At the counter; convenient stores have the little penny jar for customers that are short in small change. In grocery stores when customers decide they don’t want their change or leave them behind we donate them. We have a container for people to donate their change to various charities like Jerry’s Kids, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer, Shriner’s Hospital, and Prostate Cancer Awareness Fund. However, some customers apparently believe there is a penny jar in every store they go to.
After ringing up a cartful of groceries…
Me: Alrighty, that’ll be $97.04!
He pulls out a bunch of bills containing $20, $10, a wad of ones and starts counting.
Penny Pincher Twenty, forty, sixty, eighty, ninety, ninety-one…
While he’s counting I load his bags into his cart. I come back and he’s standing there no longer counting.
Penny Pincher I have $97 dollars…
Me: Ok…
Penny Pincher I don’t have change either. Do you have 4 cents?
He’s holding a wad of ones in one hand as we’re stupidly gazing at each other for a reaction.
Me: I don’t have any change. We put all of our pennies in the donation jar.
Penny Pincher So… your not going to spot me the 4 cents?
Me: I’m sorry. I can’t.
Penny Pincher: That’s terrible. I’ve been a loyal shopper here for 10 years! AND I can’t get any decent service of consideration?
We’ve been only open for 7 years.
Penny Pincher: This is the last time I coming back here! You just lost a customer…
Pennies
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t get it. Why didn’t you just give the guy 4 cents? Why call him the penny-pincher when you’re the own who lost a sale of almost $100 for the sake of 4 cents?
He did say he had dollar bills in his hand. I don’t get why he didn’t just break it. Why go the length’s to “borrow” money from the clerk? He’s a jerk for calling out the kid, they guy can’t take money from the register or the charity bin, even if its a couple cents.
The cashier is the bad guy/idiot in this scenario.
It’s 4 cents. Spot the guy.
Not to mention: Why did you put the take a penny pennies in the donation jar? Even if it does add up, they’d do more good where they belong.
And finally: Why fault the guy for saying 10 years when it’s only been open 7? There’s no need for specifics in that senario, and 7 years is still along time.
Yeah, I have to agree with Steve and Snap on this. I worked in a mini mart for a year and we didn’t have a penny jar, so I’d always spot people 2 or 3 cents.
Only time I wouldn’t would be if I didn’t like a customer or if they they done something to piss me off.
I’ve noticed that jerk customers never make good on their promise to start shopping elsewhere…
We work for an extremely micromanaged corporation that keeps a close eye on pennies. The problem with “spotting” even a few cents is that it sets a precedent that many customers will happily take advantage of. What’s to stop the next customer, and the next, from asking the same favor? And if the checker doesn’t oblige, is s/he not showing preferential treatment? Besides, the dude had a wad of dollars in hand. Sure, maybe he didn’t want 96 cents of change in his pocket, but as long as change exists, sometimes ya just gotta take it. Lay off the checker already – he was only following store protocol, and it’s a protocol that most customers understand perfectly well.
it’s a tough call. but you have to be strict. safeway sets the prices, and it is the customer’s responsibility (not the clerk’s) to pay the correct amount. besides, the guy had the money but just didnt want a pocket full of change, which is pretty pretentious. and helping out some jerk isnt worth losing your job by the way.
Amen, to that Renae
I really don’t see how you (Steve, Snap, and Brad) can expect someone to just spot someone change because they don’t feel like having change. The price is the price, and it’s what you’re expected to pay. I can’t afford to put my job on the line, especially in this economy. Calling the cashier an idiot is just small-minded.
How can you compare working in a grocery store the same as working in a mini mart. I have worked in a grocery store in the Seattle area for 10 years now and I have never once spotted anybody any money. At the same time I have never had to because people understand that the price is the price. I ahve felt bad for having to take something off of someones order for being 25 cents short, but that’s how it goes. It is people like Brad, Snap, and Steve that make it suck working there sometimes. I can’t stand the people that always want something for nothing and expect us to bow down to their needs.
WTF? cheap mothers..ethically, it’s wrong to take $ out of a donation jar thats intended for a whatever purpose. You obviously have the money to buy your stuff… no reason to throw a fit over 4 cents that you Obviously have just becuz its inconvenient for you as the customer to break a george washington. loser
When I worked at a grocery store, if a customer was short I would cover it myself. I wasn’t going to steal money from the donation jar, and I wasn’t going to have my cash drawer be short. So why should I, who was making minimum wage, pay for the groceries of someone who had dollar bills in his hand and just didn’t want to break them? It might seem petty, but with many customers, it adds up.
I work at a grocery store and this happens a lot. If I’m shorting my drawer a few cents here and there it adds up and it’s def not coming out of MY pocket so you don’t have change in yours.
Let’s clarify too, the situation that occurred was a guy didn’t want to break a dollar — he had the money. Get real. Actually, now that I think about it though, even if he was just short period I probably make them take something off. This isn’t a life or death situation so you don’t get it if your don’t have the money.