Fight the machine!
Older people may find this funnier than younger people do. But when a restaurant can’t serve food that is already hot, fresh, and smelling wonderful, because the cash register is down, I find it hilarious.
We’re regulars, so we said; give us the food and we’ll pay for it after we eat. Which is what we did.
I thought to myself; I’ll just go on YouTube and find a video to show people how to make change without a computerized cash register. But I couldn’t find one! Admittedly I only looked for a couple minutes. Anyway, here’s how you do it:
Suppose a sandwich and a coffee comes to $4.30, and the sales tax rate is 7.5%. (It’s OK to use a calculator for this step) Multiply 4.3 times 1.075 for a total of $4.62. The customer gives you a ten dollar bill.
You could ask the calculator to tell you what 10 minus 4.62 is, and then give the customer a five, a quarter, a dime and three pennies. Or you could do it the old-timey way. Here, do it with me:
“Sir, your total is $4.62, out of ten dollars…”
You just repeated the amount due and the amount the customer gave you. This is crucial, because if the customer thought they handed you a twenty, you have let them know they should resolve it NOW. Place the ten on the deck of the cash register while you count out his change.
Start counting out pennies, while you count up from the amount due to the amount tendered:
“…That’s sixty-three, sixty-four, sixty-five…”
And a dime, then a quarter:
“…seventy-five, and five…”
A little emphasis on “five” to indicate it is a dollar amount, then a five-dollar bill:
“…and five makes ten. Thank you, and please come again.”
Eye contact and smile, hand them their change. The customer nods, giving assent to the transaction. Nod back, put the ten in the register, close the drawer, and turn to the next customer.
If you can count, you can make accurate change. This method is bulletproof. It is easy, friendly, and fast. It even works without electricity.
Yes, I am aware that modern POS systems work against this method. A mistake, in my estimation. Many times I’ve had someone hand me the wrong change, carrying out machine instructions with no more autonomy than a receipt printer. Unquestioning belief in machine output has broader consequences than just sandwiches and coffee.