No more $50 notes please

[akaScooby]

Oh the fun from last night!

It was just one of those nights where I got hammered with $50 notes for small purchases (like $20 and under) and while we do have a change safe, the largest we can get from it is $10 notes and there is a limit on how many we can get in a shift.
Needless to say I think almost anyone who pays for a little purchase with a $50 is a prick.
But two incidents in particular stick out:

First and Worst
Bloke comes in and pays for less than $5 item with a $50 which sucks but since it's not busy yet I figure I'll make up for it later.
SC - Can you split another $50?
Me - *looks in drawer* No sorry I've only got one $20 and a couple of $10s.
SC - Aw shit okay *leaves*
Less than 5 minutes and no customers later SC returns and buys a $4 drink with the other $50, not in the mood for an argument I do the sale but I guess I wasn't too happy about it because:
SC - No need for the fucking attitude.
Me - *stunned*
SC leaves doors close
Me - You lousy F*CKING JERK!!!!

You Just Heard Me Say I Don't Have Change
So later in the morning I'm telling one of my regulars that I've been getting hit with $50s while this lady stands aside waiting for her husband to fill up the car.
When the husband finishes she pays for the $50 fuel with a $50 note and then grabs a pack of gum ($1.20) searches through her change purse.
And pays with another $50, which sucks big-time but then after I give her the change she says:
SC - Oh I thought it was $1.30 I could have paid that in coins *leaaves store*
Me - (oh you ******!!)

[Android Kaeli]

I usually get the ones that have a two dollar purchase pay with a $100 and it's almost always when I just get my drawer too. I can't break it unless customer wants fives, ones, AND coins or I get a manager to get me some change for it.

Most are understanding, but I love to get the customers that get angry when I need to get someone to get smaller bills. Hey, don't pay for a two dollar purchase with a hundred, you WILL have to wait if there's nothing more then a five in my drawer.

[r2cagle]

Didn't you hear? It was 'Feel Rich And Get Your Money In Large Bills Day'.

Oh, okay... it wasn't really, but I thought you could use a reason. I don't have any use for carrying anything larger than a $20 anyway. Mostly because my son can't tell the difference between taking a $1 or $100 and he has a distressing habit of emptying my purse to look for gum/change/his toys.. I don't want to lose more money than I can afford to replace.

[AtDIelement]

Hell, I don't carry anything more than a $10 usually.

But of course I'm one of those people that use my debit cards for everything.

[ShootMePlease]

Hell, I don't carry anything more than a $10 usually.

But of course I'm one of those people that use my debit cards for everything.

Agreed.

I always use my debit card for everything. I very rarely carry cash.

On a side note, I'm shocked no one has replied that they don't see the big deal with someone paying with a large bill and that it's your job to accept a customer's money. C'mon, ya soapbox slackers !!

[StarsAreFixed]

http://www.moneymuseum.com/frontend/...64636_4_en.jpg

$50 note! Take a look at that. I've handled about 10 of these in 2 and a half years- all for sales of under €50, all when my till wasn't far above the float (€40 in notes) all given by total dickheads (well goes without saying) who had no patience and no comprehension that ooo it might be tough to give you instant change for that note which is illegal in some EU countries.

[fireheart]

I dealt with quite a few of these last night, to the point where I was down to about 3 or 4 tens and I had no twenties in my drawer by the end of the night. On the upside, it made giving cash out a LOT easier. (If customers ask how much they can take out max, I tell them "<amount> but it needs to be in my drawer."

[Magpie]

I will confess that I sent my husband to pay for a $20 item with a $50 bill. (To make it worse, we thought it was $16 when we left the house). We were both going to get our ISICs, and I had missed some fine print, so didn't have enough ID on me. (And it was NOT my fault that my husband decided to ask the lady there if we could use her computer to pull up the website that I needed to bring a printout of. He still thinks that it's reasonable for them to have a customer use computer for that )

Why the cash? We had kept some of the $50s that people gave us from the wedding. (No, I'm not sure why), and I don't trust this place with my credit card, because they don't always train their staff properly. It's a lot easier to walk in with cash than to have to argue that yes, she should give you the cards anyhow, even though you're not letting her copy down every last piece of information from your card (this included the code on the back).

[Sightings Reporter]

Magpie...I think paying with a $50 for a $20 purchase is okay (at least in my book).

As for the people who use the corner store as their bank, I don't get it. When I go to the bank and withdraw money, I am asked how I want it. (Not that this happens often as I am a debit/credit sort of gal.)

When I used to work at a drug store, I used to get the soda and a candy bar people (at the time, $1.50) and be handed a 100 or 50 bill. Really? And as other have stated, at the beginning of my shift. (Or right after a drop).

When we do have a $50 or for some strange reason $100 bill, it goes unspent because I feel horrible using anywhere!

[KellyHabersham]

Most are understanding, but I love to get the customers that get angry when I need to get someone to get smaller bills. Hey, don't pay for a two dollar purchase with a hundred, you WILL have to wait if there's nothing more then a five in my drawer.

That was my experience at Macy's once - I had a woman want to pay for a ring with a $100 bill, told her I didn't have enough cash in my drawer to make change, and would have to call a manager to bring me a "refill". She was fine with that, but started getting impatient (although not sucky towards me) when it took awhile for a manager to show up. I wasn't bothered though, because I HAD given this woman a fair warning, and she still chose to pay with a $100 bill.

[arminius58]

I think this is my biggest pet peeve in the world, coming in one one our really cheap pizza days, as in under 7 dollars. They come in with 50s and 100s, we don't keep anything in the actual til area except for 5's, 1's, and coins; even our change holder doesn't keep anything above a 5.

Any tens or twenties we have to drop in a safe that is time locked.

[Primer]

My SIL is bad about using big bills for small(er) purchases. The last time she tried it, that I know of, was at a fried chicken place. The order (for the whole gang) came to about $20. She popped a $100 on the poor kid. They had just opened up, and had not even done that much business yet, much less in one till. I made the kid give her back the hundred, and *I* paid for the order in small bills. He looked quite relieved not to have to try to scrounge change! SIL was put out that they didn't have that much change in the till that early in the day. I tried to explain things to her, but I don't think I got very far.

[SuperNat]

I don't know what it's like in the States, but here the ATMs only give out 20s and 50s (although YEARS ago I remember they also gave 10s).. so chances are if a customer has comes straight from an ATM, depending on what amount they took out and what the machine has, they could only have 50s on them. Still, it did annoy me when I used to work at a fruit & veg shop when people used to come in first thing in the morning and buy maybe 2 apples and pay with a 50. Or that stupid man who paid for $3 worth of things with A HUNDRED (must've gone to the bank the afternoon before).

[underemployeed]

I don't mind if they ask me before hand, because sometimes I do have extra change. OF course if they look shady even if I have change I still won't agree to take one, especially when they pulled out a wad of at least $400 in 20s before going in their other pocket for the $50.
Of course I am mainly 3rd shift and work by myself, part of robbery prevention is keeping a low till. For the most part I drop every $20 I get.

I do have access to the automatic changer but I'm not to constantly use that to break 100s and 50s because it will empty out quickly. I'm fine with giving back $25 change for a $50. and $30 for a $100, I can usually swing that from my drawer at night no problem.


I can't agree more on the people who want to use me as a bank, especially when the bank is opened are complete jerks. For the most part we are willing to work with people if the request is within our power. Like when I have $40 worth of $1s that I can't possibly use before closing down I don't mind being asked for most of the change in $1s. But don't get pissy when I have none to spare and refuse the request.

OH, can't forget the guy who wants to use $100 bill for $2 worth of stuff and mentions that the store he owns always has a $50 in the register and we should too!


Bottom line is, most of the people who demand large amounts of change are not our valued customers, I don't care if they get mad when they say "Well I WILL go elsewhere" in a pissy tone and my response is "OK"

[Chromatix]

As a rule of thumb, I think that if the total is more than half the next denomination down, you can use a note without feeling too embarrassed about it. So you can try a €50 note for a purchase over about €10, if you don't have any €20 notes or other reasonable change left.

Of course it's still possible that they don't have enough change at that particular moment, but that's something you deal with as and when it happens.

In any case, I like to use small change to cover the strange part of a sum, when that's sensible. I have been known, in Britain, to use copper coins to get up to a 50p or 20p mark, which sometimes confuses the cashier since they're not used to customers using that level of optimisation. Hey, there's only so many copper coins I can fit into my wallet!