Dumbest cashier ever? (TR kinda-sorta)

[ocdscale]

I'm really disappointed to see so many posters proud of getting too much change and walking away with it. It's not manna from heaven, the cashier is going to end up paying for the mistake.
If a cashier ever short changes me, I'm sure as hell going to speak up. When I get too much change, I do the same. I'm sure there's some point where I'd swallow my pride and pocket the money, but for $3?

To keep this on topic. I saw this story requested, and doesn't seem like anyone posted it:

[ QUOTE ]
On my way home from the second job I've taken for the extra holiday ca$h I need, I stopped at Taco Bell for a quick bite to eat. In my billfold is a $50 bill and a $2 bill. That is all of the cash I have on my person. I figure that with a $2 bill, I can get something to eat and not have to worry about people getting upset at me.

ME: ``Hi, I'd like one seven layer burrito please, to go.''
IT: ``Is that it?''
ME: ``Yep.''
IT: ``That'll be $1.04, eat here?''
ME: ``No, it's to go.'' [I hate effort duplication.]

At his point I open my billfold and hand him the $2 bill. He looks at it kind of funny and

IT: ``Uh, hang on a sec, I'll be right back.''

He goes to talk to his manager, who is still within earshot. The following conversation occurs between the two of them.

IT: ``Hey, you ever see a $2 bill?''
MG: ``No. A what?''
IT: ``A $2 bill. This guy just gave it to me.''
MG: ``Ask for something else, there's no such thing as a $2 bill.''
IT: ``Yeah, thought so.''

He comes back to me and says

IT: ``We don't take these. Do you have anything else?''
ME: ``Just this fifty. You don't take $2 bills? Why?''
IT: ``I don't know.''
ME: ``See here where it says legal tender?''
IT: ``Yeah.''
ME: ``So, shouldn't you take it?''
IT: ``Well, hang on a sec.''

He goes back to his manager who is watching me like I'm going to shoplift, and

IT: ``He says I have to take it.''
MG: ``Doesn't he have anything else?''
IT: ``Yeah, a fifty. I'll get it and you can open the safe and get change.''
MG: ``I'm not opening the safe with him in here.''
IT: ``What should I do?''
MG: ``Tell him to come back later when he has real money.''
IT: ``I can't tell him that, you tell him.''
MG: ``Just tell him.''
IT: ``No way, this is weird, I'm going in back.''

The manager approaches me and says

MG: ``Sorry, we don't take big bills this time of night.'' [it was 8pm and this particular Taco Bell is in a well lighted indoor mall with 100 other stores.]
ME: ``Well, here's a two.''
MG: ``We don't take those either.''
ME: ``Why not?''
MG: ``I think you know why.''
ME: ``No really, tell me, why?''
MG: ``Please leave before I call mall security.''
ME: ``Excuse me?''
MG: ``Please leave before I call mall security.''
ME: ``What for?''
MG: ``Please, sir.''
ME: ``Uh, go ahead, call them.''
MG: ``Would you please just leave?''
ME: ``No.''
MG: ``Fine, have it your way then.''
ME: ``No, that's Burger King, isn't it?''

At this point he backs away from me and calls mall security on the phone around the corner. I have two people staring at me from the dining area, and I begin laughing out loud, just for effect. A few minutes later this 45 year oldish guy comes in and says [at the other end of counter, in a whisper]

SG: ``Yeah, Mike, what's up?''
MG: ``This guy is trying to give me some [pause] funny money.''
SG: ``Really? What?''
MG: ``Get this, a two dollar bill.''
SG: ``Why would a guy fake a $2 bill?'' [incredulous]
MG: ``I don't know? He's kinda weird. Says the only other thing he has is a fifty.''
SG: ``So, the fifty's fake?''
MG: ``No, the $2 is.''
SG: ``Why would he fake a $2 bill?''
MG: ``I don't know. Can you talk to him, and get him out of here?''
SG: ``Yeah...''

Security guard walks over to me and says

SG: ``Mike here tells me you have some fake bills you're trying to use.''
ME: ``Uh, no.''
SG: ``Lemme see 'em.''
ME: ``Why?''
SG: ``Do you want me to get the cops in here?''

At this point I was ready to say, ``SURE, PLEASE,'' but I wanted to eat, so I said

ME: ``I'm just trying to buy a burrito and pay for it with this $2 bill.''

I put the bill up near his face, and he flinches like I was taking a swing at him. He takes the bill, turns it over a few times in his hands, and says

SG: ``Mike, what's wrong with this bill?''
MG: ``It's fake.''
SG: ``It doesn't look fake to me.''
MG: ``But it's a $2 bill.''
SG: ``Yeah?''
MG: ``Well, there's no such thing, is there?''

The security guard and I both looked at him like he was an idiot, and it dawned on the guy that he had no clue.

My burrito was free and he threw in a small drink and those cinnamon things, too. Makes me want to get a whole stack of $2 bills just to see what happens when I try to buy stuff. If I got the right group of people, I could probably end up in jail. At least I'd get free food.

[/ QUOTE ]

[tuq]

Read through this whole thread and it's probably way too late to bring this up, but I'm amazed how many people hated being a cashier.

I worked nearly ten years in the grocery business, in capacities from bagboy to cashier to night stocker, produce clerk, and management. IMO cashier was by far the easiest, least stressful of the positions. You knew when you were coming and going, you didn't have a task list to complete, the manual labor was negligible (compared to lifting 40 lb boxes of apples and heavy cases of grocery product, I mean), you didn't have to go in and out of coolers and freezers, and the customers were generally less of a pain in the ass as they'd done their shopping and now wanted to leave as quickly as possible. I found that being positive and friendly made the job borderline enjoyable. Plus we were generally paid well - when I left the industry around ten years ago cashiers capped out at about $13.50/hr plus benefits.

The obvious drawback is legit - having to stand in one place for long stretches, much like a dealer at a casino. But I didn't think that was all that bad, and we were given plenty of time for breaks and wandering around.

Also, the people I worked with were rarely dumb - a lot of them were second income housewife types who were actually pretty sharp and a lot of fun to be around. Being a cashier at a grocery store level is several rungs above ringing up fast food, with the exception of Wal-Mart.

[Lord_Strife]

Burger King is the actual worst ever, I can't imagine willingly going there ever again, even before reading this post.

[ActionJeff]

[ QUOTE ]
Burger King is the actual worst ever, I can't imagine willingly going there ever again, even before reading this post.

[/ QUOTE ]

exact opposite effect on me- I'm starving now

ocdscale,

why would you waste a $2 bill on a burrito? Aren't those things collectible and worth more than $2?

[threeonefour]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Burger King is the actual worst ever, I can't imagine willingly going there ever again, even before reading this post.

[/ QUOTE ]

exact opposite effect on me- I'm starving now

ocdscale,

why would you waste a $2 bill on a burrito? Aren't those things collectible and worth more than $2?

[/ QUOTE ]

no they are still being produced, you can get them at any bank.

[fraserbrown]

Cant get $2 bills in Canada anymore, phased out in 1996

[mo42nyy]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Count up from $5.56:
4 pennies ($5.60)
1 nickel ($5.65)
1 dime ($5.75)
1 quarter ($6)
4 $1 bills ($10)
1 $10 bill ($20)

[/ QUOTE ]

Back in the dark ages of mechanical cash registers that did not calculate change for you, this was the standard technique for making change. It's pretty much a lost art now.

[/ QUOTE ]

or if you're done with 2nd grade you can just give them 14.44 after about half a second of doing math

[34TheTruth34]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Count up from $5.56:
4 pennies ($5.60)
1 nickel ($5.65)
1 dime ($5.75)
1 quarter ($6)
4 $1 bills ($10)
1 $10 bill ($20)

[/ QUOTE ]

Back in the dark ages of mechanical cash registers that did not calculate change for you, this was the standard technique for making change. It's pretty much a lost art now.

[/ QUOTE ]

or if you're done with 2nd grade you can just give them 14.44 after about half a second of doing math

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, really. The 'count up' method seems too involved and confusing when compared to just calculating the change and giving it back, which would almost always take less than 5 seconds.

[mosdef]

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, really. The 'count up' method seems too involved and confusing when compared to just calculating the change and giving it back, which would almost always take less than 5 seconds.

[/ QUOTE ]

Haven't you read this thread? Some people can't do the math. At all.

[Hopey]

[ QUOTE ]
Cant get $2 bills in Canada anymore, phased out in 1996

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, they were replaced by the Twonie. In the US, it's rare to see $2 currency.