Surely you can figure out that KarlGauss is bending over to pick up pennies to make a point, and not because he thinks they are worth bending over for…
Either way it’s wasting every one elses time. Correct? So that means he could give a shit less about the penny, your time or the cashiers either.
Nonetheless, it seems to be the case. And anyway, even if everything did just get rounded up, it’d be a one-time occurrence, and regular inflation would soon take care of the difference. A fair price is a fair price, and having to deal in slightly larger quanta doesn’t affect that in the slightest.
Agreed, and, whether he’s doing it because the penny is important or the point about the penny is important, he’s assigning some importance to the penny, even it’s to a negative degree.
And yet, stores already do rounding and it operates just like that. The great majority of transactions will already have rounding in them.
This is not true at all. My job allowed me to leave extra coins in a pile. Most of the time I ran out of extra coins LONG before my shift was over. If I even got any that day.
Time for a poll.
You are in line at a store, and the person at the front of the line is hunting around on the floor for a penny out of protest. Do you:
*1. Walk out, leaving your would-be purchases behind;
-
Wait politely in line for the protest to end;
-
Step to the front and ask the clerk to process your order;
-
Give a penny to the clerk;
-
Toss a penny on the floor;
-
Join the protest and start looking for a penny on the floor for yourself; or
-
Kick the protester in the head while he is down there pecking about on the floor for a penny.*
(As tempting as #7 would be, I’d choose #1. I’m too Canadian to make a fuss, but far enough removed from my British roots to simply stand in queue with a stiff upper lip.)
Poll:
Some combination of #2 and #4 unless I knew they had posted in this thread then some combination of #5 and #7.
Yeah, I’ll wait, though if the customer looks to me for any input or wants to roll their eyes in my general direction, I’ll say something like “Any day now.”
And when I get to the cashier, I will comment on the customer’s behavior. Snidely, I’m afraid.
I would go with #3. Although I know the cashier cannot begin checking me out without voiding the floor-searcher’s transaction, it would be the point I’d try to make. I’d move forward and loudly exclaim, “While we’re waiting [for f-s to come up with the money he needs], can we go ahead with my purchases?”
However, if it’s someone who seems truly to lack some portion of the transaction price (less than $1.00), I would’ve (and have) helped them out, because the same has been done for me.
Depending on my mood at the time, probably either 2 or 5, although I’m also with jsgoddess on the subject of snide comments made to either the cashier or the asshole. One thing I would not do is take out any annoyance due to the delay on the cashier, who is certainly not responsible for the actions of asshole customers.
ETA, but I also would not hesitate to provide any small amount of cash if the person in front of me needed it, as opposed to was just being an asshole. In fact, I have done so in the past.
That, or another argument to bring back penny loafers. I prefer the latter.
If this was in reference to my post, let me elaborate. Although my previous post was rather cut and dried, I would politely ask the cashier to move on to my transaction, in an attempt to prompt him/her to take action. If the cashier insisted on waiting for f-s, I’d be okay with that, but would exchange looks/snide remarks with whomever among the other waiting customers was available.
I’ve also done something similar when youngsters (get off my lawn) have attempted to push ahead at the corner store; I say, “After I’m finished first.”
[grumpy old fart]When they cut in line in front of me at the ski hill, I say, “You’re dulling my edges,” as I scrape across the decks of their skiis.[/grumpy old fart]
I too keep the left-behind change in a little pile. And I have had people–not in need, just on their way out, as they gather up their bags–reach over and take it. Just scoop it up and pocket it.
Unfortunately, however much I’d love to accommodate your request and relegate the Karl Gausses of the world to pecking around for pennies in the background while the rest of us get on with our lives…I can’t. My register has to finish one transaction before it starts another, and damned if I’m gonna cash Karl out just to get his transaction off my register and thereby generate a Post Void on my cashier report so I can ring you up.
And then of course, I’d have to ring him up all over again for his stuff, and 'splain to him how come I basically kicked him out of the queue because he was taking too long to come up with the money for his transaction, and wouldn’t THAT be a pleasure…
Me: [regretful smile] "No, I’m sorry, I’ve got his transaction on my register, I can’t do you until he’s done. " Because I get busted by the statistics wonks in Corporate if I have too many Post Voids on my score card. HOWEVER, what I can do is… [picks up intercom and in a voice of stentorian brass] “I NEED A SECOND CHECKER, PLEASE!!” which is normally enough to force the Cosmetics gal to pop up out of her hidey hole and start ringing people up. So you could go over there, which at least would be an improvement on having to stand there at Register One while Karl crawls around looking for coins.
I wish you would. Peer pressure from the next people in line is the only thing–the ONLY thing–that even comes close to speeding up those middle-aged women who insist on rummaging through the trackless depths of their pocketbooks for change. If the next person in line expresses audible impatience, she’s much more likely to just hand me the friggin’ 20 dollar bill and let me get on with it.
However, snide remarks in my experience don’t carry much weight with the Karl Gausses. Karl is much more likely to respond with, “Eh, what’s your damage, fuck you”, until someone else in line wearily gives him a fucking penny, just to get rid of him.
The reason for this is not a desperation to get at the free cash stash of pennies; it’s the convenience of having the store carry them instead of the customer so that exact change can be made.
Follow my suggestion and offer the customer the choice of leaving their change pennies in the cup, and your cup will be overflowing. If you don’t actively give the customer the option, they will take the pennies out a sense of duty and throw them away randomly later so that others can be reminded of their dead.
Yes, there is an Anal Store.
You really should have put a SFW disclaimer…
Although your posts in this thread have been sensible, especially from a cashier’s POV, just wanted to point out where I said:
As the OP’er, let me clarify.
I don’t keep people waiting. Rather, while the clerk is ringing in the final total, I LOOK down (despite what’s been said in this thread, I do NOT get down on all fours etc.) to SEE if a penny’s visible. While I’m looking down and around, the clerk gets my change. If by that point I haven’t seen a penny, I take the change and leave. If I find one, I politely hand it to the cashier who in an instant hands me a five dollar bill and pulls back the fist full of coins he/she was about to give me. So, if there’s a delay because of my “antics”, it’s only while the clerk puts back the $4.99 which he/she was going to give me. That takes no more than a few seconds.
Again, my point in looking for a penny on the ground is to emphasize that a penny is so worthless that one can find them on the ground. I don’t intend to delay the other people in line, nor do I wind up (significantly) delaying them (and please don’t tell me that it’s inexcusable to inflict even a 15 second delay on my fellow customers. In my experience, most are “on my side”).
So, despite being fun, your poll is not really too relevant.