Did you give the payment to them in their hand? If not, then you’re just getting a return of the same treatment you gave them.
Either way, I don’t see what the big deal is as long as you get correct change and it’s not thrown at you. (I, of course, don’t like change plunked on the counter either, but I never give payment that way.)
Preach it, friend! I hate this practice. In fact, much of the time I point out to the cashier, as I’m retrieving dropped coins from all over the place, that this wouldn’t happen if they’d put the coins in my hand first. I usually get a blank look, like the entire concept is too difficult to grasp.
Stupid computers, runing our lives. Grumble grumble.
The drones at my station were required to count the change back properly - “5.78 out of 20? There’s 79, 80, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 10’s 20” and you know what? Even high school kids can count higher than 10, with proper motivation. I just don’t think anyone is providing any motivation.
Granted - A) I’m a bit of a jerk (I made them face all the bills the same way, but let them choose which way it was) and 2) this was 11 or so years ago.
Well, of course they CAN learn it…I was selling those girl scout cookies when I was like 8 years old, and I am no mathematical genius, I can promise you! 
They are just not taught, because why bother?
I can’t imagine having an opinion on this. I count change back The Right Way, but I don’t ever get annoyed by something so minor as having coins on top of the bills. Close your hand and move on, then put it away once you’re out of line. What’s the issue?
I’ve given these folk my money with my hand, and they’ve taken it. So no, it isn’t “a return of the same treatment”.
It’s annoying, for a brief moment. But – not enough to start a Pit thread. Just something to tack onto this Pit thread. Is that how you dispense money, nashiitashii? If so – why?
Like a whole bunch of people have said, the issue is the coins sliding away. Especially for people with small hands, or for right handed people reaching out a car window to do a task with their left hand. The reason we prefer the other way is that the hand forms a shallow cup into which the coins can be placed. Then, the fingers are free to grasp the bills.
I used to work in retail.I always gave coins first. I still cannot understand why anyone would want it any other way.
I hate the change-on-top-of-the-bills method, too. I always figured it was a male/female thing; that a woman with her handbag on the counter could just slide the coins into the open change purse, then the bills, and off she goes.[sup]*[/sup] It was never intended to work for those with pockets. My solution is that when they hand me the bills first, I take them between my fingers, then the coins in my palm. It’s not ideal, but at least the coins aren’t sliding around and dropping everywhere.
In Germany, it seemed to be standard practice for a cashier to put coins on the counter, but the counters are designed for it. There’s a recess, like a little dish, and from there it’s easy to scoop the coins into your own hand.
For any cashiers who care to learn it, here is the dream, the platonic ideal, grocery transaction experience. I give you money, you give me change (coins first), put the receipt in the bag, and don’t tie the handles together.
I was driving some place with a woman a few years ago. We were leaving from a garage where I had to pay at the exit. Before I sat in the car, I took some cash out of my pocket and put it in the cubby hole in the dashboard, under my sunglasses case. She asked why. I said that with the bucket seats and seat belts, it was hard to get the money out of my pocket. She’d never thought of that. Men and women handle money differently.
I thought this thread would be about how to MAKE change; that’s a whole 'nother Pit thread, I guess.
What burns my bum is that I have to do about five things after my purchase, I have two hands, and there is no space or time for me to sort my stuff away after my transaction is finished. While juggling my three or four bags, I have to put my change in my change purse, put my bills in my wallet, put the receipt in my purse, put my wallet and change purse back away, zip up my purse, zip up my jacket, put my mitts, headband, and scarf back on, then I’m ready to leave the store. If I just pick up all my shit and move out of the line, I have no place to do all these machinations. If I do all this stuff in line, the next guy has to wait. There is no good solution here.
And I would also like to pit cashiers who don’t hand me my bags when the transaction is finished. It has been the tradition here for as long as I’ve been shopping that the signal that the transaction is done and everyone is happy is that the cashier hands you your bags and says “Have a nice day.” When the cashiers just leave the bags sitting there (sometimes not even in easy reach for me), I’m not sure if we’re done or not. We’re probably done; I’m not stupid, I can see that she’s moving on to the next customer, but that’s not how things have been done here for time immemorial.
And yes, I am old. Danged teeny-agers.
That shit drives me insane. Really, it does. When I worked registers (from the age of 15 - 21 I worked solely in front of registers or food machines of some sort) I always gave the change first, cuz I know that shit is annoying.
And I’m not old. I’m 22 years old and I find it annoying. If I wanted my change to go all over the place I’d drop it on the floor, not put bills around it.
Women who carry purses, maybe…
~Tasha
When I did cashier, I made sure that there was room in the hand for both the change and the bills. Generally, though, I’d probably give them the change first, as it’s easier for me to not handle it for very long. However, if someone specifically put their change on the counter, I’d assume they were a germophobe rather than an asshat and did the same in kind. If they got offended, well, that was their problem. It’s not like I didn’t give them a big, cheery smile along with their change.
Yeah, nashiitashii, if I did put the money on the counter, I wouldn’t notice the kind of “I’m keeping my distance from your greasy hands” response. Generally, when it happens, I put it down to either something cultural – or, as you say, germaphobia.
But – it’s only a slight niggle. Nowt to worry about. At least there’s no risk of money falling to the floor!
I’ve done some money-handling work. Been more than a few years, but I used to count out the coins (into someone’s hand), then the notes. Making the total up to the nearest dollar for change, then the rest to the total money given. So yeah – coins first, notes second is more natural.
But times change with cash registers that do the thinking for you, I guess.
I’ll join the chorus too! I really dislike the “change on top of bills habit,” especially in a drive-thru, as Lib said. When they hand me the bills first (as they always do), I quickly flip my wrist to the left while grasping the bills with my palm and thumb, hopefully getting the bills to flop out of the way over my thumb and leaving my palm exposed, thereby hopefully non-verbally making clear I want the change in my palm, not on top of the bills. I said “hopefully” (twice), because sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it results in them dropping my change on the ground, at which point I just stare at them until the go get me some more change.
You’re both handling cash. Other people’s skin should be the last of your concerns.
When I worked fast food, I made it a point to not stack coins on bills. Especially in the drive-thru. It pissed me off when people did that to me, so I wasn’t going to piss others off by doing it to them.
[sub]That’s what my crappy customer service skills were for.[/sub]
They are clearly wrong. 
These fast food cashiers give you a pile of bills, receipt, and coins, in that order. It makes no sense. If it’s a drive-through, the coins often end up flying off the top of their little pile 'o stuff. Add me to the list of people annoyed by this. What’s super-weird is that I’ve even seen cashier wait for the receipt to print, just so it can be in their little pile that they hand you. So piling the stuff up isn’t even saving them time. I don’t get it…
When I worked in retail, I almost always gave change first, and counted back the bills.
Now, at the Science Center, we don’t use any change (except quarters for the lockers), and I always count back their money.
Similar to what Jodi said, try this:
For starters, while waiting for your change, don’t just stand there with your palm open which looks a tad dopey anyway.
When the cashier is making the move to give you your bills, you grasp them with your thumb and index finger and then with a quick flick of the wrist you have an open palm that is now ready for proper coinage placement.
This usually works for me EXCEPT when the cashier is preparing a little pile for you which usually consists of receipt, bills, coins on top and is then ready to hand you the entire rolled up little wad. (They seem to like doing it this way at the CVS stores.)
That’s when you have to take matters into your own hands (so to speak) and verbally -and gently- direct them as to how you want your change.
Wow, the cash registers at your station had twenty-cent coins? Cool!
Heh heh heh, I’m one of those people who frequently require complicated change transactions even when paying with plastic. See, when I use my debit card I like to have the debit be a nice round number: easier for me to remember and less likely to cause errors when I’m keeping track of my account balance.
So if the supermarket cash register says I owe $43.84, I hit the “Cash Back” button while doing a quick mental subtraction and punch in $26.16. Voila, I have the nice round number of $70 as a debit in my account record. Of course, the checkout clerk loathes me because she has to scrabble for coins in the cash register to make up my weird cashback amount instead of just shoving a twenty-dollar bill at me, but tough noogies. 
I figure if you’re going to give me the option of getting cash along with my purchase, I’m going to use that option in the way that’s most convenient for me. Anyway, the clerk gets her revenge by handing me a pile of change with the coins on top of the bills, as usual. :mad: