Bruce Breedlove
11-19-2007, 08:22 PM
I never cease to be amazed at "cashiers" that cannot make change correctly. In the general sense, a cashier should be a person who receives payment from customers and makes change as needed in a transaction. Today a cashier is nothing more than a cash register operator. Without the cash register to add up the price of all items, calculate sales tax and display the correct total today's cashier is completely helpless.
I remember in 5th Grade Math (or was it called Arithmetic in the mid-'60s?) how we learned how to use coins in a transaction. Part of what we learned was how to give a cashier coins from your pocket so you would receive fewer coins in change (and have less coins in your pocket at the end of the transaction).
Example: Your bill is $4.67. If you give the cashier a $5 you will receive $0.33 in change - most likely a quarter, a nickel and three cents for a total of 5 coins. But suppose you have some change in your pocket, not quite 67 cents but at least 17 cents. So now you give the cashier a $5 bill and a dime, a nickel and two cents (4 coins) for a total of $5.17. Your change will be 50 cents - probably two quarters. Now you have two less coins in your pocket rather than 5 more - a difference of 7 coins.
Today's cashiers have no idea what I am doing when I give her coins with currency unless it exactly equals the "cents" portion. Most hurriedly enter the currency amount before I can pull out my change which further confounds the situation so I now try to hold the currency until I have tendered the coins.
Today I returned two audio books to Cracker Barrel. (I like to listen to books on CD when I drive long distances and I just drove back to Colorado from Georgia.) The deal is you buy the audio books for full retail price and return them at another Cracker Barrel down the road after you listen to them for a full refund less a modest rental fee. (I'm sure they are hoping you will eat with them both times.) My credit for the two audio books today was $61.95. Since I had paid cash for the audio books I was due the refund in cash. I really didn't want an additional 95 cents in coins in my pocket so I pulled out a nickel, handed it to the cashier and said, "Here, this will make it easier."
WRONG! She pulled out $61 in currency and started counting out coins. I stopped her and said, "You owe me $62.00. No change." She said, "I owed you $61.95 and you gave me a nickel so now I owe you $61.90." I corrected her by saying, "You owed me $61.95. I gave you 5 cents more. Now you owe me $62.00." She gave me the $62.00 but I don't think she understood the transaction.
I guess schools don't teach practical uses of math any more. It's really a pity.
Does anyone remember when vendors used coin changers like the one shown below? Today's highschool grads wouldn't have a clue what to do with it since it does not come equipped with a built-in computer.
I remember in 5th Grade Math (or was it called Arithmetic in the mid-'60s?) how we learned how to use coins in a transaction. Part of what we learned was how to give a cashier coins from your pocket so you would receive fewer coins in change (and have less coins in your pocket at the end of the transaction).
Example: Your bill is $4.67. If you give the cashier a $5 you will receive $0.33 in change - most likely a quarter, a nickel and three cents for a total of 5 coins. But suppose you have some change in your pocket, not quite 67 cents but at least 17 cents. So now you give the cashier a $5 bill and a dime, a nickel and two cents (4 coins) for a total of $5.17. Your change will be 50 cents - probably two quarters. Now you have two less coins in your pocket rather than 5 more - a difference of 7 coins.
Today's cashiers have no idea what I am doing when I give her coins with currency unless it exactly equals the "cents" portion. Most hurriedly enter the currency amount before I can pull out my change which further confounds the situation so I now try to hold the currency until I have tendered the coins.
Today I returned two audio books to Cracker Barrel. (I like to listen to books on CD when I drive long distances and I just drove back to Colorado from Georgia.) The deal is you buy the audio books for full retail price and return them at another Cracker Barrel down the road after you listen to them for a full refund less a modest rental fee. (I'm sure they are hoping you will eat with them both times.) My credit for the two audio books today was $61.95. Since I had paid cash for the audio books I was due the refund in cash. I really didn't want an additional 95 cents in coins in my pocket so I pulled out a nickel, handed it to the cashier and said, "Here, this will make it easier."
WRONG! She pulled out $61 in currency and started counting out coins. I stopped her and said, "You owe me $62.00. No change." She said, "I owed you $61.95 and you gave me a nickel so now I owe you $61.90." I corrected her by saying, "You owed me $61.95. I gave you 5 cents more. Now you owe me $62.00." She gave me the $62.00 but I don't think she understood the transaction.
I guess schools don't teach practical uses of math any more. It's really a pity.
Does anyone remember when vendors used coin changers like the one shown below? Today's highschool grads wouldn't have a clue what to do with it since it does not come equipped with a built-in computer.