Petty rant about being short a penny at the store

The BBQ Pit
201

When I was a cashier, I hated when people would try to give me two different amounts while I was checking them out. If you give me a twenty on a $4.38 purchase, I am going to count out $15.62 in change, not wait for you to find that magical 38 cents that you’re scrounging on the floor/in your purse for. If you wanted to give me change, you should have either mentioned it, or waited until you had the change to give me your money. I am not a mind reader, and I am going to assume that you will give me all the money you intend to give me in one motion. I absolutely refused to redo the change in these situations, especially if I was closing my drawer as they were trying to give me extra money for their transaction. Then again, I almost always cashiered at places where there were long lines and time was of the essence. If I had worked in a place where I had all day to perform a transaction, I might be more patient with people who unnecessarily complicate money transactions.

I still handle money through the job that I’ve got at the moment. Thing is, I don’t always have a change bag. (It gets dropped in the safe every night, and an accounting person is responsible to bring a new one every morning. No accounting people in that day = no change bag.) The other day, accounting was out of the office from early Wednesday afternoon until Monday morning. It was a Saturday morning, and the second day in a row that we didn’t have a cash bag available. Mr. Dingus McFooptypants comes in to get a license plate that he’s been calling about for the past week. It’s been available, and he owes $23.95. I tell him as such, and he pulls out a $100 bill. Holy freaking mother of God, I don’t have a change bag, and wouldn’t have that kind of change even if I did. I ask if he can pay by credit or check, and apparently he doesn’t have either of those, and cannot possibly leave without the license plate. I go and ask one of the managers if they can break a $50, but only after I ask if the service dept. can make change (They can, but only for $50 or less. Someone came in with a $100 bill first thing in the morning, and wiped out the couple of $20 bills they had in the till as it was.) I get the two $50 bills, change it for the $100 bill, and head over to the service dept. But for the sheer luck of one of the service people being able to exchange their till full of $1 and $5 bills for a $20 bill, the guy got some normal change out of the situation. If that one manager had not had two $50 bills that he was willing to swap, Dingus McFooptypants would have had to go somewhere else to get that $100 bill broken into more manageable cash amounts. Because of circumstances, I would have gotten yelled at because the other person did not bring a form of payment that I could accept if it had not been for that one manager. I got yelled at enough from customers for reasons that are beyond my control for me to want to deal with more of it.

202

DDG, since you never even attempted to give me a guestimate about how much time a customer should wait for a stalled transaction to end, but gave me many exampes of things that might slow the process down, I’ll respond to those. You know that I’m not talking about instantaneously requesting you to process my transaction the minute the line slows down, right? Right? I’m talking about extentuating circumstances, even at times where I’m not in a hurry. Being in a hurry has nothing to do with it.

Circumstances such as:

  1. The OP describes deliberately holding up the line to try to make a point. Yes, he probably isn’t using up very much time, but he’s doing it in an effort to get a cashier to front him a penny, something which the cashier may not be in a position to do. A competent/thinking cashier will do what’s needed to conclude the transaction and move on to the next willingly paying customer. I’m certainly not talking about your example of a customer digging for change in the normal course and paying their bill. But you knew that. Right?

  2. Any shopper going back to the aisles for one more item. If it’s close, I can wait. If it’s to replace something found to be unsaleable or picked up in confusion, due to size or price, I can wait. Using this example, where I shop, a CSR is called to go to search out the right item or price, while everything else continues. Also, where I shop, which is very busy most times, the moment you want to go back simply to get one more item, the cashier automatically calls the manager for a void, without being requested. You’re in line, your actual shopping time is over. Further, what if the customer goes back to get TP, then decides they need two more cans of garbanzo beans, then wanders over to the mother’s day card section? Where does it end? It has to end somewhere. But you knew that. Right?

  3. Writing and recording checks. Of course, not all customers write checks, produce i.d., put away their checkbooks at the same speed. I can wait. However, as even in examples frequently pitted right here on the Dope about (i) bag re-arrangers, (ii) checkbook balancers (many transactions, not just this one), (ii) people engrossed in their cell phone conversation, etc., people can be oblivious that they’re taking too long. At some point the transaction logically has to end. An astute cashier will know when and how to do that. But you knew that. Right?

You seem to know a lot about cashiering, but not a whole lot about good customer service for all of your customers. Right?

I’ve also been meaning to apologize for calling you a name earlier, but forgot. You’re wrong, but you haven’t been pointedly disagreeable.

203

???
Bwah?

Okay, so, what part of all that didn’t you understand? :confused:

There IS no “estimate” of how long you should be expected to stand there, unless “Until Doomsday” counts. A transaction takes as long as it takes. Period. As long as Karl wants to stand there and work through his purchasing process, we will all stand there and wait. And wait. And wait.

I covered this already, extensively. EXTENSIVELY. My responses to it, and what you, as the next person in line, could expect.

Ditto. Geez. Pay attention.

Ditto. Ditto, ditto, ditto.

This has been covered. Back on page 4. I mean, geez, pay attention, willya.

If you think I’m wrong for refusing to bump Karl out of line at your request for the sole reason that you think his transaction is taking too long, then you are just going to have to think I’m wrong.

Because I’m not. If I started telling customers, “I’m sorry, but you’re taking too long, I’m going to have to terminate your purchase with it uncompleted in order to wait on the next customer in line”, I’d get fired PDQ. The customer has the right to stand there and take as long as he wants for his transaction. Period. No discussion.

A competent/thinking cashier will do what’s needed to conclude the transaction. Obviously, if I boot Karl before he’s completed his transaction, then the transaction isn’t concluded. Yes? Helloooo? My task, as a competent/thinking cashier, is to stand there and wait patiently until Karl manages to complete his transaction, in order that my store may chalk up another sale. That’s the whole POINT of me standing there in the first place. If I start refusing to sell things to people because they take too long to complete their transactions, we’re not going to be making much money, are we? And he IS in the process of completing his transaction–it’s just taking too long to suit YOU. But your opinion is not solicited in this matter. It’s not up to you, as noted previously, to decide how long Karl should be allowed to take to make his purchase.

Yes. An astute cashier knows that the transaction logically ends when money for goods changes hands. As for “special circumstances” when I might pull the plug on a transaction, that has been covered. Extensively. EXTENSIVELY, I might add.

If by “good customer service” you mean “being rude to the customer in front of you, FOR you”, then you are wrong, wrong, wrong.

And if you cannot grasp that me booting her from the line because YOU think she’s taking too long is rude–not only stupendously rude, but also horrendously BAD customer service–then that’s YOUR problem.

And just for shits and giggles, let’s do a little role-playing: let’s pretend that you’re at my register–and your debit card decides not to work.

You:"[swipe]…[beep]"
Me: “I’m sorry, I have a Do Not Accept on your card.”
You: "Huh? That can’t be, I just checked it. [swipe] [beep]
Me: “I’m sorry, I have a Do Not Accept on your card. Is it credit or debit?” (because people sometimes push the wrong button on the pad)
You: “It’s debit. [swipe] [beep]”
Me: “I’m sorry, it’s not going to go through. Do you have some other way to pay for this?”
You: “Uh, yeah, I’ve got another card…[rummage through wallet]…[swipe] [beep]”
Me: “I’m sorry…”
You: “Shit!” [you stand there wondering WTF]

And at this point Karl, who is next in line, leans over and says to me, “Look, can’t you just void him out and ring me up?”

How do you feel about that? You’re standing there, attempting to deal with the fact that your bank has bent you over and bumfucked you while you weren’t looking, and your whole weekend is shot if your damn debit card’s gone toes-up, and you need the stuff there on my counter…and Karl wants me to bump you because he thinks you’re taking too long. Are you gonna smile sweetly and say, “Gee, I’m sorry for holding up the line”? Or are you gonna snarl at him, “Just wait a fuckin minute, can’t ya? I got some money in here somewhere…”

Survey Says: B.

And now the logical question in this discussion is, “Have you ever worked as a cashier?”

204

Be responsible for yourself when you leave the house every day, for Pete’s sake. Don’t ask people to front things for you. No, not even a penny. Man up.
That said = DDG’s quote:
If I started telling customers, “I’m sorry, but you’re taking too long, I’m going to have to terminate your purchase with it uncompleted in order to wait on the next customer in line”, I’d get fired PDQ.

DDG, you were referring to the penny hunt here, but according to your previous posts, you would say this to Karl if he forgot his TP, yes? Honestly, I don’t see a difference. People behind the person being rung up are still being held up by Karl, whatever he’s doing. I would expect some more cashiers would be called to the front, no matter the reason for the delay.

IME, I have a Walgreen’s 4 blocks from me that I frequent daily, I will tell you it doesnt matter if there is no one behind me, or a line back to the pharmacy - if Gertie forgot her TP, ain’t no one voiding out what’s already been started. You’re waiting as long as it takes for that dear old soul to shuffle her tired ass over to aisle 6 and back. In fact, I can count on one hand how many times I have seen that practice (voiding while a retrieval is made) in ANY store I’ve been in, in my 34 years.

I’m not saying you’ve never voided an “abandoned” transaction, DDG, I believe you have and probably more then once, but I think it’s a rosy picture of what “should” be the thing to do, and not the IRL practice. Just sayin.

sorry, me no good with the quotes thingy

205

You do realize what you’ve just described is totally different from the other things that stall transactions I’ve been talking and, reaching for cash once the card(s) are rejected in a normal situation for me – or any other sane cashier and customer. The same goes for all of the other extentuating circumstances I’ve described where a customer is oblivious to other around them and moving on to the next customer is unreasonably delayed.

In answer to your last question, I’ve only ever been a paying customer who follows the rules of commerce and normal civil discourse shared by myself, other customers and competent cashiers – you know, dealing with the stuff that happens in the real world.

Just stop. You’ve embarassed yourself enough. I’ve read the entire thread. Have you?

206

For all the words you’ve used, I’m still not sure what you’re saying. Are you suggesting that in all the instances you described (customer searching for change, customer leaving in search of correct or additional item, customer taking too long to write a check/balance checkbook/put away checkbook) that the cashier should automatically void out the transaction of that customer and take the next person in line?

I would guess, as a former cashier, that the likelihood of that happening depends a great deal on how much of a hassle it is to void the transaction. In circumstance two, where the customer actually leaves the counter to search for a different/additional item, I would consider voiding the entire transaction if I could do it independently without it being necessary for a CSM to come over to authorize the void. In the other two circumstances, I would probably wait it out with an apologetic smile to the impatient customers behind the inconsiderate one and make an extra effort to be as quick as possible when the next customer’s turn came. It just doesn’t make sense to me to void the transaction under those conditions.

ISTR DDG saying that voids count against her performance, and in that case I would do my damndest to avoid doing any voids that weren’t absolutely necessary.

207

The difference is, if he forgot his TP, he leaves the register.
He physically abandons his place in line.
He turns around and vamooses.
He ain’t there no more.
He gone.

See? :wink:

And after he left his place in line, of course he wouldn’t be there to hear me say, “You’re taking too long, I’m going to terminate your transaction”, so I don’t even bother to say it. I just go ahead and wordlessly void him out. And when he comes back with his TP, he finds that he has to start all over again. Which are the breaks.

Not if he isn’t standing there any more. If he ain’t there no more, then in the cashier’s philosophy of existentialism, he no longer exists, and he is voided out of the kosmos.

Yeah. Take it from me, you have a spectacularly clueless cashier there. It’s S.O.P. for cashiers of normal intelligence and perception, to understand that customers waiting in line don’t wanna stand there while Gertie shuffles to the back. Also because in my bitter experience, Gertie is extremely likely to think of three or four other things she needs, and she’s likely to basically not come back for a lonnnnng, long time. So any halfway sensible cashier realizes this, and will void her out.

208

Yes. That is precisely his position. He believes that any time in his opinion the person ahead of him in line is taking too long, for whatever reason, he has the right to lean forward and ask the cashier to void out that person, and to wait on him instead.

Which I have spent a considerable amount of time in this thread explaining to him is not only rude to the slow customer, but is also contrary to good business practice and to good customer service, that the slow customer has the right to take as long as he wants during his transaction, and that as long as he doesn’t leave the register–such as to get more money out of his car, or to go get a forgotten item–it’s still his turn. For as long as it takes. Until Doomsday, if necessary.

5-4 disagrees; he wants me to set an arbitrary time limit for how long he ought to have to stand there and wait while Karl hunts for a penny, or writes a check, or futzes around with the change in the bottom of his purse, before he can expect the cashier to void Karl out, thus booting Karl out of the line and abrogating his “turn”. And I have refused to do so, because that’s not how it works.

Erm, no, actually, it isn’t. The situation is exactly the same:

Customer A takes a long time with his transaction.
Customer B thinks he’s taking too long, and asks the cashier to void him out and wait on him instead.

It has absolutely nothing to do with whether it’s “juggling debit cards” or “writing a check” that we’re talking about, the principle is the same.

But, okay, if you prefer, I’ll rewrite it a tad, just for you:

And just for shits and giggles, let’s do a little role-playing: let’s pretend that you’re at my register–and you broke your hand over the weekend playing flag football, so it’s in a cast, and you’re trying to write a check. It’s a slow and laborious process, what with the cast and all.

You: [slowly writing]
You: [slowly writing]
You: [still slowly writing in the check register]

And at this point Karl, who is next in line, leans over and says to me, “Look, can’t you just void him out and ring me up?”

How do you feel about that? You’re standing there, attempting to complete your transaction, with your hand in a cast…and Karl wants me to bump you because he thinks you’re taking too long. Are you gonna smile sweetly and say, “Gee, I’m sorry for holding up the line”? Or are you gonna snarl at him, “Just wait a fuckin minute, can’t ya? Can’t you see my hand’s in a cast?”

Survey Says: B.
Or, how about this:

And just for shits and giggles, let’s do a little role-playing: let’s pretend that you’re at my register, you’re all set to pay for your 20 oz. Coke with $1.29 in exact change…and you drop it all over the fuckin’ floor.

You: “Shit!” [you begin gathering up the coins, which have rolled all over the floor]

And at this point Karl, who is next in line, leans over and says to me, “Look, can’t you just void him out and ring me up?”

How do you feel about that? You’re crawling around picking up your change that you dropped…and Karl wants me to bump you because he thinks you’re taking too long. Are you gonna smile sweetly and say, “Gee, I’m sorry for holding up the line”? Or are you gonna snarl at him, “Just wait a fuckin minute, can’t ya?”

Survey Says: B.

Any of this working for you?

209

You keep saying this. Are you aware that your average Walgreens sells both Depends adult diapers and loperamide? Both of these items ( one found in 7A, the other in 9A ) might assist you in handling this difficult and intimate problem.

Me, I’ve never had a cashier who lost control of her bowels when she burst into laughter. Which Walgreens did you say it was? :smiley:

Seriously now. It amazes me that other Dopers simply refuse to accept the validity of what our friend DDG is saying. I’ll hijack here for a second and say that it might be because her area of expertise is in customer relations and retail money handling. If she were answering a question on astrophysics with the same depth of understanding and experience that she has as a cashier, perhaps others would accept that she has been doing this long enough that she really does know what she’s talking about.

This coming from someone who’s had his fair share of arguments with the woman.

Then again, I’ve never been the one to lean around and say, " did you just shit while you laughed, and can I please be a rude bastard and cut this person in line because I lack basic manners? "

Cartooniverse

210

I am completely lost about where this thread is heading. Talking about delays and going ahead of people and writing checks and debit cards not going through and getting one last item IS NOT THE ISSUE because (and this is where it gets tricky)

when KG buys something for $16.01, pays with a $20 bill, and the cashier gives him $3.99 in change - HIS TRANSACTION IS OVER! If he want to pay $20.01, then he tell you when he hands over the bill. Ignore his rant about giving him a free one-cent piece.

Put the change on the counter if he refuses to take it and start ringing up the next customer.

211

Why, thank you, dear. [big wet smooch]

:smiley:

212

A little too late, I present the theme song for this thread: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqDj5186hUk

213

Well, thank goodness for Google and Wiki–I now know that “evgeny kissin” is not a poorly constructed sentence, but a Russian pianist. :smiley:

214

I would just like to take a moment and reiterate this. Although my complaint was with the computer system rather than the customers. I used to work at an Arby’s and the first few months I was there the registers had a retender button. If someone gave me a 20 dollar bill for a 20.36 purchase, if they found a quarter after I had already hit the 20 dollar button, I could hit retender and type in the correct amount. It was beautiful. Then they switched to a new POS system and it had its pros but the biggest con was the lack of a retender button. And I know a lot of people think it is a character flaw and a sign of poor education not to be able to quickly calculate cash back but I am not a math person and certainly not a quick math person and I really missed my retender button. And then I started to hate the customers who found change a little too late.

215

That’s why I loves me my change machine, a.k.a. The Beast. :smiley:

A millisecond after I’ve typed in the amount tendered and hit the “Cash” button, comes a thundering cascade of change, effectively drowning out the mope’s mumbled, “Oh, wait, I think I’ve got change…” I smile brightly, say consolingly, “That’s okay, I’ve got it…” and they’re left with nothing but to scoop up their change.

If I like them, though, if they haven’t given me static (and 5-4 isn’t next in line :smiley: ), sometimes I’ll take their change and combine it with their “found” money, and give 'em a solid dollar.