Totally Checked Out At The Checkout

When I go grocery shopping, I usually keep a mental tally of the cost as I put items in my cart just so I don’t get sticker shock at the register. On a recent trip, I stopped my mental tally once I reached $52 with only the dairy section left to shop, because I knew I wanted to pay with a $50 bill, and my debit card could handle the price of eggs, yogurt, and milk.

At the register, I greeted the cashier but was slightly distracted packing my bags when she read out my total. It sounded right, but I didn’t make note of the exact number. I held out my $50.

Me: “Can I pay with this, and then put the remainder on my card?”

Cashier: “Of course.” *She typed in the number.* “That will be $40.65.”

I looked up, startled, because that was WAY higher than I expected. Had the price of eggs jumped up again? Had I gone into a yogurt-loving fugue state and grabbed more containers than usual? Was I so bad at math that my tally had been off by double-digits to begin with?

I noticed that the cashier was still prominently holding the cash above the countertop, a common tactic to thwart scammers who try to lie and convince cashiers that (for example) they had paid with a $50 instead of a $20. When I looked at the computer screen, I saw that it read TOTAL 60.65 and then a deduction of CASH 20.00.

Me: “Oh, I actually gave you a fifty.”

The cashier sighed.

Cashier: “I have it right—” *She holds up the bill in her hand.* “—Oh! You did! I’m so sorry. Your total will be $10.65.”

Me: “No worries! It’s good you still had it out. I was even starting to doubt myself.”

Cashier: “Yeah, we do that to prevent scams… and this time, the one pulling the scam would’ve been me!”