Some Store Clerk give you the wrong change in your favor

[RetroLounge]

They gave you too much money. What do you do?

RL

[MuseRider]

1. Always give it back.

Yes, they may be stupid but the man is screwing us all so there is no reason to help with the screwing.

[thom1102]

2. I do it all the time...

I was a bank teller in a previous life, and remember what it was like to come up short, and don't want anyone to have to put themselves through the stress you put yourself through when your draw is short.

[AlCzervik]

3. give it back, that stuff adds up in a karmic way IMO

[Quixote1818]

9. What if it's Wall Mart? Why not take it and then send it to China

to the children making the cloths?

[amazona]

23. karma is a fairy tale but money is real

I think the best overpay I got was for $2,400 in a casino.
:-)


In real life, no good deed goes unpunished. If I had called attention to the dealer, she probably would have been fired, as I had knowledge of many other cases where this has happened in Vegas -- and usually for way less money! Yes, I call attention to underpays, because it is hurting me, but when I am not being harmed, why should I go out of my way to harm another?

People holding up the line at Micky D's and the local 7-11 over a few bucks are, let's face it, just showboating their moral superiority. There is no good karma to be had from being self-congratulatory. You have already received your reward on this earth, as the Gospels say.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[AlCzervik]

24. well i'm still giving the money back

[wryter2000]

4. Give it back

The person may have to account for all their money at the end of the day.

[jjmalonejr]

5. I voted "give it back," although I've done both.

Best story: I bought a breakfast sandwich at McD's once. I had just received a new $20 bill from an ATM (when the new design for twenties came out). The cashier gave me change for a fifty. Not only did she give me the wrong change, I actually got a sandwich for free and made a PROFIT.

As I walked away from the register and realized what she'd done, I went back to 'fess up and give back the money. They treated me the way they treat you when you come back for more ketchup...they ignored me.

After much waiting, when they finally got around to seeing what I wanted from them, I explained that she'd given me too much change. She insisted that she hadn't, over and over again. I persisted, and told her to look under the cash drawer where the fifties and the hundreds are and she would find a twenty that she had put there by mistake. She finally relented and checked and was stunned.

By now, this scene had the attention of all the employees and everyone in line. I was being cheered and treated like a hero...the last honest man on the planet! The people in line were all smiling at me and calling me Abe Lincoln. The manager was thanking me up and down and gave me two free sandwiches.

On my way out, I passed a homeless man who was asking for money for something to eat. I gave him the two sandwiches. He was thrilled.

I hope that karma smiles back on me someday!

[A HERETIC I AM]

6. It will, without a doubt.

A fine example of a high personal ethic. Good for you!

[jjmalonejr]

7. Thanks

I'm still waiting, but I was glad I did it nonetheless.

[Quixote1818]

8. How about if a Coke Machine give you extra change back?

I ALWAYS keep it because 9 times out of 10 the Machine screws me over. Coke probably makes a Million bucks a year from ripping people off with their machines. Sometimes I think they are built like Slot Machines. They give you a COKE 95 times out of 100. The five times it does not give you a COKE that pays for the electricity and for the guy deliveing the COKES. Bastards.:tinfoilhat:

[cestpaspossible]

10. I've done both

[flamingyouth]

11. Always give it back.

Once I found a $20 in my grocery bag when I got home and I called and told them I had it and then drove back with it.

[skygazer]

12. I AM a store clerk

And I happen to know that if you give back too much change, it can come out of your pocket. Sure, it's my mistake but quite often my job is fast paced and I'm trying to count out one customer's change while another is badgering me from another direction about where to find the dish soap.

Some people may feel that since it's not their error, it's okay to keep it. I disagree. If you notice that you've been given too much, it's simply dishonest and unethical to keep it. And I've felt that way since before I worked this job and discovered just how easy it is to make those errors.

The same people who would gladly keep it are often the ones who yell loudest if you accidently shortchange them. ALWAYS give it back - karma, baby.

[immoderate]

13. I found a wallet once.

Some tourist in NYC had lost it. I called some of the phone numbers in it, found a buddy of her's at her job. She called the lady and came to my apartment to pick it up. I didn't even count her money. I refused the reward. She was amazed that a New Yorker would do that.

I always return extra change, until the day someone makes a mistake I can retire on.

--IMM

[FloridaPat]

14. I usually give it back, but in 2 instances I kept the money.

First instanc I was in line at a store. The sales clerk wanted a break and wasn't paying attention to what she was doing. She screwed up tally of the person in front of me. We had to wait for a manager to come and clear out the register. When she got to me, she hadn't cleared out his purchased, so she overcharged me big. I had to wait for the manager. She rerang everything and overcharged me for an item. I had to complain and again wait for the manager. Then she screwup and undercharged me. I kept quiet at that point. I had had enough. It was about $2.00

Another time I was coming out of a pay parking place. I gave the lady the money and she gave me too little. I pointed that out and told her exactly how much she should give me. She didn't want to believe me and refigured it out for herself. She over paid me. I left at that point.

[Misunderestimator]

15. Always give it back.

and there's no shame in teaching a clerk to count properly either. :)

[rock]

16. I believe the ethical deilimma here is

do I tell my wife and share?

[CTLawGuy]

17. guess what I voted

I voted "give it back"
but it doesn't make it stealing not to.

[RetroLounge]

19. My, but you do go on and on...

Not Stealing? Fine.

How about Dishonest?
How about Unethical?
How about Wrong?

any of those work for you?

RL

[RetroLounge]

18. If I know about it right away, I always give it back

I had a clerk at the local gas station give me too much change, and had to explain it to him 3 times before he got it.

I've even gone back to the store at a later time when I dicovered that they gave me change for a 20 instead of a ten. They always look at you like you're weird.

I hope to teach my kids the same degree of honesty.

RL

[amazona]

20. always keep the extra change if it's in my favor

It is not my job to make someone feel bad for being not intelligent enough to make change. It is not my job to hold up the line for everybody else when I have not been short-changed or harmed in any way.

I'm sorry but I'm just not seeing how giving back the change is anything but a rude indulgence in personal feelings of superiority. I can see I'm in the minority here but I honestly do not see why.

On the other thread, it was made clear the OP held up the line for five minutes, so it wasn't just making the clerk feel stupid it was also giving him a public dressing down for his lack of math skills. That is cruel and my Mom would not approve.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[leftofthedial]

21. complain that they overcharged me and try

to get them to give me even more money

then ask to see the manager and make vague allusions to a possible lawsuit and see if they'll give me some free stuff.

Oh wait. That's my repuke brother in law.

I give the money back.

[Patiod]

22. Harder case: what if clerk doesn't ring up an item?

The change one is easy, because it's going to come out of the clerk's pay, or at very least it will make his/her life miserable.

Was at Dick's Sporting Goods, bought 2 cans tennis balls, cheap shorts, cheap t-shirt, and a $50 tennis skirt, which I couldn't really afford, but had "outgrown" all my other tennis gear. Clerk removed anti-theft device from skirt, bagged it, and then rang everything up and handed me the bags. Total = $15. I'm embarrassed to admit that I paused a minute, thinking "it's not going to come out of this kid's hide in any way, the anti-theft is off..."

But my Catholic upbringing got the better of me, and I told him he hadn't rung up the skirt.

I'm not sure I'd have enjoyed wearing it every week if I knew it wasn't paid for. Red Company or no.

[amazona]

25. not that hard

If I'm not conspiring with the clerk and she makes an independent decision to help me out to save her time and trouble for whatever reason, why should I create a fuss?

Best example: Later one night I found a bottle of top shelf Tequila on the "clearance" rack at the local grocery store. The new "clearance" price wouldn't ring up. The clerk cussed and muttered and tried to call her supervisor to ring up the item, but the supervisor was Missing in Action. Finally she just glanced around at the huge line forming and then said, "Eff it, I'm not charging you for this."

The proper thing to do was to say, "Thank You," and leave the store in a timely fashion, not to continue to hold up everybody else's Friday night. And we enjoyed the Tequila just fine, in fact, it was all the better for being a comp.


Now I will say this -- I have noticed that sometimes clerks don't notice "stuff" on the bottom of the grocery cart and I DO point those items out. It is clear that clerks don't have visibility of that area of the cart. I am not embarrassing anyone or holding up a line by quickly pointing out that a big bag of bird seed or oversized thingy of toilet paper needs to be added to my total. You just gotta use some heart and common sense.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[tjwmason]

26. Give it back - if I notice

A couple of times I've noticed - usually change for a £10 rather than a £5 or something like that, and pointed out the mistake. Most of the time I just take whatever change they give me and stuff it in my pocket.

Once I noticed extra change later in the day, having left the shop, and thought it would be rather petty and bemusing to the cashier to go back.

[Deja Q]

27. Has store management given you the difference back when...

They accidentially overcharge by having the wrong price in the database and then realize the mistake later on? (I usually catch those mistakes, not not always)