Check Those Receipts

Uptown_Boy

Pollycat said:

A number of years ago, my sister and I were Christmas shopping in Woolworths ( yes - that long ago ) and they had an offer on toys buy 2 get one free.

We bought 6 items between us and I worked out the total (in my head) and had the exact money in my hand.

When we got to the till, the assistant put them through in the wrong order so instead of paying for 2 expensive ones and getting the 3rd expensive one free (and the same with the cheaper ones), she scanned 2 expensive ones and one cheap one and one expensive one and 2 cheap ones.

As an example (the individual amounts weren't exact £s) 3 @ £12.00, 3 @ £3.00.

I expected to pay £12.00 each for the 2 and get the £12.00 free = £24.00 and pay £3.00 each for the cheapest and get the £3.00 one free making a total of £30.00.

The till showed £12.00 + £12.00 and £3.00 free = £24.00 and £12.00 + £3.00 and £3.00 free = £15.00, making a total of £39.00.

Of course the total was more than I expected so I queried it.

She couldn't understand my point so I told her to void all 6 items and then handed her the items in the order I wanted her to scan them. (I'd been under the impression that the till would have done this).

The total came to exactly the amount I'd got in my hands and I put it all down on the counter, notes and coins.

Both her and my sister looked at me as though I'd invented a cure for an incurable disease when it was - to me - simple addition.

My sister confessed that she wouldn't have known she had been charged too much.

Technically that was your fault for handing over all 6 items ... the offer was almost certainly Buy 2 Get 1 Free (cheapest item is free). So what the till assistant did (and what the till calculated) was correct ... as you found you had to do them as separate transactions of 3 each to get the cheapest price.

Pollycat

Uptown_Boy said:

Technically that was your fault for handing over all 6 items ... the offer was almost certainly Buy 2 Get 1 Free (cheapest item is free). So what the till assistant did (and what the till calculated) was correct ... as you found you had to do them as separate transactions of 3 each to get the cheapest price.

Technically, it wasn't my fault...because when the assistant put all 6 items through in the order I showed her, the till did exactly what I expected it to do. i.e. charged for items 1 & 2, didn't charge for item 3, charged for items 4 & 5, didn't charge for item 6.

It wasn't necessary to do 2 separate transactions.

AFAIK, tills nowadays are geared to give the consumer the best deal.

Mnoee

Takmon said:

Silvertabby said:

Mnoee said:

Unless you're comfortable with 4D vectors and the other complicated mathematical concepts that go into making modern video games, I wouldn't be so disparaging of today's youth. There's always been people who are bad at maths, but 'kids these days' are just as bright as older generations. They just have a different skillset for more modern times. 

Mr S bought several small things that came to £8 something.  At the checkout, he handed a £5 note and the exact amount of shrapnel (this being pre covid) to the youngster manning the till. 

With a look that I can only describe as sheer panic, she handed the cash back to Mr S and demanded  a £10 note instead " because the till tells me how much change to give you".

Too reliant on technology?

Like Mnoee says there are always going to be stupid people and clever people of all ages.

And weirdly, the best and the brightest don't tend to work on tills for minimum wage! Maybe back when you could support a family of four with a single retail job you might get a genius greengrocer that just really loved vegetables or whatever but you're not so likely to now. 

IvanOpinion

I remember once being with my father when he was buying a VCR (I was only there because as a hormone ridden teenager I fancied the shop assistant).  The price was £59.99 but there was one third off in the sale.  The shop assistant got out a calculator and she managed to get the answer wrong twice (once she got £50-something and the second time she got £20).  I remember my father taking her through the calculation, she actually didn't know how to do calculations with thirds, not to worry to do such a simple sum in her head).

I didn't fancy her as much after that trip.

[Deleted User]

I always want a physical copy of a receipt or a emailed copy. If they insist paying by card is better they need to give me a receipt. Heron Foods where I live are awful, they ask if you want one and when you say yes they tut.