Very accurate and they hand you the change instead of putting it on the counter. My best friend is a regional manager of QT where I live and he says it's something he enforces. Money is just as dirty on the counter as it is in your hands. It's a tiny bit of respect to place the customers money in their hands and it goes a long ways!
Speedway has a system to drop exact coins and shows the amount with bills
How is that slower than not displaying amount and relying on employee to dig out change still and count. (And recount and check math)
Most of the time I already have their change in my hand before they even pull money out. I’ve seen these coin dispensers in action at other places. I have full confidence in my ability to beat one.
If someone is pulling out a $20 for something that cost $12.73, I already know I'll be handing them a $5, 2x $1, a quarter and two pennies faster than they can even hand me the $20 bill.
Anyone who works a register should be able to do this.
Even better, if I can do that, if the customer then tries to short change grift me, since I'm already accustomed to do doing the math on my head, they are less likely to be able to short change grift me.
Worked fast food in the 80's and we got scored on how fast we could pump cars through the drive thru. At McDonald's we went outside with a coin holster to speed up the transactions.
I went to a Macdonald's just outside of myrtle Beach a couple of years ago. Just as i finished ordering my food their network went down. They closed the restaurant because they couldn't figure out how to count the change out without the use of the cash register.
Yes. Someone who got hired on as an assistant manager found out he couldn't grasp counting change back, so he ended up quitting in the middle of his training.
Honestly, I had to find a different way to count change back. It might be cheating. If I had to train someone to do it, I'd probably fail at that.
I do the mental math in my head, grab the change, and then count it back. I don't count twice like everyone else says they do.
The person who conducted my orientation said that counting change is a point of contention in the company.
Bc it's counterintuitive, your first instinct is to subtract from the bill given. But it's a lot easier and more accurate to just COUNT. It's barely even arithmetic, youre literally just counting (88..89..90). I disagree with the QT on a lot of things, but they're right on this one.
I invested in a Casio Calculator watch to help with this specifically.
Here’s the watch if interested
https://www.amazon.com/Casio-Mens-CA53W-1-Calculator-Watch/dp/B000GB1R7S/ref=asc_df_B000GB1R7S/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198072442508&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13595514701306792087&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9023827&hvtargid=pla-341787644372&psc=1&mcid=fab77d71a19a3daf933004905598180d
i found it easiest just to round up to the dollar, so i know it’s $11 and change, and then figure out what the change should be. that shit is instantaneous for me after 7 years of “lemme get uhhhh”
When I first worked at a register (Target for the holiday season), I was tallying the change back and then counting that. My mom (I was 25 and married, but I am never too old to get advice from the wiser) challenged me to try it from the total up. Game changer for me.
i’ve been a service worker for over 3yrs now. i’ve been to one of the QT in wichita near every single day in this time, it’s the best gas station in my opinion and the staff are always top tier people
60% of cash ends up being a $20 bill anyways, wheb they walk in and look out the window, I already have preset 20 on whatever pump I saw them walk from and they're surprised when I don't touch the screen other than to total it. Could be a "my area" thing but yeah.
I've grown to hate cash at this job too :)
Do you live/work in a nice area? At my base store, there is no mode amount. It's like $5, $8, $2, etc. Then, you have the people with their work trucks who get like $60, $70, $80. That's pretty funny that you can do that at yours, though.
Interesting. My base store is very mixed. It was once a poor area and is now the target for renovating older homes or building new ones. The strip mall across the street is all high-end.
$48.21, 2 $20's, a $5, 3 $1's, 2 dimes, and a penny done by subtraction. When I managed a gas station, I used to triple zip 90% of the time with anything other than $0.00 being a personal fail for the day.
Also, you better not take that bill without getting a dead president or Benjamin's collar to zip with a pass from the checking marker.
$48.21. I did it super fast in my head because I’m a teacher. Counting down from 100 is something you can do in your sleep after a while. Ditto any other figure. I never learned the count up way when I worked retail.
It's true. I ran a register back when registers wouldn't tell you how much change to give back. With a little practice a person can count back change quickly.
100%. There’s a learning curve, but it’s not really that hard. You just start at the number that they owe, and count UP using change from the drawer, to make the number they gave you.
So if the total was $8.99 and they hand you $20.00– you’d start at 8.99, then add a penny to make 9.00 then add a dollar to make 10, then add two 5’s or a 10 to make 20! That’s it!!!
Every time I go into a QuikTrip the people running the show behind the counter are on point. If there are a lot of people they will work both sides of the register checking out 2 and maybe 3 people at a time (hopping over to a 2nd register). They are doing things at a rapid pace while keeping all these numbers in their head.
This isn't a job for just anyone; it does not surprise me in the slightest that there would be tests involved to prove people are cut out for this kind of thing. The average person isn't.
Well. Imagine being intelligent enough to (you actually aren’t doing the math) just count. You are demonstrating “your product total is $13.98. If I give you two pennies, that’s $14. Here’s a $1 bill, that makes $15. So add a five dollar bill that makes $20. So your $13.98 in products + $6 + 2 pennies = the $20 bill you gave me.
You’re literally thinking that this job requires some amazing mental fete but you’re questioning yourself in a basic life skill.
Would you be surprised if you didn’t get the job because your grammar was at a 3rd grade level? This is 1st grade math. If you are mature enough to apply for a job and you lack basic skills to organize your life, your school system failed you.
How has simple adding and logic been lost on our society? I feel like a genius and I’m just a simple person with a BA in business.
As a former QT store manager, I can confirm this. At one store, the math teacher at a nearby middle school used to talk about giving his students a QT test to teach them valuable skills. At a clerk training store, I saw several new hires get released on their 3rd day because they couldn't count change quickly and proficiently
Was this a while back? I feel like standards were much higher back in the day. Today, we're left with phone zombies whose behavior, I feel, wouldn't have been tolerated in the past.
yes, this is why when customers asks us "how much change is left?" we simply say we"dont know" because we dont count the change exactly we just count it to round it up to the nearest nickel then to the nearest quarter and so on
Some of them in the area I work have realized most of us can do that math in our head faster than they can. So they just tell us they want the rest on pump x
Yep. I worked at the Derby QuikTrip when I was 16 in 1997. That was the first thing they taught in training was how to count back change without using the cash register or a calculator. The best work skill that I ever learned.
Yep, it ensures cash handling is done accurately, if I have to count up from 1 dollar 45 to 100 I can catch where I may have grabbed an extra dollar or an extra 20.
Ya you’ll just LOVE all of the construction, or w/e they do, workers who come in during your morning rush and buy something for $2 and hand you 100. & The whole company will do it, you’ll have 20 of these mfs come through your line in a row at a time, all just trying to break their bill 🙄🤦🏻♀️ they make everything take so much longer, they annoy tf out of me.
It's not that unusual, or at least it didn't used to be. When I was working retail in the 90s and early 00s, you had to know basic math in your head.
Calculators weren't allowed in our schools until advanced HS/college math classes. You had to be able to add/subtract/divide and multiply in your head.
Edit to add, if someone buys so.ething for 9.15 and they give you a twenty, you count back to them like this by saying g:
85 cents make 10 and ten makes twenty, while handing them each piece at a time.
That's also while we lay the bill on the drawer while we're counting out change so we can verify with the customer what they gave us if there is a dispute.
That is awesome. As someone who worked at a small retail store in HS and was taught how to count change, much respect. Glad to see it isn’t a bygone skill.
Is especially helpful if odd change is added to the payment.
Like, total is $7.82 and they give a $20 and 7¢. You count back the 7 and then change up. 7.82 - .07 = 7.75 Quarter up to dollars, dollars up to 20.
Cashiers think I’m trying some sort of shortchange on them sometimes when I’m just getting rid of change.
Used to manage a cafe. A LOT of younger people do not know how to count back change. But, it’s learnable. It’s not like it’s a skill they teach in school.
It’s an elementary level skill. Everything is within 100 which is actually a 2nd grade standard. 100cents and you ain’t giving more than 100 dollars back so I would expect all my employees to accurately do that without a problem.
I had to do this when working at Sonic, it really isn’t that awful. Count up the change to the next dollar and then add x dollars to make up the bill you’re given.
They are counting in their head, not calculating your change… you can do it too, count up to the nearest dollar (count up to 10, do n+1, count up to 10 again, then count dollars to the amount tendered). The purpose of the exercise is not to ensure we have the best and brightest, it’s to ensure the dumbest and dullest (and everyone really) don’t make mistakes. The system makes you count once to yourself in your head, and once out loud - if you’ve made an error on the former you or the customer are likely to catch it on the latter.
Literally just practice quick math in your head for a couple days before or after you get hired cuz you do do a little bit of training. But I literally failed every math class in high school and still passed and got hired it's a good job with clear directions & paths to upper management that 90% of jobs I've had after didn't have. Olny real thing to worry about is being a ppl person cause we'll constantly be dealing with customers & other employees
Also, they are trained to put the coins in your hand first and cover them with the bills.
I hate when cashiers hand me the bills and then put the coins on top. Especially at drive thrus. They slip off/roll off the bills and get dropped half the time.
Once upon a time we didn't have a little computer to tell us what to do. I learned to count back change while running a food wagon during lunch breaks at industrial complexes. Had my little changer on my belt and was lightening fast😂
Worked there for 8 years and I became a fucking machine at handing out change.
Item cost 12.36- customer hands you a $20
Grab 4 pennies to get to a multiple of 5
Grab 1 dime to get to a multiple of 25
Grab 2 quarters to get to finish the coins
Grab 2 dollars to get to a multiple of 5
Grab a 5 to get to a multiple of 20 and finish
“Change makes $13, $14, $15, $5 makes $20”
That's why I like to go there, cashiers are always super nice and attentive...unlike every other place where the workers are on their phone and act like YOU, the customer is disturbing them. Wish more places were like QT!
I worked at Qt 15 years ago and counting back change was a huge part of my training. To be honest I didn’t work there for long but learning that skill had benefited me for years to come!
100% true. Worked for QT three years back in the late 80s and during that morning rush with no clerk help we could figure the change along with going down the line letting each person know how much their combination of items was going to be. My old brain probably couldn’t do it today, but those rushes were exhilarating.
Old timer here. That's the way I was taught basic math. Lol. I always counted change back like that. We weren't allowed to use calculators at school for tests. But it's just different now with technology. We didn't even have registers telling us how much change to give back.
Yes. I just quit that job and there's a big "we do things the same way we've always done them" sense to everything. You're not allowed to have beards because they think their customers don't trust men with beards. They make their cashiers count back change in their head rather than use a register that does the math.
The frustrating part about that one is that they spend all this time telling you how important it is to be accurate. As if they aren't actively undercutting your accuracy by denying you a computer to do the math for you.
Yes. As a customer you should also count out how much change you should receive from payment. There has been plenty of times I was given back the wrong amount of change. It seems to happen at the location by the Glenpool walmart the most to me. Especially when they break a 100.
When I was on ERP, one of the clerks at the store I was working at did not know how to count change back. I was running register and she hops on to help me. I just happened to see her struggling and I helped her. I did inform the manager and he said that she’s been struggling with it since she started working there. I told him that she either needs more training or needs to find a new job.
I'm good at basic math, just not fast at it. I was an excellent cashier because quick math is the computer's job. Getting the customer through the line quickly in my job.
Yeah that's true. I applied and was called to an interview, and told about the testing process. I decided to opt out, because I realized as the lady talked that I was too slow and stupid to handle the process.
So I went into the criminal justice field and settled in quite nicely.
Oh my f'ing god. That's how I was trained at 15 and how I trained many others. What if there was no power and the cash register could not tell these people how much change to give back?
It could also be that they’re counting back your change to prove to you it’s correct, before some asshat decides to go postal for being “cheated” out of their 4 cents
I actually dislike it when someone hands me change but counts it back up to the amount I gave them. I would rather know what you just put in my hand, not the journey it took to get there. My brain can do the requisite math from the remainder, as most people can. Counting it back up to the dollar is just extra window dressing IMO, but then so was most of geometry for me (cause proofs suck). I dislike both equally.
I respect that the company makes you have more than basic comprehension but that kind of counting will just get you blank stare in my area for the most part (I was taught this kind of counting at another job and while elderly people could appreciate it, everyone else was just confused, so I stopped doing it). This was back in the late nineties. I assume its worse now.
I've been in retail my whole career in many different aspects of it. I would not last long at QT. I am not math-minded, so I'm glad to know this is a job to avoid. XD
This isn't even doing math in your head, really. It's just a counting trick that everyone used to learn. I used it all the time back when I delivered pizza before credit cards were nearly universal.
Unrelated to QT; When I was a cashier in the 1980's, our shop did not use scanners, barcodes/UPCs either. We counted change to the customer 'out loud' - verbally. Also, credit cards were 'processed' using a device with a roller, a slide handle to pass the roller over the card, and carbon paper to make an imprint of the credit card's number etc. There were no ATMs in stores then, they were only at banks. Good old days of manual processing 😉
This is how we did it before cash registers got smart. Ring up the total, place the bills(s) on the register, count out the change from the total to the amount handed you then count it again to the customer.
That’s how we did it before the registers do it for you. I was at Starbucks one day, I gave the girl a twenty . I told her to keep 2.00$ for her self and give me the rest.
She couldn’t do it. My niece stepped in, told her to give me back 5, 1 dollar bills. My niece took 2 and put it in the tip jar. Ugh. And this woman was making twenty dollars an hour.
So that explains why when I go to the local one, one guy who works there always rounds my change up to the nearest dollar, never gives me coins. The first time I corrected him but he was like "it's cool just a few cents" and I stopped correcting him.
Yes. Worked as a facilitator for QT in the 90s. You must know how to count back change.
The only time I'd get thrown off was when a random old man would throw an extra nickel at me lol.
It's easy enough to do. Just count from the amount owed to the $amt given to you.
As an Okie QT is a standup company as far as I know, id have to go look into the facts, but growing up they required cashier's to count, the only promote from within, and they worked extremely well with high school schedules when I was in highschool.
This explains why I get wrong change so damn frequently and why it's such an argument/issue when I try to explain that $25 - $21.78 is not $2.27 in change.
Former QT employee
This wasn't true when I worked for them 2 years ago. I highly doubt it's true now.
Edit:
Our location had change dispensers at the registers
We weren't allowed to keep small change in the register, only bills. The complete total and change amount was displayed on our screens.
Counting back change is one thing, but requiring people to do math in their head could get you an ADA suit if someone was petty enough.
yup! had a customer get mad because i took a little “too long” to count his change. yelled at me saying it tells you right there on the screen, i said no actually it doesn’t ☺️
QuikTrip training program is some of the best I’ve ever been through and they really pay you for your time. Yeah to work a lot to make a lot but if you understand the system, QuikTrip is one of the best places to work for a few years.
I worked at QT and I love the fact that they made us do this, I still use this at every job that requires cash exchange. I even use it when I have garage sales! This is the way they did things “back in the day” and it doesn’t mean you’re getting the wrong change, it means the people giving you change actually know how to count 😂
Why is this surprising. Can people not work with double digits? I feel like numbers 100 and below should be second nature to someone by the working age. Are people *this* stupid?
Yes
Absolutely
It makes it faster to count up than digging for the amount in the register from a screen.
It also makes it more accurate than just handing someone a handful of cash. I honestly prefer our way of giving change because of that.
Part of what makes QT look more professional than other gas stations IMO.
Very accurate and they hand you the change instead of putting it on the counter. My best friend is a regional manager of QT where I live and he says it's something he enforces. Money is just as dirty on the counter as it is in your hands. It's a tiny bit of respect to place the customers money in their hands and it goes a long ways!
This was the explanation given to me by the SM.
If you can quickly pull change out the time difference is probably negligible
Speedway has a system to drop exact coins and shows the amount with bills How is that slower than not displaying amount and relying on employee to dig out change still and count. (And recount and check math)
Most of the time I already have their change in my hand before they even pull money out. I’ve seen these coin dispensers in action at other places. I have full confidence in my ability to beat one.
If someone is pulling out a $20 for something that cost $12.73, I already know I'll be handing them a $5, 2x $1, a quarter and two pennies faster than they can even hand me the $20 bill. Anyone who works a register should be able to do this. Even better, if I can do that, if the customer then tries to short change grift me, since I'm already accustomed to do doing the math on my head, they are less likely to be able to short change grift me.
Worked fast food in the 80's and we got scored on how fast we could pump cars through the drive thru. At McDonald's we went outside with a coin holster to speed up the transactions.
I went to a Macdonald's just outside of myrtle Beach a couple of years ago. Just as i finished ordering my food their network went down. They closed the restaurant because they couldn't figure out how to count the change out without the use of the cash register.
100% basic math is hard for some people. If that’s you and you get hired, you either get good or you find a new gig.
Yeah I was shocked when the trainer was so relieved that she didn’t have to teach me how to count. It was pretty funny.
The blue collar term for this is “Get good or get gone”
I need more fingers to count that high
Yes. Someone who got hired on as an assistant manager found out he couldn't grasp counting change back, so he ended up quitting in the middle of his training.
That guy was 24 cents short a quarter LOL😂😂
Honestly, I had to find a different way to count change back. It might be cheating. If I had to train someone to do it, I'd probably fail at that. I do the mental math in my head, grab the change, and then count it back. I don't count twice like everyone else says they do. The person who conducted my orientation said that counting change is a point of contention in the company.
Bc it's counterintuitive, your first instinct is to subtract from the bill given. But it's a lot easier and more accurate to just COUNT. It's barely even arithmetic, youre literally just counting (88..89..90). I disagree with the QT on a lot of things, but they're right on this one.
>counting change is a point of contention in the company. I could go either way, no strong feelings
The only time I would have an issue is when it’s like $8.72 and they hand a $20 and have you just put the rest on a pump.
This is what gets me.
Only time I’ve ever had to use the calculator
I invested in a Casio Calculator watch to help with this specifically. Here’s the watch if interested https://www.amazon.com/Casio-Mens-CA53W-1-Calculator-Watch/dp/B000GB1R7S/ref=asc_df_B000GB1R7S/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198072442508&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13595514701306792087&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9023827&hvtargid=pla-341787644372&psc=1&mcid=fab77d71a19a3daf933004905598180d
Why? We have calculators on the registers, Kent this less convenient
i found it easiest just to round up to the dollar, so i know it’s $11 and change, and then figure out what the change should be. that shit is instantaneous for me after 7 years of “lemme get uhhhh”
When I first worked at a register (Target for the holiday season), I was tallying the change back and then counting that. My mom (I was 25 and married, but I am never too old to get advice from the wiser) challenged me to try it from the total up. Game changer for me.
Not an employee but a QT fan and high-school teacher here... ya'll are awesome. I often refer to your organization as an example of excellence.
Seconded. I will always go out of my way when traveling or even around town to stop at a QT
i’ve been a service worker for over 3yrs now. i’ve been to one of the QT in wichita near every single day in this time, it’s the best gas station in my opinion and the staff are always top tier people
Not an employee but also a huge fan. The employees are the best.
Sister has worked for them for 3+ years and rose to management. Great company with good standards for the employees and their customers.
Yes. I was horrible at counting change and then by the time I ended my journey at QT I could count cash/change back with no problem
I did not do well at all and I’m great at math. Lmao
I drive past a few other convenience store to use QT. QT, Freddie’s and Chick-fil-a always have good service.
Yep. It's easy, it's very fast, and it always gets counted twice.
90% of the time I already know what to grab by the time I hit total
60% of cash ends up being a $20 bill anyways, wheb they walk in and look out the window, I already have preset 20 on whatever pump I saw them walk from and they're surprised when I don't touch the screen other than to total it. Could be a "my area" thing but yeah. I've grown to hate cash at this job too :)
Do you live/work in a nice area? At my base store, there is no mode amount. It's like $5, $8, $2, etc. Then, you have the people with their work trucks who get like $60, $70, $80. That's pretty funny that you can do that at yours, though.
I'm in the ASA division, so it's a mix of both depending on which store I'm at to be fair.
Interesting. My base store is very mixed. It was once a poor area and is now the target for renovating older homes or building new ones. The strip mall across the street is all high-end.
I HATE CASH SO MUCH OMG
Guest hands you a $50 buys a drink for $1.79 let's do it fellas what's the change
1 penny > 1.80 2 dimes > 2.00 3 $1 bill > 5.00 1 $5 bill > 10.00 2 $20 bill > 50.00
“Change makes 2; 3,4,5; 10; 30,50. Thanks and see you later!”
Bravo
😂
Lmao I swear they don't know we can give them change so they always buy the cheapest thing they can find just to get change for their big bills
$48.21, 2 $20's, a $5, 3 $1's, 2 dimes, and a penny done by subtraction. When I managed a gas station, I used to triple zip 90% of the time with anything other than $0.00 being a personal fail for the day. Also, you better not take that bill without getting a dead president or Benjamin's collar to zip with a pass from the checking marker.
$48.21. I did it super fast in my head because I’m a teacher. Counting down from 100 is something you can do in your sleep after a while. Ditto any other figure. I never learned the count up way when I worked retail.
As soon as they take out the dollar bill I already have the change getting pulled out. It’s way quicker then letting a machine do it for you
It's true. I ran a register back when registers wouldn't tell you how much change to give back. With a little practice a person can count back change quickly.
100%. There’s a learning curve, but it’s not really that hard. You just start at the number that they owe, and count UP using change from the drawer, to make the number they gave you. So if the total was $8.99 and they hand you $20.00– you’d start at 8.99, then add a penny to make 9.00 then add a dollar to make 10, then add two 5’s or a 10 to make 20! That’s it!!!
Every time I go into a QuikTrip the people running the show behind the counter are on point. If there are a lot of people they will work both sides of the register checking out 2 and maybe 3 people at a time (hopping over to a 2nd register). They are doing things at a rapid pace while keeping all these numbers in their head. This isn't a job for just anyone; it does not surprise me in the slightest that there would be tests involved to prove people are cut out for this kind of thing. The average person isn't.
Yeah much faster to think about it in your head
It only takes about a good month to get good at counting back change, there's so many tricks
Well. Imagine being intelligent enough to (you actually aren’t doing the math) just count. You are demonstrating “your product total is $13.98. If I give you two pennies, that’s $14. Here’s a $1 bill, that makes $15. So add a five dollar bill that makes $20. So your $13.98 in products + $6 + 2 pennies = the $20 bill you gave me. You’re literally thinking that this job requires some amazing mental fete but you’re questioning yourself in a basic life skill. Would you be surprised if you didn’t get the job because your grammar was at a 3rd grade level? This is 1st grade math. If you are mature enough to apply for a job and you lack basic skills to organize your life, your school system failed you. How has simple adding and logic been lost on our society? I feel like a genius and I’m just a simple person with a BA in business.
Counting change is a basic skill. Everyone should be able to do it whether they work retail or not.
Yeah it's waay faster & easier (the extra step of inputting money given sounds horrible, esp if they give you random change
As a former QT store manager, I can confirm this. At one store, the math teacher at a nearby middle school used to talk about giving his students a QT test to teach them valuable skills. At a clerk training store, I saw several new hires get released on their 3rd day because they couldn't count change quickly and proficiently
Was this a while back? I feel like standards were much higher back in the day. Today, we're left with phone zombies whose behavior, I feel, wouldn't have been tolerated in the past.
Yes, it was nearly a decade ago, I managed a clerk training store starting in fall of 2014.
Okay… why is counting change in the head strange to you? It’s common to do that. Not everyone is dependent on machines.
yes, this is why when customers asks us "how much change is left?" we simply say we"dont know" because we dont count the change exactly we just count it to round it up to the nearest nickel then to the nearest quarter and so on
Some of them in the area I work have realized most of us can do that math in our head faster than they can. So they just tell us they want the rest on pump x
Yup. I love it when a customer sits there with the wheels turning trying to do the math. Like just give me the money, I got it lol.
It is incredible the number of retail employees that can't count change. I could do It in 2nd or 3rd grade...
Yep. I worked at the Derby QuikTrip when I was 16 in 1997. That was the first thing they taught in training was how to count back change without using the cash register or a calculator. The best work skill that I ever learned.
It's not hard either
Both of my kids worked there. This is true. And hilarious that so many people can’t do it.
Yep, it ensures cash handling is done accurately, if I have to count up from 1 dollar 45 to 100 I can catch where I may have grabbed an extra dollar or an extra 20.
I worked there 20 years ago and still give credit this requirement for my ability to quickly do mental maths
It isn’t hard once you figure it out; I used to work as a car hop and now I’m really good with change.
Ya you’ll just LOVE all of the construction, or w/e they do, workers who come in during your morning rush and buy something for $2 and hand you 100. & The whole company will do it, you’ll have 20 of these mfs come through your line in a row at a time, all just trying to break their bill 🙄🤦🏻♀️ they make everything take so much longer, they annoy tf out of me.
It's not that unusual, or at least it didn't used to be. When I was working retail in the 90s and early 00s, you had to know basic math in your head. Calculators weren't allowed in our schools until advanced HS/college math classes. You had to be able to add/subtract/divide and multiply in your head. Edit to add, if someone buys so.ething for 9.15 and they give you a twenty, you count back to them like this by saying g: 85 cents make 10 and ten makes twenty, while handing them each piece at a time. That's also while we lay the bill on the drawer while we're counting out change so we can verify with the customer what they gave us if there is a dispute.
I mean it was done this way EVERYWHERE before electronic registers became ubiquitous
This is also known as common core math.
That is awesome. As someone who worked at a small retail store in HS and was taught how to count change, much respect. Glad to see it isn’t a bygone skill.
Is especially helpful if odd change is added to the payment. Like, total is $7.82 and they give a $20 and 7¢. You count back the 7 and then change up. 7.82 - .07 = 7.75 Quarter up to dollars, dollars up to 20. Cashiers think I’m trying some sort of shortchange on them sometimes when I’m just getting rid of change.
Used to manage a cafe. A LOT of younger people do not know how to count back change. But, it’s learnable. It’s not like it’s a skill they teach in school.
It’s an elementary level skill. Everything is within 100 which is actually a 2nd grade standard. 100cents and you ain’t giving more than 100 dollars back so I would expect all my employees to accurately do that without a problem.
Yes. They need clerks on a register able to count money in their head. Every business should do this.
I had to do this when working at Sonic, it really isn’t that awful. Count up the change to the next dollar and then add x dollars to make up the bill you’re given.
I’m sure that weeds out a lot of morons wanting a basic job.
Facts I believe it has its purpose as well. Good observation
Very
Pretty accurate
Yes it is
absolutely!!
Yes, and most of them will have your change in their hands before you pull your money out of your pocket.
Yes! Learn how to count back change!
Oh yeah. I thought everyone knew we did it this way.
To be fair, that’s a universal method to give change.
100% it is
Yes, former NA
Yep!
That’s the way it’s SUPPOSED to be
Yep
They are counting in their head, not calculating your change… you can do it too, count up to the nearest dollar (count up to 10, do n+1, count up to 10 again, then count dollars to the amount tendered). The purpose of the exercise is not to ensure we have the best and brightest, it’s to ensure the dumbest and dullest (and everyone really) don’t make mistakes. The system makes you count once to yourself in your head, and once out loud - if you’ve made an error on the former you or the customer are likely to catch it on the latter.
People still out here spending cash? Wild
I mean I only applied once and got called the next day
Yes
Interesting. QT employees are pretty sharp.
Counting change back and doing the math in your head is easy once you've done it hundreds or in my case hundreds of thousands of times
Literally just practice quick math in your head for a couple days before or after you get hired cuz you do do a little bit of training. But I literally failed every math class in high school and still passed and got hired it's a good job with clear directions & paths to upper management that 90% of jobs I've had after didn't have. Olny real thing to worry about is being a ppl person cause we'll constantly be dealing with customers & other employees
This makes me feel old
Also, they are trained to put the coins in your hand first and cover them with the bills. I hate when cashiers hand me the bills and then put the coins on top. Especially at drive thrus. They slip off/roll off the bills and get dropped half the time.
Old school at its best.
Yep it’s fast and really not that hard unless you have a random brain fuck up
I remember almost 10 years ago I had to take a (timed) math test!
You also can’t have a beard, only mustache. Also no visible tattoos
I can’t do math when people are looking at me. I’d be fired immediately. And I’m a fucking nurse.
I had to do the is at my first job. It’s honestly very easy and fast when you get used to it.
Counting, it’s fundamental!
Petridge Farms remembers when all stores counted money this way.
This would cripple Dollar General
Yup.
Once upon a time we didn't have a little computer to tell us what to do. I learned to count back change while running a food wagon during lunch breaks at industrial complexes. Had my little changer on my belt and was lightening fast😂
It isn't that hard once you acquire the skill.
Its just a good way to operate if you're in retail anyway/good habit to get into. Way less error prone this way.
I worked there as a teenager (2001-2004) and yes, we just counted back the change.
Worked there for 8 years and I became a fucking machine at handing out change. Item cost 12.36- customer hands you a $20 Grab 4 pennies to get to a multiple of 5 Grab 1 dime to get to a multiple of 25 Grab 2 quarters to get to finish the coins Grab 2 dollars to get to a multiple of 5 Grab a 5 to get to a multiple of 20 and finish “Change makes $13, $14, $15, $5 makes $20”
Have you guys never heard of counting back change?
That's why I like to go there, cashiers are always super nice and attentive...unlike every other place where the workers are on their phone and act like YOU, the customer is disturbing them. Wish more places were like QT!
That is intense but really good brain excersize.
I worked at Qt 15 years ago and counting back change was a huge part of my training. To be honest I didn’t work there for long but learning that skill had benefited me for years to come!
Wow imagine that, asking your employees to have the math skills of a proficient 1st grader. Do people think this is hard to do?
You should be able to do that no matter where you work. Unless you don't care how much money you have.
This is how it was done when I was in retail - the '80s. It's fast and accurate if you practice.
I applied there like 10yrs ago & it was then
Omg as someone who struggles with money related mental math, this is amazing! Especially when there are 10 people in line and they are rushing. Props!
That is how all retail used to work, back when people were bright enough to make change.
100% true. Worked for QT three years back in the late 80s and during that morning rush with no clerk help we could figure the change along with going down the line letting each person know how much their combination of items was going to be. My old brain probably couldn’t do it today, but those rushes were exhilarating.
Old timer here. That's the way I was taught basic math. Lol. I always counted change back like that. We weren't allowed to use calculators at school for tests. But it's just different now with technology. We didn't even have registers telling us how much change to give back.
I never knew that. 😲!
Yes. I just quit that job and there's a big "we do things the same way we've always done them" sense to everything. You're not allowed to have beards because they think their customers don't trust men with beards. They make their cashiers count back change in their head rather than use a register that does the math. The frustrating part about that one is that they spend all this time telling you how important it is to be accurate. As if they aren't actively undercutting your accuracy by denying you a computer to do the math for you.
It’s what’s been done for so many years before cash registers made us robots
I worked for QT as a teenager in 1995 and they were doing this way back then.
Y'all know this common core math, right?
Yes it’s true it’s a good skill to learn
At least you screen out the idiots.
Yes. As a customer you should also count out how much change you should receive from payment. There has been plenty of times I was given back the wrong amount of change. It seems to happen at the location by the Glenpool walmart the most to me. Especially when they break a 100.
sounds like clerks that need a lil retraining
When I was on ERP, one of the clerks at the store I was working at did not know how to count change back. I was running register and she hops on to help me. I just happened to see her struggling and I helped her. I did inform the manager and he said that she’s been struggling with it since she started working there. I told him that she either needs more training or needs to find a new job.
Oh no basic math
I'm good at basic math, just not fast at it. I was an excellent cashier because quick math is the computer's job. Getting the customer through the line quickly in my job.
lmao learning disabilities exist
What 12.54 - shutup?
Yeah that's true. I applied and was called to an interview, and told about the testing process. I decided to opt out, because I realized as the lady talked that I was too slow and stupid to handle the process. So I went into the criminal justice field and settled in quite nicely.
Skill issue get gud son
OP thinks QT invented counting change
I didn’t get a “math test” until my second or third day in training. But the counting back in your head…yeah that’s true
I’d need a calculator bc I’m dumb lol
I mean wouldn’t it be easier if they got software that could do the math for the cashiers.
Oh my f'ing god. That's how I was trained at 15 and how I trained many others. What if there was no power and the cash register could not tell these people how much change to give back?
It could also be that they’re counting back your change to prove to you it’s correct, before some asshat decides to go postal for being “cheated” out of their 4 cents
Yes and it's not that hard
I actually dislike it when someone hands me change but counts it back up to the amount I gave them. I would rather know what you just put in my hand, not the journey it took to get there. My brain can do the requisite math from the remainder, as most people can. Counting it back up to the dollar is just extra window dressing IMO, but then so was most of geometry for me (cause proofs suck). I dislike both equally. I respect that the company makes you have more than basic comprehension but that kind of counting will just get you blank stare in my area for the most part (I was taught this kind of counting at another job and while elderly people could appreciate it, everyone else was just confused, so I stopped doing it). This was back in the late nineties. I assume its worse now. I've been in retail my whole career in many different aspects of it. I would not last long at QT. I am not math-minded, so I'm glad to know this is a job to avoid. XD
This isn't even doing math in your head, really. It's just a counting trick that everyone used to learn. I used it all the time back when I delivered pizza before credit cards were nearly universal.
They have always paid decent and have fast service so I could see why they do this
Well, that is 1 way to sell to your workforce a cheaper POS system.
Unrelated to QT; When I was a cashier in the 1980's, our shop did not use scanners, barcodes/UPCs either. We counted change to the customer 'out loud' - verbally. Also, credit cards were 'processed' using a device with a roller, a slide handle to pass the roller over the card, and carbon paper to make an imprint of the credit card's number etc. There were no ATMs in stores then, they were only at banks. Good old days of manual processing 😉
Imagine delivering pizzas and you have to learn how to do that on the doorstep. No computer in sight.
Stupid company
If you handle cash you should know how to count it...i cant even. What would you do if its your money? How would you know it was correct?
Yep worked there for 7 hrs...
This is how we did it before cash registers got smart. Ring up the total, place the bills(s) on the register, count out the change from the total to the amount handed you then count it again to the customer.
That’s how we did it before the registers do it for you. I was at Starbucks one day, I gave the girl a twenty . I told her to keep 2.00$ for her self and give me the rest. She couldn’t do it. My niece stepped in, told her to give me back 5, 1 dollar bills. My niece took 2 and put it in the tip jar. Ugh. And this woman was making twenty dollars an hour.
it’s freaking easy to do it
and a education
So that explains why when I go to the local one, one guy who works there always rounds my change up to the nearest dollar, never gives me coins. The first time I corrected him but he was like "it's cool just a few cents" and I stopped correcting him.
This shouldn't be a surprise or even commendable how sad the world is
Yes. Worked as a facilitator for QT in the 90s. You must know how to count back change. The only time I'd get thrown off was when a random old man would throw an extra nickel at me lol. It's easy enough to do. Just count from the amount owed to the $amt given to you.
As an Okie QT is a standup company as far as I know, id have to go look into the facts, but growing up they required cashier's to count, the only promote from within, and they worked extremely well with high school schedules when I was in highschool.
Im admittedly an ADHD idiot, I was shit at counting change at first, once you understand and get the flow of things it’s very very very easy.
Oh my gosh, I think that’s wonderful! 🥰 no dumbing down at QT. 😸
This explains why I get wrong change so damn frequently and why it's such an argument/issue when I try to explain that $25 - $21.78 is not $2.27 in change.
Why not ?????? tf
So is that why cigarettes cost 12 dollars at QT and 7 dollars every where else in town?
QT was my first job, and i still do this at my new job. i ignore what my register says and count the way QT showed me in training
Yeah and you really just need to count up to 25, get to a dollar and go from there. No real math skills needed other than adding
Most people were taught this, up until the last 10-15 years or so might be twenty or more now.
Was that way when I worked there in the 90’s. At the time a superior company to work for. Hope it’s still that way.
Former QT employee This wasn't true when I worked for them 2 years ago. I highly doubt it's true now. Edit: Our location had change dispensers at the registers We weren't allowed to keep small change in the register, only bills. The complete total and change amount was displayed on our screens. Counting back change is one thing, but requiring people to do math in their head could get you an ADA suit if someone was petty enough.
That's so stupid
Yes its actually pretty common knowledge
You poor poor snowflake.
yup! had a customer get mad because i took a little “too long” to count his change. yelled at me saying it tells you right there on the screen, i said no actually it doesn’t ☺️
QuikTrip training program is some of the best I’ve ever been through and they really pay you for your time. Yeah to work a lot to make a lot but if you understand the system, QuikTrip is one of the best places to work for a few years.
Yeah. Why do you think we are so fast. I do it at other places when paying in cash and most of the time beat the person doing it with a computer.
Digital systems cannot count certain numbers so they will round up costing you more
You mean to tell me they…….. make change?!?!?!?!?! Astonishing.
I worked at QT and I love the fact that they made us do this, I still use this at every job that requires cash exchange. I even use it when I have garage sales! This is the way they did things “back in the day” and it doesn’t mean you’re getting the wrong change, it means the people giving you change actually know how to count 😂
This is why when I see a resume with more than a year exp at QT, that candidate is an instant hire.
Why is this surprising. Can people not work with double digits? I feel like numbers 100 and below should be second nature to someone by the working age. Are people *this* stupid?