Get counting

By Ethan_18 - 14/12/2012 05:10 - United States

Today, as my 12-hour shift was about to finish, a young boy came in wanting to buy a $200 gaming device. His mom said he was purchasing it with his own money, which I found admirable. That is, until he took his piggy bank out of his backpack. FML
I agree, your life sucks 31 026
You deserved it 2 507

Same thing different taste

Top comments

There's a saying "never feel lazy to count money, you'll suffer if you do"

saIty 17

Please don't tell me it was Monopoly money. Or worse... coins *shudders*

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I hope he did... it's his job... Oh well, couldn't have been that bad?

Why would he count the.. OF COURSE he would count the money, he's a cashier. ( I work at Walmart and they only let a few pennies now and then slip by, but they don't like it even when your register is like 69 cents short )

No he just took the piggy bank and trusted the kid that it was exactly $200. He even kept the piggy bank!

In Australia we have tender laws. You can only use so many of one type of coin/note depending on the product. So if the sale comes to $1000 I think you can only use $100 worth of $5 notes. And maybe $300 worth of $10 notes the rest have to be $50 and $100 notes. Or if a product is $20 you can only have a certain amount of coin.

When I worked in a game store and kids came in with the "piggy bank full of pennies" so to speak, I'd tell them they needed to go over to the bank and exchange the coins for bills. I'd explain that it was against store policy to take more than $2 in change. It wasn't - I just didn't want to be held accountable for who knows how much in coin. I especially wouldn't take rolled coins. A roll of dimes could easily be 2/3 a roll of pennies with some dimes on either end. And yes - I've experienced that.

That's a pretty brilliant way to get out of doing your job.

To 36 - This Aussie's never heard of such ridiculous laws!

More than. Meaning $2 or $5 is the most amount of money they would accept in coins, no more.

chell1894 13

Since this is United States its called a coin star. They're at every wal mart and grocery store

1- I would of refused, I know it's a kid. But there are some places like my last workplace that we won't except anything over a dollar in pennies and 5 dollars in anything else besides toonies and loonies. I've been yelled at of course, but I had the pleasure if escorting them out of the store for violent behaviour :)

GwylaFelidae 7

At my previous job, this guy came in with well over $200 in rolled coins. The gm made him wait while two cashiers counted the coins. The guy was buying either a gaming console or notebook computer... That was maybe 2years ago, and I was lucky because it was my day off when the guy came to the store.

desireev 17

80- Not quite. I have only ever seen one coin star before and it was in Muskogee, OK at Homeland.

I've never heard of this rule, just the other day a lady gave me $50 in small change. I wanted to die, but it happened.

I work in a relatively busy Mom and Pop store and I may be wrong, but I've never refused a customer purely because I was too lazy to count change..That just seems like an excuse for poor customer service to me... See but I can also see how some stores may have change policies, etc, but it really only takes a few moments of your time to count some damn change Besides haven't we all broken a fellow piggyback or two ;)

There's a saying "never feel lazy to count money, you'll suffer if you do"

Pardip you did it! A comment with more thumbs up than thumbs down!!! The world may really be coming to an end!

iarefatal 9

Did Mr Krabs say that? Sounds like something he would say...

Who the hell is this imposter pradip D: quick kill this guy and find the real one!

You did it pradip, a comment with thumbs up!

saIty 17

Please don't tell me it was Monopoly money. Or worse... coins *shudders*

Well hopefully the boy got what he wanted

tsent8 15

64- I did too except I had to add dinkleberg to the end to punctuate.

hey what are you doing with my avatar!

doglover100 28

I'm reading this while watching Fairly Odd Parents

YDI for finding a kid paying $200 "admirable"

biglittlehead 12

I'm 16, i paid for my Xbox, iPod, 3ds and all their games with my own money. And I am glad my parents made me. It teaches responsibility with money. Good for the kids mom.

Why wouldn't it be? Most kids I know would ask their parents to pay for anything more than about $100 so it IS pretty admirable for this kid to save up and pay for their own gaming console.

1215116a 14

So, you don't think earning money over time at a young age isn't admirable? Or not whining for money from parents when many children do that? Good logic, my man.

Megan98 18

I can see your future kids bring brats.

56- False. Short of a traumatizing and/or enlightening experience, brats never grow up.

Rosie_Posie43 12

I don't remember throwing tantrums because the only gaming console I had was a playstation. Kids now a days want all the new high tech shit so they can "fit in" with all their friends that are already spoiled with it. I'd say yes. Kids are getting brattier.

When I was 12 I bought the first gen iPod touch a week after it came out. $300, all saved birthday&christmas money. My brother was furious, and said I was "wasting my money". Funny thing about that was, he didn't have an iPod touch, and after I bought it, he was always wanting to play with it. Haha, I win.

I've always had to pay for my own stuff. iPod. DS. Any summer camps. Its taught me how to actually save for what I want. I'm one of those people who, if they have money they'll spend it on the first thing they see. But saving for all of those things taught me that if I want something I need to work for it. It's admirable that this kid wanted something and worked for it instead of whining for mummy to buy it for him.

GwylaFelidae 7

Shit, I didn't get any kind of gaming console until I was 19. And then the only reason I got that (a PS2 if anyone cares) was because "Santa" gave it to me. If Santa hadn't brought it, I would have been without, especially since the parents had started charging me rent the summer after I graduated...

That's a bitch to count but hey the kid raised it by himself and I'm sure he was just so happy to be finally done saving up. Ask your manager if you have a coin counter. If not, good luck with your counting. Money is money.

There's even machines at some banks that you can pour all your coins into and it put it into your bank account

24 - So... you want OP to go to the bank with the kid to make sure it's the correct amount of money? I'm aware that banks have those kind of machines, but how is that going to help OP make sure the kid has enough money -- just trust him, fork over a $200 system and get it counted later?

Those coin counters take 8% I hope you know that.

eswut? so what happens when you throw in a dollar? it says 92 cent? idk if its true for the us but in the nl its just 100%

I meant the kid could have done that not OP.... And the counter I go to doesn't take 8%

At least he'd saved up for it and bought it with his own money! Too many kids expect their parents to pay for everything and therefore don't really appreciate the value of their possessions. But if he paid $200 in coins then FYL OP; that couldn't have been fun

It doesn't make cents to me why someone would have so much change! Anyways enough with my trying to make puns, I wonder how long it took that kid to get $200...

First rule of making puns: NEVER point out that you're making a pun.

First rule of pluralization, make more than one pun if your going to say "puns"

KiddNYC1O 20

I wonder how long the op took to COUNT the 200 after almost 12 long hours of labor.

CharresBarkrey 15

25 - First rule of correcting another person's comment: Make sure your grammar is correct.

I'd say managing to begin this FML with "Today" is quite amazing.

We know that at the very least, he's still a kid. Edit: this was supposed to be in response to #7...

What's the problem here? Are you not bright enough to count up all the little coins? Or are you so lazy that you can't be bothered to take a few minutes out of your very difficult schedule to make a little boy, who's obviously saved up for a long time, happy? Shame on you.

Yeah, why don't YOU count $200 in pennies after a hard days work.

RvidxrKlvn 8

It's a pain in the ass. Especially to the customers behind the kid.

You think 200 dollars worth of change is only going to be a few minutes? Get off your soapbox.

theycallmejadeee 8

I've had to count about that much in change before. Believe me, it sucks especially when you are about to leave for the day. But then again, these instances are bound to happen when working with retail, so OP should have manned up and started counting.

BeThePanda 1

Looks to me like all the responders on this thread didn't bother to look at the username, Doc.

Oh, boo hoo! Counting change is SUCH a pain! **** all of you, you selfish cretins. This was a young boy who saved a lot of money to buy something for himself. You really think spending a few extra minutes counting change is a big deal? If I were in line behind him, I'd be impressed, not annoyed. I can't wait until you idiots have children of your own and find out what 'difficult' REALLY means. I'll give you a hint: it isn't counting change.

1215116a 14

I sense the Doc is a little pissed at our perseverance not to count change. Sorry the people on this great comment thread have displeased you, Doc. I agree he is a badass to raise his own money, but it is disappointing to have to sit there in the store for much longer than you would want to after a 12 hour shift.

And what if you're the 10th person in that same line and just wanted to jot in and buy a gift card. How long will that take? That's time I could have spent with my own family instead of waiting for this transaction. I would hope that a parent would have the common decency to count the money ahead of time and trade it in for more convince currency for their child to use. It's still the child's money.

"Sorry the people on this great comment thread have displeased you, Doc"? Woah woah woah. Who is Doc that you have to apologize for disagreeing with him? Can someone tell me when DocBastard crossed the threshold from human to god? Don't get me wrong, I respect him, but licking ass isn't going to get you anything but a brown tongue. No matter how stupid your opinion is, (and trust me, this one's pretty ridiculous), but if that's how you feel then stand by it. Don't apologize for believing what you do. Either see the error, or stand up for yourself.

Banavadorable 2

ManInTheMachine, thank you for typing in that comment, you inspired me.

MITM - That was sarcasm that you apparently missed. No one wants to spend any extra time at work, but since I have kids, I can't help but see the situation from their point of view. Sure, you may have to spend some extra time at the end of a long shift, and sure counting change is a hassle, but it'll be TOTALLY worth it to see the smile on the little boy's face when he spends HIS money to get his new toy.

Doc: Funnily enough, I actually spent a good few minutes trying to figure out "are they being serious or sarcastic?", but I eventually went with the latter. Again, no hard feelings, I just hate ass-kissers. Anyway, my comment (for the most part) still stands for anyone who did act that way. Actually, I can see both sides of the argument here. I'm on either side of the fence, because I agree partially with you and the others. OP is being whiny, but it would e an inconvenience, and the parent could've just pitched in.

jsfromga - I have used change to teach my daughter not only about responsibility and how money works, but also how to count. She loves dumping out her piggy bank, counting up all her change, and then putting it back. And I love to watch her learn. Dumping it in a bank hopper to have it converted into paper money would save some time, but it would waste a valuable learning opportunity. Plus it would have avoided this FML which would have prevented me from submitting my comment which would have prevented this spirited debate!

Ya it's great the kid saved up his own money, however the moms an idiot for bringing him in with his piggy bank. Theres an easy solution to this spend a dollar and get coin rolls then take it to a bank. Jesus some people are idiots id be pissed at that mother,she has no respect for other people.

So have the kid count out his change at home. Them go to a coinstar or something of the like and see if they counted right. Then cash the receipt in and use their non coin money to buy the item. That way everyone is happy.

#105, 108 - Or the mom didn't have the money to cover the CoinStar fee, a bank that counts coins for free, or enough paper money at home to swap for her son's coins. Still, I feel for OP's tired feet.

1215116a 14

Yeah, I was being sarcastic, Mr.Man, but it's okay. No hard feelings.