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"You didn't want your penny did you?"
miss_independent
Posts: 1,191 Forumite
Things similar to this have happened to me several times this year with shop assistants assuming I don't want my change, it can be anything from a penny to more.
Today I bought a sandwich from a well known bakery for lunch and a bottled drink. The lady who served me told me it would work out more expensive if I bought it without a packet of crisps. I didn't want a packet of crisps and she again said I'd be silly not to buy them as she could put it through as a deal and it would work out cheaper than buying the sandwich and drink alone. She was quite persistent. I asked how much the difference would be as to be honest I really didn't want the crisps and she told me £2.65 without crisps and £2.95 with. I pointed out that in actual fact I would be paying 30p more to get a packet of crisps I didn't want to eat. Anyway...
I had £2.60 in my hand and looked through my purse for 5p to give her exact change, however, I only had 2ps and 10s 20s etc so I gave her three 2ps so gave her £2.66. She closed the till after putting the money in then stared at me blankly. I was waiting for my change and my receipt. She then said, "You didn't want your penny did you?". I said no but to be honest it left me feeling a bit rattled. Ok, I'm not so stingy that I account for EVERY last penny but I empty my purse of change throughout the year into a piggy bank (well a doggy bank actually
) and towards the end of the year, I change it into cash and use it for charity. Even so... its only a penny, I know some of you are thinking... its hardly going to save a child's life, even if I do give it to charity. But it's the principal of the thing. I have paid more than other customers who bought the same as me. The assistant assumed I didn't want my change. Also, I would have liked a receipt as (sods law) my drink tasted really weird and I think it was off.
As I said at the beginning of the post, it's happened to me several times in the past year where assistants have taken it upon themselves to round up my total to the nearest ten, sometimes is 12p or 32p. Fair enough if they explain they have ran out of change or whatever but they act shocked like "OH did you want your CHANGE?". I started to explain that I was going to put it in the charity box next to their till.
Anyway, today got me thinking because of what had happened immediately before when she had tried to pressurise me into the meal deal. Is it a new sneaky sales technique used by major companies to get customers to give them change? Hey, it all adds up if it's happening across the country. Or is it just people not appreciating that every little counts?
Today I bought a sandwich from a well known bakery for lunch and a bottled drink. The lady who served me told me it would work out more expensive if I bought it without a packet of crisps. I didn't want a packet of crisps and she again said I'd be silly not to buy them as she could put it through as a deal and it would work out cheaper than buying the sandwich and drink alone. She was quite persistent. I asked how much the difference would be as to be honest I really didn't want the crisps and she told me £2.65 without crisps and £2.95 with. I pointed out that in actual fact I would be paying 30p more to get a packet of crisps I didn't want to eat. Anyway...
I had £2.60 in my hand and looked through my purse for 5p to give her exact change, however, I only had 2ps and 10s 20s etc so I gave her three 2ps so gave her £2.66. She closed the till after putting the money in then stared at me blankly. I was waiting for my change and my receipt. She then said, "You didn't want your penny did you?". I said no but to be honest it left me feeling a bit rattled. Ok, I'm not so stingy that I account for EVERY last penny but I empty my purse of change throughout the year into a piggy bank (well a doggy bank actually
) and towards the end of the year, I change it into cash and use it for charity. Even so... its only a penny, I know some of you are thinking... its hardly going to save a child's life, even if I do give it to charity. But it's the principal of the thing. I have paid more than other customers who bought the same as me. The assistant assumed I didn't want my change. Also, I would have liked a receipt as (sods law) my drink tasted really weird and I think it was off.As I said at the beginning of the post, it's happened to me several times in the past year where assistants have taken it upon themselves to round up my total to the nearest ten, sometimes is 12p or 32p. Fair enough if they explain they have ran out of change or whatever but they act shocked like "OH did you want your CHANGE?". I started to explain that I was going to put it in the charity box next to their till.
Anyway, today got me thinking because of what had happened immediately before when she had tried to pressurise me into the meal deal. Is it a new sneaky sales technique used by major companies to get customers to give them change? Hey, it all adds up if it's happening across the country. Or is it just people not appreciating that every little counts?
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Comments
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I find the reverse annoying (more so when we had halfpennies).
You hand over £x for something that costs £(x-1).99 and if you walk away you can just about guarantee that the cashier will call after you. Not their fault, of course, they are behaving perfectly correctly but it makes me feel like a tight git waiting for them to hand over a solitary penny.There are two types of people in the world: Those that can extrapolate information.0 -
She should have given you the money.
It is not her's to keep.
If you allow this to happen then it would probably get worse over time - next 2p, 5p,,,,,99p when you hand over £5 for something costing £4.01!0 -
Next time you go in there give her 1p too little. See how quickly she asks for that d*mn penny.Pants0
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I bought petrol yesterday,£5.01...got to the till & the cashier only asked me for a fiver which I handed over,he rang it up & no dramas.I wouldv'e been quite happy if he'd said £5.01 & handed over the penny,normally if I'm given 1 or 2 pence I'll bung it in the charity boxes for the lifeboat ect.0
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See that's how I think, if something costs £99 are they not going to give you £1 or £10 for £990 and so on, what about when you buy a house or a car etc a really major purchase. If everyone who shops at the major supermarkets decides not to take their penny change then imagine how much they would make in unclaimed change?0
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I bought petrol yesterday,£5.01...got to the till & the cashier only asked me for a fiver which I handed over,he rang it up & no dramas.I wouldv'e been quite happy if he'd said £5.01 & handed over the penny,normally if I'm given 1 or 2 pence I'll bung it in the charity boxes for the lifeboat ect.
I also wonder if they just can't be bothered to give change sometimes lol!0 -
Every penny counts for me, not only do I wait for my one pence piece but I queue up at the customer service when the checkout person has failed to give me my extra points for reusing my bags.
Over the course of a day, a busy shop could make a few quid in not giving out pennys which would be over £300 a year plus profit for them. :eek:0 -
If a company is going to annoy me by pricing an item at (say) £9.99, thinking that I won't realise that it's about £10... then I'm damn well going to insist that they give me that penny back in change and make an extra trip to the bank, if necessary, to stock up on pennies.
It's what they want too, remember. Otherwise they would have priced the item at £10.00 and saved everyone the hassle.0 -
And the longer they make me wait for my penny, the more determined I am to wait:D0
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Never happened to me, but if it did I would say that I did want the penny.loose does not rhyme with choose but lose does and is the word you meant to write.0
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