Dinner talk with three teenagers that have, or until recently had, jobs working in retail. I’ve never worked in retail. And as a retail consumer, I have probably too strong of an opinion on this one. The three of them had there’s and reasons why they have their opinions. Over?!
I was taught... (my only job in retail... ) was to count change back first... then dollars... and not just give them everything everything at once.... ... but that was small town... small business too....
Now that you say that, you are right. I was taught to start with the purchase amount and count it out and up to the amount given by the customer. Now with the new tills, they tell the cashier the amount to give back. In that case, I would start with the bills and end with the change.
When I rarely do use cash, most cashiers just tell you what your change is and hand it back in a pile. No counting it back. I've only known one cashier in a cafeteria that totaled my meal up and counted change back by coins to the nearest dollar and then gave bills back. She did not even ring it up on the register to get the change total. She just did it by habit. Basically counted back up to the bill I gave her. Some stores have those little machines that spit your change back into a till for you to grab. Almost a lost skill...
I've done more than my share cashiering in a retail environment, and a customer. One has to count back coins first to then finish change back in bills. And, it's annoying when you go through a drive through and they put the coins on top of the bills in your change. Take a look at how much change is on the ground under the pay window next time when the change slides off the bills and the cashier shrugs shoulders. That said nobody knows how to count change back anymore, the computer registers do it for them.
Smile, and laugh at everyone's jokes. Customers always right. The lower you leave your shirt unbuttoned and the shorter your skirt, the larger the tip you get. This worked great except for the poor high school kid that was working as a waiter in the coffee shop when I returned from the Navy. A group of us would keep calling him Klinger!
My preference: Your change is seven dollars and thirty two cents...hand me a five, two ones and then the thirty two cents.
A couple of people said it already. Making change CORRECTLY is almost a lost art. I've worked retail. Both old school and computer/POS. The problem with relying on the machine to calculate your change, is it assumes no mistake in entering the "amount tendered" (an extra and unnecessary step IMHO). If the cashier blindly hands you your change, they probably don't know if they entered it right. And mistakes are made. I've done it. I've seen it happen. And I've caught and corrected it.
As long as they hand me the change first, then the bills, I don't care if they count it out (although I was taught to count it out). If the cashier wants to say, "your change is $3.27", then hand me the 27 cents and place the $3 on top without counting it out to me, that is fine. But I hate, hate, hate, getting the change on top because even if some of it doesn't slide off, I still have to use two hands to get it under control; dump the change into my free right hand, fold the bills with my left and place those in my pocket, then throw the change into my left hand and stick that in my pocket. Meanwhile, my pocketbook is still on the counter and I'm holding up the line while I corral it all. And its even worse if there are several bags of merchandise to catch up too before walking away. If I get change first, then bills, I can control it all in my left hand, folding the bills (while the change is safely contained in the palm) then stuffing everything in my pocket at once. Meanwhile I'm grabbing my pocketbook with my right hand plus any bags of merchandise and walking away from the counter.
When I had "youngsters (and oldsters)" working for me in my produce market the first class we had was counting out change. If a person gave them a $10 bill they were told to keep it out of the register until they gave the customer their change. Hey I gave you a 20. Kept people honest. I always told them to count the bills given them if it was a lot of say $1's. People thought they gave me 10 1's and i found a 5 or 10 in the pile. Always repeat to the customer the transaction. $7.95 out of 20. Now when i go to a store and pay cash I make the cashier count the money i give them if it's more than just 1 bill before they enter the amt. in the register.
The real fun begins when your bill amounts to lets say$4.17. Then you give them a 5 and 17cents. There is usually a small hesitation. But, if you really want to throw a wrench in the works, give them a ten and 27 cents! You can just hear the tires screeching to a stop!
hahaha...The eyes glaze over, scratch their head, at that point you can tell them you should get 37.42 as change and they will reach in the drawer and give it to you!!
When I pay cash I figure out the amount of cash I should be getting back and double check that. I don’t pay much attention to what they say I’m getting back. I find a lot of mistakes.
