Shortchanged on change

[debodun]

Recently, I ate out at Appleby's. The bill came to $12.70. The waitress took the check and the $15 I proffered. She returned only $2 in change. I let it go, but should I have made an issue of the missing 30 cents?

 

[RadishRose]

I feel you'd be within your rights to point it out. No doubt it was a mistake. If it were me I would just let it go but wouldn't criticize anyone who wanted to ask for the remaining change.

 

[Ameriscot]

I went into the bakery the other day and the price of my purchases was £7.10. So I gave the clerk £10.10. She gave me back £5. It was very busy but I waited a minute and told her she'd given me too much change. The shop owner was there and said 'thank you for being honest' and she made a bit of a face in the direction of the clerk. I wondered if she messed up a lot. I felt bad that I might have gotten her in trouble.

 

[Cookie]

I don't think 30 cents is worth the trouble, especially in a restaurant where you can consider it part of the tip. People make mistakes, even here with digital cash registers in big supermarkets things get rung up wrong. If it's more than a dollar or two I usually go back for it, otherwise I don't bother, as sometimes the small error is in my favor.

 

[AprilSun]

This reminded me of an incident just a few months ago actually. I made several cash purchases and came on home. Later, I was looking through my wallet and noticed one of my dollar bills was missing the other half. Someone had placed one half of a dollar bill between good bills and passed it on to me. Which store it was I couldn't say. Out of curiosity, I took it to my bank and they told me that they could no longer send it in and that I had to do it myself. I told them it wasn't worth it by the time I paid postage, etc. and had to get some kind of papers and fill them out. I said no thanks and threw it in the trash. It made me mad because of the underhanded way someone did it. I must admit, I was at fault too for not checking my bills before I left the store. Oh, well, we live and learn still.

 

[Ken N Tx]

Recently, I ate out at Appleby's. The bill came to $12.70. The waitress took the check and the $15 I proffered. She returned only $2 in change. I let it go, but should I have made an issue of the missing 30 cents?

If I was unhappy with the service, I would consider it the tip!!

 

[Lara]

Good question, debodun. Here's the thing….the cash register, at the end of the night, will not balance if you don't point out the 30 cent error and the boss will know the server messed up. You're doing the server a favor to point it out to her so she'll have time to correct it before the night audit drawer count.

I use to do the audit for a hotel. When the draw count is off, even if it's a penny, it's an issue. I had a "kitty" of change for errors under a dollar and never made mention of it to the boss but still the boss may notice and if the mistakes continue, the server could be let go.

The cash drawer count and the tips are separate altogether, I assume (I didn't do an audit for a restaurant)