What your manager did was bad too. That happened to me a lot as a teacher. The principal would make a rule and tell the teachers to enforce it. When we did, the students would complain to the principal who would back down.
Asshole.
Sorry about the woman’s rudeness. It wasn’t because she is an American. It was because she is a jerk.
Did you not read the OP or *can’t * you read the OP? He said - he had plenty of American change to give her, and in fact did so. And he also said his business happily & publicly announced it accepted US currency.
Actually- it isn’t the American who is the idiot here- it is the Policy of the fast food eatery that our OP slaves at. Look, if you TAKE American currency (and of course, you don’t have to) and you already have enough American change to give change in US funds - and the customer wants US funds- it is damn silly not to give them the US funds. The business has decided it will accept US currency- in fact it has signs saying so. Thus, the customer certainly isn’t an asshole for expecting to pay in US funds. True- it also has a sign that says “all change will be given in Canadian currency” but doing so is idiotic and making more work for everyone.
Look- if the business wants to accept Loonies only- that’s fine. But THEY (not the American lady) made a decision to also take US funds.
What, you mean being unable to get back change in Canadian money in, say, Phoenix, Arizona? Yeah, that would suck. :rolleyes:
You have my sympathy, despite the putzes on here that try to find anti-Americanism in everything.
[snarky]
Actually, if you had read the OP, you’d see that 7 up yours is female.
[/snarky]
According to the OP, the prices are listed in Canadian dollars. I would imagine that when they accept payment in US dollars, they do so at parity. The US customer’s convenience translates to a profit (in my opinion, perfectly acceptable) for the food service establishment, offsetting their later costs in dealing with a foreign currency ($US) in the till at the end of the day. As Una Persson points out, any regular currency exchange business would charge a fee. However, * for the particular case of Canadian establishments accepting US dollars at parity*, there’s an implicit “go along to get along” agreement whereby the loss (to the US customer) due to the exchange rate is offset by the convenience, time saved, and lack of exchange fee.
Now, all of this works provided the register operators take US dollars at parity and give change in Canadian currency. No mental arithmetic needs to be done by the cashier, and there is no requirement that the register have change in a foreign currency continuously available. The fact that it was available at that particular time that the OP refers to should not be taken as a reasonable expectation by the customer that it always will be.
I’d bet dollars (US or Canadian) to donuts (Krispy Kreme or Tim Hortons) that the OP’s manager is outranked in the organizational hierarchy by the person who authorized the big "All change is given in Canadian currency" sign, which means that 7 up yours is in the clear. If this is not the case, then the sign needs to be removed, the staff retrained to perform currency calculations, and the tills altered to guarantee change in $US up to any standardly acceptably amount.
In my opinion, 7 up yours has an absolutely justifiable rant both against the customer and against her manager (neither of whom can apparently read the sign).
Come on now, she was just pissed off at this one woman. She did say of the American customers “A lot of them are nice and pleasant, but once in a while, I get dumb jerkfaces” like the bitch in question. This is the Pit, it’s not normally a place where people pick the most diplomatic terms and reasonable descriptions.
Uh, I mean- SHUT UP YOU ALL SUCK IDIOTS!
I guess you did not read the OP’s topic.
In any event, should the op wish to take a break from his histrionics and actually wish to stick american money up an american ass, if it is above 1000 usd I’d be interested.
How is “How about I shove [the money the rude bitch was demanding] up [the ass of the rude bitch]???” insulting to Americans in general?
Sounds like a diatribe against a particular american bint, and his manager, not americans in general…
Me? I have euros and loonies both in my purse from trips. I get my monies exchanged as soon as possible when I travel. Heck, I even make an attempt at speaking whatever the local language is, even if all i know is please, thank you and where is the loo…
A lot of us up here in British Columbia willingly bend over backwards to help out our American tourists. Of all the nationalities, they are the most appreciative of the services that we offer. On the other hand when they spot a deliberate rip off they’ll let you know how they’ll feel about it.
Boundary Bay?
I’m reading here that since you don’t have to convert for them they’ve given up at least 3 CND dollars. Who keeps that? You for the tip or the restaurant?
I don’t understand this. The meal is say $6 CND. She hands you $10 USD. You can’t hand her back $4 USD ? Thats bullshit and your restaurant is a ripoff.
On the other hand, if you had to convert the $10 USD to CND first and gave her the change in CND and then exchanged that for her, you would be complying with the employer policy and providing a service that is gladly provided around here in B.C.
We need more managers like that in our tourist industry. Actually, 99% are like that. BTW, get yourself a calculator.
[Homer Simpson]
Why should we leave America to visit America Junior?
[/Homer]
Could you let us know which of the two words “company policy” you’re having trouble with? Blaming our OP for doing what she’s told is pretty thick, and regardless of whether you agree with the policy, the manager ought to back up his employees if they’re in line with it. Furthermore, if the customer doesn’t like the policy they should go somewhere else or complain politely, not make an employee’s life miserable. This seems like simple human decency to me, but what do I know?
Actually, having lived along the border for most of my life, I’ve never worried about only having Canadian money in the States. When I was 15 and ended up in a camp in North Carolina I was shocked that they wouldn’t accept my Canadian money.
Interesting anecdote. Back in 1975 I was temporarily working in a very northern community called Pickle Lake not far from James Bay. Truly the boonies. Just one bank, the CIBC. I was mentioning to the teller that I was going to England for Christmas and was it possible to arrange for some English pound notes? They just happened to have British travellers cheques in pounds!
Well you should have experienced the problems I had cashing those cheques in the region around The Wash in England. These people had never seen a travellers cheque!
I think some people are losing sight of what usually happens in these transactions:
Todays exchange rate is 1 USD = 1.311000 CAN
Posted at the till will be US exchange is 1.20 - 1.30 depending on what kind of effort is involved in depositing it at the bank (who will also have a slight profit margin on currency exchange)
Let’s say it is a reasonably honest business (I know it’s at an airport but bear with me) and has a posted rate of 1.30. [Just looking at the cite below, we’ll make that 1.20 after all]
Customer has a total of $13.95 and pays with an American $20. Counter minion does math and convert that to $24.00 and enters that in the till (the OP has stated that her manager is too cheap to have the currency conversion in the tills up to date), change is $10.05 CAN. Customer then pouts and makes a scene, wants her change in REAL money, American money, like I can get in China. So in order to accomodate the customer (breaks out a calculator… 10.05/1.2 = 8.375) $8.38 US must be returned. Conversion one way in your head is easier than the other, especially when the conversion button on the till is out of date. Now that that’s straightened out (i.e. US funds are not taken at par but duly exchanged) by all means continue the ranting.
-DF
Actually, Dancer_Flight, if you know that the American wants to both pay with US money and receive US money in change, you only need to do one calculation.
The price charged is $C13.95 .
So, 13.95 / 1.2 = $US11.62.
Then, when you get a $US20, you simply give $US8.38 in change.
The woman discussed by the OP, however, is still a royal pain in the ass. The manager shouldn’t have caved.
I also grew up around the border (Alberta/Montana) and know what you mean. It wasn’t until I moved here that I found there was a problem exchanging currency. At any Canadian bank, I was able to buy and sell American funds, but here it’s another story. We have to go to the currency exchange office to do so. They will take Canadian funds cheques (so far that’s all we’ve tried), but they refuse to take Canadian cash.
It’s amazing how many want to be offended at anything that is slightly negatively with American anything. I have said that some customers are nice and a pleasure to please, but this one woman, who happens to be American, and wanted American change was an ass. If I hated Americans and was trying to shoot down everything American, I would not visit Seattle as often as I do. And I do stand by my original quote of:
It’s mostly because of her comment about China. Because I want to believe that no self respecting person would go around spewing vile racism like that, I’d much rather to believe that she was being an arrogant bitch instead.
Our exchange rate is $1USD to $1.20CND. So when someone gives us US currency, we convert it to Canadian and give back Canadian change.
The $10USD coverts into $12CDN which I punch into the till, and her change would be $6CND. After it is coverted, there should be no US currency involved. And since our exchange rate is 1.2, $4USD is obviously not $6CND.
A manager who pisses off an employee to the point where she can’t work efficiently anymore in order to please a customer who will never return? What sort of world do you live in where that is good business?
The real kicker was that the bitch was about to leave as the manager was coming out. IF ONLY he had come out two seconds later, all would be well, and I wouldn’t have thought twice about it.
And I honestly don’t understand what the big deal about getting American change back is. The times I find myself spending less than expected when I head down to the States, I keep my money and exchange it back into Canadian when I am home. All it takes is a trip to a bank, or if a bank won’t exchange it as a 'Doper has pointed out, then a currency exchange place can do it.
Yep, our OP is blameless. The customer was being a bitch- but NOT for simply asking her change come back in US funds or becuase she was an “Ugly american”. She was after all, dealing with a business that happliy accepted US currency. No, this woman would be a bitch back in America with American money. The Policy is the Real stupid part here.
I’m backing off my earlier overt criticism. But I do want to back up your manager. I strongly believe in supporting employees, but when you get a verbally abusive customer who is making life miserable for everyone including you, buying her off is the clearest and simplist solution. You are taking this too personally.
My wife works at a major department store. Store policy requires a receipt in order to give out a refund. But if the “customer” doesn’t have a receipt, and gets verbally abusive, the policy is to call in a supervisor who is authorized to provide the refund.
It amazes me how many people get pissed off at low level employees for store policy.
Buying off verbally abusive customers just encourages more customers to be verbally abusive. Rewarding inappropriate behavior (while the polite and respectful people get screwed) is the stupid thing to do.
I beg to differ. Or rather, suggest it’s the simplistic solution. The reason your wife has to deal with verbal abuse and “customers” who are really looking to rip off the store is because they figure if they’re obnoxious enough some "manager :rolleyes: " will cave and pay them to go away. The more it turns out they’re right, the more abuse and bullshit retail staff are in for.
There are times managers should overide policy for the good of all. Encouraging people to be abusive assholes is not one of them.