Friday, May 24, 2019

Your Cheatin' Mart

Hick finally won something on a scratch-off ticket! I know. He almost needed smelling salts as well. It was just one number that matched. The very first one. He expected to win $5, but it was $20. That's really good for him. Of course, I kind of rained on his parade when I showed him my $15 winner and $50 winner for the same day.

Anyhoo...Hick wanted me to cash in his ticket and get him four more. I agreed. I was heading to Walmart the next day anyway. After shopping, since it was nearby, I decided to go in the Casey's that took over the Waterside Mart at the corner where we used to turn to drive to school.

I was wanting to save part of my winnings. I figured I didn't want to cash in the $50 and the $20 winners there, and buy Hick's tickets, because they'd probably give me back a fifty dollar bill from under the money tray. I don't like fifties. So I cashed in the $50 and the $15 winners, bought Hick's four tickets, and was due $45 in change. In my head, I imagined this would take the form of two twenties, which I'd stash away, and a five.

The clerk was shunted off to the other register by a higher-up, possibly a manager. She scanned the winners, announced, "That's sixty-five dollars," and started tearing off the four tickets I selected for Hick. When she went to the register, she changed her mind, and stepped back to the one she'd started at. Didn't matter to me. I was standing between them, by the ticket display. A register's a register.

Clerk rang up the four tickets, looked at the receipt she'd printed for my winners, and lifted the money drawer. She took out a stack of fives, and started rapid-counting them like a bank teller. She stuttered there for a minute, and counted again. Then handed me the stack of fives: "Here ya go. Forty-five dollars."

I took my (Hick's) tickets in one hand, and the stack of fives in the other. There was a lady customer behind me, and I folded over the fives, stuck them in my shirt pocket, and headed back to T-Hoe. Well. That didn't go as planned. So much for getting my two twenties and a five. I started T-Hoe toward The Gas Station Chicken Store for my 44 oz Diet Coke, and to cash in the $20 winner to get some tickets of my own.

Once on the parking lot of The Gas Station Chicken Store, I counted out correct change, and put a $1 bill in my pocket for magical elixir payment. I took out the stack of fives, which were taking up considerable room in that pocket. I straightened them all to face the same way, and counted them up, planning to set aside 8 of them.

WAIT A MINUTE! ALL I HAD WERE 8 FIVE-DOLLAR BILLS!

There should have been 9, you know. I was due back $45, and the clerk had even said so as she handed me that stack of rapidly-counted fives.

What in the NOT-HEAVEN! No way would she believe me if I drove all the way back (okay, just about 3 miles) to Casey's (formerly Waterside Mart) to tell her of my short-changing. Dang it! Why didn't I count it right there at the counter before putting it in my pocket? It's even CALLED a COUNTER, by cracky!

Of all the bone-headed moves made by Val that she has later regretted, not counting those fives is near the top of the list. Which might tell you something about the number and severity of Val's boneheaded moves. They don't happen often. Not regrettable ones, anyway.

No, I don't think that clerk deliberately scammed me out of five dollars. I guess they might have noticed the register being $5 over at the end of the shift, but maybe not. There was more than one person working out of that register.

I guess $5 is cheap enough tuition for the School of Hard Knocks to teach Val this valuable lesson: always count your change before leaving the counter.

19 comments:

  1. If this was NY/NJ I would assume it was intentional. They used to get me with the delay and dip...Hand them $5 for a 25 cent paper, they give you 75 cents right away and then delay just a second then dip below the counter for 4 dollar bills, they keep them at the ready. Sometimes a harried commuter (me) would grab the paper and when there was a delay would run off because I usually just gave them a one...minutes later when on the train I would realize I gave them a fin! Just part of the game.

    I think I might have driven back to Casey's and said, "Just so you know, you mistakenly shorted me 5 bucks, and no I would not drive back 3 miles just to scam you, if you till is over, that is mine, if it is not, you're welcome for the 5 dollar tip.

    And I'll bet River would do the same.

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    1. I would go back for the $5 and wait right there while they counted the till if necessary. People have done the3 same to me when I was a checkout chook, demanding a manager come and count the till. They were almost always wrong. I remember a time when I did shortchange someone and realised it almost right away, but he was gone and when he came back I had the amount waiting for him with an apology from me.

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    2. I am leery of making a spectacle of myself. I buy scratchers (and use their very clean bathroom) at this Casey's at least once a week. They recently put up a handwritten sign saying they will only cash a winning ticket up to $100. They used to cash up to $600.

      I am afraid that if I made a deal about the $5, it might create a "Soup Nazi" situation. What if they gave me the $5, but next time I walked up to the counter, they said, "NO SCRATCHERS FOR YOU!"

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    3. You can always give them a call and ask if the till was over and tell them you just counted the fives and found them to be short one bill. You are a regular customer and they don't want to lose your business.

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    4. Still, I don't want to stand out. From 28 years of teaching, I observed that people who rock the boat are persona non grata! Even when they're RIGHT! If I had COUNTED MY MONEY right then, no big deal. But to show doubt after I left the store... not me. Not for $5.

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  2. Replies
    1. I didn't even get a diploma from the School of Hard Knocks!

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  3. Replies
    1. Good on the winning, not so good on the cashing-in!

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  4. So aggravating. Thanks reminds me to always count my change.

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    1. This is my public service announcement for people who may be nonchalant with their $5.

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  5. As far as I'm concerned, $5 is too much to lose. AND, if I was wanting two $20s and a $5, I would ask for two $20s and a $5. I'm particular (peculiar?) like that. It's just like being in the bank and withdrawing money. They ask how you'd like it and you tell them. Of course those other places don't ask, but you are entitled to tell them and get what you want. I remember a few years ago when I'd be at the bank with my 'broken down' list of requirements for the month. So many $50s, this many $20s, six $10s, eight $5s and so on, right down the correct numbers of coins I needed to always have the right amount on me.

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    1. I don't mind asking the bank, because the way I see it, they sell money. That's their merchandise. I feel like I'm imposing on a convenience store. I have asked for what I wanted on the rare occasion when I get cash back at Country Mart. That's usually because I need smaller bills than a twenty, since their scratcher machines don't give change. Then I have to trade one of my weekly allowance twenties back into our house money to compensate.

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  6. I know you will ever more count your winnings/change. Happened to me at the bank. They shorted me at the window. I went inside to report it. They said I'd have to wait until closing when they counted their drawers (tee-hee) and they did call me to come get my $100.

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    1. For a $100, I would have driven way more than three miles to settle up! My mom's bank shorted her $10 at the drive thru. She called from home and they told her she'd have to wait, too. She had just taken the envelope and not counted until she got home. They called her the next day to say she could come get her ten.

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    2. I always use the indoor ATM, so people on the street don't see me getting my monthly supply and I stand right there and count it. Every time.

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    3. Machines apparently take more pride in a job well done than human employees! I've not had a problem with the ATM shorting me money.

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  7. I am pretty sure you would have gone back to return a five had they given you too many, so you should be the same way about the shortage. They usually count the till after each shift change and the over amount will be recorded. Unless they are casual about their money and they grab money from the register to go buy gas for the mowers (HeWho).

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    1. You're right! I WOULD have gone back to return it. I wouldn't want a clerk to be in trouble, or have to pay out of pocket. I don't think it's fair when they have to pay for gas drive-offs, either. What are they supposed to do, run after the car? I worked for Casey's before Genius was born. That was the policy at my store.

      I just got onto Hick about charging gas on the credit card. FOUR times! He gets a cash allowance for that. He tried to say it was only twice. For driving This Guy's Wife to her doctor in the city after her broken hip. And once when I was with him. NO! We haven't gone to a casino this month. That's the only time I'm with him in A-Cad, except for that local trip looking at flip houses, when we didn't get gas.

      My sister the ex-mayor's wife thinks they short-change on purpose, and pocket the money. I don't think this clerk did, because she's been there a while. She would have been caught by now!

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