You can't count...?

[ralerin]

Not quite where to put this, so I'll stick it here.

I was at the mall tonight, buying myself some mini pecanbons from Cinnabon (because I had a craving for it, damn that cinnamony smell) and the guy behind the register vanished for a second to grab me my bottled water. In the meantime his manager comes back with rolls of change, looks at the bills and stack of quarters I put on the counter and looks a bit confused.

"Do you have exact change?" she asked. (My total was $5.78)

"No, I have $6 here".

"Ok, um...how much do I give her back...?"

Both of them are trying to figure out how much change they need to give me back. *facepalm* Finally he gave me back 28 cents.

"You gave me too much change," I said. "It's not .28, it's .22."

*He gives me a slight fish face stare*

"Well, look." I count it out on my fingers. "I have $6 here. So from $5.78, you get .88 is .10, then .98 is .20, plus two pennies. It's .22 cents."

"Oh really? Thank you!" He takes the quarter back.

"Um, you need to take this extra penny back and give me two dimes."

So he does.

I know it's 6 cents, but my goodness. Brain burp on his part or lacking math skills? Call me honest to a fault if you'd like, but eh...didn't feel right taking that 6 cents.

[BethB]

I know waaaaaay too many people who cannot think of correct change without the register telling them what it is. And heaven forbid they enter the wrong cash amount. The cosmos just might implode!

[Pagan]

I learned to count change without the register when I spent a summer working in a casino. Had to, the register did tell you how much to give back.

Came in handy a couple of times when the registers went down at the Green&White place. I was the only one there who knew how to do it. (Not to mention I was the only one who knew how to do manual transactions. The genius Ass. Mgr. decided I needed to be on a register rather than floating to help everyone else. Eedjit.)

[Greenday]

What the heck is a register? My first year of working concession, the stand I worked at I only had something to separate money with. No register, no calculator, no paper to write on. Sausage sandwich, $5.75. Bottle of soda, $3.50. Chips, $0.75. Seems pretty simple until you get orders like 3 sausage sandwiches, 5 bottles of soda and two bags of chips. Thank God I can do mental math like it's no ones business. It was funny when people questioned me doing all the calculations in my head. And I was nearly always dead on with my count at the end of the day. For some reason, even if you had a register, balancing was damn near impossible.

[Bright_Star]

I know waaaaaay too many people who cannot think of correct change without the register telling them what it is. And heaven forbid they enter the wrong cash amount. The cosmos just might implode!

It's not as you easy as you seem to think it is. I'd rather have a calculator or the register telling me the correct amount than trying to stand there looking stupid while some moron gets impatient to get their correct change.
Or in a pinch a piece of paper and a pen or pencil & figure it out that way. Not everybody can figure mathmatical stuff in their heads.

[ralerin]

It's not as you easy as you seem to think it is. I'd rather have a calculator or the register telling me the correct amount than trying to stand there looking stupid while some moron gets impatient to get their correct change....... Not everybody can figure mathmatical stuff in their heads.

What Bright Star said. I can't figure out most change in my head unless it's something I come across most days. Ie, $1.98-paid $2, gets 2 cents back, $5.99 purchase with a 20 gets you $14.01 back, etc. I freeze when someone gives me some weird change amount.

Still, I look at the register just to be safe.

But both of the people in my story not knowing how to give the right change back? I fear for the register balance at that Cinnabon.

[Kiwi]

when my mother found out that I had recieved ZERO training at my first retail job she taught me how to count back change and figure change in my head

it has made my job SO much easyier over the years, I think its very sad that retail workers are pretty much dumped on the floor to "learn as they go" when even an hour out the back with a manager and a fake till and some roleplay and it would enable them to provide better customer service from the get go.

[Pagan]

It's not as you easy as you seem to think it is. I'd rather have a calculator or the register telling me the correct amount than trying to stand there looking stupid while some moron gets impatient to get their correct change.
Or in a pinch a piece of paper and a pen or pencil & figure it out that way. Not everybody can figure mathmatical stuff in their heads.

Actually, it's not that hard and not really much math involved. Say the total is $4.23 and you're given a $10. What you do is you count from .23 up to .25 (2 pennies), then up to $5 (3 quarters), and then up to $10 with ones or fives.

[wagegoth]

Actually, it's not that hard and not really much math involved. Say the total is $4.23 and you're given a $10. What you do is you count from .23 up to .25 (2 pennies), then up to $5 (3 quarters), and then up to $10 with ones or fives.

Exactly. That's how I learned to do it. I normally balanced to the penny on my drawers.