Not sucky, but so stupid it makes you laugh.

[bigjimaz]

I used to work at a chain grocery store as a cashier. The hours sucked, the pay was worse but my co-workers were wonderful. (A 40ish man surrounded by college women? Yep, that would be wonderful)

Late one evening a man walks up to my register with a hand basket half full of men's toiletries. After scanning the 15 or so items, I gave the total which was somewhere near $60.00 and change. The customer asks if he can pay me $50.00 cash and put the rest on his debit card. I explain that he could. He handed me a crisp $50.00 bill. I entered the amount and told him to go ahead and slide his card. (Here it comes...wait for it...) He completes the transaction with his bank card and asks for $50.00 cash back!

Can you say DUH???

Love the site. Hope I'll be able to contribute something once in a while.

Jim

[SnapAddict218]

yeah...i think i just lost another group of brain cells reading that.......

wow.

[Witch of Endor]

Was he trying to scam you into giving him $60 worth of stuff for $10? Or did he use the proper cash-back feature on the debit machine, which would have resulted in the $50 being deducted from his bank account and paid to your store?

[tendomentis]

Back in the day, I would have been worrying that the guy was passing counterfeit bills with a move like that. Just like when someone would come up and offer a twenty bill and ask for two tens. They walk off with real money, and you end up with a worthless piece of paper in the till.

[Barefootgirl]

Tendomentis, my first thought was "counterfeiter" as well. $50s are big enough to make it worthwhile, too.

[Banrion]

I would have just given him back the nice crisp $50 he just gave me, then told him we were not allowed to make change!

[NightAngel]

Was he trying to scam you into giving him $60 worth of stuff for $10? Or did he use the proper cash-back feature on the debit machine, which would have resulted in the $50 being deducted from his bank account and paid to your store?

I think the point was is he could have just paid for the whole thing on his debit card and kept his $50.

My oldest son calls what that guy did a "brain fart".

[csdrone]

Counterfeit would be the word that came to mind for me too.

[NightAngel]

I suppose it could be a counterfeit. But I'm not sure how that makes sense?
I mean, you put the $50 in the $50 slot- it's on top so obviously the one he handed is the one you grab from the top. Unless it's done differently elsewhere?

Hopefully the OP checked the bill also.

[tendomentis]

Okay, yes. If the guy wants $50 in cash back and takes back the bill he just handed you, then he is a moron. Odds are he wanted smaller bills though, and I would still raise an eyebrow to that.

[bigjimaz]

Believe me, that bill got a nice wide swipe of the counterfeit detection pen before it went into the till, not that it was in there very long as I returned it to him with his receipt. If he wanted smaller bills he said nothing. I can still see the guys face when he realized that he was a bonehead. All this happened about 5 years ago.

[Der Cute]

Well it would work if he was using a stolen debit & pin.

that way he would get his stuff, his $50 back and Person who Lost It would have to pay for it all.

Cute

[thegiraffe]

Bigjimaz - those counterfeit detection pens are useless. The counterfeiters can now treat the paper with a chemical that makes the pen react the same way it would to a real bill. The best (and easiest) method is to check for the watermark and the little plastic ribbon that's embedded in the bill.

[Boozy]

Great story.
I think some of you may be giving this guy too much credit in assuming he was some sort of clever scam artist. One of the hazards of working in retail is getting to the point where you assume everyone is a scammer, because we have to deal with so many.
I agree with NightAngel - sounds like a brain fart to me.

[Becks]

I'm not thinking scammer, I'm thinking not too bright.