[Annie Hall]
“Nickels, see? Nickels, see? Nickels, you see? Whenever you can’t remember my name, just think Joey Five Cents”
[/Annie Hall]
On topic: I sure do prefer to have the coins handed to me first, followed by the bills. Sadly, it does indeed seem that few clerks return change this way anymore.
Which means you are taking longer, since you don’t already have your wallet ready in the other hand. The ideal version goes like this:
You get out your wallet with your non-dominant hand and pull out the money with your dominant hand to give to the cashier. They take the money, and (1)give you back your change in coins, which you hold in a cupped hand. (2)They hand you the bills, which you grasp with your first two fingers, while folding your fingers over the coins. (3)You put the bills into your wallet, then (4) you simultaneously put back your wallet while putting the change in your pocket.
Doing it your way means you get your wallet out, pull out the money, put your either back or down on something, (1)get the bills in change first, (2)then coins, (3)slide the coins to the other hand, (4)put the coins back, pick up your wallet, and then (5) put the bills back in, and then finally (6) put up the wallet.
See, you’re doing two extra steps, thus taking longer. Even if you somehow keep your wallet in your hand while using that hand to put change in your pocket, you still have an extra step because you can’t do any two things simultaneously.
The only way around this that I’ve found (and thus, the method I use) is to just (3)fold the bills around the change and (4) put both into your pocket, and then sort it back out later when you get back to the car. That’s also four steps, and I guess the steps are a bit quicker, but you have to do extra steps later.
(You may wonder why I start counting steps from the point when the cashier starts giving change. That’s because there’s a massive time sink there–with the cashier putting up the money. So you can do whatever you want at that point without wasting time.)