Making change

[Redwolf]

Cleanup on aisle two!

Redwolf

[doogieman]

"20 makes 10 and 10 makes 20" ........................ almost like a Zen Koan.

[Redwolf]

I should add that I've always made it a policy to count back change even when using a cash register that tells me how much change to return. It just seems like one more layer of protection for me (I can be sure that I haven't accidentally grabbed two ones stuck together or a 20 instead of a 10 and, as someone else noted, the customer can't turn around and say "hey, you gave me a 10 and it should have been a 20!")

My pet peeve in a shopping line? People who insist on remaining in line while they put their change away, enter the purchase in their check book, put away their receipt, etc., while in the meantime the cashier is already running my purchase and said customer is blocking MY way to the credit card machine or check writing area. Get a clue, folks...grab your change and your receipt and step out of the way to do your personal business!

Redwolf

[fel bautista]

Well, it's a very practical and common sense, old-fashioned way to count change, which all young people should learn. My daughter works at the local produce stand and was taught to do that right away. The one who works at the toy store relies on the electronic cash register.

That way of counting is backwards to me though, because I tend to want to start with the amount I handed over and subtract. But as long as you can make the initial leap that this counter-intuitive way of computing will get you there accurately, it's probably easier for most brains.

I worked as a cashier at a department store in college and couldn't figure out how people were making change so quickly. This older ( 35 ish) lady showed me the "start from the smallest denomination and work up" trick and lo and behold, I was making change without thinking about it.

Fast forward 25+ years and my kids were being taught addition and subtraction skills in grammar school with pennies and dimes. We used to make change as a game, but I didn't show them how. They couldn't figure out how dad was able to make change so quick without pen and paper. Once I showed them, it became a game of how fast can you do it before your sister or brother.

[djm]

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the cardinal rule - NEVER put the customer's money into the till until you have given them their change. This forstalls any arguing about what they paid.

djm

[fel bautista]

YUP- that's a number one thing. When I was cashiering, that scam actually happened to me. The five was cover by some other bills and he kept insisting that it was a $50. I showed him the stack on the register and called my manager. He was escorted out of the store by the local police. Unknown to me, he tried pulling the same stunt on the second floor.

My pet peeve was asking people, "Cash, check or charge?" And once and awhile, a customer would just answer "yes" and then stand there. A check or a charge in those days had to be approved by one of the floor supervisors so you wanted to have them come over to have them sign off at the end of the transaction.

[dubhlinn]

Coming back home from a gig one night, I insisted on a bit of Dave Brubeck.

Ye know that "Blue Rondo a La Turk" stuff sez I..

"Ye " sez the guitarist.


"Count that .." sez I.

Slan,
D.

[emmline]

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the cardinal rule - NEVER put the customer's money into the till until you have given them their change. This forstalls any arguing about what they paid.

djm

I worked in our hardware store the year before my first kid was born. (Up until the night she was born, in fact.)
An elderly male customer explained to me the rule about handing over the coins before the bills. I've appreciated that ever since.

[cowtime]

I make change all day long selling stamps while delivering the mail. I work out of a cash box.

The only thing I hate is when folks sandwich some bills and change between letters they are mailing out- so I grab them thinking they are stamped, change goes everywhere, the bills thankfully don't and then I've got to try and guess just how much money they had in there so I can give them the correct change. Grrrrrrrr This is not the post office's money- it's mine. We have to purchase our own stamp stock to sell to customers on the route.

[Congratulations]

Coming back home from a gig one night, I insisted on a bit of Dave Brubeck.

Ye know that "Blue Rondo a La Turk" stuff sez I..

"Ye " sez the guitarist.


"Count that .." sez I.

Slan,
D.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

[Walden]

I make change all day long selling stamps while delivering the mail. I work out of a cash box.

The only thing I hate is when folks sandwich some bills and change between letters they are mailing out- so I grab them thinking they are stamped, change goes everywhere, the bills thankfully don't and then I've got to try and guess just how much money they had in there so I can give them the correct change. Grrrrrrrr This is not the post office's money- it's mine. We have to purchase our own stamp stock to sell to customers on the route.

Maybe you could leave some of those little envelopes in hopes they'll use them. Of course they won't.

[Jeferson]

I've just started teaching my students to count back change this year, and it's quickly learned within a week. The trick, as someone earlier mentioned, is to start counting back with the smallest denominations. Thing is, they learn that paying is done starting with the biggest bills. At the beginning of the week, when I ask, "Why would someone pay a $2.93 charge by giving $3.03?" the 10 year olds are stumped. Five days later, most hands shoot up with the correct answer. Of course, there's always the kid who thinks it's a tip!

Jef

[Denny]

I've just started teaching my students to count back change this year, and it's quickly learned within a week. The trick, as someone earlier mentioned, is to start counting back with the smallest denominations. Thing is, they learn that paying is done starting with the biggest bills. At the beginning of the week, when I ask, "Why would someone pay a $2.93 charge by giving $3.03?" the 10 year olds are stumped. Five days later, most hands shoot up with the correct answer. Of course, there's always the kid who thinks it's a tip!

Jef

then you can teach the kid that 10 cents is much too small a tip for $2.93!

[cowtime]

I make change all day long selling stamps while delivering the mail. I work out of a cash box.

The only thing I hate is when folks sandwich some bills and change between letters they are mailing out- so I grab them thinking they are stamped, change goes everywhere, the bills thankfully don't and then I've got to try and guess just how much money they had in there so I can give them the correct change. Grrrrrrrr This is not the post office's money- it's mine. We have to purchase our own stamp stock to sell to customers on the route.

Maybe you could leave some of those little envelopes in hopes they'll use them. Of course they won't.

I have and some folks use them, for which I am grateful. Others put money in an envelope, seal it, and bury it in their outgoing mail. I don't see them till I get back to the office and go through what I've picked up. Sometimes I'm lucky and they wrote their address or name on the envelope. Othertimes I have to wait till they get mad enough to call the office and ask where why they didn't get their stamps.