Charged short when buying something: How many of you actually bring it up?

[EDBTZ12]

I'd take the money. It's not my fault the person can't do their job correctly.

Do you think if you walked into Zellers and bought something and the cashier knew damn right that the same item was being sold at Wal-Mart for alot cheaper they would tell u?

[Buff]

If the shelf says $24.99, but the cashier scans it and it rings up as $19.99, then I won't say anything. Likely it is a new price or sale where the staff hasn't updated the signage yet. I worked at Canadian Tire for a few years and there could sometimes be a tonne of price changes that would take hours to update the price tag on the shelves. Same as the weekly sales that started on Friday morning. Somebody was in half an hour before the store opened but sometimes it wasn't enough time to get the price tags on the shelves before the customers started walking in.

So if the cashier scanned it in and the price is cheaper than what I thought, I won't say a thing. In retail, if an item is scanned in, or properly keyed in, the lower price is the correct price. If the till is higher than the shelf, then the price is reduced for the customer, if the till is lower than the shelf, the customer still wins. Whether it is a store error on pricing, or the store is slow to update their signage, the lower price wins.

If a cashier gives me too much change back, I will say something.

[malcolmk14]

How about this for a hypothetical situation:

You're a cashier at Wal-Mart. Somebody comes through your till and buys something for $18, and they pay with a $100 bill. You give them $82 in change, and they are adamant that you gave them too much. They are certain they paid you with a $20, but you know 100% it was a $100 bill. They hand you the $80 and leave.

It's the customer's mistake and you have done your job absolutely properly, but you're representing the store. Do you put the $80 in your pocket, or in the cash register? Is it immoral to keep the cash?

I guess my point is, if you're working in a situation where you might have to cover any short in your register, is it completely unfair to ask that the company lets you keep any extra in your register in the opposite situation?

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by fotze

You are a dirty thief, but I think thats hilarious, I probably would have done the same nothing and it would have probably been becasue the salesman was rude or didn't discount it or looked funny, what was your rationale.

My rationale? I guess because I also bought a suit on the same Mastercard which I shouldn't really have bought because of my financial situation at the time. Hmm, I guess this should be in the confession thread too...

[BlackEleven]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

To all of the high horses in this thread:

Have you ever downloaded an illegal MP3, movie, used an open Wifi signal etc?
Because that's stealing too, and according to you will lead to an immoral life of continuous theft.

So say the record companies, but its not quite that black and white. Technically, you're breaking copyright. Whether or not that actually constitutes stealing is matter of some debate. But its beyond the scope of this thread, so I'll just leave it alone...

My answer to the original question is that I usually don't pay attention to the change, so I'd probably not notice the mistake until later, at which point I'd definitely not bother going back to correct it. With me, it'd be a small amount though, any amount larger than $20, I always pay with plastic.

[jammies]

Well I guess it must be ok to just reach into the till if the cashier is distracted and pull out a wad of bills.

Just because you don't have to actively steal, doesn't mean it isn't still stealing. If it's more than a few cents, I speak up. If I was with someone and noticed this happened to them, I'd be deeply disappointed if they knew and didn't say anything, too.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by jammies

Well I guess it must be ok to just reach into the till if the cashier is distracted and pull out a wad of bills.

So, where is the line for you? Let me give you some examples:

What if you are in line at Tim Horton's with your kid, and the person behind the counter gives your kid a Timbit. Would you insist on paying for it?

What if you are buying 4 bottles of juice along with your regular groceries. When you get home you see that you were only charged for 3. Do you go back to pay for the other one?

You are in a pub, and you know that the people who work in that strip mall get 10% off as you have been there with friends who work in that mall. This time, there by yourself, the waitress hands you the bill with the 10% "mall discount" already applied. Do you speak up?

[Dion]

I always bring it up. The shortage will show up in the persons float at the end of thier shift. Depending on the amount shorted it could cause some grief for the cashier.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

To all of the high horses in this thread:

Have you ever downloaded an illegal MP3, movie, used an open Wifi signal etc?
Because that's stealing too, and according to you will lead to an immoral life of continuous theft.

I don't download illegal songs or movies as I don't want viruses on my computer. Even if it was safe i wouldn't do it.

You can kick me off my high horse now

[KTrain]

I typically think of it like this: if the tables were turned and they overcharged me, would they go out of their way to get me my money back?

[Incinerator]

I remember working a retail job years ago, it was my first day and someone paid with a $100 bill on a $15 t-shirt, I gave him one $20 bill too many in change, and I ended up short $20 at the end of the night and having to cover it out of my own pocket.

I hope that sales guy who sold the washer to The Yen Man didn't have to pay for it lol...

[J pold]

Nope I take the money.

[EDBTZ12]

Originally Posted by Incinerator

I remember working a retail job years ago, it was my first day and someone paid with a $100 bill on a $15 t-shirt, I gave him one $20 bill too many in change, and I ended up short $20 at the end of the night and having to cover it out of my own pocket.

I hope that sales guy who sold the washer to The Yen Man didn't have to pay for it lol...

So you knew you gave him a extra $20 dollar bill? Couldn't you just have pointed out it was a mistake and asked for it back?

[mykalberta]

If any store gives me more money than what the math works out to from what I gave to what the total was, I always speak up.

However, if I purchase something, and it rings up lower, I never mention it. Its only happened a few times, and none are ones I could be 100% sure it was an error as they were at Walmart/FS/BB etc where they games could be on sale and the register notes it.

However when I purchased a X360 Elite at FS it rang up as $217. I looked at my buddy, he looked at me, I looked at the cashier, got the reciept and ran like a bat out of hell out of there

[jammies]

Originally Posted by ken0042

What if you are in line at Tim Horton's with your kid, and the person behind the counter gives your kid a Timbit. Would you insist on paying for it?

Yes, just because I know that at Timmie's there was that lady that got fired for doing just that. Most places I'd just say, "You sure that's ok?" and go with what the person said - some places DO give stuff away just for the goodwill.

Originally Posted by ken0042

What if you are buying 4 bottles of juice along with your regular groceries. When you get home you see that you were only charged for 3. Do you go back to pay for the other one?

I don't look at my receipts, so this would never arise. I watch at the store and would either notice it there or I would be oblivious. That might sound like a cop-out, but if you asked me what I'd do if I was overcharged, you'd get the same answer.

Originally Posted by ken0042

You are in a pub, and you know that the people who work in that strip mall get 10% off as you have been there with friends who work in that mall. This time, there by yourself, the waitress hands you the bill with the 10% "mall discount" already applied. Do you speak up?

Yah, I would, although I doubt she'd do anything about it as it would cause her more work than its worth (who wants to explain refunding and then recharging a bill?). You can be polite and just say, "Oh, I noticed you gave me a discount for working at the mall, but I don't actually work there. Is that OK?" and let her make the decision.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Incinerator

I hope that sales guy who sold the washer to The Yen Man didn't have to pay for it lol...

You would think if that actually happened, the sales guy would have looked hard to see where he messed up, and probably would have called me to get the charges reversed. In fact, it wouldn't even require me present to fix the mistake. They'd just do a reversal in the system to reverse one of the credits. It's not like I wouldn't have paid them back if they let me know. I would have told them to go ahead and charge it back. I just wanted to see how long I could have gone with them not noticing. Turns out, its longer than I thought.

The washer was about $1,500. To a person, such as the sales guy, it would have meant a lot. To Sears, its mere pennies.

Now that I work accounting in another big retail company, I know what most likely happened is that the charge sat in the company's books for awhile as an outstanding receivable, and was eventually written off in the books after they couldn't reconcile the amount along with other unreconciled amounts.

[Incinerator]

Originally Posted by EDBTZ12

So you knew you gave him a extra $20 dollar bill? Couldn't you just have pointed out it was a mistake and asked for it back?

obviously I didn't know until the end of the night, back then $20 was also equivalent to almost half the length of my shift, good times

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Incinerator

obviously I didn't know until the end of the night, back then $20 was also equivalent to almost half the length of my shift, good times

I used to work at a liquor store who would make people pay shortages. I was fine with it, however what I wasn't fine with was that they kept overages. So one time we had an overage one night, and a shortage another night. I was out $40 in the shortage, so natrually I figure it's probably carried over from the mistake of the previous night. Well, the owner still made me and the guy I worked with pay the $40, and kept the overage from the other night. So what did I do? I paid them the $40, and then rang in a couple less cases of beer next shift to get back my $40 and then some. Yes, another confession.

[ah123]

If I notice it, I will point out the error...

[CaramonLS]

Always point out the error.

Especially when someone could be in a position where they might have to pay for it later. I'd feel awful if some cashier's till came up short and he/she might be getting terminated for it.