Thursday, May 30, 2013

Little Things Mean a Lot

"That'll be $6.14, please."  I handed the clerk a twenty-dollar bill.  She got the change from the register, I held out my hand.

Placing the change in my hand, one item at a time, she counted, "six-fourteen and fifteen, twenty-five, fifty, seventy-five, and seven, eight, nine, ten, and ten is twenty."

Need I say I nearly fell over.  The lady was clearly on the sunny side of fifty.  I told her, "That's the first time I've had someone count change back to me correctly in I can't remember when."

"I've always done it that way, since I was a girl."

"Way to go!  It's refreshing to meet someone who does things right these days."

"Thanks!"

I  particularly abhor  the practice, very common these days, 
of putting the coins on top of the bills,  placing the receipt on 
  top of the coins, then jamming the entire pile into the  waiting 
 palm.                                                                       Growl!

10 comments:

Jim said...

I had a cash-register job in 1986 where the boss insisted everybody count change back to the customer, and that was an unusual practice even then.

Shelly said...

I have the same pet peeve about how change is placed into the hand. Argh. And I can't remember the last time someone has counted change back to me. It's gone the way of cursive writing.

Vee said...

This is impressive! I would be happy if they put the change on my hand and the bills on top instead of the opposite. Tired of retrieving the change from the counter or floor!

Anonymous said...

That's how I was taught - nowadays people don't have time to wait for it to be done right. The sequence of returning change has a certain sense to it - the change is calculated by the register so the clerk looks and sees the change is $3.25 - starting left to right, paper, metal and of course the last thing you would do is rip the receipt out of the register Ta Da - transaction completed

Secondary Roads said...

Done that way for the convenience of the clerk.

Lin said...

I have to count the change that way...not for the customer, but for me. That's how I learned to make change the old-fashioned way. Now the registers just tell them what the change is. I wonder--was there a cash register in this transaction? Or was it an old one by chance? I doubt clerks count out change like that with the new ones.

vanilla said...

Jim, yep. The art (courtesy) of properly counting change has been scarce that long.

Shelly, we live in a world bereft of such niceties as customer service. Don't let me get started on that.

Vee, I'm with you. We know they can't count, but drat the change on top of the bills.

Grace, that is indeed how it works!

Chuck, meaning, to accommodate his inability to add. Or count, for that matter.


vanilla said...

Lin, to satisfy your curiosity. Modern cash register showing amount of change and all. The lady was just a princess who did things the right way!

Sharkbytes said...

Most don't even know how to do anything except give out what the machine tells them. I had someone get out her calculator to multiply something by 100 the other day. I had given her the answer (aren't I smart?), but she didn't trust me doing it in my head and wanted to check. Alrightythen.

vanilla said...

Shark, doubtless this condition is in part the result of calling a "decimal point" a "dot."