OK don’t want to sound like a Grinch all of a sudden, but rippoff & plain outragious dishonesty just killed my Holiday spirit for a day !!! I was at Home Depot & bought some wood smoling chips (I Hickory smoke turkeys every Christmas). This amounted to
$8.67 !!! I hand the checkout lady a $20 bill. She gives me back $1.33 in change. I pointed out to her that she short changed me & she argued. She made us stand there for 30 minutes while she went through her act of counting the register. SHe interestingly claims that there were no $10 bills in the cash drawer !!! She also won’t give me the receipt I demanded back. I took her name down. I asked to speak to the manager. A supposed assistant manager showed up, went back saying he counted the cash drawer. Interesting, each time the drawer was counted the amount kept changing !!! I left with a sour taste in my mouth & the Christmas Spirit killed for the moment.
The assistant manager was even flippant.
Tis the seaon for dishonesty (I would have hoped not). I hope like me you want to give your patronage to honest businesses !!! Sad to say, Home Depot is not one of them !!!
Had similar experience at my regular bank many years ago. Went to drive up window as usual and cashed a check. Was short changed $20.00. Always counted my change before I left the window. Did so in front of the cashier and then she said she couldn’t check it right then. Went in to see the manager and he said they’d have to wait till the end of the day and check the drawer. He called me after close of business and apologized and said I could come by and pick up my $20.00. Told him I already was there once and didn;t get it; so, figured it was only fair that they delivered it to my house. Danged if the manager didn’t show up at the house about fifteen minutes later with my $20.00 and another apology. Still used the bank after that and still always counted my money before leaving the bank and made sure the cashier noted it. Funny thing is, at that same bank, I once was gifted with $20.00 extra and immediately pointed it out to the cashier and gave it back to her
i’ve gotten in the habit of saying “it’s a $20” or the like when giving someone a bill. makes it look like i think they are stupid, which i don’t like to do, but it ends these kind of problems.
I good cashier will not put away the money received until after the change is given out and accepted.
jed
MR JML;
Jed hit it. I train my people to not put the bill in the register until the transaction is complete.
D Micus is also right, tell them what you are paying with.
We have to realize that most young people cannot count due to poor schooling and lack of carring!
rip-off and plain outragious dishonesty, sounds to me like an honest mistake. I handle cash everyday and had a guy come in Monday claiming I gave him change for a $10 and insisted he gave me a $20, after openning my drawer(with the paln of giving him a $10 bill) I realised I didn’t have a $20 in my drawer yet! It was at that point he remembered he had put $10 worth of gas in his truck on the way to work that morning and forgot he did it! Again, just an honest mistake!
The points made above about the proper handling of cash prevent mistakes and…more importantly…make them easier to verify and correct. I don’t think many places really bother to truly train cashiers anymore. Even bank teller training is a lot more slack than it used to be.
And let’s not try to slough it off on “the yonger generation.” A lot of the cashiers I see at Home Depot are NOT young! And I’ve had way more little old ladies try to rip me off at a cash register than young kids over the years. Besides, it was the “older generation’s” responsibility to educate the “younger generation.” So if their education is lacking, guess whose fault it is?
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Also you should watch that the register actually shows the amount you are paying. Cashiers will ring up 15 cents for a $15 purchase, then make the correct change from your $20.
During the shift they keep a running total, and remove the “extra” before end of shift.
bubba_orvis
Another thing you could do to prevent this from happening is to try to memorize the last four digits of the money’s serial number before you hand it in. That way, if something like that happens again, you could just recite it and ask whomever to find it in the register if it ever comes down to that.
-Dave
What I find interesting about this is that the cashier said there were no $10 bills in her till. That right there should have told her that she made a mistake.
“If it was easy anybody could do it”
Timothy S. Furey Sr.
Jed is correct. When I had the hardware, my rule was simple…if a cashier puts the bill(s) away prior to finalizing the transaction & the customer questioned the change amount, the customer WON!..EVERY time…My opinion was & IS that if a transaction is not properly done, mistakes will happen, & why should the customer wait until “closing” for resolution? In my opinion, either the customer is correct OR, even if incorrect, if resolution is not immediately available due to poor cash handling practices, I would defer to the customer. I also would not allow a cashier to converse with a customer while handling a transaction. I would simply hold my hand up (saying nothing, sort of a “wait” sign) & immediately upon completing the transaction, I would apologize & explain that I didn’t want to get distracted & possibly make a mistake on their sale…never had a complaint about it. If a careless mistake resulted in a loss, the store & cashier split the loss.
Mike
This site’s about sharing!
Had one on the other end a couple weeks ago. What little banking I do is in a branch in a really small town. They are only open 4 hours a day and somedays thay can be really busy. They only have two gals working and often it’s not the same gals.
Anyway went in and they were having a really bad day. Somehow the time lock got changed and the door wouldn’t open until they’d been there an hour and people had been giving them fits. I got to the counter about 20 minutes before closing, threw down a handful of checks, grabbed my cash and got out of there. Fortunately, I just folded the bills and stuck them in my front pocket.
Stopped across the street at the local watering hole and while I was waiting on my drink I got to thinking I didn’t realize I had that much in checks. Got it out and realized the gal had given me a hundred bucks too much.
By the time I got back across the street they had just closed. I walked up pounded on the door and the gal I could see inside just pointed at the clock. I held up the bills and gave her an "okay for you " smile. Waved “bye bye” and started down the walk.
Finally one opened the door a crack - (of course they hadn’t discovered the shortage yet). To not make along story any longer, the gal who made the mistake offered to kiss me. Told her I’d have to decline. I didn’t think my heart could take two pleasant surprises in one day. 
Last place I worked where money was handled, we were told to count change back.
A $10 bill used to pay for something that costs $1.07, for instance, would be- “A dollar seven and ninety-three makes two, three, four, five, and ten.” We were never to just hand somebody a pile of change and hope we got it right.
I deposited a check for $665 on the first of December at my credit union. I neglected to look at the receipt, and when my statement came today, there were three entries. One withdrawal of $40 and two deposits. One for $14.50, and one for $615. I called, and found out that it would have been a real hassle toget it straightened out, so I figured it was mostly my fault for not looking at the receipt when depositing. Just a heads up to learn from my mistake. Always look at the receipt when depositing.
Lew
As far as memorizing serial numbers of tendered bills etc. there are a few famous con games played on merchants using just that tactic. One of those requires a co-con who buys for a dollar and pays with a $20 and gets the proper change. The next customer ( the co-con) buys for a dollar, pays with a $10, gets $9 back in change but claims he gave the cashier a $20. Needless to say, he recites the serial # to prove his case. Same game is played with “perfumed money” by those of the female pesuasion. Where the “proof” is that the $20 smells exactly like co-cons purse.
Yes, I know, it was confusing to write too.
Mark
I’d rather be in Wyoming!