Receiving Change

I have a minor pet peeve... Back after I finished high school, I spent a summer working in a corner store and learned how to give change to people. You know... the cost is $11.37 and they give you a $20. So how to make change? I started off by trying to work backwards... so $11.37... means there would be 100-37 = 63 cents... and then trying to figure it out. This was before the till machine told you how much change to give! One of my co-workers quickly taught me the correct way... $11.37... so + 3 pennies = $11.40 and then + a dime = $11.50 and then + 2 quarters = $12.00 and then + a loonie and a toonie = $15 and then + a $5 = $20!! So start with the smallest and work up the biggest. Simpler and way less prone to error. When we handed back the change, we counted it back the same way: give them the small change and say "$12" and then the toonie & loonie and say "$15" and then the five dollar bill and say "$20". A purist would actually count the pennies and dimes and quareters back into the hand of the customer. So they would have a pile of coins in their hand and then dollar bills placed on top.

Nowadays... the till tells you how much to give back and cashiers count it out of the drawer from the biggest to the smallest. So the machine says $8.33 as change... and they get a $5 and a $2 and a $1 and then 2 quarters, 1 dime and 3 pennies. And they plop it all into your hand... bills first and coins on top... Have you experienced a problem with that? The coins don't land on the bills very well and inevitably slide off... so you either have to catch them quickly or chase them down on the floor, etc. I don't have a problem with cashiers making change however it works for them... But please... put the coins in the hand first and then the bills!!! Everybody would be so much happier and there would be a lot fewer spilled coins out there... Perhaps we could start a revolution?? Suggest the coin first option to cashiers and see where it goes??