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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Walked into shop with £5.00, purchases = £2.40 left shop with £7.60!

107 replies

MeRightYouWrongMeBigYouSmall · 06/04/2011 13:19

The shop assistant clearly thought I had given her £10.00.

WIBU not to say anything?
Should I own up and return the cash?
Or should I count it as a wee bonus and buy a lottery ticket (or a few)

Confused
OP posts:
Desperateforthinnerthighs · 06/04/2011 14:58

Head (and grin) down....and march!!

I'm bad and I admit it Wink

Original poster
MeRightYouWrongMeBigYouSmall · 06/04/2011 15:00

makes me laugh.

no one knows what I'm going to do with the fiver, we debated the situation in work, I decided to debate it further by starting a thread.

Just a discussion topic...I've already made my own mind.

Hide the thread if it offends

OP posts:
Desperateforthinnerthighs · 06/04/2011 15:01

we've just had this discussion at work......we're all bad!

LostInTransmogrification · 06/04/2011 15:05

You could try going back and say that they gave you the wrong change and see what they say...

mitochondria · 06/04/2011 15:19

I would give it back if I noticed at the time, and have done before now.

If I didn't realise until later it would probably depend on how much hassle it was to return to the shop.

I'd be less inclined to make the effort for a big chain than an independent shop. Even less so for supermarkets, who have overcharged me plenty in the past.

TitsMcGee89 · 06/04/2011 15:21

No sale assistant would be given a disciplinary warning if they couldnt prove anything, and certainly not over £5!

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 06/04/2011 15:24

So what are you going to do, MeRight? Return the money that's not yours, or keep it?

I think it would be morally wrong to keep the money. My conscience would bother me, and it wouldn't make any difference whether or not I thought the shop assistant would get into trouble over the missing cash.

If that makes me a do-gooder, then I am happy to be one. If I found a fiver on the street, I'd hand it in to the police station - in fact, ds3 once found a £20 note on the street, and we handed it in - and then when no-one came forward and claimed it, ds3 got to keep it with a clear conscience.

I've been on the other end of this sort of thing too. When I was a student (and very short of cash) I took £10 out of the cashpoint - only I forgot to take the note - I took my card and walked off, completely forgetting that my money hadn't been dispensed yet (cashpoints were a fairly new thing at that point). The lady who used the cashpoint after me realised what had happened, and handed the money in to the bank, and they were able to see who had used the cashpoint before the lady who handed the money in, and repaid the £10 into my account. I never knew who the lady was, but was very grateful for her honesty.

I guess there are a number of people from this thread who would have kept my money and not given a damn about me. I'm glad none of you were behind me in the cashpoint queue.

I do have to say, though, that the people who have been treated so rudely when they did try to tell a store that they'd been given too much change were in the right to keep the money - they'd done their best to return the money, and the store lost out by not listening politely to their customer.

upahill · 06/04/2011 15:25

Thought most shops have a sign saying mistakes can't be rectified later!!

welshbyrd · 06/04/2011 15:38

Going against the majority here, I would not return the £5
>>

Ive been over charged from time to time, and not noticed until I got home, and let to go
As for the tills not tallying, from my experience, its not often a till tallys penny for penny, if there was £5 over in the till I doubt the cashier would get to keep it, I think its quite rare for monies short in till [except large amounts] to be charged to the cashier

louloudia · 06/04/2011 15:40

my corner shop always tries to overcharge

what happens to surplus in the till at the end of the day?

welshbyrd · 06/04/2011 15:43

Exactly loulou, dont suppose the cashier gets to keep it. Its rare nowadays that the cashier will have to replace the monies shhort in till [except large amounts etc, which is obvs more than a mistake and becomes suspicious of theft ]

dontcallmepeanut · 06/04/2011 15:55

Not sure where you people are getting the idea it woould be taken out of the girls wages from. Our boss used to record disrepencies but never took anything out of our wages. At worst, we'd get a warning. But that would be for major disrepencies.

The mistake on the cashiers part, I can understand. Someone hands over a note, and you pop it in the wrong compartment, then cash up to the value of the compartment you put it in... So, she's put the fiver in the £10 compartment, and changed from a tenner... easily done, believe me... Which is why most managers don't freak out about it if it happens only once or twice. But your mistake, not so much... You've gone to the shop with the smallest denomination of note, and she's managed to give you a note back... Should have been obvious she'd made a mistake... Do the decent thing. Take it back.

Original poster
MeRightYouWrongMeBigYouSmall · 08/04/2011 15:15

took the £5.00 back today (it was the first chance I had) I spoke to the same cashier, explained the transaction etc etc...

She said her till was not 'out' and couldn't remember giving me too much change. She also said if she had noticed that she had given me too much change that she would shortchange some others just to make up the shortage Shock

Now I'm not so sure that I gave her only £5.00 in the first place, but I asked her to take it anyway.

Suppose I'll never know now.....hey ho!

OP posts:
belgo · 08/04/2011 15:17

Shock at She also said if she had noticed that she had given me too much change that she would shortchange some others just to make up the shortage!

mrsmellow · 08/04/2011 15:25

I'm impressed you took it back - I probably would have given it to charity myself. Also Shock that she said she would make it up by shortchanging others!

TheMonster · 08/04/2011 15:28

I'd have kept it.

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 08/04/2011 15:29

You did the right thing, MeRight - well done you! Smile

frgr · 08/04/2011 15:31

"She also said if she had noticed that she had given me too much change that she would shortchange some others just to make up the shortage"

Shock

Crikey

notsomumsie · 08/04/2011 15:31

I too would happily keep it. You win some, you lose some. TBH I am amazed at some of the holier than though attitudes, but then I am a little bit amoral and do not care.

Quenelle · 08/04/2011 15:32

Hang on. If her till wasn't out she should have assumed that it was you who made the mistake and refused to accept the money back.

I'm not sure if honesty does pay now.

miso · 08/04/2011 15:46

I'd guess by shortchanging the next customer, she doesn't actually mean overcharging them, but ringing up a cheaper amount on the till.

ie item costs £5, she rings up £4 & takes £5 from the customer so there's an 'extra' £1 in the till. Not so easy with barcodes obviously.

(When I worked in pubs, a manager would be much more on the look out for this sort of thing, as a dodgy barperson could do this all day & pocket the difference)

beesimo · 08/04/2011 16:53

miso

Oh dear it sounds like you might of been a bit of a naughty lass in your past!

BeakerTheMuppetMuppet · 08/04/2011 16:56

i'm just Shock at the shop assistant's response!

MeRight you can put your halo back on now Wink

Original poster
MeRightYouWrongMeBigYouSmall · 08/04/2011 16:57

until the next time.....Wink

OP posts:
Ryoko · 08/04/2011 17:20

Well good for you, my mother once went to Morrisons for a couple of bits, handed over a £20 and got fuck all change, the idiot on the till was insistent that she had handed over a fiver not £20, she had to sit in the shop until the end of service for that till, so that they cashed up, then she got an apology from the manager (didn't get one from the idiot on the till) and was given the currect change.

I would have demanded more then that for having to wait for 2 hours.