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The 75 cent trick rides again

This reminds me of a funny story..

A few years ago, I repaired retail computer systems..

I had a store manager who insisted the display that gave out a reading of the change due, must be defective, because the drawer was coming up short.. His reasoning was, that the display must be telling the cashier to give out the wrong ( too much ) change...

Of course the display tested out fine, but he would not be satisfied, until I replaced the unit...
 
Peterson said:
I'm assuming that many of you never worked retail. There is nothing more annoying than trying to get rid of a long line, and somebody has to dig through their pockets/purse to find the exact change so that they get back the denominations they prefer.
Just put your pennies in a jar and cash them in at the end of the year.
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Interesting you should say this. I have regular disagreements with my girlfriend when she insists on rummaging through her purse for exact change when there is a line of impatient ppl behind us. I generally have the change ready (at least a handful extracted from my pocked, ready in my palm) before I even pull my notes out. Both of us have retail experience so that can't be the deciding factor (hers more extensive than mine).
 
I've worked as a cashier, and I also have excellent math skills. I've never been put off by the 75-cent trick;in fact, I prefered it. That is, unless my cash drawer was low on quarters.

I agree that "feel-good" math is partially to blame, but let's also be honest about something else- The people behind the counter are making barey above minimum wage. After local, state and federal taxes, you'd be surly too if you saw your paycheck for a thankless job.

Add to that some smartaleck dope who thinks he's cute because he decided to play math games with you while you've got a line of grumbling customers, and a store manager pushing you to keep the line moving. Oh yeah, some smug engineer who thinks he's smarter than you, and spends the equivalent of your week's salay on lunch is going to want to be treated to a "Oh, how amusing. Clearly I'm incapable of the menial job I've got" reply.

Now this is no excuse for being incompetent, but I've often wondered why Randi should be surprised at the responses he gets with the counterfiet-pen gag. I used the pen, knowing it was useless, because it was "store policy". If I wanted to get paid, I had to use the pen. My boss wasn't interesed in facts, but in covering his retail ass.
 
LaserCool: ... I've often wondered why Randi should be surprised at the responses he gets with the counterfiet-pen gag. I used the pen, knowing it was useless, because it was "store policy". If I wanted to get paid, I had to use the pen. My boss wasn't interesed in facts, but in covering his retail ass.
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That's a good point. I shouldn't be giving the clerks a hard time about the yellow pen, but rather their bosses.
 
A friend of mine made the point about the iodine pens in a less controversial manner. Michael cut up some newspapers into approximately dollar-sized pieces and wrote "$100" in ball point pen on them. When the cashier whips out the iodine pen, he asked them to also check and see if his "100" was real too. Surprise, surprise, the pen says it's fine.

He caused at least one store to change its policy about the pens.
 
Here in the UK there are some 'fake paper money' detectors that work by shining UV light onto the note. A genuine banknote is not supposed to fluoresce while some fakes do.

I once presented a twenty pound note at a pub and had it rejected by one of these gimicks. The note was, I believe, genuine but I had acidentally put it through the wash (it was in a shirt pocket). The note had survived the washing process, but I guess the detergent had some constituent that made the note fluoresce under UV.

Anyway, the barman threatened to cut the note up, but I insisted that he call the police instead (I can't aford to loose twenty quid). The barman then relented, and allowed me to exchange the supposed 'fake' for another note. Later, I spent the 'dud' at a supermarket.

ceptimus.
 
Ceptimus- The UV fluorescent agents are added to detergents to give that "Bluer than white"look to whites hanging on the washing line in the sun. I suppose once everyone uses a tumble drier, they will stop adding it. It's most obvious in a white garment recently washed when worn in a nightclub or bar which uses a lot of UV rich lighting.
 
Tearing a bill in half

Tearing a bill in half (in the US, anyway) won't work unless it is torn EXACTLY in half. If 51% of the bill is there, it is still redeemable.
 
Re: Tearing a bill in half

aggle_rithm said:
Tearing a bill in half (in the US, anyway) won't work unless it is torn EXACTLY in half. If 51% of the bill is there, it is still redeemable.
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I thought the serial number had to be on it.
 
Diogenes said:
Does it p anyone else off when they hand you the paper then put your change on top of it?:mad:

Most cashiers do this now..
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When I worked at a Texaco Star Mart, they trained the cashiers to actually give coins first and paper second and to count back the change.

Whenever I go to a fastfood place, it's always done the wrong way. I, too, have had coin spills. It's even worse in drive-throughs. I'm about ready to instruct the cashiers the correct way of giving back change.
 
I used to be an assistant manager at McDonald's. Strangely, we had very few Harvard MBA's apply for work there.

Although things might be different nowadays. :)
 
Don't try this at home...

UK folks should be very careful about destroying what they suspect to be counterfeit money as it's an offence to destroy or deface the currency of the realm. In fact, I suspect that you can still get sentenced to a night or two in the tower if you don't tear down the perforations on stamps correctly.

Anyway--the 75 cent trick; my retail experience involved a till which was cantankerous at the best of times but never worked out change, so I had to learn to count backwards and forwards really quick, as well as working out the smallest number of coins to give people their change in. Quite often around dinnertime we'd be running low on change before someone did the bank run, so I'd be doing the 75 cent trick on customers to try and conserve our copper. They always thought I was ripping them off, strangely enough, and inevitably ended up with me giving them all our copper and small silver, then swapping all their change for 50p's and £1 coins...
 
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