In the old days, nearly all purchases were made with cash. No, not for houses, cars, or major appliances. But stuff you’d get in a store and take home with you. Yes, some folks wrote a check. And some used a store card valid only at that chain of stores or filling stations. But mostly it was cash.
Regular stores – supermarkets, greeting-card shops, florists, even small pharmacies and the post office – were not equipped with credit card machines. Only upscale places, such as jewelry stores, had such devices.
Nor were cards used to pay lawyers, accountants, dentists, or doctors.
Debit cards were not in existence.
This all might sound barbaric to you, but it sounds lovely to me. I’m happier in the world I grew up in. I don’t engage in automatic payments. I don’t use debit cards. I’m a cash person.
Even if you seldom use cash, there are times when cash is useful. Such as when paying the kids down the street to shovel your snow. Or when a group of coworkers want to pool their money to buy a gift.
If you want to ensure the waitress who served you so well receives your tip, you are better off handing it to her in person. With cash.
However, cash transactions have gotten trickier. That’s because we’ve had two generations grow up depending upon calculators and computers. This has resulted in people who are unable to process numbers in their heads.
At too many places the cashiers are unable to think mathematically. At the supermarket, if I pay a $71.41 tab with four $20 bills, a $1 bill, and 41 cents in coins, a sharp cashier will accept it all and dig a ten out of the till for my change. But I’ve encountered several who will stare in confusion, return the coinage and the one-spot, then put the twenties into the register, tell the register I paid $80, and wait for the machine to tell her to give me $8.59 in change.
Which method makes more sense to you?
This month at a pizzeria, I picked up a pie ordered over the phone. The clerk said $21.14 was due. I placed it on the counter – exact change – and told her that was for the pizza. Then, elsewhere on the counter, I put down some more money and told her that was the tip.
She heard me clearly. After all, she knew when I uttered my name which box of pizza to bring over.
Yet this payment somehow confused the young woman. She hesitated, then gathered all the money, tallied it carefully as she placed it all in the register, and waited to be told the amount of change to dispense. She took from the register the change – the same amount I had informed her was the tip – and handed it to me.
Contrast her hesitancy with my most recent visit to Doolittle’s print shop. My tab came to $4.09, so I fished in my pocket, found nine cents, placed it down, then found a five-dollar bill and put it down too. “Out of $5.09,” I said.
This would have confused some folks. But Ben didn’t bat an eyelash. Didn’t even ask his machine what to do. He grasped what I was doing. He scooped a one out of the till and handed it to me, saying, “Thanks.”
The $5.09 was still on the counter as I left. He knew what was there and what to do without a machine telling him.
Last month at a gas station, I was waiting to prepay cash for a fill-up when the woman in front of me bought two lottery tickets. The clerk was talking to a buddy and not paying much attention to the customer. He took the money she handed over, put it in the till, then distractedly fetched the tickets.
She accepted the tickets and then a disagreement occurred. The chap said she’d paid with a five, but she insisted she had handed him a ten.
I had not seen the denomination of the bill.
In the end, the clerk held firm, and the customer walked out with her tickets but feeling cheated.
This made me realize we need guidelines for cash etiquette. To help customers and clerks alike. So here it is.
What customers should do1. Wait until the purchase is on the counter before paying. If lottery tickets (which I haven’t bought since Carter was President) require payment to be made first, then put the money on the counter but keep a finger lightly on it, awaiting the conclusion of the transaction.
2. Refrain from handing over money to a person who is not paying attention. Wait however long it takes for the employee’s focus to be on you.
3. Inform the clerk how much money you are putting on the counter. Be loud enough for the cashier and even the customer behind you to hear.
4. While you are still at the counter, make sure you receive the correct change. If you can count your change without touching it, so much the better. (Not touching the change proves you haven’t altered what was given.)
5. Then, and only then, scoop up your change and leave the store. Put your money away before reaching the outdoors, in case an ill wind is blowing.
What cashiers should do1. Verify the money on the counter is the amount the customer has stated, and confirm this vocally. If the amount is not what the customer stated, the cashier should politely tell the customer so – prior to putting it into the cash register.
2. Vocalize how much change the customer has coming, and place it on the counter, preferably counting it out. Do not place it into the customer’s hand.
Folks, that’s all there is to it. Not too difficult, I hope.
Arthur Vidro is one of the Eagle Times’ recurring financial columnists.
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