I do this as well, I don’t know if things are on sale for some strange reason and it’s not my fault if the computer is giving me a bad reading.
However, cash I will give back. I don’t understand why people wouldn’t. I was out at lunch a couple of months ago and someone gave my friend and extra $10, we ate right there and he wouldn’t give it back saying it was her problem she screwed up.
At $50 short the cashier is probably going to get fired. They may be a sucky cashier and will get fired down the road anyway for giving out too much change to someone else, but it won’t be because they gave me too much change. So yes, I’d return it. Then be pissy for the rest of the day because I hate when stuff like this happens (as in, finding/receiving cash I can’t keep).
This is pretty much my exact answer - had I noticed in the store I absolutely would have returned the extra $$. In fact, if I was walking to my car or still in the parking lot I would have returned it.
If I was halfway to my destination I would have just continued down the road.
While I don’t want the clerk to get in trouble, it is her job to be accurate and I wouldn’t screw up my whole day’s plan to correct her error for her.
Whoops…somehow I completely missed the “about a mile down the road” part. I probably wouldn’t go two miles out of my way to fix a cashier’s mistake.
A $50 mistake will almost certainly get the cashier fired. Fifties aren’t used much, and new bills tend to stick together. It might have been a case of two bills sticking together, I don’t know.
I’ve given back several hundred bucks at a time. And I’d do it again. However, if I’ve pointed out a cashier’s mistake in my favor twice, and s/he insists that the amount is correct, I don’t bother trying a third time. I have to admit, if a cashier tries to short me three times, I call for a manager, though. Yeah, it’s a bit hypocritical, but I figure that a cashier who’s trying to short me is more likely to be trying to cheat me.
I think I’m 4th on this list.
If it makes anyone feel better this version has never happened but I have noticed once when already several miles away that one of my purchases wasn’t put into the bag at the hardware store. It was worth around $20 and I didn’t go back for it either. I’m not only lazy when it gains me money I’m lazy when it costs me money.
I agree with this and it reminds me of something that happened to me.
I was in a discount store spending a substantial amount on some electronic merchandise. I was paying via two american express gift cards with assorted balances and cash. The gift cards confused the cashier but he felt confident he was able to figure it out correctly. I left, went home and looked at my receipt. It was off by a lot. Like over one hundred dollars a lot.
I immediately called the store and explained that Cashier John was going to be short but I would bring the money back tomorrow as I am 30 miles away from the store and don’t feel like coming back. The manager ORDERED ME to come back right now or I would be stealing!!! I was shocked and angered at the same time. I hung up the phone and never did return the money. I expected her to be thankful that I pointed out the error but I guess her nightly balancing of receipts was more important than being polite to a customer. I hope John didn’t get fired.
I’d return it, at my convenience, because I’ve made a $50 mistake while handling money, and it sucks. Yes, it came out of my pocket, no it didn’t put me in the poor house or end my career or get me fired, but it did suck.
So I’d return it because that’s what I would want someone to do, if it was my mistake.
While prepping my taxes this year, I realized that our internet, phone service, long distance provider, who is supposed to change my credit card monthly, (I get a statement every month, Do Not Pay, Statement only!), has not done so in over a year! Crap, we didn’t notice because there was a large credit balance in Jan, (incorrectly charged for a modem that was, in fact, returned), so the first few credit balances didn’t really raise any red flags. Now, whenever they figure this out they are likely to slam my credit card with nearly $1000, yikes! In the end, we know we owe them this money, and will pay it somehow.
Absolutely. And I’d have made sure the kids saw me do it (if they were with me). Someone would have gotten into a lot of trouble over that 50 dollars.
Just recently, an automated machine gave me 5 bucks too much - self-checkout, cost came to 6.50, I fed it a 20 - and got 18.50 back.
I tried to return the extra (there was a cashier nearby to supervise / provide help). She insisted that the previous customer must have left his change (no prev customer was in sight). And I knew that was not correct because I saw it spit out those three 5 dollar bills.
So I donated 3 bucks to the charity-du-jour and I will admit, kept the other 2 in excess. Hell, I tried to return it!
I’ve cashiered and money-managed several stores, and I have been short by vast sums before, and I have cried myself to sleep from worry, and spent the next days in fear and trembling and gotten my ass chewed out about it. Not really a pleasant way to spend a day or so. (Fwiw, I do have an anxiety disorder.)
In this exact situation - I’d return the cash, regardless of when I figured it out. It sucks to handle money and find out at the end of the day, with no way of knowing when or how, that you screwed up (or someone who works for you screwed up) along the way and now you’ve got no possible ability to fix it.
Was it the cashier’s mistake? Absolutely. Do I know the cashier would get fired? Nope, but it makes me feel better. Do I even know that the cashier would be upset about it? Not really, but I remember how it was/is when I do cashbox, and it’s worth it to me.
Now, if I found it loose on the street, then that’s money from heaven, and I’m not going to be as worried about it.
I’m not counting wallets or clips with ID or other trackable items. Heck, I’ve returned wallets found in the dumpster behind my store before - they were stripped of course, but still had pictures and club cards in them. I can remember three at least, and I found two of the people - both of them were pathetically happy to have anything back.
Where I work the tellers won’t get fired over a $50 mistake, unless it’s happened several times already. What amazes me is how often the tellers’ drawers are over and no one ever notices. Sometimes it’s just $10 or $20, and I can understand not noticing that, but a while back one of the tellers was $300 over and no one ever said anything about it. He wasn’t fired either, it was his first cash drawer mistake.
Pity party? You truly have an interesting way of reading things.
I’d return it. I count my change while I’m in the store, so it would be rare for me to find this out miles down the road.
Today I got a fortune cookie that said “Your principles mean more to you than any money or success.” I taped it to my monitor at work.
StG
Return it immediately if I was close to the store.
Call the store and ask them if they wanted me to mail it to them if I was far away.
BTW, if a store is going to fire a cashier for being short $50, I’m not sure that a customer coming back in to return the $50 is going to save her job. After all, she still made the mistake. It was simply the honesty of the customer that made the store whole.
I’d give it back. Wouldn’t even think about it.
Same as PunditLisa.
At Christmas I accidently get a pair of boots for free, and didn’t realize it until I got home. The next time I was in the store, I tried to pay for them (took an identical pair to the register, explained, etc) and still had to argue with two different people before they’d take my money. The NEXT time I was there, I saw a couple of other people point out to cashiers that their shoes hadn’t rung up. I caught a boss-type and told them it seemed to be a computer glitch–shoes appeared to ring up, but didn’t show up on the receipt or total. Heaven knows how many pairs of shoes they gave away if I was right!
I’d be pissed at having to drive back to correct someone else s’ mistake, but the money would go back immediately, not next week. I believe in all the things you don’t believe in. Theft is theft. A thief will get paid back.
I would definitely return it. Though, when I was at the dollar store once, I put a set of post its into my pocket (I was with my kids, didn’t have a basket and needed both hands, I know dumb) and walked out without paying for them. I actually went back and tried to pay (about a 10 mile round trip in my car) and they weren’t going to take my money. I eventually convinced them to take my dollar but it wasn’t easy.
I’d give it back.
Had an American tourist come into the store I was working in. He had left his wallet on the shelf that held a little over $300US. I easily could of pocketed the money considering the store was busy. But turned it in to the manager.
He showed up while I was on lunch to retrieve his wallet, with the cash still in it.
I’d give it back immediately, no question about it, but once I’ve driven home and I’m tired and the cashier might have already cashed out her drawer and it’s getting complicated…well, I’d probably still take it back, but there would be more swearing.