Comments on: The Cashier Gave Me Too Much Change: What Should I Do?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 10:32:00 +0000

I am a bit disturbed by easychange's comments but it seems to be a commentary on the state of much of society nowadays. I agree with the 1st point of knowing who's running the store. The clerk clearly made a large error. However, points 2 & 3 bother me. It would have been nice to have been given something from the shop owner for making the honest choice but isn't it reward enough to know that you didn't cheat someone out of $400 when the opportunity was there to do so? And, $400 is more money than a few dollars but isn't it still cheating regardless of the amount? I think making the right choices leads to more right choices. And, now this shopowner has some insurance that they are honest customers out there.

Jerry

By: credit guy

credit guy — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 05:24:00 +0000

Very good point Stella. It’s really not about whether the store catches you or not. It’s more about your own decisions; will you choose the righteous path or choose the path of dishonesty.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 23:09:00 +0000

The way I look at it, honesty is never about "them" - its about me, and about how I treat others.

So the amount doesn't matter. And the size of the establishment (corner drug store or WalMart) doesn't matter either.

So I always return the money.

Stella Baskomb

By: Kay

Kay — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 23:48:00 +0000

Hmmm ... I don't think it should matter. I would return 5c just as soon as I would return $500 if I was given it incorrectly in change.

The only time that I would take the amount of money into consideration is if it took a while for me to notice the problem and how much effort would be required to return it.

For example, if I didn't realise until I got home that I got a few cents or a couple of dollars extra in change, I would probably not bother going back there to return it. As I said before, if I notice instantly then I would return it no matter the value.

I could also never knowingly accept something that I knew I had already received - no matter the value.

Does this make me old fashioned or ultra straight? Maybe but ultimately this is how I would like people to treat me so I don't see why I should do any less for others.

By: One Frugal Girl

One Frugal Girl — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 21:03:00 +0000

It would also be interesting to find out if people are more willing to keep the change from a ‘super store’ cashier than a clerk at a ‘mom and pop’ shop. If the local bike shop had been a walmart or kmart would I have been less willing to let them know that a mistake had been made?

By: EasyChange

EasyChange — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 14:40:00 +0000

Wow, That is a huge huge huge mistake on the shop owner's part. Three points:

1. That shop won't be around long unless they figure out proverbially 'who is running the store'.

2. I hope that you got some gift certificate etc for being kind and not taking the bike. There should be some sort of small reward for your honesty. That would be my strategy if I owned the shop; reward people for being honest since they saved you 400 bucks.

3. I think that the issue with this is all about the degrees. So I am glad that primetime did two different amounts. 400 is way too much to take in my opinion. If it was a buck or two bucks, then I probably wouldn't really think twice.

I disagree with the idea that you don't want to hold the cashier responsible. There NEEDS to be personal responsibility. I've worked as a cashier before and I've had mistakes on my register (shared register) but I have still had to take the blame. That is part of doing that job. If they don't like it, they should do something else. A small amount (under 5 bucks) is really no big deal, I think. But more than that and it becomes obvious that the money wasn't yours. It shouldn't matter much in the end because stores give too much change and take too much money all day every day. And it usually balances out in the end.