What Was This Cashier Up To? A Three Cent Discrepancy.

I went to a convenience store. I bought gas at the pump and got a receipt. I then went into the store. 

They had sodas on sale 2 for 2 dollars.

I stood in line with the two sodas. There were two customers in front of me and while I was in line, two customers got in line behind me. While waiting I thought "The tax rate is 8.25% per dollar. The tax on this 2 dollar purchase is 16.5%. Rounding up, the tax should be 17 cents. The total should be $2.17. I'm going to pay with a 20 dollar bill. My change should be $17.83."

The cashier rang up my two sodas and said "Two twenty."

I handed him a 20 dollar bill and said "From Twenty."

While he was making my change, I thought "Wait a minute. The tax rate is 8.25%. The tax should be 16.5%. Rounding up, the tax should be 17 cents. The total should be $2.17. My change should be $17.83."

I said "The tax rate is 8.25% here isn't it?"

He just looked at me.

I said "The tax should be 17 cents."

He said "Huh."

He continued to get my change. He handed me the change and said "$18.05."

I counted the money. It was $18.05.

I said "At $2.20, the change should be $17.80."

He said "That's because you gave me a quarter."

I said "I didn't give you a quarter." (That's why I always say the name of the money I'm handing over. I had said "From 20.")

He said "I gave you $18.05."

Hmmm.

I counted the change again (Because I was confused and also because I was stalling a bit to try to figure out what he was doing.). The change was $18.05.

I said "Can I have the receipt?"

But then he started up about the quarter again.

He said "It's because you gave me a quarter."

I said "I didn't give you a quarter. I gave you a twenty. The change should be $17.80."

He said "I gave you more. I gave you $18.05."

I counted the change again, still stalling, to try to figure out what he was up to. I checked the bills to see if they were fake. 

The change was $18.05. The bills were not fake.

I'm thinking 'First, he first overcharged me by 3 cents, and then he overpaid me by 22 or 25 cents. What is wrong here?'

Since I was holding up the line, I said "Can I have my receipt?"

He just stared at me. 

Since this ridiculous argument was holding up the growing line of waiting customers, I said "Nevermind" and left.

So, what was he up to?

It seems like he was cheating at something, somehow.

If so, wo who was he cheating? Me? The store? The state? 

Do you usually figure out what you owe and how much you should be getting back? 

I do.

I used to "race the cash register" on one of my first jobs working as a cashier at a convenience store and I'm still pretty quick with simple addition and subtraction. This is pretty easy since most customers pay with whole dollars (round numbers). 

Some folks like to give both bills and change when they pay a bill. This math is easy too since eliminating the change right away give one only whole numbers (round dollars?) to work with.


Multiplication, especially since our tax rate includes a fraction (it is 8.25%), is a little more difficult but I can mentally figure a tip easily, and also calculate at least an "approximate total" (with tax) on a purchase. 

This soda purchase only stood out because the math was easy- the charge was both small and an easily multiplied round number.  

If the total had not been an even number, I would not likely noticed a three cent discrepancy. 

I suppose that was what the clerk was counting on- that most folks won't notice a couple of pennies here or there.

And I suppose he's bought my silence and complicity for the additional 22 or 25 cents he gave me.

If the bill was $2.17 (what it should have been) and my change was $18.05, I got an extra .22 cents.

If the bill was $2.20 (what he seemed to be charging me) and my change was $18.05, I got an extra .25 cents.

He never did give me the receipt, so I guess I won't be able to tell what he actually put into the cash register.

So, what do you think this clerk was doing?


Update:
This story has an ending!

After complaining about the discrepancy and the reason behind it, I was abused by my loving  coworkers of many, many years who made helpful comments such as "Shut up. Nobody cares," "It's just 3 cents," "Maybe he was out of pennies," "maybe he's just lazy," and "You cheated him. He gave you more!"

None of which answered the question of "why did this clerk try to cheat me out of 3 cents".

Being a weirdo, I called the Texas State Comptrollers Office who advised me to file an on-line report. Since I apparently have nothing better to do than ramble and amble about, I did file a report.

Weeks later I discovered that this gas station/convenience store was visited by the State Comptroller's office and found to be cheating customers on gas purchases at their gas pumps and fined.

That's why this greedy guy cheated me. He cheated all his customers.

I bet altering the change due to a customer a game he plays in his mind just to stave of the boredom of convenience store clerking.

I too played mind-games when I worked as a convenience store clerk in my younger years but I just raced the cash register to calculate the change due on a purchase before the cash register could do it. I still play those games when I'm bored in line at the register so have the time to figure out what the tax should be on a two  dollar purchase!


I waited a few weeks but the next time I was in the area I returned to this store. As I was making my purchase I asked the clerk "Remember when you tried to cheat me out of 3 cents in tax a while back? How did that gas pump inspection work out for ya?"

He began to scream at me and told me I wasn't welcome in his store. I said "That's not a problem at all! I'll never come back," and left.

Man, I enjoyed that!

Sooo good!