The smart and the not-so-smart

[Words4theWorld]

I always had to snicker when I read your stories about these things, but when I was confronted with this guy in reality, my eyes rolled back unvoluntarily and I had to turn my head.
I stopped with hubs at one of those stores where you get all kinds of stuff for fairly cheap money. In front of us at the register was a teenage girl buying two things for a total of 1.59. She handed the cashier her money, which she had already counted out and from behind her I could see that she gave him 2.60. The guy took her money, looked at the coins, looked at his register, looked at the coins again, took the .60 and gave it back to her, saying "I don't need this". Then he rang in the money and gave her an additional .41 for the change she was again holding in her hand.
I was *this* close to tapping the girl on the shoulder and telling her, that she shouldn't get herself discouraged and that some day somebody would understand the way of giving back change in as few coins as possible.

[csquared]

I'm confused. Are you Canadian? Did this involve a Tooney?

[eltf177]

It might have been she wanted to either get rid of her change and get a dollar bill back and/or the store might have wanted the change.

My comic store always needs change and if I've got excess I am glad to help (keeping your comic dealer happy pays off in the long run!).

[Draco]

The total was 1.59 and she gave them 2.60?

...why? Unless csquared is correct and the one item was a $2 bill/coin... Then it makes sense. Otherwise? Not so much.

[ApolloSZ]

So they get a $1 and 1cent in change, rather than .60 in change then having .41 in change.
There by having 2 coins (or 1 coin one note depending on locale) rather than an anvil of coins

[prjkt]

Makes perfect sense to me, I'll often "overpay" to get note or gold coin change, rather than carry multiple silvers around

[Words4theWorld]

Sorry, I sometimes forget about your denominations, so of course you're confused.
I'm from Europe and with the Euro we have cents (1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50) equalling your cents and Euros (coins for 1 and 2, bills for 5 and upwards) equalling your dollars.
So the girl had a 2-Euro-coin and 60 cents handy, hoping to get rid of her change and receive a 1-Euro-coin and 1-cent-coin back.
It seems that the guy in the shop wasn't the only one being not so smart with me being in line with him by forgetting to mention our system of denominations.

[Chromatix]

FWIW, 41 cents is a different set of coins on each side of the Pond.

Euroland: 20+20+1.
Yankee: 25+10+5+1.

Likewise, 60 cents would probably be:

Euroland: 20+20+20.
Yankee: 25+25+10.

And yes, coins are used for larger values over here than in the US. We have €0.50, €1 and €2 coins in normal circulation (and in Britain, 50p, £1 and £2 coins too). That still leaves £5 and €5 notes as the ones that wear out the quickest - far quicker than €10 or £10 notes. That's partly because ATMs don't often dispense "fivers".

[Sapphire Silk]

Am I missing something?

Because I don't know the first thing about how the Euro works, but I got the OP's meaning with the first post.

[wolfie]

So they get a $1 and 1cent in change, rather than .60 in change then having .41 in change.
There by having 2 coins (or 1 coin one note depending on locale) rather than an anvil of coins

Fun fact: In neither Canada nor the U.S. would someone tender $2.60 for an item that rang up as $1.59 (including tax), and get back 2 coins (or 1 coin 1 note) in change.

U.S.: Although they exist, $2 bills are not generally circulated (if a business wants to make a point of how important they are to the community, they give their employees a cash bonus in $2 bills, so it can be reasonably assumed that any $2 bill that's circulating in the community for a while afterward came from the company). Nobody would tender $2.60, since that would involve 2 $1 bills, and they'd be getting one of them back in change.

Canada: We've got rid of the penny, so for cash purchases the $1.59 would be rounded up to $1.60.

[Primer]

U.S.: Although they exist, $2 bills are not generally circulated. Nobody would tender $2.60, since that would involve 2 $1 bills, and they'd be getting one of them back in change.

I make a point of buying $2 bills and $1 coins from my credit union for the sole purpose of putting them into circulation. And thanks for reminding me, I do need to restock on both.

My favorite place to spend them is at yard/garage/rummage sales. The coins are primarily used at reenactments to pay kids to help us do chores, such as gather firewood, or haul hay to line the sides of the tent to keep the cold winds out.