Have you ever experienced a situation where a store or restaurant gave you the wrong change (shorted you) and what did you do about it?
Asked by
jca (
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September 4th, 2016
Yesterday I went to lunch with a neighbor and my daughter. It was a crepe place and we had some great food and were both impressed with the food and the place. It was casual, they had crepes, soup, salads and coffees and smoothies. I was paying. The bill came to $30.61. I handed the man (who I assume was the Manager) two twenties with one hand and the bill in the folder in another. He came back with 4 dollars and change. I said to him “I gave you two twenties.” He said “You gave me a twenty and a ten.” Then he said “let me to ask the girl. I’ll be right back.” He came back with the proper change and he said the girl told him she thought I gave a twenty, a ten and a five.
In the future, I will say “Out of forty” which is what I might normally do but I wasn’t thinking. Sometimes I’ve been places where I’d say something like “out of forty” and they seem annoyed.
Even though we had a good lunch and were impressed, and even though it’s very possible this was an innocent mistake, it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. I was lucky they came back with the right change but obviously, since the man and the girl had two different ideas about what I gave them, I’d be shit out of luck if they decided to stick with the original thinking that I gave a twenty, a ten and a five.
Have you ever had something like this happen? What remedies, if any, do you have to try to ensure that things like that won’t happen to you?
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10 Answers
If they “decided to stick” with the original, despite my insistence that I gave them $40, I’d demand the manager and have them count the drawer.
I have absolutely no patience for shysters, and $10 is not “no big deal” to me.
Yeah, the neighbor I was with is a cashier in a grocery store and we were talking about the issue when we left. I was telling her about the one other incident in my life, about 20+ years ago, where I got wrong change and didn’t realize until I got back to work. I went back to the store and explained and the cashier said “I’m going to look in the tens section. If there’s a twenty in there, then it’s yours.” Luckily for me, there was a twenty in the tens section and so I got it back. I told her (neighbor I was with yesterday) that a coworker told me then the idea of, when you give them the bills, you say “Out of _____.” So yesterday I would have said “out of forty.” My neighbor talked about what she does, which is get the manager and if worse comes to worse they close the line and count the drawer.
No, never
In the unlikeky event of that ever taking place then I believe i’d stamp my feet & yell like a spoilt little shit until I got my way…works every time
Yes, made a big scene and never set foot in there again!
Yes, although not when in a restaurant where it has come back in the little folder. But I have had cashiers give me the wrong change, and I caught it because I count it while in my hand.
The “tell” for your situation was they gave you change from $35, not “a twenty and a ten”. If they had not fixed it, they would have been out the tip, I would not have left any tip. I think that is why it is best to handle the check with the server.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/nyregion/a-review-of-3-adjacent-food-shops-in-mount-kisco.html?_r=0
It’s actually 3 restaurants in 3 rooms and so the person who served us was probably in another room for much of the time. The manager came around to ask how things were, and I complimented it and said how delicious it all was. He was also bringing us stuff like new fork and stuff like that. Then when it came time for the bill, the server wasn’t around still so I motioned to the manager and he brought the bill and then when the server was still not around I motioned for the manager to take the money.
Edited: Ah, I read your question in the wrong direction. I once had an altercation with a cab driver over this exact sort of thing. I stuck to my guns even though after some time arguing, I was starting to be convinced that he might be right. I’m not careless about this kind of thing, so even if I couldn’t trust my memory, I knew it was extraordinarily unlikely that I would have a) handed him the wrong bills AND b) been unaware of the contents of my wallet.
Eventually, he gave me the change I asked for and we parted ways. And I vowed yet again to keep change for cabs… this is the last place I want to be spending extra time. When I take a cab, I’m already in a hurry.
Once or twice, but only for a few bucks so honestly I didn’t argue the point much. That’s also why I never pay cash for anything that’s more than a few dollars.
Of course I have. I just correct their error.
I dated a black guy for a long time who was convinced that when the occasional short change happened, it was deliberate and racist.
I’ve also been way under charged accidentally, and I correct that too.
I got the correct change.
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