Err - when I used to manage a service station, it was a good thirty minutes work to balance a till, it would have involved swapping out the drawer with another float, “closing” the shift, counting the money ----
Really really not worth the effort over a $10 - like that I would rather have made up the difference even if out of my own pocket than create so much extra work
Now you push a button that tells you how much cash is in the register at any given time.
He likely didn’t want to add a minute wait to 7 cars in line, which would screw up his metrics.
What kind of magical place is this where managers shoulder the blame for anything?
#3 obviously. I imagine they may not have a mechanism for taking cash out of the blue and will just tell you to keep it, at which point you should give it to the girl if possible. At the very least you’ll still be giving a teenager a lesson in honesty.
This is bizarre. I worked with cash registers for the first 5 or 6 years of my working life, as a teenager and into my 20s.
All I am saying, and all I’ve ever said, is that it’s possible for the cashier to have pocketed the $10. You can’t dispute this fact.
And I’m also saying that the OP should return the money with an explanation so that the manager doesn’t think he has a potentially corrupt employee.
It’s not a difficult scenario to follow.
Really? How does it count everything, and how long does it take?
Exactly this -
We used to record how much each till (we called it a float) was out at the end of each shift (UP or DOWN). If you weren’t within a certain variance (if I recall it was $2) then it would be noted against you - nothing specific done at the time, but it would form part of your 6 monthly review.
It wouldn’t be unheard of for a cashier to kick in a couple of dollars to bring it back within an acceptable range to avoid the black mark.
And further - let’s say that on this particular shift, by coincidence the float was over by say $3 - that means at the end of the shift she would be down by $7 - that’s not close enough to $10 to vindicate her - particularly if she has had a couple of “bad floats” lately
One second. The beginning till is entered, and every subsequent transaction maintains a tally of cash and credit card transactions.
I’m pretty sure the manager just gave the money to satisfy the customer. Further I’m sure everyone working there heard the story the day it happened. Possibly with follow up a day later when the till was short - but I doubt it. Likely only the manager knows the till was, in fact, $10 short.
I’d wager you could walk in there, talk to the manager, ask him to apologize to the cashier for you, give him the tenner, and be out the door in mere minutes if you choose a time that’s not too busy. You will be something of a hero at McD’s for a brief time. But mostly they’ll all feel good. How’s that too much for you to do again?
That young cashier knew she was right, and watched her manager pay out to a customer who was effectively questioning her accuracy, the cornerstone of her job.
You’re a grown ass man, she’s a young girl possibly on her first job. Sack up and go return the money, with an apology, like a grown ass man ought to. That’s my opinion anyway.
Counting a till won’t tell you dick about any individual transaction. The till could’ve been short for hours. Absence of any other evidence you would be basically calling a customer a liar and stealing their money.
I think he should return it because it isn’t his money. Hope whoever hears his story doesn’t pocket it before telling the cashier.
I didn’t say it would tell you about an individual transaction. But the till wouldn’t be short (much) if the customer was wrong.
Yeah, the reason to do this is that it is not your money, and you got the money under false pretenses, albeit accidentally. What happens to the cashier shouldn’t even enter into the calculations. Number 3 is the only option because it’s the only one that makes sure the money gets back to the proper owner.
I can’t say anything about McDonald’s with any certainty, but every cash register I’ve ever worked has a No Sale key that lets you open the drawer at any time without ringing up a sale. Of course, the register records it every time the drawer is opened, and I’m sure a manager can disable the No Sale key, but it isn’t automatic that a drawer can only be opened while a transaction is taking place.
#3
It will make the manager and the cashier feel better about human kind, however briefly.
Nowadays, in my experience, some tills can only be opened for a cash transaction.
I’ve requested change, for example, at certain places, and the cashier informed me that she would be glad to help, but I would need to wait until the next time the cash drawer opened.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s impossible to open the drawer; it may just mean it’s against policy to open the drawer merely to make change. Where I work, we don’t make change unless it’s during a transaction, but I can open the drawer any time I want.
+1
Seconded.
A+
Agreed. And #3 for me. (And I’ll have fries with that, thank you.) 
I’ve had jobs where they took it out of my pay, or they expected me to make my register balance at the end of a shift, and other places where they’d just give me a good fussing at if I was short.
I would talk to any manager. They’d sort it out, hopefully. If nothing else it would ease my mind. Donating it to RM house is pointless unless you’re (the OP) just looking to ease your guilt. If you’re looking to rectify the situation, it needs to get back to the store itself.
Really?
So did you give the money back?