Educating the next generation about money.

[lighthawk]

I wonder how many others have had a similar experience.
Last year I had been to the bank and the teller was counting out Kennedy half dollars to put in her till. I told her I would buy them which I did. I went through to make sure there were no silver coins then commenced spending them. I went to a Taco Bell that day and put in an order that came to $2.69 and handed the young man at the cash register two paper dollars and two Kennedy halves. He took my money and handed me back one dollar bill and 31 cents. Before I could say anything he immediately went to the back and brought out a young woman and wispered to her that I had just given him two silver dollars. Mind you I'm standing right there.
She got all gigglie and said she wanted to buy them from the till because her grandfather collects silver dollars and proceded to trade two paper dollars for the two halves. Then she remarked how proud her grandfather would be when she brought them home and gave them to him.
I just could not bring myself to open my mouth and point out their mistake. I felt the lesson would be far better taught by her grandfather.
It was apparent to me that neither of these kids had never even seen a silver dollar.
Funny in a way... yet sad.

 

[ORChick]

I understand wanting the young woman to receive her lesson from her grandfather, but I would like to hope that you did point out that you had received too much change, and returned the extra dollar.

 

[Wannabefree]

That's what I was thinking...... taking advantage of ignorance is still dishonest IMO.

 

[abifae]

I spent three days teaching one girl to count back change when I was a cashier. She was so terrified of math she couldn't do basic change.

I reassured her this was counting, you never count over five, and to not even attempt to do it mathematically.

3 days later she accidentally hit exact amount and had to count change and she squealed so loudly and ran around the restaurant several times. LOL. Her customer applauded her. I TOLD her it was easy

It was pretty funny, trying to teach her and break her math habit on money.

1.37 to 2.00 for change. one penny. 1.38... two pennies. 1.39. three pennies... 1.40. one dime. 1.50... 1 quarter, 1 quarter... counting only! She kept freaking out "what if I give ten nickels instead of 2 quarters because I forget what gives the bigger change?"

uhm. so what, kiddo. They'll end up with the right amount of money, right? LOL.

Kids really are NOT taught the bare basics in school. I guess they assume no one uses cash so they don't need to know??

 

[FarmerChick]

don't be stealing extra change back from Taco Bell---they need all their cash for lawyers right now

 

[i_am2bz]

I'm embarrassed to say I never learned to count back change; I never had any jobs where I had to handle actual cash.

But someone please explain to me...why do cashiers put the bills in your hand, then pile the coins on top??? I hate that!!

Or is just me??

 

[patandchickens]

You know, they may have just been using the term "silver dollar" to mean "dollar coin", that is pretty common, just like people say "Kleenex" even if it is a nose tissue of a different brand, or "pencil lead" even though of course it's been a looong time since pencils have been made with lead rather than graphite.

And maybe her grandfather just collects dollar coins in general, rather than being exclusively interested in older actual-silver ones, you have no way of knowing.

Cashiers put the bills in your hand, then the change on top, because it is much easier and less awkward *for the cashier* to do it that way. You count out the bill part of the change first, then top it up with the coins. I know it's annoying. But it only happens to you once or a few times per day, whereas cashiers have to do it over and over and over and they are often being automatically timed on transaction length these days, so, I have sympathy.

Pat

 

[i_am2bz]

Cashiers put the bills in your hand, then the change on top, because it is much easier and less awkward *for the cashier* to do it that way. You count out the bill part of the change first, then top it up with the coins. I know it's annoying. But it only happens to you once or a few times per day, whereas cashiers have to do it over and over and over and they are often being automatically timed on transaction length these days, so, I have sympathy.

Pat

But this procedure is something "new" (as opposed to how it was done 'back in the day')...I suppose cashiers weren't graded on their transaction times 20-30 years ago. :/ Well, just one more reason to use my debit card.

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread!

 

[k0xxx]

I bought a coin collection at an estate auction last May that included a couple hundred Eisenhower Dollars. I had a lot of fun with spending the common "junk" dollars. A surprising number of younger people didn't know what they were, and a few had to get a manager to find out if they could accept them. It was always funny to watch them figure out where in the register to put them.

 

[patandchickens]

Try spending a $2 bill. Even once you convince the cashier or manager it's real money, then they have to figure out where to put it

Pat