Making change and reading a clock...

**Judi Dial** · 02-24-2009, 04:52 PM

It occurred to me that this might be a good place to do this rant. I work retail and have for 30 some odd years now. I count change out to my customers and will do so two or three times until I know it's right.

Please DON'T try and help me. As I said, I'm a pro at this with 30 years experience. When I get fouled up these days more often than not, it's a customer who insists on helping. Of course, if I'm wrong, say so, but then please let me figure it out. I'm the one who's responsible for the cash drawer and frequently your "help" makes it harder to fix the problem.

Also, if you feel the price you paid for something is unjust (too high) unless you know I own the store, please don't yell at me, I'm working for a living. I'm a hireling, not responsible for the prices. Please take the product to the manager, if possible, and ask for your money back. If there's no manager, tell me you don't want it, and I'll void the sale or refund your money.(If you can, please tell me this before I run your credit card or give you your change back.)

Finally, if you want your kids to have a leg up on most of their contemporaries, please teach them to count change back to themselves if not someone else. Cashiers under 25 or so cannot survive without a cash register that tells them how much change to give. If your kid can do this, they'll be a lot more qualified than the next person trying to get that job at Burger King.

And, along the same line. Have you noticed that youngsters these days do not know how to read a clock that isn't digital? Teach your kids that too, for the same reason I said about making change, it is a life skill that isn't being taught any more and it does get used every now and again.

Okay, I'm done now!

Judi

**mommy4ever** · 02-24-2009, 05:00 PM

LOL... I just had this conversation on the weekend with dd11 and ds14. We were playing monopoly. DD friend and ds would jump on dd11 as she was counting out what she had to pay. It's anew edition and we're playing with millions, so it's all unfamiliar. I was the banker and I'm counting back change to them

All of them looked at me really weird. I told them, I don't have a calculator and counting up from the amount owed is the easiest way to make change.

So Im going to have to teach them how to do that.

**Debbie-cat** · 02-24-2009, 05:14 PM

You are right Judi! When I was teaching, I taught....get this.....my GRADE 10's!!! how to count back change. They had no clue if they didn't have a cash register in front of them. We spent 3 weeks with monopoly money!

Same with digital clocks. Most don't have a clue what time it is with a normal face clock. It is really, really, really sad.

**3LittleMonkeys** · 02-24-2009, 05:36 PM

We were talking about this a couple of weeks ago. You bet I will teach my kids this.

**tbs727** · 02-24-2009, 05:55 PM

I had no idea people couldn't read non-digital clocks.

**Michelle** · 02-24-2009, 05:57 PM

Sign of the computer age, unfortunately...

**mombottoo** · 02-24-2009, 06:23 PM

"Cashiers under 25 or so cannot survive without a cash register that tells them how much change to give. If your kid can do this, they'll be a lot more qualified than the next person trying to get that job at Burger King."

Only under 25 huh? I was pretty sure nobody under 35 knew how to do that

! They can't add/subtract/multiply/divide without a machine because they are allowed to use calculators in many schools starting at a very young age. I remember my kids trying to use calculators to do their homework...notice I said "tried". They'd get so mad at me because, "the teacher lets me use a calculator"...oh well then do your work at school

!

Once when I tried telling a cashier the change she gave me was wrong she insisted it was right...got pretty indignant. So I counted it while laying it out on the checkbook spot...then handed her back the $20 overage. Never even got a thank you...she must have been having a rough day.

**IntlMom** · 02-24-2009, 06:37 PM

drives me crazy too......here's another one for ya - with velcro, kids now are having a harder time learning to tie shoes...
......pfft progress

**Thevail** · 02-25-2009, 04:24 AM

I chose to have my daughter learn to type rather than learn cursive. More useful these days.

But she CAN count change and read an analog clock.

Mind you, she thinks dial up is some crazy thing people had in the 80's, but gave up.

**phoeny_moonstar** · 02-25-2009, 04:38 AM

Hmm... well, just my two cents. But not everyone who can't read a manual clock is because of sheer laziness. I have struggled with this since I was a child. My mother tried and tried to teach me but it has never stuck. *shrugs* The whole thing about change... I understand how to count back change and I agree that everyone else should as well. I hate it when cashiers just had me back a wad of cash/coins and don't count it.

**Bournecrazy** · 02-25-2009, 05:30 AM

Originally Posted by mommy4ever

All of them looked at me really weird. I told them, I don't have a calculator and counting up from the amount owed is the easiest way to make change.

So Im going to have to teach them how to do that.

i do it that way too. i have problems reading digital clocks lol, i get the numbers mixed up (dont mean to) its just sometimes i see words or numbers the wrong way round.

Oh i also agree with on the customer taking it out on you because the prices are high, i get that in my job i just tell them that we dont make the prices up the address is on the door for the company head office call them and talk to them.

**Momto2Boyz** · 02-25-2009, 07:53 AM

Ha! Thanks to my very first job at 16, I am a pro at counting back change! I was a hostess in a restaurant, and in charge of working the register. The register, of course, did not tell us how much change to count back.

I learned really quickly the counting up method, that I have since taught to my now 7 year old. His teacher has been impressed with this method, and had never heard of it. I told her that anyone who has been a cashier, should know how to do! It also helped me for 7 years when I worked in a bank!

My 7 year old, just read a "regular" clock for the first time the other day too. We were out somewhere, and we saw a clock and he read me the exact time to the minute. I didn't think anything of it...then, he pointed out to me that he had read a "real" clock!~ I was so proud of him!

**tigo** · 02-25-2009, 07:55 AM

We encounterd this at work the other day when the computer system crashed. Took out the on-line system for cashing out guests. It was funny because there were only two of us old enough to remember how to run credit cards through on the paper receipts (with the carbon in between sheets) and make change by counting back.

**Judi Dial** · 02-25-2009, 08:25 AM

Originally Posted by tigo

We encounterd this at work the other day when the computer system crashed. Took out the on-line system for cashing out guests. It was funny because there were only two of us old enough to remember how to run credit cards through on the paper receipts (with the carbon in between sheets) and make change by counting back.

When I started up working again last summer, the bosses hadn't told me what to do to set up the register. So one morning soon after I started, I had no cash box, and the register was off. (Some registers have to have dates and things set every day so I didn't want to turn it on and mess up the counts.) I had a small calculator and the coin in the drawer for two hours.

We were BUSY! When I put it all into the register and did the math, I'd shorted the company .85 . This is writing it all down and doing it all by hand and with the bills/ccs the customers brought in. Not too bad!

They showed me where the cash box was and how they started the register after that! I had 4 bosses on this job and they all assumed that the other one had talked to be about it.

If I'd been a 20 something, several $100 worth of sales would have either been messed up or turned away. That was not a fun morning, but it made me happy just the same. All that experience was good for something!

Judi

**McD** · 02-25-2009, 08:53 AM

Originally Posted by Judi Dial

If I'd been a 20 something, several $100 worth of sales would have either been messed up or turned away. That was not a fun morning, but it made me happy just the same. All that experience was good for something!

Judi

That's a pretty big assumption. I'm a 20 something and I would hav ejust asked for assistance rather than try to muddle through it or turn something away.

I do think people need to learn how to count change. CUSTOMERS also need to remember to count their change after it's been given to them. It may seem redundant, but tellers/cashiers/waitstaff are all human and can make mistakes. Never trust ANYONE else to tell you how much money you have!!!

And we will definitely be teaching Wesley how to tell time, on a digital clock, a regular clock, as well as military time.