another reason for not paying with cash

[melvonnar]

And crumbling your money, making the clerk unroll it is very rude.

Agreed" But sometimes being the nice guy just doesn't pay. I won't do that any more.

i've made a resolution: no more cash

[LadyFitz...]

If it had happened to me, I would not have left until the issue was resolved. I would have demanded that the clerk pull out all the tens and show me there wan't a twenty in there. If the clerk refused and there wasn't a manager there, I would have called the police.

One tip: if this ever happens to anyone, be sure to note the time it occurred. Most registers are on camera and it could make it easier to get a manager or the police to view the video.

On the flip side, when I worked in a convenience store, I frequently had customers claim that I had short changed them. Most of the time, it was obvious they were trying to commit fraud. Usually, all I had to do was point at the camera and ask them if they wanted me to call the police. They'd make some excuse about having to leave right then, usually with a threat about being back to see my manager, then we would never see or hear from them again.

[Cat320]

I work as a volunteer at a non profit. When I take somebody's money, I lay their bill on the counter until I give them change...so everything is in the open...their bill and their change.

[Wayne M]

I like the idea of stating "Out of a $20!"

This does bring up two stories, and the first one is about me.

Walked into a Wall-mart and at the checkout the bill came to some number over $20. I used my debit card with the "cash back" feature. She handed me the cash and it was $20 more than what I had asked for. I handed her back $20, showing her the handful of money that was correct now. I cannot emphasize how grateful she was as she said, "That would have come out of my pocket at the end of the day."

So over to the grocery store, paid with a $20 bill, and the cashier gave me back $20 saying, "You gave me to much."

In both cases the bills were "new" and two had stuck together.

Second story. Had a friend go into a bank and cash his payroll check. The cashier gave him his money, he counted it and said, "You made a mistake." The cashier said that they never make a mistake, and a short discussion ensued. Finally my friend said, "Okay, you gave me to much money, but thanks." and walked out with an open mouthed clerk.

[Midniteoyl]

Agree.. I always try to say how much I'm giving.. "Here's $20", or "Here's $32.50". Of course, I also know how to make change, so When I give my money, I know how much I need back, and I count it too..

[wa8yxm]

If she was an employee, Contact the manager or store owner..

Employee pilfiring is far more common than you think and this is one way of covering it.

[MrIguana]

Drive thru stores are popular here in Ohio. Using them, you never see the prices or the cash register. A friend of mine ran one for a few years and noticed a piece of paper in the trash with a dozen tic marks on it after one of the clerks left for the day. He watched the trash for a few weeks and kept finding these scraps of paper. Turns out that the clerk would overcharge customers a dollar, and made a mark on the paper. At the end of her shift, she would take a dollar out of the till for each tic mark on the paper. Some days it would be. $50+.

[ArmyMPFromMO]

There are many ways that criminals take advantage of folks. A thing to look out for is using a debit/credit card is that when your purchase is processed you may tell the machine you don't want money back, however, the cashier override that and will put a $20, $40 or how ever much on your purchase. Check your receipt very close.

Happy Trails.

[VSPA]

I've battled back and forth with myself on using cash, or a debit or credit card for a couple of years now. I generally don't have a problem using the debit card at the grocery stores, especially since I use them for cash back instead of going to an ATM. I don't like using the debit cards at ATMs, resturants and/or gas stations any more, so I use cash for gasoline, especially since the cash price is lower and as I normally pay the credit cards off twice a month, most other purchases are done this way.

[Seajay]

I usually carry a stack of cash in my pocket with a rubber band around it. For identification of my money I stack it tight, put the rubber band around it and take a red magic marker and put a fine stripe on two of the edges of all the bills. This is quick and easy and not really noticeable unless you look closely at the stack of bill. Once I had the ''twenty dollar bill'' question down at the beach. The girl said I given a ten and I said no it was a twenty and I could prove it. I called the manager and showed him the tiny red marks on the edge of the bill that I had spent and the matching red marks on my ''stack''. He fired the attendant on the spot, gave me my twenty back and gave me the items that I was purchasing for free. Apparently this girl had pulled this scam before but there was no real proof of it.
Just a thought and if you use it you owe me ten cents and you can pay me the next time you see me ...

Our vets gave us the freedom that we have forgotten about ........

[Midniteoyl]

So THATS the reason I have bills with red marks... Always thought it was a banking thing.

[LadyFitz...]

Originally Posted by Seajay

I usually carry a stack of cash in my pocket with a rubber band around it. For identification of my money I stack it tight, put the rubber band around it and take a red magic marker and put a fine stripe on two of the edges of all the bills. This is quick and easy and not really noticeable unless you look closely at the stack of bill. Once I had the ''twenty dollar bill'' question down at the beach. The girl said I given a ten and I said no it was a twenty and I could prove it. I called the manager and showed him the tiny red marks on the edge of the bill that I had spent and the matching red marks on my ''stack''. He fired the attendant on the spot, gave me my twenty back and gave me the items that I was purchasing for free. Apparently this girl had pulled this scam before but there was no real proof of it.
Just a thought and if you use it you owe me ten cents and you can pay me the next time you see me ...

Our vets gave us the freedom that we have forgotten about ........

That was the basis for an old scam. The first person doing the scam would buy something cheap using a large bill like a twenty or a fifty. It would be marked. The second person would then also buy something cheap but would pay with a ten. when the clerk gave back the change, the second scammer would claim to have paid with the larger bill the first scammer used and would "prove" it because it was marked.

[puttin]

Mel,

Where is this?

[sdennislee]

I guess over the course of my life I've made several thousands of cash purchases in retail stores.

I can't remember being short changed. I can remember being given more changed than I should have on a couple occasions which I gave back. I've also had clerks point out that I gave them too much.

It seems the greatest error reported here is giving 20 and receiving change for a 10. While I don't throw money away foolishly, $10 is not worth the grief of calling the police, elevating my blood pressure, accusing the clerk of being a crook without tangible proof (I would think the majority of time its a simple mistake rather then theft), etc...

Think about form their side. If a clerk averages 20 transactions and hour that would be 62,400 transactions per year assuming full time employee. If they made one mistake a day that would equate to an error rate of 0.42%. The health care industry isn't that good. Point being mistakes happen. Ask her to double check. Maybe ask for the manager to recount, Just doesn't seem worth the time for 10 bucks. I just can't see letting $10.00 get me upset. If it was $10.00 a day, different story.

Truth be told I've probably lost more than $10.00 a quarter at a time in the seat cushions.