One of the most frustrating things about using cash is that no one knows how to deal with it anymore.  We’ve become such a credit/debit oriented society that handing a cashier actual bills and coins is just going to confuse them.  They don’t know how to make change.  They don’t pay attention to anything that isn’t right there in front of them on their machine.  And they don’t listen.

In case you haven’t guessed, I’m frustrated today. I got into a fight with a cashier at BJ’s Wholesale Club.  And it was so stupid, too.

The total for my bill was $215.66 (boy do I hate weeks when we have to catch up on things like vitamins, pull-ups, and other expensive things).  I handed her $12 in coupons.  The little screen displayed $203.66.  She said $203.66.  So  I peeled off 10 twenty dollar bills and a five and handed them to her.  She typed something into the register than informed me I still owed her $3.61.

I said HUH? I explained that the total was $203.66 and I’d given her $205 and I needed change, yes? She said, where did I get that total, it was $215.66 and I owed her $3.61 give it to her now please.  And she got in my face.  And I tried to show her on the receipt that the $215.66 was BEFORE the coupons.  Then the coupons came off.

So she called over the supervisor, and then she yelled at the supervisor about how she’d done everything right and I wasn’t giving her the money. And I tried to point out… she’d typed in $200.05.  Instead of $205.  Well she didn’t like hearing THAT so she said it was the register’s fault.  I was like fine.  Just put in $4.95 which was the difference and then give me my change please.

She was all WHAT CHANGE? At this point I was just boggling.  And upset.  And she’s yelling at me and I’m snapping back at her, and oh by the way, the supervisor? Is telling her to stop and then yelling at me.  At no point did the supervisor apologize to me for this girl getting in my face and then he had the audacity to mouth off about me after he walked away (I’m so overjoyed by this… if BJ’s didn’t save me a ton of money I wouldn’t go back at this point).  She finally started searching for change, and laid out two one dollar bills on her tray.  I said quietly “a dollar thirty four” and she glared at me like I was poison and grabbed thirty four sense, one of the singles, and shoved them into my hand.

She never did put the $4.95 into the register. Which means (a) her register will be off at the end of the day and her chances of getting into trouble are high. This is not my fault and I do not feel guilty about it since I suggested that fix to her and both she and the supervisor completely ignored me.  And (b) if I hadn’t told her how much change to give me, she would’ve given me an extra dollar because she can’t calculate change. Because people don’t learn HOW to calculate change anymore, and if the machine doesn’t say it, they can’t do it.

This pissed me off today on so many levels. The part where she started yelling at me. The part where she wouldn’t listen to me. But most importantly, the part where I explained it all, in very small words at the end there, and she still could not see what the path of the money was.  She was incapable of seeing that $215.66 minus $12 in coupons was $203.66.  And after putting in $200.05 out of the $205 I gave her, she needed to put in $4.95 more to get the right amount of change to display and have her drawer balance out.

She just didn’t see it.

I’m sad for people today. I think credit/debit has done bad things to our world.  People no longer respect money, first off, after all, it’s just plastic and bits and bytes.  They also no longer understand money.

How will anyone learn to save, when they can’t conceive of making change?

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