To think local garage could have let me off 20p!

[cherrycrumblecustard]

I called in at the garage with children as we needed milk and I realised I was short 20p. Garage is down the road from my house, they all know me, I know them. I said I was sorry and could I drop it in later. 'No.'

What, and leave a whole 80p tip for a £50 nail job?!

I was out at the airport before Christmas and the woman next to me had ordered her lunch, part of it was Hummus. When they put it on the tray there wasn't any bread, so she asked about it and he said it cost extra, she said she didn't have any cash and he wouldn't allow her to put it on her card, so she said she'd go without, I said 'Don't be silly' and said to the lad, just put it on my bill, it's fine. After the usual polite refusal/acceptance she went off with her lunch - including some bread. The lad on the till was very funny, he kept looking at me & saying things like - 'You don't even know her?!' It was like £1 or £1.50, nothing. I was at the AIRPORT buying lunch, I was being fleeced anyway, what's a quid or so, so that someone isn't eating hummus with her teaspoon?!

20p. It's ridiculous the garage doesn't have an overs/unders jar. It's 20 bloody pence.

20p might seem like nothing, but. Imagine if 5 people a day went in wanting 20p off. That's £1 per day. I get £1_per day is not a lot, but. Its not a little either

'Miseries and jobsworths'?
Yet so many people have stated it would be a disciplinary offence for them, this is still trotted out?

Christ what a bunch of miserable jobsworths on here tonight. If your manager would seriously bother to make a fuss and dock your wages for 20p you've got bigger problems. Especially for a regular local customer.

You willing to pay the wage of the staff member who gets their wage docked? no thought not

The 'sorry I don't have enough line I'll pop in with it later' is commonly used. It won't be the first time they will have head it today I bet.

Many people have also pointed out there is often a penny jar for such occasions. The op has also said she was a regular. You don't always need a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Yes, but how many regulars do they have? If one 'regular' is let off 20p and the next 'regular' is short of 30p you can see how it would go. And although the OP intended to pay it back there are plenty of people who would forget. I don't blame them at all.

I just remembered, I had my hair done just before Christmas and went to pay and I'd forgot my bloody card! I'd left it at home by my phone. I'd only been in there twice before. Did they make me feel like shit, no. They said to drop it in tomorrow. I went home and went straight back and paid and tipped the hairdresser a fiver.

I've done that at the hairdresser as well, but I rang my DH and got them to drop my card off although they said to come in tomorrow with it. It happens.

op I sympathise but I expect most shops have a blanket policy on this to make things simpler.

Also, why are you in a position of having no money till your DH gets home? You need to make sure you always have access to some for emergencies etc, or at least a debit card that works.

Spare your anger for head office, or the many people who try on "can I pay it later" with no intention of paying it later, not the minimum-wage worker on the till, who must follow the rules or else. One local shop of mine (clearly an independent one) has many signs saying "do not ask for credit". The world is full of people who will try to get something for nothing, retailers are painfully aware of this.

With most shops which are part of a chain, the rules are myriad and complicated, and the person on the front line has no authority to override them. See the many other threads about asking people for ID, refusing to sell alcohol to middle-aged customers simply because their teenage children are with them. Staff are often told they must enforce the red tape, however stupid it might appear to be, or be sacked. As for shopkeepers who do have such discretion, experienced ones will know that this week's "I'll pay the 20p tomorrow" can easily become "you owe us £50 in unpaid bills" before long.

I worked in retail while I was at university and saw a lot of this. (And to put them in the real world, I think every politician should work on the front line of retail or some customer-facing role before they go anywhere near Parliament, but that's another debate.)

I'm not angry :) I have some money now. Well, a bit of money. Enough for milk. That I shall buy from sainsburys!

They can't do this, can uou imagine if they did it for everyone who said they were short, first off its 20p, the next time it's a pound, next time it's can you sub me the coffee, where is the cut off point. Do they start running a tally for all their customers who didn't have enough on them? So it's fair if uou don't have the money you don't get the goods.

I have a small independent garage, there are only a small number of customers I would do this for despite having many regulars, the customers I would do it for are those who have been loyal customers since we've been there and for the majority of my landlords 30 yrs.
I have been very surprised in the past when other regulars we have told to just bring the missing money in next time they're in and they haven't bothered, they've not come back for a few month and then it's awkward to ask for small change owed, so now unless it's the very trusted few no I wouldn't do it because we have been let down and disappointed by some who we trusted as regulars. I certainly wouldn't expect my employees to take it upon themselves to allow it it's my business it's up to me if I trust the customer.
I have had customers not even bother to suggest they pop back with the missing shrapnel and just presume I'll let them off, not surprisingly my answer to that is a resounding no, mainly because on the fuel we only make 3p profit per late so if I let all small change go it could impact on profits quite a bit, the small stuff does matter whe profit margins are so low in an area saturated with fuel stations, where two are big chains with very competitive prices.
So it may seem petty and annoying for just a bit of change but it's my livelihood and staffs wages etc at the end of the day that were playing with so don't be put out if the answered no, you'd be surprised how many times you'd be taked for a few coppers as it's just a few to the customer but can impact on business.

Will you expect Sainsbury's to let you off if you are short?

My local garage and local shop let you pay later for small amounts. The garage also has a penny pot so you don't even have to ask. I regularly ask for tick at the local shop and make sure I always pay them back even if it's 2p. if it's a couple of days til payday I let them know it will be two days. Loads of people do it at the shop, but I have seen them refuse someone because they still owed from before.
It's the management of the shop that's at fault. It is most likely to be a franchise so they will have a choice. They should allow it at the discretion of the employees for regulars. Don't make a big thing of it just do it occasionally. Makes good business sense as create customer loyaltywhich in the long term will make them a lot more money than 20p.

I work somewhere different to a shop but we regularly get people asking to be let off a few pence or a quid or so, it mounts up and we are accountable for any surplus/loss we have. We have strict rules as to who we can allow to be short, mainly vulnerable persons.

We wouldn't have a penny jar as our cash regulations wouldn't allow it and we'd be hauled over the coals for it

I don't get why people expect this! I work in a clothes shop and we get people haggling over prices - no, the trousers cost the price on the label, not some random figure you've decided to pluck out of thin air!

Desolate waste
Exactly, great point.

You wouldn't go to the likes of asda and do it so why expect that discretion elsewhere.

Sorry spelt your name wrong!

It's the management of the shop that's at fault.

What is their fault here? Not allowing people to not pay for things in full? That is bonkers. It's fair enough to say it would be nice for a shop to keep a pennies jar or to allow people a few pennies off here and there, but the only person at fault was the OP.

You say, "That I shall buy from Sainsburys" like you were doing the garage a big favour by shopping there Sainsburys aren't going to let you off with a few pence either, you know.

It makes me really sad that the people behind the till get blamed for this. They're just doing their jobs according to the policies and procedures set out by head office. I used to work in a shop and any lending of money like that or letting people off was considered theft and grounds for instant dismissal. Complain to head office if you don't like it.

I wouldn't have even asked. 'Please do not ask for credit as refusal often offends' and all that.
Of course it's different with something like a haircut knickers, you've already received the service so making you feel like shit wouldn't be a very wise move on their part, would it?