Making change is a simple process, yet so many people do it poorly. So today I am going to give you all a lesson in change making processes. Please pass this on to everyone you know, especially the inbred teenagers at my local KFC. BTW, that new Chipotle Chicken at KFC is damn near addictive. Needs a bit more heat for my tastes, but spot on flavor wise!
The wrong way:
If you are in the food service industry there is a right way and a wrong way to return change to your customers. The wrong way would be to put all the change, bills and coins, into the check holder and then place said check holder down on the table. Now when your customer picks up the check minder, the coins go flying everywhere, and the gentlemen is cursing the dumbass (you) who did this to him. A quarter hit his ugly wife in the head, and the kids are now under the table eating things off the floor and fighting over a nickel that rolled there. Not the best last impression to be making to those people who pay your bills.
The right way:
Take the dollar bills, and place them inside the check minder. Place the check minder down on the table. Place the loose coins on top of the check minder (so they are visible to the guest). Now your guest will be able pick the change up, stick it in their pocket (hopefully) and then open up the check minder and retrieve the cash portion of their change and leave you a nice fat tip.
Now you might say but aren't the guest going to complain that they didn't get all of their change? Only once or twice a year do I get someone not smart enough to figure out to open the check minder for the remainder of their change. And I deal with 5000+ guest most years, many of whom come from the shallow end of the gene pool. If they can figure it out, so will your guests. My guests aren't uniquely intelligent. If anything they are dumber than average.
Fast Food Change making
The wrong way:
Place the bills and/or receipt into the customer's hand and then place the change on top of the cash/receipt. You moron. Where's my hammer, I'm going to pound some sense into your thick skull.
The right way:
Place the change in the customer's hand FIRST. It's that simple. You can't screw up after that. This is especially important in the drive through. If you screw this up, when the customer goes to close their hand around the change, the coins fall to the ground (especially with women who have smaller hands) because they are trying to make sure the wind doesn't blow the cash away. It's always windy in the drive through.
What prompted this post? In the last week I've seen an experienced idiot server cause a guest to shower his family with change. He wasn't trying to make it rain. Then I'm at KFC the other day, and a guy with a broken arm in a sling gets handed his change by our local inbred teen, and because he has one arm and this clueless girl has done it wrong his change ends up everywhere. Seriously, it was like he had $10 in pennies dump on the floor with they way all the change sounded after he tried to pocket it. So then he is crawling around with a broken arm trying to pick up change off a KFC floor that likely hasn't been properly cleaned since 1982.
It's not that hard. Give it a try. Pass on this wisdom to all you know and we can change the world or something.
6 comments:
Lobster Boy - I live in Australia where the "accepted" way for all retailers to hand you change is notes/receipts first, change on top. Doesn't make sense at all, but that's the way we do it. Mind you, we have coins instead of notes for $1 and $2, so if you get stiffed on the coinage it can add up.
Cheers
Toni
This is one of my biggest pet peeves. To prevent the change on top of bills maneuver I always take the bills out of their hand first then take the change. Don't give them an open palm but stick your hand out palm down and take the bills from them. Works every time.
so true...I also hate when in depaprtment stores the cashier puts the change on the glass counter and it's next to impossible to pick up. How about putting the change in my hand?
Anyway, love your blog. Give mine a read, if you'd like... :-D
-gfp
The new KFC Chipotle chicken is great! And I agree with GFP; I hate it when people put my credit card on the counter after I handed it to them. My dad takes it a bit further; when he hands a cashier his card and they put it on the surface (dispite his open hand waiting for it), he'll keep his hand out until they pick up the card and put it in his hand. It's rude, but it gets the point across.
Since you tagged this with pet peeves I'm gonna mention one of mine.
the people who rub their wet cardboard coaster causing them to shred. my step brother did this a couple weeks back and when i said he needed to clean it up he actually said why she's a server it's her job to clean it up since she services me while I'm here.
and he wonders why he lives with dad and my step mom and he's 28.
what really bugs me is when i'm working in the drive thru, wind blowing 140 miles an hour, and every single customer tries to hand me their cash a different way. some do the fold the change up in the bills and toss it thing, hoping it will somehow magically get into my hand. others prefer to weakly hold the bills between pinky and ring finger while hiding change somewhere on top or below the bills, so that no matter how i grab it i lose either the change or the cash. or they lean in and out trying to make sure i've got it, moving it everywhere even though my hand is perfectly still, waiting for them to finally figure out the target area.
change on top, change on the bottom, this is a petty detail. who gives a damn as long as the money changes hands neatly and quickly?
here's a tip: money first, change second. or change first, money second. whatever you do, do it swiftly, decisively, and separately.
and stop throwing the money on the counter when you come inside. you expect me to be able to see all that change and the crumpled bills you piled up in front of the massive point of purchase advertisements all over my counter? hand it to me like a person, dont throw it at me like i'm a coin chute at a tollway.
its a wonder fast food workers dont go on killing sprees more often.
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