Stupid Convenience Stores

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I don't normally carry large bills with me, but I had bought something for a friend, and he paid me back with a $50-bill this weekend. Today at lunch, I went to a convenience store, and I purchased a full tank of gas, a sandwich, a bag of chips, a Snapple iced tea, and a pack of cigarettes. Total bill: $42.73. What transpires is one of the best examples of human stupidity I have encountered in a long time. This is almost as bad as the woman who believed her doctor could fix her back if she had sex with him. I hand the cashier the $50-bill and this exchange takes place:

Cashier: I can't accept this.
Me: Why not?
C: We don't take bills larger than a 20.
M: Why not?
C: Because as a convenience store we don't have a lot of money in our cash drawers so giving out large amounts of change means we would seriously deplete the amount of small bills we have.
M: But my tab is $42.73.
C: I'm sorry sir, but we can't accept that bill.
M: If I bought something that cost $2.73, would I be allowed to pay with a $10-bill?
C: Yes.
M: Well, this is basically the same thing. Either way, I'd be getting $7.27 change, and you certainly have that much change to give me.
C: I'm sorry sir, but it's store policy.
M: But the purpose of that rule is so someone doesn't come in a buy a pack of gum and pay with a $50-bill. It's not for when someone buys over $40 worth of stuff.
C: I'm sorry sir, but it's STORE POLICY.
M: If I had two $20-bills, and one $10-bill, would I be able to pay with that?
C: Yes.
M: Then what's the difference? You'd still be giving me $7.27, and you'd still have an additional $50 worth of big bills in the cash drawer.
C: Sir, it's store policy, and if you continue to be a nuisance, I'll call the manager and have you thrown out of the store!

Luckily for me, the man behind me saw this exchange take place and offered to break the $50 bill for me. (Ironically for two $20s and one $10.) I then proceeded to hand the money to the cashier, who provided me with $7.27 change and placed my purchase in a bag. As she handed the bag to me:

C: Thank you for shopping with us, and come again.
M: You're a f***ing moron.

 

Yeah that is pretty stupid. Around here they often refuse to accept $50s due to fear of counterfeit money. Personally, if I was counterfeiting money, I would never think of making fake $50s - why would you make a denomination that almost no one uses and thus is highly visible. Given that the bank machines pump out mostly $20s that seems to be the logical bill to counterfeit.

 

Actually, in the US, the most conterfeited bill, believe it or not, is the $1-bill. It's design is the only one that hasn't been changed recently, using the same design for the past 50+ years, it doesn't have a water-mark, or a security band in it, and thus, is the easiest bill to counterfeit.

 

What a stupidity! I think the cashier should be thrown out of the store.

 

It's the same thing overhere, noone accepts the 100 and 200 € bills. If i do my groceryshopping in a supermarket, and i have to pay, let's say 92,50 in total, they won't accept a 100€ bill. They will take two 50's, but not the 100.

Every friday it's the same story with me and my boss when he pays me my week's salary. He always wants to drop his 200's and 100's on me, but i always refuse and make him go to the bank to get me smaller bills, since i can't do anything with them. The only one who would accept the larger bills is the local dopedealer.

 

I don't think we have such bill problems in Poland. The only one is that when all customers pay with high bills the cashier has nothing in cash drawer to give the change.

 

Wow Pac man. The grocery store one is really shocking. Most of the bigger grocery stores have so much money changing hands that I don't think they's have any problems breaking a 100. (We don't have $200-bills in the U.S.).

All I was asking for was common sense there. Yes, if you're being a prick, and you want to buy something that costs $1, and want to pay with a $50, then the cashier has every right to tell you to go blow. Put in my case, I was paying with the smallest single bill that would cover my tab.

I wish that in addition to the $50, I had three $20s in my wallet. I then could have handed her $60 total, and she would have had to give me MORE change than had she accepted the $50.

 

I remember this happening to us when we went down to the USA, at a McDonalds. They wouldn't accept our $50 bill for a ~$10 lunch. Fortunately we were in Las Vegas so breaking bills wasn't a problem... but still inconvenient.

 

It's quite obvious the entire "can't give change" thing was a sham. The real reason she didn't accept the $50 bill was fear of counterfeit. Though it does make me wonder why she didn't just say it out loud in the first place. A decade or so ago the dollar was frequently used in Lebanon, and some places would refuse $100 bills because they were being counterfeited at the time. But no one every gave such a stupid excuse as not wanting to hand out change.

I guess she is a moron after all

 

What a ****ing moron. I was able to pass a $100 bill in the convenience store near where I live.

*EDIT* After the dumb cashier checked it under a blacklight for 15 minutes...

[ October 18, 2005, 06:13: Message edited by: Disciple of The Watch ]

 

My dad once stopped at McDonalds for breakfast on his way home from the recycling yard. All he had was $100 bills. The manager took care of this, and he got his breakfast...

 

There is one really easy way to test this to see if it really is an issue of counterfeit bills or the giving of change. Next time I purchase gas at that convenience store, intead of buying a pack of cigarettes, I'll buy an entire carton. The cost of a full tank of gas and a carton of cigarettes would almost certainly exceed $50. Heck, the carton alone should be about $35, and it definitely costs me more than $15 to fill up my tank. I will then attempt to pay cash, using the $50 and other small denominations. Since they can't claim a change issue (as the cost of the purchase exceeds the bill I'm paying with) we can determine if in fact the rule is in place to stop counterfeiting.

 

i work in a convinience store, as a cashier, and i accept every ammount of change i am givin and we have a ABSOLUTE minumum of 4000 DKKR=Danish kroner(400EURO), and many times, roday for example, i had about 20000 DKKR(2000EURO) this is alot but i have tried worse, the biggest bill we have i denmark, i think is 1000 DKKR(100EURO) and they're seen very commonly, i accept many a day

and i must admit i have never encountered a proplem getting or giving change, but DAMN i laughed of your story, the last line is GENIOUS!


oh and btw. i live in DENMARK it's in scandinavia, and scandinavia is a "region" in Europe, so everybody understand, i think

 

I'm sorry Aldeth but I'm going to have to agree with Catbert here. Allthough I would not put it quite as bluntly.

I also work part-time as a cashier at a badminton hall and the crap I have to take about all sorts of unnecessary thing is absolutely astonishing. Also there are several rules around which are just company policy and for the average customer they may seem completely useless. Such as the fact that we have these "excercise coupongues(sp?)" which different companies give buy and give out for their workers. Now in certain days we don't accept these as currency and that obviously is something the customers have a hard time understanding. The truth is of course that the company that makes the coupongues takes half of the profit and we only get the second half and therefore on busy days accepting them would be just horrible buisness since we would not get the full profit. Until recently I did not know myself why it was company policy so I decided to ask the boss and she explained it to me, so that I'd have a more satsifying answer for the customers next time they asked.

Anyway I'm sure you had just a bad day and did not quite understand the situation from the lack of expirience or something. I'm sure that you generally are not a difficult person to deal with.

 

well... after reading the last to post, i see that you are right, in NETTO, the convinience store i work in, also part time, we have certain company poicies, but those do not involve the customers i think, in any ways ican imagin that is.

but the costumers i "service" sometimes GOD! people can really be VERY annoying, and your incident aldeth is NOTHING, i might post a thread or examples later.

 

I can see why catbert doesn't visit the boards much. Aldeth isn't stupid, he's a foppish idiot; it's right in the name. And just because it's store policy doesn't mean it shouldn't be challenged (or even changed, for that matter). If noone questioned stupid rules, there would be no such things as fashion trends or democracies.

 

After being rejected for the 50, I would have pulled out a $1000 bill and tried to pay with that, just to be a jackass.

You know, I have never once encountered a place that refused to take $50 bills.