I just came back from buying something for 6.25 USD and the cashier accidentally gave me back 4.75 USD back as change (I paid 10 USD). After noticing this I gave the cashier back one dollar and said that he gave me one too many dollars. I feel this sort of situation isn't isolated to just me. In fact, I think the show "What would you do?" had a segment on this, and i feel it sparks an interesting question:

I want to know if this has happened to any of you? And if it has, what did you do? There is no need to explain why you did what you did either, unless you feel it is necessary.

+ Show Spoiler +

wanted to keep the blog nice and short for today

eLiE

Canada1039 Posts

December 13 2010 03:03 GMT

lol, I once got paid an extra 700 dollars at work, and in an attempt to keep it legit, I told my supervisor I got "overpaid", and she emailed me saying she checked it and everything was good. I still didn't spend it because I wasn't sure whether they'd take it back, and sure enough, half a year later I got an email from finances that there was an serial error and I needed to give the money back. BOOO!

I bet they wouldn't tell me if they were underpaying me.....

EDIT: This is working part-time as a lifeguard for context

hifriend

China7935 Posts

December 13 2010 03:03 GMT

Yeah some young inexperienced girl gave me 500 sek (~75 usd) too much in exchange when I was buying a subway pass once. I gave it back for some reason, I thought maybe they'd pull it from her salary or something haha.

micronesia

United States24799 Posts

December 13 2010 03:05 GMT

The right thing to do is to give the money back. Judging from the cheating in school thread recently I'm guessing most people will say you should keep the money.

What goes around comes around... both the good and the bad.

elkram

United States221 Posts

December 13 2010 03:10 GMT

On December 13 2010 12:05 micronesia wrote:
The right thing to do is to give the money back. Judging from the cheating in school thread recently I'm guessing most people will say you should keep the money.

What goes around comes around... both the good and the bad.

LOL I created that thread too

Gabriel

149 Posts

December 13 2010 03:10 GMT

What if the extra money is actually good money coming back?...
.
.
Just give it back man, less then 1k isnt worth to even think about it.

Manifesto7

Osaka27177 Posts

December 13 2010 03:11 GMT

I always give it back since I worked register jobs too. It is a huge pain in the ass to do the count at the end of the day and be out money that you can't find. Some owners will hold the worker responsible too, which would make you feel like shit probably.

That, and the good feeling you got was worth a dollar right?

On December 13 2010 12:10 Gabriel wrote:

Show nested quote +

What if the extra money is actually good money coming back?...
.
.
Just give it back man, less then 1k isnt worth to even think about it.

Lol, I love this logic. It gets more acceptable the higher the number?

Rekrul

Korea (South)17174 Posts

December 13 2010 03:12 GMT

always give back, stupid to risk someone getting in trouble for an innocent mistake

Galaxy77

Hong Kong256 Posts

December 13 2010 03:13 GMT

I once ordered an acoustic guitar. It was an ok low range one worth $300~ (washburn d10s). The day it arrived, i excitedly opened it only to find they had sent me a LEFT HANDED GUITAR! I was like wtf? How can i play that!

I called them up and they said theyd send me out a right handed one, so I packed my left handed one back up and waited for the right handed one. The day it arrived the delivery guy said its not his responsibility to do collections, so he went away (leaving me now with 2 guitars). I called up the company and asked when they will come to pick it up, they said within the next few days. 2 weeks passed, I called them and reminded them twice. Nobody ever came, 6 months later on I gave up on waiting and a friend said he was having a hard time looking for a left handed guitar to buy, so I sold him it for $200.
Guilty conscious? Not really, I reminded the company so many times, they obviously felt it wasnt important anymore and lost interest in picking up their property

matjlav

Germany2435 Posts

December 13 2010 03:13 GMT

#10

uhh yeah I'd give it back. Why wouldn't you? a dollar isn't even worth stealing...

sc4k

United Kingdom5454 Posts

December 13 2010 03:14 GMT

#11

i give back for same reason as the heavyweights above ^

and when i typed that rekrul and manifesto were above. Sorry to the new guys above lol

blog needs a poll!

Rekrul

Korea (South)17174 Posts

December 13 2010 03:16 GMT

#12

On December 13 2010 12:11 Manifesto7 wrote:
I always give it back since I worked register jobs too. It is a huge pain in the ass to do the count at the end of the day and be out money that you can't find. Some owners will hold the worker responsible too, which would make you feel like shit probably.

That, and the good feeling you got was worth a dollar right?

Show nested quote +

Lol, I love this logic. It gets more acceptable the higher the number?

fk it man, if someone accidentally gave me back a billion dollars extra change i aint giving it back

Gabriel

149 Posts

December 13 2010 03:17 GMT

#13

On December 13 2010 12:11 Manifesto7 wrote:
I always give it back since I worked register jobs too. It is a huge pain in the ass to do the count at the end of the day and be out money that you can't find. Some owners will hold the worker responsible too.

That, and the good feeling you got was worth a dollar right?

Show nested quote +

Lol, I love this logic. It gets more acceptable the higher the number?

Not exactly the idea. Everytime i am in the same position this idea (less than 1k isnt woth even thinking) helps me to stop thinking about it since i never had more than 20 usd back as extra

TheCabDriver

Canada159 Posts

December 13 2010 03:18 GMT

#14

I give it back, I've worked at a register and given people too much before. Some people give it back, some people walk away.

VonLego

United States519 Posts

December 13 2010 03:18 GMT

#15

If you can't be trusted in small matters, you can't be trusted in large matters.

I would always give the money back no matter how large it was even if the poor guy on the other side of the counter gave me a 100 in place of a 1.

JeeJee

Canada5652 Posts

December 13 2010 03:20 GMT

#16

i give the money back, cashier jobs can be stressful as hell. people really appreciate it too. i remember once i ordered a big mac meal, paid with a $10, and got change for someone else's order (who paid with a $20, so i got like $8 of change)
i gave it back and pointed it out, she was really happy and gave me a free pie thing. i don't eat their pie so i just gave it to someone else on my way out lol. random acts of kindness ftw.

Railxp

Hong Kong1313 Posts

December 13 2010 03:26 GMT

#17

i'd give it back if i realized it in the moment, but if i'm on a car or some other transport already, ill just shrug and take it. And next time im at the store again, i'd purposefully carelessly not remember it, and go about my day.

n.DieJokes

United States3443 Posts

December 13 2010 03:32 GMT

#18

Always give it back, in my experience behind the counter they were very serious about till (which basically means all the money that should be in the register is in the register); if it was +/- 5 dollars you were up shit creek. Pretty big margin for error but they kept track of ever till and did merit awards based on lowest averages and things; if you don't need the dollar you're probably saving someone a lot of stress by returning it (also please don't put it in tips, it's nice but in my case it was pooled so it meant I'd have to take money out of my wallet and put it in the register).

micronesia

United States24799 Posts

December 13 2010 03:33 GMT

#19

When I was a supermarket cashier we were allowed to be under 2 dollars or less without any issue. More than that and they would start to get mad. Being over they didn't seem to care about.