I suppose there could be some bosses somewhere as dumb as the cashiers I worked with in high school and college , who thought that if they entered the amount tendered as $100 instead of $10 and gave the correct change , the register would be short*.* They didn’t think they would get into trouble for not entering it accurately and doing the math in their heads , because they wouldn’t have- to all sensible people ( including my bosses) the only thing that matters is that the correct amount of money remained in the register. No, they thought and said that they would get into trouble because “they would be short”. This of course would only happen if they returned the incorrect amount of change shown on the register. No matter how many times it was explained, they just could not comprehend that if the order was $5, then $5 had to remain in the register, and nothing else mattered. When they were told by the manager to give the corerct change and not to worry about the display, they spent the rest of the shift in fear that there would be a shortage and were shocked when the drawer was counted and had the right amount of money. Every.single.time. In some cases for years.
Well, that’s true, but can only be taken so far. Yes, all technology can fail. But by your logic, a person should do a complete overview/inspection of every single thing that can fail every single time they get into a car to go somewhere. But that would take far more time/skill than most people have.
Cars used to have manual-key-cranks to start. Then they electric ignition became reliable/trusted/available enough that they weren’t needed anymore and they were removed/discontinued (other factors playing in, too, of course), even though it was still possible that starter could fail and leave the driver stranded. Each person has to make the decision for themselves on where their “trust” point of technology is and what they are willing to risk if that tech fails. For me, I’m willing to trust my oil quality monitor, as the manual tells me to (doesn’t even give me a mileage, I don’t think). It could fail (without some other “check engine” or something notifying me). I’d pay the cost in time/money if I didn’t notice that it seemed like it had been too long since it was last changed. It’s a risk I choose to take.
Yep. I suspect people like grousing about the inability of cashiers to make change in their heads more than they like cashiers to make change in their heads.
And if getting nice even amounts of change is important to you, when you go to pay, say “Hey, I’d like to use up some of my change if I can” so they know to wait until you’ve hunted for that last 2 dimes and 3 pennies before they hit the $20 button.
Think about this change situation for a moment. These cashiers obviously could do the math correctly with enough time, correct? Surely you can agree to that?
There is pressure of being correct when dealing with money that makes people freeze up not much differently from stage fright.
The only thing these people need is more practice in these situations. They aren’t idiots - they are unpracticed. This all just means it isn’t often they have to do that. That’s all.
Anyway here’s something a family friend assumed I knew when I was growing up: a family friend stopped at a gas station and asked me to fill up the car. I asked him how much and he said just fill it. Perplexed, I asked again, how much? He gave me an annoyed look and said I dunno, what does it matter? Just fill it! My family was kind of broke growing up and we put in gas in $10, $15, $20 increments. I had no idea the pump would automatically stop when the tank was full.:smack:
Regarding the making change thingy…I’ve always suspected it was just a way for people who are good with math in their heads to feel sooo superior to people who aren’t good with math in their heads.
What’s more, I think that half the time people give odd amounts that the cashier isn’t expecting it’s a passive-aggressive test or a form of bullying.
Love,
Sicks Ate, who isn’t good with math in his head.
Incorrect.
The reason people do it is because they’d rather have a fin or a sawbuck as instead of four singles or four singles and a fiver and change; or they’d rather have a dollar bill instead of three quarters, a nickel, and four pennies.
Don’t forget he loonies and toonies!
OK, one last time before I relegate this to the “things people should know about their cars but many, many don’t and never will” file:
Pulling the dipstick to check the oil has little or nothing to do with determining oil quality. One cannot tell (except in extreme cases) by sight, feel or smell if oil is past due for a change. There are many other reasons for checking your oil between changes, enumerated in many prior posts.
Thank you, that is all.
I’m close enough to Canada to walk to it, but I’m not close enough to have to worry about loonies and moonies! 
Maybe one day we women will feel free to shed our straightjacket bras like men have shed their necktie nooses.
While formality is definitely waning, especially among the young people, I don’t foresee the necktie being phased out entirely. There will always be weddings and funerals to attend, not to mention award show season!
And this thread clearly shows why I do not think most people will ever be nor should ever be allowed to operate heavier than air vehicles above the ground with anyone I care about with them or on the ground under them.
The roads are bad enough but even with all the help & directions given and shown along the way, so many can not keep the vehicles between the lines, etc…
I understand when certain knowledge is no longer really needed by everybody but being on the tip of the arrow with no knowledge of the past keeps the undertakers in fancy cars…
Want to be proud of the youth of today, go to a “Quick Trip” convenience store / gas station and try to keep up with or confuse the counter kids when dealing with change. Tis a thing of beauty to watch.
I’ve always wanted to buy something with $2 bills, an Eisenhower dollar, a Suzie, a Sackie, whatever same-thing the Sackie became before dollar coins were discontinued, a Kennedy half-dollar, and an assortment of common bills and change.
I think the pinnacle of men’s fashion these days are the football pre- and post-game shows.
Gee, this has become a real buzzkill. 
Good gracious, people, just use your debit or credit card! Also, if someone said, “Hang on, let me give you a sawbuck” it would just further delay as I tried to figure out if you were attempting to turn it into a drug deal, or if you were understandably confused having just stumbled out of a Dashiell Hammett story.
Ties rock. I have one with little blue frogs on it.
One year for Christmas, I gave my dad syphilis.
What a coincidence. I’m wearing my anthrax scarf. I also have an e coli and a staphlococcus.
You’re a good son.
I agree with the assertion that making change is all a matter of practice. There’s a constant turnover in the kids working cash registers, in fast food especially. What we’re seeing is a chain of newbies.
I worked one Christmas season for a catalog fullfillment outlet that separated the cashiers from the order takers. The order takers had to add the forms up and enter the tax by hand with nothing but a pencil and the form - - no writing out the calculation allowed. It took a couple of weeks to get used to it. There was one tax table hanging from the wall by a cord, but you only used that if you got confused and everyone could see you do it.
I think that the sales tax was 4%. So multiply the amount of dollars by 4, then add one cent for every quarter. I forget if we rounded up or down.
I was good at math, but that kind of juggling is a skill. Like riding a bicycle.
It’s standard in the airline industry for each crewmember to tip the hotel van driver $1 for the ride to or from the airport. They also handle loading and unloading the multitude of suitcases, pilot briefcases, flight attendant mongo-purse accessory bags, etc. Which can be a real pile.
Anyhow, I used to often fly with a guy who carried a supply of Sackies to tip the drivers with. He looked & sounded a lot like Mickey Rooney. He’d always say, “An’ 'ere’s a gold Dubloon fer yer troubles my good man!” as he handed over his Sackie.
He got a lot of bewildered looks. A lot of drivers are recent immigrants and had no idea it was even US money.
Different story: …
Us older folks remember when the US currency redesign program started. The one that changed the bills to using larger portraits off center, various colors, etc. US bills of all denominations before then all looked about the same with a small portrait centered, etc.
The first new bill design released was the $20. About 2 years after those came out I tried to spend one at a tourist shop in a small town in Alaska (Skagway) while on a port call from a cruise ship.
The college aged kid behind the counter didn’t recognize it as US currency. At first neither did the store manager. Until several other customers, all retired Americans, started giving them crap for not knowing it was US money & waving more of the same bills as I had used.
I could imagine the new currency not yet having made it up to very small towns around there that never saw tourists. But *this *small town had 4,000 - 6,000 tourists arrive every single *day *throughout each summer. How this tourist store manager & clerk had managed to never see a new US $20 in two years is a mystery to me.
Anyone else remember the bank robbery where the robbers threw away the money (new at-the-time currency), presumably because they thought it was fake? At least I seem to remember that. For all I know, I heard it from a friend and it was just an urban legend?