OT: Cashier Error in our favor....

[Pooh2]

I had one go the other way once... instead of 18.79 for the pho soup we had, he charged my visa $187.90! Fortunately I was paying attention, but then HE didn't know how to charge it back to my card. Called his boss who tried to explain to him over the phone, then said he'd drive in and for me to wait... then he called back and just told the guy to give me cash. Ugh - I can't bring myself to go back, even though it's the only pho joint in town!

This happened to me and they store manager told me I would have to wait up to 30 days to have my account credited back for the $100 overcharge!

 

[declansdad]

Yes. It can cost her her job. Most cashiers are given a leeway of plus or minus $2. After that you can and will be fired. It is thought to be theft.

you must have worked for some pretty crappy employers.

 

[Madison'smommy]

Eh, by now I probably wouldnt worry about it. I would have had them fix it if I realized while I was at the store, but I would not drive back. And really... people acting like they couldnt live with themselves .... a little extreme for me.

 

[leebee]

The cashier isn't going to lose her job over this. Actually, there's no way for the store to really tell what happened (NOT that this makes it right, just true). The beer was swiped, the card was swiped, and the register recorded and accepted $0.98 as the cost of the sale. It's not the same thing as if the cashier charged you $9.80, you gave her $10 in cash, and she gave you $9.02 in change. In this instance, the cashier's drawer would be short when compared to the detail tape... but in the OP's situation, it all occurred electronically. The record for the day would show $0.98 charged, $0.98 paid. FWIW, I wouldn't go back, either. Not worth the time or effort, especially as I am 99% sure the store would say, "Ooops, our mistake. Keep the beer." And yes, I'd sleep just fine.

 

[MomToOne]

Would I have told the cashier had I noticed the problem while I was at the store? Definitely.

Would I try to deal with it a week later? Nope. But I probably wouldn't come post about it on this board either

 

[ChisJo]

I have a problem believing that the cashier got fired for this. As stated, the beer was scanned, the card was swiped, the transaction occurred.
Her till would've balanced....if the total charged for the beer was $.98 and that's what you paid, she did nothing wrong and shouldn't get fired over that.

 

[arthur06]

I used to work at a place where there policy was "if the shelf price and the scanned price don't agree, you get the item for free". They took pride in making sure that prices were what the shelf said.

The store is in business to make money. They are responsible that the items they sell are priced accurately. In your situation, I would not go back.

I have had times where I might have received a sack of another customers groceries in my cart. In that situation, I always go back.

Don't feel bad about paying 98 cents for your beer. The store will process hundreds/thousands of transactions per day, and it is there responsibility that they are accurate.

 

[MomToOne]

I don't really get the people that are saying to go back almost a week later because the poor cashier might lose her job. If the store is keeping cashiers that accountable, and she actually made a mistake entering a value manually into the credit card machine (the only way a discrepancy would come up vs the cash register total), then wouldn't they have discovered that by now and already fired her?

I get the karma argument - don't agree with it, but I get it. But I honestly don't see how going back at this point would save anyone their job.

 

[Juliet25]

Eh, by now I probably wouldnt worry about it. I would have had them fix it if I realized while I was at the store, but I would not drive back. And really... people acting like they couldnt live with themselves .... a little extreme for me.

LOL and ITA. I'm not wasting time and gas money to correct a mistake that I didn't make. If anything, I'd give $9 to charity to assuage any guilt.

 

[MineMail]

Just to clarify: the OP said the credit card was swiped and the girl typed in the wrong amount. She never said the beer itself was swiped, so it's not a pricing error in their system, so the "right price or free" policies are irrelevant. Most small businesses don't have the credit card system integrated with their registers, so the clerk has to ring up the sale as a credit payment, then manually put through the charge on a separate terminal.

The knowledgeable people who are saying the kid's going to come up short on her drawer are probably correct. The girl rang up the $9 on the register, which is how she knew what the total was, but then charged 90¢ on the credit card terminal. As a result, she will come up short at the end of the shift when they reconcile the credit batch against her drawer's credit payments.

Many small retailers will dock or terminate an employee who makes a mistake like this, especially if it's been an ongoing issue. Reliability is critical and fraud is real.

The OP should check her credit card statement again because it is possible that the error was reversed and the correct amount recharged after they identified the error.

Ethically, it's up to you as to whether you think you got a bargain or you took advantage of someone's error. I think it's the latter and I certainly wouldn't be bragging about it. The OP made the point of saying she posted this because of always checking receipts, but she also said she "didn't feel like" making good on it. I would.

 

[mrodgers]

What is said above me is true. I am at more places that ring on the register, then it is required to punch the amount in manually to the CC machine more than not.

As for...

...I doubt is going to be life-altering...

My wife works retail. She works where she works because she was able to schedule 5pm to close. This way, she is sure to be home for the kids when they get off the bus. When the kids are sick, she is home. She is able to do all the motherly/household stuff by herself without the hassle of kids in tow, needing to do in a hurry because kids need showers, homework, dinner, bedtime for school tomorrow. If she was fired for something like this, she then ends up somewhere that is more restrictive. The kids now come home to an empty house which they are young, but can do it if need to. We just don't want it done on a regular basis every day. She would have to call off work when the kids are sick, so would be job hunting all the time with being fired from 40some call offs a year (20 days absent from school per kid.) She would probably be fighting to get the no-school days off and from experience, the new job would stupidly schedule her on no-school days, more call-offs, more job hunting from being fired for call-offs. Summers she would have to flat out quit because of the lack of working with her schedule of needing to be home all day when school is out. North, south, east, or west, everything is about 30-40 miles from us. She has 75% chance of ending up north, east, or west where she now has to drive to work in whiteout blizzard conditions, 50% chance on Interstate 80, which just had a family killed in a 30 car pile up when a trailer overturned and crushed her car.

Yes, it could be life-altering.

 

[njmomtoone]

A few years ago, it was the Saturday night before Christmas we got take out from a local Italian restaurant. The bill was around $30 and I paid with my debit card. Receipt was correct amount. The next day I had a doctor's appointment and used the debit card to pay for co-payment and was told charge wouldnt' go through. I call the bank because I knew there was a few thousand dollars in the checking account. I was told there was a $2500 charge from the Italian restaurant.

I leave the doctor's office and next stop was the restaurant. I told them what happened. Instead of apologizing and trying to help, they say it must be my fault. They then proceed to say that their bookeeper is off for the holidays and won't be back until after Christms. He was yelling at me saying he didnt' have time for this. I wouldn't back down and said it's the holidays and I am now with a checking account with no money in it and I wasn't getting paid until 12/31. It took a few days, but got the money back in my account.

To make a long story short, it turns out there was a wedding reception in the restaurant and the bartender ran my credit card to pay for the bar tab.

The manager was so rude. In the end when he found out that it was his restaurants fault, he should have followed up with a gift card for our next meal. Needless to say, we never went back there.

 

[Hannathy]

Just to clarify: the OP said the credit card was swiped and the girl typed in the wrong amount. She never said the beer itself was swiped, so it's not a pricing error in their system, so the "right price or free" policies are irrelevant. Most small businesses don't have the credit card system integrated with their registers, so the clerk has to ring up the sale as a credit payment, then manually put through the charge on a separate terminal.

The knowledgeable people who are saying the kid's going to come up short on her drawer are probably correct. The girl rang up the $9 on the register, which is how she knew what the total was, but then charged 90¢ on the credit card terminal. As a result, she will come up short at the end of the shift when they reconcile the credit batch against her drawer's credit payments.

Many small retailers will dock or terminate an employee who makes a mistake like this, especially if it's been an ongoing issue. Reliability is critical and fraud is real.

The OP should check her credit card statement again because it is possible that the error was reversed and the correct amount recharged after they identified the error.

Ethically, it's up to you as to whether you think you got a bargain or you took advantage of someone's error. I think it's the latter and I certainly wouldn't be bragging about it. The OP made the point of saying she posted this because of always checking receipts, but she also said she "didn't feel like" making good on it. I would.

I agree with this.

I wish I could say I was surprised at how many people are saying they wouldn't call and at least point out the error because the amount is so small, but sadly I'm not.

Since when is whether you do the right thing or the ethical thing dependent on the amount in question?

Is this what you tell your kids? Suzy accidentally gave you a nickel too much change at her Kool aid stand, it is only a nickel you don't have to tell her.

If it had been a car that she got for $980 instead of $9800 would that be above the thresh hold for doing the right thing?

Again since when does doing the right thing have a monetary minimum?
My conscious doesn't work that way.

 

[mbf]

A lot of people are saying it is only $9.00.

IMO how hard up are you that you cannot at least make a phone call and try to make good on the situation?

 

[IUTBAM]

The cashier isn't going to lose her job over this. Actually, there's no way for the store to really tell what happened (NOT that this makes it right, just true). The beer was swiped, the card was swiped, and the register recorded and accepted $0.98 as the cost of the sale. It's not the same thing as if the cashier charged you $9.80, you gave her $10 in cash, and she gave you $9.02 in change. In this instance, the cashier's drawer would be short when compared to the detail tape... but in the OP's situation, it all occurred electronically. The record for the day would show $0.98 charged, $0.98 paid. FWIW, I wouldn't go back, either. Not worth the time or effort, especially as I am 99% sure the store would say, "Ooops, our mistake. Keep the beer." And yes, I'd sleep just fine.

My sentiments exactly! I always look at and keep my receipts (whether I use a charge card or not). I can't tell you how many times I have been OVERCHARGED by something that scanned incorrectly. Most of the time I notice in the store (and have them correct it, which usually takes up MY time), but sometimes it's not until I get home. If I'm already home, I usually don't make an issue of it unless it's a large amount. Scanners at stores are notorious for overcharging, so I wouldn't feel bad at all if I got undercharged for something. Karma evens it all out!

 

[NMAmy]

My wife works retail. She works where she works because she was able to schedule 5pm to close. This way, she is sure to be home for the kids when they get off the bus. When the kids are sick, she is home. She is able to do all the motherly/household stuff by herself without the hassle of kids in tow, needing to do in a hurry because kids need showers, homework, dinner, bedtime for school tomorrow. If she was fired for something like this, she then ends up somewhere that is more restrictive. The kids now come home to an empty house which they are young, but can do it if need to. We just don't want it done on a regular basis every day. She would have to call off work when the kids are sick, so would be job hunting all the time with being fired from 40some call offs a year (20 days absent from school per kid.) She would probably be fighting to get the no-school days off and from experience, the new job would stupidly schedule her on no-school days, more call-offs, more job hunting from being fired for call-offs. Summers she would have to flat out quit because of the lack of working with her schedule of needing to be home all day when school is out. North, south, east, or west, everything is about 30-40 miles from us. She has 75% chance of ending up north, east, or west where she now has to drive to work in whiteout blizzard conditions, 50% chance on Interstate 80, which just had a family killed in a 30 car pile up when a trailer overturned and crushed her car.

Yes, it could be life-altering.

That's a whole lot of conjecture--really, you went from being fired to dying in a blizzard in a car crash as the average way events work out?

I've worked at small retail and large retail places over the years. I've yet to see a $9 mistake resulting in someone getting fired unless it was an ongoing issue. If it is an ongoing issue, then the cashier needs to work hard to be accurate to keep her job and not depend on customers to make sure she's doing her job correctly.

I would not drive back a week later to report a $9 mistake that I'd just discovered. If I noticed it when I was in the store, then, yes, I'd let the cashier know but I'm not going to waste my time and gas in that kind of a situation.

 

[Hannathy]

I would not drive back a week later to report a $9 mistake that I'd just discovered. If I noticed it when I was in the store, then, yes, I'd let the cashier know but I'm not going to waste my time and gas in that kind of a situation.

(only singling you out cause yours was the last and easiest one to use)


Why does everyone keep saying I'm not driving back? I agree I wouldn't make a special trip BUT I would call the store! Don't all the "I'm not driving" folks have phones? That I don't believe.

 

[MineMail]

Why does everyone keep saying I'm not driving back? I agree I wouldn't make a special trip BUT I would call the store! Don't all the "I'm not driving" folks have phones? That I don't believe.

Yeah, I don't get that either, it's just a phone call to try and make good on money owed. The DH verbally agreed to pay $9.80, not 98¢. I wonder if they'd make the trip if the error wasn't in their favor, though? It's a pretty one-sided life, expecting everyone to handle their money correctly, getting upset if the error isn't in their favor, but not willing to deal with it when the error isn't in their favor.

In retail, being over/short is a sign of carelessness and is usually viewed suspiciously as potential fraud/theft. Coming up $9 short on a drawer that started with $50 and ended with $150 is definitely suspicious and a small business owner is within their rights to dismiss someone for that. I know several teens that lost their first jobs because they were short on their drawer. One kid was fired after they saw him take money from his pocket and put it in the drawer to cover his shortage. The manager assumed he had stolen the money from the drawer during his shift.

In this economy, losing your job is really difficult. Many teenagers and young adults say even a cashier's job is hard to come by because competition for work is so difficult.

 

[declansdad]

If you have an employer that fires someone the first time their cash drawer is short, you have a crappy employer. If the cashier is constantly short that is a different story.

The sentiment of some that the OP is doing a terrible thing for not going back and paying the full 9.80 is something that would only happen on an Internet message board.

 

[luvdzny]

If the store owed you over $8 would you just forget about it? Probably not. I bet you would want your money back. Why should this be any different? Sure the cashier made a mistake but that does not mean you should benefit from it. We all make mistakes!!! I would pick up the phone and call.