Innumeracy

[edible_hat]

Today I had this conversation five times IN A ROW with minor variations.

Me: "OK that's $21... $50... so there's $29 change..."
SC: (counts change) "What about the other $10?"
Me: "It was $21, you gave me $50, so your change is $29."
SC: "It should be $30."
Me: "No, look. $21 plus $9 is $30, right?"
SC: "Um... I guess..."
Me: "And $30 plus $20 is $50."
SC: "Oh ok." (gives the "you've won this round" glare)


And for added extra suck...

SC: (hands over card with Visa logo, but you can also use Visa cards to access bank accounts)
Me: "Is that cheque, savings or credit?"
SC: "Whatever."
Me: "Credit then?"
SC: "That'll do... no cheque! Cheque!"

And it came up "invalid account". Went through fine when he gave me the right card.

[Estil]

I think you may have a quick changer on your hands there.

[edible_hat]

I think you may have a quick changer on your hands there.

5 of them. Pathetic attempts too.

[smileyeagle1021]

I think you may have a quick changer on your hands there.

that is why, when I do give change (which isn't that common in this job), I always count up from the total (ie, total of $21.50 and they give me $40 would be "ok, so .50 makes 22 *handing two quarters*, then *handing over ones* 23, 24, 25, *handing over a 5* 30, and *handing over a 10* 40"... confuses young people who have never heard change counted back before, old folks love it to hear someone less than 30 do it the old fashioned way though ... makes it damn hard to claim that I short changed you though).

[Buglady]

My current boss LOVES me because whenever I am on shift, the till balances to the penny - because I count back change properly! The customers like it too, especially because I give them the coins FIRST, then the bills (I can't stand it when a cashier hands me bills first and balances the coins on top; I'm guaranteed to drop some or all of it trying to get it back in my wallet/pocket).

The 18 year olds on staff thought I was a mathematical genius until I showed them how to do it too. They are learning; our till is usually within the dollar when they are on now. Now if only I could break the one guy of saying "yup" instead of "you're welcome" or "thanks, have a good day"...

[Merriweather]

My current boss LOVES me because whenever I am on shift, the till balances to the penny - because I count back change properly!
The 18 year olds on staff thought I was a mathematical genius until I showed them how to do it too. ...

My first retail job was at age 17 back in the dark ages before computerized registers told you how much change to give, and even then average math skills weren't a lot better than today it seems. I was the only cashier with a perfectly balanced drawer almost every night. Policy was that being within $10 was acceptable, and some cashiers couldn't even meet that standard on a consistant basis.

Merriweather
"The only thing normal in my life is a setting on my washing machine"

[Ree]

I could never figure out why my drawer was off at the end of my shift (usually by less than a dollar, though). As far as I could tell, I always gave the customers the right change, so where the hell did that 22 cents (or whatever) come from (or go to)?

Some of the shortages are probably from rolls of coins.

Some people will roll their coins and be short or over by one coin. Some are rolled by weight, rather than by counting.

If you have a couple of rolls that are out, it can leave an odd discrepancy in the drawer.

[ralerin]

Some of the shortages are probably from rolls of coins.

Some people will roll their coins and be short or over by one coin. Some are rolled by weight, rather than by counting.

If you have a couple of rolls that are out, it can leave an odd discrepancy in the drawer.

Going along with that thought-our registers count the roll as one roll of, say, pennies. So how could it be saying that the drawer is short or over by x amount if the register thinks it's just one solid roll of perfectly counted out pennies?

[Ree]

our registers count the roll as one roll of, say, pennies. So how could it be saying that the drawer is short or over by x amount

It's only short once the roll gets opened, because, until that point, it has been counted as x amount.

The cashier is not technically short, but the drawer is, and any company who treats anything less than $1 as a cashier shortage/error, is wrong.
When I was a cash supervisor, I never held any of the cashiers accountable for errors that were $2 or less because of the $1 and $2 coins that we have here in Canada.

[ralerin]

Ree-Ah, thanks for clearing that up.

I think it's slightly different here in the US because anything over or under by 50 cents here is a cashier error where I work. Dollar coins and $2 bills exist but they're rare. So *shrug*

[fireheart]

Last time I checked, Australia didn't accept rolls of coins as payment, especially because of a law that states that we can only take up to something like $5 of 5c-20c pieces, $10 or $20 of 50c-$2 coins can't remember the rest. Cashier error at my work is somewhere around the $50 mark, anything over $100 is treated as suspicious unless the cashier can prove it, anything over $200 is a definite

Oh and edible, suggestion if you are ever asked to break notes: lay the note on top of your drawer while you change it, then hold up the original and what they gave you, then say something like "this is what you gave me, this is your change, is that correct?" Wait until they actually SAY "Yes" before putting their original note in your drawer.

[Boggles]

Last time I checked, Australia didn't accept rolls of coins as payment, especially because of a law that states that we can only take up to something like $5 of 5c-20c pieces, $10 or $20 of 50c-$2 coins can't remember the rest.

There is the same law in the UK.

Everyone thinks Legal tender refers to what coins etc are valid. it doesn;t it refers to what, in law, can be used to pay Crown Debts. These are things like taxes, court fees and so on. It's something like 20p in 1p or 2p coins, £5 in 5p & 10p and so on. The only you ever really see it enforced is on public transport as most bus drivers won;t take fares all in copper or 5 pence pieces.

Interestingly, in Scotland, there are no bank notes that are legal tender be them English, Scottish or whatever. So if you get a Scottish tax bill or fine or anything, you can turn up and pay it all in £1 coins and there is sweet F.A. they can do about it!

[Geek King]

It still doesn't stop the rolls from the banks being short...or even over. The rolls from banks are mostly done by machine, and they can get old and make mistakes. I have counted fresh rolls that were over/short by a coin or two. I only noticed them because I had about fifty rolls of quarters*, and you notice when one is longer or shorter than the rest.



*I was an arcade worker in a busy amusement park.

[Broomjockey]

It still doesn't stop the rolls from the banks being short...or even over. The rolls from banks are mostly done by machine, and they can get old and make mistakes.

Also, often the machines like that do it by weight as a check, so if some of the coins are lighter than normal, or heavier, it adjusts to the weight, rather than count. The little home counters don't do that obviously, but I'm fairly certain the mint does.

[CoffeeMonkey]

And don't forget the possibility of human error that's not actually counting error.

You dropped a coin and didn't notice it.
Two bills stuck together.
Someone gave you correct change for something and neither of you noticed there were three pennies instead of two.

There are all kinds of ways there can be tiny differences in the drawer without actually counting the change wrong.