Don’t Count On The Customer’s Ability To Count

(I work at a popular drug store running the register. A lady comes up to me in a fast food uniform and buys some food products and cigarettes. She pays for the food with food stamps and swipes another card for the cigarettes.)

Me: “All right, ma’am, there’s $2.88 left on the transaction.”

Customer: *glaring at me and throws two dollars at me* “I want a dollar put on my other card.” *pulls out other debit card*

Me: “All right, no problem.” *manually enters that she paid $1.88 in cash, leaving a dollar left to go through on her debit card*

(She swipes her card but there’s still $.23 left on the transaction, meaning that that she didn’t have enough money in her debit account.)

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you still owe 23 cents.”

Customer: *starts shouting* “What the h*** did you do?! I gave you two dollars!”

Me: *taken aback* “Yes, you did, ma’am. You said you wanted to put a dollar on your debit card, so I took $1.88 out of your two dollars and was going to give you twelve cents in change. After that and your debit card, you still owe twenty three cents.”

Customer: “But I gave you two dollars!”

Me: “Okay… how about I take the twelve cents I was going to give you as change and put it towards the total?”

(The customer rolls her eyes and nods. At this point, there’s a line starting to form behind her.)

Me: “All right, now your total is down to eleven cents.”

Customer: “WHAT THE F*** ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! YOU JUST SAID MY TOTAL WAS 23 CENTS!”

Me: *shocked* “It was 23 cents, but I took the last twelve cents out of the two dollars you gave me!”

Customer: “I GAVE YOU TWO DOLLARS TO BEGIN WITH!”

Me: “Yes, you did! And I took two dollars in cash off of the total, but with that and what was taken off your debit card you still owe nine cents.”

Customer: “BUT YOU SAID I OWED 23 CENTS!”

(At this point I’m in complete shock and people are starting to get impatient. The customer throws a dime across the counter at me and after I give her her penny and her receipt, she glares at me.)

Customer: “Just so you know, I KNOW how to count. You’re lucky I don’t talk to your manager and get you fired! You should just admit you made a mistake!”

Me: “But… I didn’t…”

Customer: “I KNOW HOW TO COUNT!”