Took the wife to the movies last night. Had a buy one get one in for free coupon so the tickets came to $8.75. My wife hands the cashier $10.00 and I give her .75. Total confusion ensued. Cashier actually had to break out the smart phone calculator app. I got a punch in the arm from my wife as she said "what are you doing, she's a teenager, she can't make change!" Wife should know. She has worked in the cash office of a supermarket for over 30 years.
I love doing that after they key in the amount you gave them. It totally throws off most cashiers 
Sadly this is the new normal.
At a Taco Hell once, meal was like $5.17. I handed the kid $10.25. Kid hands me back the quarter and starts to make eighty three cents change.
Sine_Qua_Non wrote: Sadly this is the new normal.
Its been like that a while now. I worked at a supermarket as a helper/cashier in the 90's and I saw it all the time.
I starting working at my aunt and uncle's store in south GA when I was 12. First thing they taught me was to count change.
I worked in a store and did my time on the register. It did take me a little bit to get it right. I'll give the girl the benefit of the doubt and say that she was new. She'll pick it up. It's the rare person that picks this up exactly the first time.
No one has ever said this before, and I may deny ever saying it, but when I was a teenager I wasnt all that intelligent. My friends werent either. And probably you guys werent either I would bet. Thats not an insult, just the facts of life. Maybe you could make change like nobodys business, but if so you were stupid about something. Thats just the way it is. So lets not act like todays teenagers have a patent on stupid. I say all of this out of love, and this is directed to nobody in particular.
Dr. Hess wrote: At a Taco Hell once, meal was like $5.17. I handed the kid $10.25. Kid hands me back the quarter and starts to make eighty three cents change.
Had a similar experience the other day except with bills. Bought something that was $16.xx and gave the cashier $21.25. Cashier tried to hand back the $1 bill. I explained that I wanted a $5 bill in my change and not four $1's. Cashier looked puzzled, took the $1 bill, fumbled around a bit and went "Oh!" and gave me my change. Tried to make it easy by telling her I wanted a $5 bill in my change, I think the "Oh!" was when she figured out I gave her a hint...
In reply to gearheadmb:
I know I was stupid with regards to a lot of things as a teen. But we didn't have cash registers where you could enter the amount tendered and have it tell you the change to give back. I think the problem cashiers have computing change today is purely a response to not having to do it because a machine does it for them. I do not necessarily think they are stupid, just that they have not needed to develop a skill that I had to learn.
In reply to secretariata:
Oh no, theyre fully stupid. I just wanted to point out that its not a new phenomenon.
My mom taught me to count back change at a relatively young age. I worked cashier at a pizza place for a few use years and prided myself on usually mentally counting back the change before the other cashier or I could type in the amount given and read off the screen.
I also had a weird thing with numbers growing up, so that didn't hurt.
I don't see this happening very often anymore. Every cash register these days automatically tells the cashier what change to give back when the enter the amount they are given,and many registers automatically spit out the change anyway.
of course they do …the problem is when you're ahead of the cashier … and give them some total amount of $$ and ¢¢ that doesn't make any sense to them … and they try to just give you back the "extra" as opposed to keying it in and … VIOLA … look at this .. the old fart knew what he was talking about
I suck at doing math in my head.
It's a sad scene out there these days. The thing that irks me, at least when I pay cash, which fortunately isn't that often, is that the register tells them the amount of change, and they give you a lump of bills and coins and receipt all in one handful, and quickly move on to the next customer, as if I'm now in the way. I hate that. But then again, I'm a geezer and remember the good old days when the customer was king (or queen).
Oh, here's a good one: You get $0.50 back. They give you five dimes.
Wait- you people still use cash? Huh.
In reply to joey48442:
Nick (Not-Stig) Comstock wrote: In reply to joey48442:
Ha ha! You people! You know, like as in people who aren't me!
Joey
I think the blown mind starts once paper and metal money is presented. What is that stuff, anyway?
wbjones wrote: of course they do …the problem is when you're ahead of the cashier … and give them some total amount of $$ and ¢¢ that doesn't make any sense to them … and they try to just give you back the "extra" as opposed to keying it in and … VIOLA … look at this .. the old fart knew what he was talking about
I see it when they are ahead of me. I have a $20, and they type that in, as I say- I may have some change, digging through my pocket. Once I hand it to them, they get all flustered.
I think it's fun. 
Even more fun when it's something like $8.45, and I hand them $23.50. Some get it, some just give you a blank look.
Being that the math issue is actually on both sides of cash resister, it's not that surprising that people hoard coins, and that coin counting machines (who take a commission to count coins), exist.
only some of them do … at my Credit Union … no charge
That and being dumb.
Gary wrote: It's a sad scene out there these days. The thing that irks me, at least when I pay cash, which fortunately isn't that often, is that the register tells them the amount of change, and they give you a lump of bills and coins and receipt all in one handful, and quickly move on to the next customer, as if I'm now in the way. I hate that. But then again, I'm a geezer and remember the good old days when the customer was king (or queen).
When working football games, I give the best of both worlds. I announce change before typing it in, I even have a small pile of spare coins to round up nice customers to a bigger coin/bill, and I give it to you all as one wad. You're right, I usually don't have time to recount forty-eight cents. That's why I announce the change before pulling it out and so you can observe me grab each coin and bill. I always recount bill returns with more than three duplicate bills, but never coins.
Here's some fun cashier stupidity though: my pimply-faced youth complained that we had too much money to fit into the cash register. I questioned his logic and told him it'd be fine, but sure enough, his register got stuck closed. After having him switch to mine, it was stuck too. He stuck the change rolls below the money tray to make room!
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