Small change nightmare...

[fireheart]

Just a short one today...

Three teenage girls come up, buying stuff to the total of $7. I go through my normal actions half-zombified (I've been really rundown lately) and then the girl pulls out a small plastic bag with coins.

Not good.

She then begins counting out the entire total, not to me, she'd do it in $1 lots. All up, I took 1 $2 coin and the remaining $5 in 20 and 10c pieces. Clearly, to waste my time...so I did it right back at them. (legal ruling in Australia is to roughly not accept more than about $4 in 5c, 10c, 20c pieces, $20 in 50c, $50 in $1 and $2...)

I dropped the coins in one at a time, listening to the satisfying plink and held onto the receipt until I was done. They just stood there and waited, so I had the feeling that it might've been to waste my time...most teenagers I know, if they pay me with small change, they dump it and leave. I gave my receipt and they left.

The next customer commented "you have the patience of a saint."

[Peppergirl]

I'll probably get flamed for this, but when I save up enough loose change, I either roll it myself and take it to my bank - or I dump it in the coinstar and pay the fees.

I simply don't have the nerve to hold up a line or test the patience of a cashier like that.

Unless it's an urgent situation or something that you desperately need, I think it's rude.

[Bramblerose]

I thought large amts of change were for vending machines or laundries. SOme locations of my bank will let you bring unwrapped coins and they run it thru the machine, and as of a couple years ago, have yet to realize they could charge for the service (though I bet they've caught wise by now).

[EricKei]

Why would you get flamed for that? That's the best way to do it! I would imagine that the tellers appreciate getting pre-rolled coins, and they have their own coin-counter doohickeys for times when it's not; Coinstar works nicely, too.

[lupo pazzesco]

I'll probably get flamed for this, but when I save up enough loose change, I either roll it myself and take it to my bank - or I dump it in the coinstar and pay the fees.

I simply don't have the nerve to hold up a line or test the patience of a cashier like that.

Unless it's an urgent situation or something that you desperately need, I think it's rude.

Ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto!!

I've had several similar occurrences in the OP, with college students.

Ever have someone pay for a college textbook (about $90...) with cash, $30 of which is in change? (nickels and dimes, mostly. Store manager at the time was the ultimate jellyfish, so he allowed it. And THEN had the audacity to sigh dramatically when I was counting the drawer down about how I was going to keep him there FOREVER because I'd be so slow counting the change.

I COULD'VE done it just to irk him, but since I was about 10, I'd go along with my dad, who's job at the time was to count machines in bars (Think dartboards, juke boxes, nickel and dime slots, etc)

I counted the change in under 2 minutes. And my till balanced exactly.

BUT, to wind this up, I agree with pepper girl. All my loose change, I count and roll myself, then take to the bank to cash it in. But that's just my (our?) view on the matter.

[jerkface11]

I've had douchebags pay for $10+ orders with nothing larger than a nickle IN THE DRIVETHRU!!!

[BookstoreEscapee]

I have a change jar that I toss all my coins in. When it's full I take it to the bank (TD Bank) and dump it in the coin machine...it's free. I'm pretty sure you can do it even if you don't have an account. When I take the receipt from the machine to the teller, I've never been asked for account info to get the cash.

It's called the Penny Arcade - if you guess your total within $1.99 you get a prize. I counted out my change once and "guessed" close to the total just to see what the prize was. I got a Commerce water bottle that promptly melted in the dishwasher.

[Summerfly413]

I had some kid last night, maybe around 10 or so, pay for some Wii accesory that was about $24 in change. Just dumped it all on the counter and watched me count it out, not bothering to help.
Then his father came in. I thought *Oh, cool, the dad's going to tell his kid to help, or he'll help me at least* ...No...They both stood and watched me count out all the change. He was about $5 short and then the kid pulled out a bunch of pennies, which I refused. The dad finally paid for the rest of it, but dang....it's so annoying

[BookstoreEscapee]

I hated it when people would let their kids pay all in change. Yay for teaching your kid about using money, but for dog's sake, teach them how to count it out at home and change it for bills before you go shopping.

[BowserKoopa1]

At most of the jobs I've worked at, we are told not to accept change once the drawer is open (to avoid people trying to short change us). Well of course, yup you guessed it.... When they try to give me change afterwards, I tell them I can't, that its company policy and I can get into trouble, they make a stupid face. Under these circumstances, I'll take a penny or maybe 2 cents, but I don't appreciate this crap from customers. Why don't they think about this before the drawer pops open? Because customers are idiots and get mad over stupid things like this.
Oh, and don't you just love the customers who hold up the lines while they fish through their purses or pockets for change, not giving a dam care in the world that they're holding up the line with their, "I was here first, these other people are just gonna have to wait til I'm done, I don't give a shit." attitude?

[Nashida]

When I was working at Namco, purchases over $10 could not be made with just coins because it would hold up the line and people got noisy over it. So when the plastic baggies came out I had to turn them down.

On my end of this, I do two things with my change. I save it all up, then sort it into two piles: quaters and everything else. Everything else gets put into a Coinstar machine and converted into an Amazon.com certificate that I can use online (no fees for that, for some reason). The quarters I take up to New Hampshire with me when I take my brother to Hampton Beach and we goof off in the arcades up there. We'll use them to see how many of those silly stuffed animals we can catch from those claw machines.

[BookstoreEscapee]

they make a stupid face.

How can you tell the difference from their regular face?

We'll use them to see how many of those silly stuffed animals we can catch from those claw machines.

I used to be pretty good at those when I was a kid...

[Spork4pedro]

ok..i've got to fess up..i've been guilty of paying in change. I only do it if I something accidently happens to either my cash or card. Example: one night we ordered chinese food to be delivered. Right as the delivery guy pulled up my 3 year old nephew grabs my cash and flushes it down the toilet (god..i hate that stage!) so I had to pay the $30 bill in small change (mostly quarters though) but I did tip him really well! I felt so bad about that....that guy must have hated me!

Usually when I do my half-yearly change clean out I roll all the coins and try to switch them out at my work (we usually are always short on change rolls) so it works out well.

[StarsAreFixed]

I don't mind if someone pays in change and has to count it out, only if it's a ridiculous amount of coppers or someone dumps the ceontents of their purse opn the counter and says 'Take it out of that, love'. Complete with bits of fluff and dirt. I did have a plastic bag customer once. She asked if I minded if she paid some of the transaction in cash..didn't know it was going to be the equivalent of over $100 though. Most of it was €2 and €1 coins but it was a nightmare counting it..losing count..recounting, trying to squash it into the till. Ugh. Subsequently found out there's a rule in Ireland that you don't have to accept more than 50 coins per transaction..

[Kogarashi]

Ok, maybe I was one of the weird cashiers, but I never really minded when customers paid all in change. Of course, most had the sensibility not to try that trick when the total was close to $100 or more. Then again, the only ones who'd dump the coins on my counter/belt without attempting to count it themselves were the little kids, which made it okay in my book.

The only time I hated it was when I'd get a lots-of-change customer juuuuuuuuust after I had to crack open a coin roll, because invariably the customer's payment would include a lot of the coins I had just opened, and it would end up being close to closing time, and then I'd get a manager whining at me for "opening too many coin rolls at once." Um, no, a customer gave me most of this, thank you. They just didn't want to have to count the $20-$30 worth of quarters in my drawer.