# Cashiers unwilling to say $6.66 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 25, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966 "2014-04-25T16:38:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/21 "2014-04-25T18:14:48Z")
No Social Security numbers start with 666. I think a great conspiracy would be that they are issued and given to a select few who have promised eternal loyalty to Satan. (They’re also given a fake number to trick the less unholy.) ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/22 "2014-04-25T18:16:35Z")
I used to buy buy two bottles of 99 cent water and a candy bar and with tax the total came to $3.34 which , of course, left me $6.66 in change if I used a 10 dollar bill to buy it… The guy in the store would always ask if I wanted something else so that I didn’t have to get that amount back. I just shook my head and took the change. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/23 "2014-04-25T18:20:30Z")
Some years before he died Fred Phelps had a syndicated radio sermon program. One of the things he said that marked Topeka, Kansas, (his home), as evil was that all the zip codes start with 666. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/24 "2014-04-25T18:26:09Z")
The ham I made for Easter cost $6.66. I picked that one out on purpose. Score one for Satan! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/25 "2014-04-25T18:28:19Z")
When you find somebody embracing a religious superstition like this, double down on them. Tell them things like 666 or the devil have no power over you because you’re protected by your faith. Suggest to them that they should accept Jesus into their life and then they wouldn’t need to be afraid anymore. This will confuse these people. They think of themselves as hyper-Christians and they don’t know how to react when somebody suggests they aren’t Christian enough. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/26 "2014-04-25T18:30:32Z")
I was once playing poker in Atlantic City, 7 card stud. Just me and another left in the hand. He had 2 6s showing. I could still beat him. He tripped the 6 which pretty much sunk my hand. He folded and I won. He said he couldn’t take money for 3 6s. I was happy to take his. I guess he thought Jeezus hated that number but had no problem with the drinking and gambling. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/27 "2014-04-25T18:37:11Z")
I’m surprised cashiers would stumble over that. If I was in that situation, I’d prefer to say “Six dollars and sixty-six cents” not because I’m superstitious about it, but because I wouldn’t want the customer to freak. > [@Sunspace](#): > > So I grew up in Whitby, where many of the phone numbers were of the form xxx-666-xxxx. Didn’t stop anyone from giving out their number, though I joked with my stepbrother that I was the neighbour of the beast, because we were in the same housing co-op and he had a 666 number and ours was 668… Similar joke here. For a while in college, I lived at 667 [street name]. There was nothing but a city parking lot across the street, which also lead to some jokes about an invisible satanic temple on city property. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/28 "2014-04-25T18:37:57Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Well dude, what’s up with THAT?! _sign of the cross_ Okay, now who’s discriminating against the Sanguinarian-Americans? Why do you hate the poor innocent vampires? It’s not their fault they have to subsist on a high protien liquid diet… ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/29 "2014-04-25T18:52:48Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > There used to be a Highway 666 on the Navajo Reservation in the American Southwest. [It got changed to 491 some years ago.](http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/us666.cfm) [USA Today attributed the change to a rash of thefts of 666 signs.](http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/topstories/2008-09-29-902013518_x.htm) ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/30 "2014-04-25T18:55:25Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > Okay, now who’s discriminating against the Sanguinarian-Americans? Why do you hate the poor innocent vampires? It’s not their fault they have to subsist on a high protien liquid diet… Huh, I didn’t realize that vampires had such good powers of perception that they could be affected by an imaginary air cross! My bad! (Actually IRL I’m Lutheran so I wouldn’t be signing any crosses, I’d just shrug and go back to digging a hole.) ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/31 "2014-04-25T18:57:50Z")
Ours is an effing strange species. I remember a report I saw a few years ago from someplace in Texas where a municipality decided that it wasn’t going to allow its employees to answer the phone with the traditional “Hello” and would require them to, instead, answer with “Heaven-o.” Here’s a link: [Texas town says goodbye to ‘hello’ – The Minnesota Daily](http://www.mndaily.com/1997/01/17/texas-town-says-goodbye-hello) ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/32 "2014-04-25T19:08:15Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > One of my co-workers won’t say the word “devil” under any circumstances. At an office party recently, she called deviled eggs “angeled eggs”. Well, technically Satan is an angel, so… Sigh. This topic makes my head hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/33 "2014-04-25T19:19:03Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > One of my co-workers won’t say the word “devil” under any circumstances. At an office party recently, she called deviled eggs “angeled eggs”. There are intelligent posters on this board who won’t write the name “God.” ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/34 "2014-04-25T19:30:55Z")
> [@Inna\_Minnit](#): > > Well, technically Satan is an angel, so… Not anymore. Which begs the question – [do worshipers of Satan](http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/29/markets/markets_newyork/) fear the number 777? ---
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/35 "2014-04-25T19:34:06Z")
Do away with the penny. “That will be six sixty uh, five.” ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/36 "2014-04-25T19:36:16Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > I have done A LOT of travel, both for business and personal reasons. I’ve unfortunately had to have a number of meals at fast food joints, or fast casual restaurants. I am a creature of habit, so if I’m stopping at say McDonalds for a quick on-the-go breakfast, I tend to order the same thing. Interesting that every where you’ve gone has had the exact same sales tax rate. Where I live every, county and jurisdiction’s tax rate is slightly different. It would be difficult to go to McDonalds’ across the state, much less multiple states, order the exact same thing and have it ring up the same amount every time. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/37 "2014-04-25T19:44:20Z")
I don’t know where the OP lives, but in Canada sales tax is a product of federal and provincial taxes, so each province will have the same uniform tax rate regardless where you stop. The taxes on an Egg McMuffin will be 13% in Windsor, and 13% in Thunder Bay. Now, the restaurant may not charge the same amount, but the taxes are the same. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/38 "2014-04-25T20:00:19Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I was once playing poker in Atlantic City, 7 card stud. Just me and another left in the hand. He had 2 6s showing. I could still beat him. He tripped the 6 which pretty much sunk my hand. He folded and I won. He said he couldn’t take money for 3 6s. I was happy to take his. I guess he thought Jeezus hated that number but had no problem with the drinking and gambling. I was once playing three card poker at a casino, and hit trips…sixes. An older woman sitting next to me said something Jesusy and left the table. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/39 "2014-04-25T20:35:23Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > When you find somebody embracing a religious superstition like this, double down on them. Tell them things like 666 or the devil have no power over you because you’re protected by your faith. Suggest to them that they should accept Jesus into their life and then they wouldn’t need to be afraid anymore. > > This will confuse these people. They think of themselves as hyper-Christians and they don’t know how to react when somebody suggests they aren’t Christian enough. leftfield6(66), would you do this next time you run across something like this? I’d love to hear the reaction. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966/40 "2014-04-25T20:36:41Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Interesting that every where you’ve gone has had the exact same sales tax rate. Where I live every, county and jurisdiction’s tax rate is slightly different. It would be difficult to go to McDonalds’ across the state, much less multiple states, order the exact same thing and have it ring up the same amount every time. Not as interesting as you would think. The 3 times it’s been in the fast food drive-thru were all in GA. Same franchise, items, same tax, etc. Different locations though. The other instances were more scattered. A couple of months ago, it happened at a news stand in the Orlando airport, and then just yesterday at SmashBurger in Dallas TX. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cashiers-unwilling-to-say-6-66/686966.md?page=3)