Exact Change and Announcing Money

[Tauri.Sith]

Surely you mean EIGHTY quarters.

Well, there's a reason why I failed elementary math. Too many numbers involved!

[Chromatix]

One time a lady came through in Drive-thru, ordered $20 worth of happy meals and cheeseburgers, and then paid in quarters. Yes, she handed me fifty quarters, which I then have to count. I would've liked to have killed her on the spot.

Surely you mean EIGHTY quarters.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I say "that should be X," too, if it's more than one or two bills, only because sometimes bills stick together or sometimes I miscount. Sometimes I'll give the change (usually if it's a small amount, or if it involves 1 or 2 pennies that I have) but I don't mind getting change back. Mostly I just know it's a pain when you have to count out 92 cents or whatever...the cafeteria at work and some grocery stores I frequent have the automatic change machines for the coins, though. When I get coins back, I don't put them in my wallet; I put them in my pocket and when I get ready for bed I toss all my change in a jar on my dresser. When it's full I take it to the counting machine at the bank; generally it holds around $80 or so, and it saves me an ATM transaction.

[Evil Queen]

Call me anal retentaive, but I actually count my bills out to the cashier before handing it over to them. But then I've also been given waaaaay too much change back on several occasions too. I also face my bills (both before I hand them over and in my till at work).

I don't mind getting exact or not exact change. To be honest, I'll take any change I can get because I'm constantly running short! Grrrr!

These days though, I mostly use my credit card.

[Tauri.Sith]

One time a lady came through in Drive-thru, ordered $20 worth of happy meals and cheeseburgers, and then paid in quarters. Yes, she handed me fifty quarters, which I then have to count. I would've liked to have killed her on the spot.

[Primer]

Like Texan I almost always hand the coins over first and say "That should be $0.XX amount" and then I will hand the bills over. I generally only announce the bills if I'm handing over more than one. For example if the amount is $25 I will then say "And that should be $25."

Bolding mine, but I say the same thing. Also, I don't inflict exact coins unless I already have them in my hand for easy pickings.

[Kiwi]

the only time I hated exact change was this total bitch who paid for a $200 sale in $1 /$2 coins

she poured them out on to the counter (from a bag) and then stood there chatting with her friend while it took me at LEAST 10 minutes to count it all

I really really disliked that bitch (thats the only word for someone who would do that). I called my manager about it and even though she asked me to take the coins, she reemed the lady out telling her we were NOT a bank and she would not be accepting coins in the quantity again.

other than that, the stores I have worked at we were constantly running out of coins so any coins people had given me I was happy to have. We even used to "buy" change off customers it got so bad some times.

[sixums]

I'm all for exact change if you have it. It can be frustrating if there's a long line behind you and you're digging around for that extra penny, but I see it as a good way to practice my patience.

I don't know if this bugs the rest of you, but the one thing I cannot stand more than anything is if a person hands over a bill, say a 10, waits for the cashier to open the till, then announce, "Oh wait I think I have 16 cents" or whatever. Whenever I see it happen, it's like a flipshit switch goes off in my brain. If you think you have exact change, announce it before you've handed over your cash or the cashier has already started the process of counting out your change. Both as one who worked as a cashier and watching cashiers as a customer, sometimes it confuses the crud out of us. It interrupts the brain process of what I'm/they're doing, especially if you hand over an odd amount like a quarter when you owe 16 cents. Don't confuse the cashiers. It just causes pain for everyone. Besides, I know the till comes out to be the same whether or not you give exact change or recieve change back, but I hate entering an exact dollar amount then am suddenly handed over a bunch of change.

I have no idea why, but it just infuriates me. It's almost irrational. Just thinking about it gets me annoyed.

[Balgram]

I like it if you have it ready (meaning you at least have change in your hand or your wallet at the ready and don't have to go digging for it) but I HAAAAAATE it when people will hold up a damn line just to find that extra seven cents.
If your change is not in your hand or in your wallet/change purse that is in your hand then I DON'T want it.

Good advice, donka. I also normally do this only when the line is verra' small or dead, and I hate taking up more than about 5-7 seconds.

I don't mind if someone gives me a twenty dollar bill and two quarters if the total is, say, $14.50, but if you give me 50 pennies then I will hate you.

I would hate myself as well.

...And I will say "out of 20?" "out of 35?", etc, to give fend off the "ooh, I see you've entered the number already and it's done the math for you, but I want to see how well you do simple arithmetic when you've got a holier than thou customer bitching about how stupid cashiers can't even do subtraction!" people.

This merits its own thread. I do algebra and statistics calculations in my head to pass the time, and I figure our the square roots of obscure numbers when I'm waiting in line. People really think I can't do a little subtraction? Blargh on them. That's why I like figuring change when there is no till, like at vending slots in football games. Combining/separating orders and figuring change when you don't need to work in tax or pennies is fun.

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So it sounds like the general consensus is that it isn't really a rude/big deal if you have the change ready or nearly ready, but not to waste time with it. Facing bills never occurred to me but that's a really good idea.

[simplyanother]

Exact change doesn't bother me. I've gotten to the point where I wait to see if the customer looks like he's going fishing before I enter in the number.

And I will say "out of 20?" "out of 35?", etc, to give fend off the "ooh, I see you've entered the number already and it's done the math for you, but I want to see how well you do simple arithmetic when you've got a holier than thou customer bitching about how stupid cashiers can't even do subtraction!" people.

I figure, I'm giving you ample opportunity to give me some indication that you want to give me exact change, and if you wait to announce after I've keyed it in, well, 99% of the time, you're going to be walking away with a handful of coinage.

The other 1% of the time, it's either, my brain had done the math before I'd pressed the button (pressing the "cash" button on my register, apparently turns off my ability to perform arithmetic), or the customer was just a genuinely nice person (niceness makes my arithmetic ability return, I guess).

Seriously, I don't mind folks who have a total of 11.37 and want to give me the 37 cents, or even 12 cents, or even 2 cents, just be nice about it.

(hoping that my reply will post this time. I tried last night, and well, the site kept timing out)

[sarahj]

If I have coins, I'll hand them over first, as close to the cents in my total is as possible, and I'll say how much I'm giving them, ie "here's 65 cents." Then I hand over bills, but I only say the amount if I pay with like 5 bills. The cashier can see that I'm giving them one $20 note. But everyone has their own way and whatever works is great, IMHO, as long as the line isn't held up.

And if I get handed a bill, then my customer goes digging through their pockets/wallet/change purse, I'll say "do you have the 65 cents?" to confirm if they're actually looking or if they're just randomly seeing what's in there. That's why I hand over coins first - clears up any confusion.

[videodrone]

Fishing change out of a purse typically doesn't bother me. I like exact change. However, if it takes longer than 20 seconds and there is a line out the door, then I'm probably going to get a little fussy.
And if you have to "go to your car to get the exact change" while there is a line, I'm going to void your order and make you wait in line again. (Not really, I just wish.)

I call out my money regardless of which position I'm in. I do it when I'm paying out of habit and I do it when I'm working so less errors will occur...and to prevent potential scammers.

[PepperElf]

i like to do exact change - coinage if not the paper-bill amount... but not so i'm digging forever.
and if i'm giving over the exact amount i'll say something like "out of 20"

[Mordecai]

I dislike it when people take forever trying to dig out a bunch of change when they have the bills to cover the cost, which is why I no longer pay for things with anything less than a quarter. I don't mind if someone gives me a twenty dollar bill and two quarters if the total is, say, $14.50, but if you give me 50 pennies then I will hate you.

[RayvenQ]

I like it if you have it ready (meaning you at least have change in your hand or your wallet at the ready and don't have to go digging for it) but I HAAAAAATE it when people will hold up a damn line just to find that extra seven cents

While I usually give exact change, if I'm in a situation like that I'll just give as close as I can