and deli departments taken off, which cannot be sold once packed and/or sliced and we're forced to throw out. Hey, how about taking out a few of those half-dozen boxes of sugary kids' cereals, or some canned goods, or the peanut butter, or something we can actually put back on the shelf and SELL instead of wasting perfectly good food because you couldn't check how much money you had before shopping, or do some basic math in your head while putting shit in the cart?

[bainsidhe]

MJ, so true. And it was rarely a customer being short a dollar or two. They were often short $50+, and in many cases it made up 1/3 or more of their cart. *big box retail* would not reshop anything refrigerated, since there was no way of know how long it had been in a customer's cart. 99% of the time, customers would toss the deli food, or things like raw meat and chicken. Never the junk food.

Almost as frustrating were the folks that didn't understand how sales tax works. Please don't get snippy with me because I'm unwilling to pay the tax for you so you can afford the purse you want to buy.

[Blue Ginger]

Almost as frustrating were the folks that didn't understand how sales tax works. Please don't get snippy with me because I'm unwilling to pay the tax for you so you can afford the purse you want to buy.

As a tourist, the sales tax thing really confused the shit out of me. In most countries/places the tax is all included in the price on the tag. So getting to the register and discovering that the sticker price was not the actual price was really frustrating and confusing, especially when you have to really look at the money because you aren't used to the notes and coins yet.

But locals should at least have an idea of how much things should actually costs, especially with things they buy frequently, like silly sounding coffees.

[Kittish]

MJ, so true. And it was rarely a customer being short a dollar or two. They were often short $50+, and in many cases it made up 1/3 or more of their cart. *big box retail* would not reshop anything refrigerated, since there was no way of know how long it had been in a customer's cart. 99% of the time, customers would toss the deli food, or things like raw meat and chicken. Never the junk food.

Almost as frustrating were the folks that didn't understand how sales tax works. Please don't get snippy with me because I'm unwilling to pay the tax for you so you can afford the purse you want to buy.

For years and years, I had a super tight budget for groceries. I always knew to the dollar just how much I had available, and usually knew to within a dollar or two how much was in my cart. On those occasions when I went over my budget, it was never by more than about $5, and junk food and snacks were the FIRST things to be taken off. I don't get people who would rather buy junk than real food, especially when those are often the same ones that bitch and moan about 'my kids going hungry'.

[Monterey Jack]

I don't get people who would rather buy junk than real food, especially when those are often the same ones that bitch and moan about 'my kids going hungry'.

Because, sadly, junk food is often cheaper than "real food". Plus, people like pre-packaged shit they can shovel from the bag/box/can directly into their gullets without having to actually cook and prepare it. When someone pulls out the "My kids will starve!" card, you know they want to put back the chicken breasts and shrimp instead of the Capt. Crunch and Spaghetti-o's because the kids refuse to eat them.

[TheWolfEmperor]

I've been using my calculator to shop for years. It's a habit I picked up from my parents who always had theirs with them because they had to shop to feed five kids.

[nutraxfornerves]

I think there is something ingrained about making these kinds of foolish choices.

I volunteer at a history museum where we do a lot of school programs. One is a pretend crossing of the US by wagon train. The kids get a list of supplies and have to decide which ones to bring. As they travel, they get various surprises like a broken axle or the need to cross a deep river. They have to make decisions about what to do and sometimes this includes what to jettison to lighten the load.

They sometimes dump the iron cooking pots or the rifle and ammunition, and keep the piano & the trunk full of fancy evening clothes. OK, they are 9 years old, but then we hear the adult chaperones telling each other that they agree with the kids’ decisions.

[TheWolfEmperor]

They sometimes dump the iron cooking pots or the rifle and ammunition, and keep the piano & the trunk full of fancy evening clothes. OK, they are 9 years old, but then we hear the adult chaperones telling each other that they agree with the kids’ decisions.

Do any of them die of dysentery?

I sometimes wonder if people deliberately play games at the cash register because they think they can get better deals if they inspire sympathy. Sort of passive aggressive haggling as it were.

[protege]

Because, sadly, junk food is often cheaper than "real food".

That's usually why it sells. Why spend (and I'm throwing out numbers here) $3 for a salad at Pizza Hut...when you can get a slice of pizza and a Coke for the same amount?

[Monterey Jack]

Truth be told, I simply cannot cook, so I consume a lot of pre-packaged and/or frozen foods. And I understand the "volume vs. quality" argument...for roughly $25, I can have a nice sit-down meal for one in a quality restaurant...or I can buy frozen pizzas, chicken strips and Doritos and keep myself fed for a week. I'm no Foodie, so I always lean towards the latter, maybe splurging once or twice a week by "eating out"...at Papa Gino's.

Still, if you're a parent, you have an obligation to bring your kids up right by feeding them nutritious foods and instilling in them better eating habits so they don't end up like me. And don't whine that you can't get the Honey Nut or Frosted Cheerios with your food stamps or EBT...just plain Cheerios are still free food. If the kids whine, buy some cheap sugar, sprinkle it over the cereal and call it a day.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Do any of them die of dysentery?

Yes, but at least they look faaaabulous!

[MoonCat]

cheap sugar

Sugar hasn't been cheap since the big "crop failure" sugar shortage in the 70's. But I get what you're saying.

For quite a while I used a calculator when shopping to stay within a certain amount. I took cash, and made sure to stay under the total amount I brought. When using debit, there were times I had to call the bank's automated account line before going to the store, to be sure I had enough in the bank to cover groceries. Those times are probably returning for me, and you can be sure I will be jettisoning any junk food before basics - or more likely, not putting them in the cart to begin with.

[Slave to the Phone]

Truth be told, I simply cannot cook, so I consume a lot of pre-packaged and/or frozen foods.

In my opinion, this is why so much fast food is consumed. People do not learn to cook when they are children and the home economics classes I took that included cooking lessons with real kitchen equipment went the way of the dinosaurs.

Buying the ingredients for something and then self-teaching oneself by trial and error is very expensive and somewhat dangerous.

If a child was raised on pre-packaged food, when that child is an adult, that is what they will feed their children. Its now an ingrained habit for many, many people. Pre-packaged food is cheap and its what they are used to, so why change?

[Monterey Jack]

I'd love to learn how to cook, but I don't want to blow my week's grocery bill on ingredients, only to mess it up and have to go hungry.