Ma'am, you owe me 80 cents.....
@Married2aMarine (1273)
United States
July 15, 2007 9:50pm CST
Hubby and I encountered this today. We went to a fast food joint for lunch. This is one of those fast food joints where you order your food at the counter, pay for it, give you a number and they will bring you your food. First thing that happened, they tried to deliver our food to the wrong table even though they have the numbers to match the order! Then second thing....we were sitting next to these 2 older ladies. Let's say they ordered a Combo A and a Combo B. When the server (who looked like the person in charge for the day) brought their food over, he told them that they were charged wrongly at the counter. They were charge for two Combo A (which were cheaper) instead of one A and one B. So, he asked them to pay the difference of 80 cents!!!
Personally, I think that's ridiculous. If the cashier made a mistake, then they should just ring it up as a mistake and not make the customer pay the extra 80 cents. That's my opinion anyway. I think the restaurant should teach their staff to be more vigilant and not make mistakes like that. And by not showing them that there is a consequence to their actions, e.g. maybe taking that 80 cents out of the cashier's pay, then the workers will continue to be lax and make mistakes. What do you think? Do you think they should have made the customer pay?
6 people like this
17 responses
@tep91005 (375)
• United States
16 Jul 07
I've worked in retail and in food service and change means nothing. At the end of the day it's the service that's important. Now if it was a huge amount say they didn't real a whole combo that's another thing..but I also think that mistake would have been caught at the counter. Must companies would have eat the lose and went on with thier day. I would be terribly embarrised to walk up to a customer and say "my employee screwed..pay me 80 cents" that's silly and it looks like you can't control your own. So I agree with you. They should not have to pay the 80 cents.
1 person likes this
@devilsangel (1817)
• United States
16 Jul 07
actually at the end of the day it does matter, if your till is off then that makes a big difference, 80 cents or otherwise. Yes it was rung up wrong, however they still need to account for the differnce to balance it out because i bet ya anything they rung it up again the right way and voided out the original ticket.
@tep91005 (375)
• United States
16 Jul 07
But in this case I'm saying it would be depremental to the company to force two ladies who were already sat down and done with the transaction to say come back up here. In the long run it would be in advantage for the company to lose 80 cents for that day so those customers will come back. If they were a good buisness and knew the rights and wrongs of food service. It looks incredibly petty to ask a customer for change. And I do NOT believe anyone would get fired over 80 cents. If that person gets fired for it then they probably have already been warned.
@jbb316 (1779)
• United States
16 Jul 07
I worked in food service for many years and that was wrong. They never should have said anything to the ladies. That was their mistake and they should have taken care of it. Besides, what is 80 cents anyway. That person obviously had no idea what they were doing.
1 person likes this
@kgwat70 (13387)
• United States
17 Jul 07
That is sad that the restaurant would go and make the customers pay for the mistakes of the workers. Customer service should be more important than some change. They should take the loss and let the customers eat their food without any controversy. I think they could handle a 80 cent loss. They need to be more careful.
@Married2aMarine (1273)
• United States
18 Jul 07
Yes, I think customer service should be put first in this situation. But I don't think they really care.
@KrisNY (7590)
• United States
17 Jul 07
How crazy is that- Sure restaurants have to make a buck- but you can't tell me the fast food ones dont- I can't imagine them going out to a table with 2 elderly ladies and asking them to pay an additional 80 cents- give me a break- I would have charged it off to being dumb! there problem- sure why not charge it out of the cashiers check- or just forget it- it's not like the register would be wrong- the rang up and took the money- I would have told them NO-- there problem- and raised a stink if they didn't give me my food -- lol
@Married2aMarine (1273)
• United States
18 Jul 07
I know. I feel so bad for the two elderly ladies. They gladly paid the 80 cents. I don't think I would have done the same. I would have asked for a manager and complain about their bad customer service!
@AmbiePam (94045)
• United States
17 Jul 07
No, they shouldn't have made them pay at all! That is really rude to me. If they make a mistake and people go and get comfy and wait for their food, and then someone comes and asks for more money, it is just too bad. That ship has sailed. And it would have showed that the restaurant cared more about their customer than a buck (80 cents in this case), but they didn't seize the oppurtunity to be classy.
In a related matter I paid for my meal about a week ago, and my change was six cents. He gave me a receipt and said have a nice day. As he turned to go on his merry way I asked why he hadn't returned my change. He said it was only 6 cents and he didn't think I would need the change. Good grief! It was 6 cents, how hard would it have been to be honest? I planned to put in the little box that raises money for children with leukemia. You know those boxes that restaurants sometimes have for people to donate? I won't be going to that place again. It was a small matter, but if someone can't be honest in a small thing, I don't want to know about anything that is a bigger deal.
@Married2aMarine (1273)
• United States
18 Jul 07
What can I say...bad customer service! I'm glad you gave him grief about the 6 cents. He should not have assumed and should always give back change no matter how little they are. It's up to the customer to decide what to do with the money..not them.
@xkristalx (230)
• United States
16 Jul 07
Wow. Thats just plain absurd! I would have made a big deal about having to pay it. Its almost a dollar, true, but their employee messed up. It was an accident and a bunch of food gets thrown away in places like that and the CEO has a huge house and its just ridiculous to make those ladies dig out 80 cents and ring it all up again and blah blah blah, that guy seems like a tight &%$
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (160996)
• United States
16 Jul 07
Where I come from, if it is charged wrong, it is free. So much for that. I do know that some places take errors out of the staff's pocket, and they either learn fairly quickly, or find another job, because they cannot afford to keep paying for their mistakes. I think the employees in this case were wrong, and I would also be alwmost willing to bet that it is not store policy, but the server took it upon themself to see if they can recoup the losses.
@Married2aMarine (1273)
• United States
18 Jul 07
Yeah, I think it's important for staff to be more vigilant when it comes to such things and I guess if they know there is a consequence that will affect them directly .i.e money coming out of their paycheck if they make a mistake, then they would not be so inclined to make so many mistakes.
@visitorinvasion (7709)
• United States
16 Jul 07
I can say I've personally never worked at a restaurant...or even a bar...that would have allowed that to happen for the price of an entire meal, let alone a lousy 80 cents.
I'd also venture to guess that that restaurant lost repeat business. Most likely those ladies will go have lunch somewhere else from now on.
@jchampany (1130)
• United States
20 Jul 07
That is totally ridiculous. That was the mistake of the business and they should just chalk it up to an 80 cent loss. If I was the ladies I would have told them that same thing. And if it was rung up incorrectly did they even get the right food?
The problem today is that people have decided it is not important to teach their kids responsibilty and hard work. That is why we have these problems at places like this. I am not saying they didn't always exist but it seems to be worse. Kids that have these jobs just don't care anymore about customer service. They are just there to pass teh time while they get paid until they can go home. And what's even worse. Most of these places have started to put tip jars out!!!! What is that about. The next time I put a tip in one of those jars it's going to be a "tip" on a sheet of paper telling them how they could improve their service. We should start treating the tip jar as a suggestion box.
Sorry for the rant. lol
@cefaz_21 (2596)
• Philippines
16 Jul 07
I think it's the cashier who charged them wrong is the one that should pay that 80 cents. Its what I'l do if I'm on the situation,rather than going to the customer and asking for it, but if it's ab ig amount of money like It's could be my day's salary,then I'll approach them and apologise for the mistake and would ask them politely to pay the right amount.
@creematee (2810)
• United States
20 Jul 07
So, if the cashier accidently rang them as two B combos, would he have come over and brought the ladies the extra 80 cents? I don't think so.
How did he ring it up anyway? Most Fast food joints print the order directly from the register and give it to the "cooks." It should have read...
A combo
A combo
if he rang them up wrong. Then they would have gotten the wrong order. Since they had the correct order, the cashier had to have rang it up correctly?
@raychill (6525)
• United States
16 Jul 07
When I used to work in retail a cash register that was off was a big deal if it was more than $5.00 off. However, if I knew that I screwed up or one of my fellow employees screwed up we'd figure out a way to try and make the difference if it was only by a few cents. Like, I would have thrown $.80 of my own to make up for the difference of my own screw up. that is absolutely rude and ridiculous. I mean, I completely disagree with the saying that "the customer is always right" but if you screw up, that's you're fault and you shouldn't make the customer pay for your mistake.
@Married2aMarine (1273)
• United States
18 Jul 07
That's how I feel too..if the cashier screwed up, he/she should be the one mending the mistake.
@babycakescom (17)
• United States
16 Jul 07
No, they should not have to pay. It was the cashiers mistake. They should be apoligizing and correcting the mistake. The customer is always right no matter what. No questions asked.
@thegreentower (2)
•
16 Jul 07
That is absurd that what is presumably a muliti-million dollar company, would swindle two older women out of 80 cents!
@usmcsgtwife (4997)
• United States
16 Jul 07
I agree, I think it was rude to ask the customer to pay, I would not pay if I was them
@foxyfire33 (10005)
• United States
16 Jul 07
I think it was incredibly rude of them to ask for the extra 80 cents. Once the transaction is made and the customers leave the counter, it's over, any mistakes need to be caught and corrected beforehand. I would wonder if they would have said anything had they over charged by 80 cents? Somehow I doubt it. I agree that any mistakes like that should be taken out of the workers paycheck...or pocket right then and there for that matter.
@maddysmommy (16230)
• United States
16 Jul 07
I have made mistakes when I use to work in a bar more than a few years back and have asked for the customer to pay what was owed. I would apologise, explain what I did wrong and most of the time they would be nice about it and pay what was owed. I don't know if I would of bothered about 80c though as that is a small amount to ask for. I probably would of paid it using any tips I got LOL
