I was conned today!

[dreamflower]

Bamboozled. Swindled. And I'm still not quite sure how it was accomplished.

I was on the cash register with several customers in line. An elderly man, who didn't look very well-off bought two bananas, and paid for them with a twenty dollar bill.

I gave him a little over nineteen dollars in change, and he said, "Oh, I meant to give you a five. I don't want all those ones". (Four ones in nineteen dollars change?) He handed me back the nineteen, another one, *AND* the twenty, and asked me if I could give him forty dollars in fives and tens. I told him I didn't have enough tens, but I could give him fives.

Now, I had the twenty in one ten, one five, and ones, and the twenty dollar bill on my counter in my sight the whole time. I NEVER put bills IN the drawer until the entire transaction is complete! All the bills were flat, not folded, and fanned out so that I could see them all. I counted out forty in fives. He's talking to me the whole time, BTW, but as I said, I had the original forty right there. He finished, reciept prints out, I put forty IN the drawer. He leaves.

The next customer had been watching, and she said, "I'm not sure, but think that wasn't right. I think you ended up giving him too much."

Now, up to this point it hadn't occurred to me, but now I started doubting it. Still, I'd HAD FORTY DOLLARS IN MY SIGHT THE WHOLE TIME! I TOOK FORTY OUT AND I PUT FORTY IN!! But when the line of customers was finished, I found my manager, and told her about it. She said someone had pulled something similar in the drive-through a few days ago, and not to worry-- they'd check when they pulled my drawer and counted it.

Guess what? I WAS TWENTY DOLLARS SHORT!!!!!!!

I STILL don't know how he did it.

And I felt like an idiot.

Comments

[lady-roisin.livejournal.com]

"hugs" Don't feel bad, dear! This happened to me when I was working at that Arts and Crafts store we talked about awhile back. It would happen all the time during the holiday season and management would always have the customer count back the change. It's a super sneaky trick and enormously hard to catch, don't feel bad. I think this has happened to just about everyone I know who has worked retail. "hugs" Watch out for the counterfeit $100 bills too, we got hit with those a bunch at various stores I worked at.

"extra hugs"

[dreamflower]

Well, he picked a good time for it-- it was during the early lunch rush, with all three managers tied up in the fountain or grill area, while I had several customers in line. I can normally buzz for help when I get busy, but at that particular time of day, it would be unlikely that I'd get help right away. *sigh*

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

The original twenty dollar bill was his. The nineteen you gave him as change, plus one dollar out of his pocket was mostly yours. When you gave him forty in fives, you shorted yourself 19.

The way to avoid that is fairly simple. If someone says, "Oh, I wanted change in different increments," you take the change you handed out and immediately put it back into the drawer, saying, "I'll have to start over from the beginning, then, hang on." Give them back their original bill, and don't start counting out change until they've handed you it a second time. Count the money you put back into the drawer, count the money you put back in his hand, and do it audibly. And if they keep chatting at you say, "excuse me, I need to make sure I'm doing this right," and don't listen or answer. Stick your tongue out of your mouth and look like an idiot if necessary to shut them up.

Yeah, I got stuck with this before.

(I always used to put the money they gave me on the shelf above the cash drawer, but modern cash registers don't have that shelf anymore. But if you can find a way to keep the money they give you separated from the money you hand back and really hard to mix up, it will slow them down considerably.)

[dreamflower]

Yeah. After I went to bed last night, I kept thinking it over, and came to the same conclusion eventually. But it's not terribly easy to figure out when it's happening.

I think if I had not had more people in line, I could have buzzed or reported it more quickly, and he might not have got away with it.

Ah well! Hindsight's always 20/20.

(I don't have a shelf over the register, but I do have an area next to it on my side of the conveyor belt, which is where I usually lay bills until the transaction's over.)

[gentlehobbit.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry you had to experience that. It's just such a nasty feeling. :(

It seems that these kinds of swindles happen by the perpetrator asking for different change at the same time as the original change from the transaction is being handed back That seems to be the pattern of these types of swindles. They distract and confuse during the transaction. I think what you need to do (and discuss this with your boss), is to never accept a request for different change at the same time that you're completing the transaction. If the person wants different change, make them make it as a separate request once the actual purchase transaction is closed and the money put away. Ask your boss to make this a store policy so that if the customer complains, you can tell him/her to take it up with the manager. They will probably back down because they won't want their face to become remembered.

What happened is (and apologies here if you have since figured this out), you counted the original twenty he gave you (HIS twenty) AND the change you gave him (originating from YOUR till) plus the extra one dollar he gave you. That combined money (part yours and part his) made up the $40 that he then asked you to translate into fives. You then gave enough fives to make up the forty dollars... but only half of that forty was actually his. The other half had come from your till in the form of the original change that YOU gave HIM. It was never his, and never his right to ask you to translate your own till's money into fives for him.

Does this make sense? I hope it does. I note you said he was talking all the time. Yes. He was keeping you distracted so your mind wouldn't latch on to something being wrong. I can sit here and dispassionately figure out how he did it, but when you're on the spot and you've got several things to do and juggle... it's hard. You most definitely are not an idiot. The guy has swindling skills, but he is poor in character and soul. He cannot measure up to you, but that very statement there is something he would never understand. He doesn't have the maturity to understand, which is sad, since you said he was elderly. I usually look up to elderly people.

*grrrr*

*hugs you*

[dreamflower]

Yeah! ((hugs back)) Clearly the customer behind him was able to pay more attention than I was, because I guess she caught on right away. I do wish it had not been at our busiest time of day, so I could have reported it more quickly, but I guess that's why he picked then to do it.

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

Well you're not the only one who is going like how did he do it, I am confused as hell and I can imagine why you would be like that too.

[dreamflower]

Thanks! It really was confusing when it happened!

[garnet-took.livejournal.com]

I agree that just about all of us who have worked retail have had this or something like it happen to us. I came out forty dollars short one night because I gave someone too much change because they distracted me and I misread the bills they handed me. I caught it as soon as it happened and confessed to loss-prevention. They understood and I didn't have to pay it back, thank goodness.

It sounds like your boss understood, too, and realized that even good clerks can get taken by good con artists.

[dreamflower]

Well, he really was good, because I didn't get suspicious at all until he left, and the other customer said what she did. Also, he certainly didn't look suspicious. I kind of felt sorry for the old fellow, just buying two bananas and being so careful over his money.

[addie71.livejournal.com]

I had to read this a second time to see what happened, but finally figured it out. That was really slick, I don't think many people would have caught on. *hugs*

[dreamflower]

Well, it really fooled me at the time!

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

With a line waiting and everything that goes on at a register, plus, he sounds as if he looked innocent, no wonder he was able to pull a thing like that.
Totally not your fault and most people would probably have been thrown by it.
(((((HUGS)))))

[dreamflower]

Yeah, I guess so! But it still made me feel very foolish, especially since the lady behind him seemed to have caught on. :(

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

You have to remember that the lady behind him wasn't trying to run a register, respond to all of his 'distracting conversation' and do her job. She was just standing there with nothing better to do than watch the two of you while she waited. And if she was really that certain that you were being taken, 'Why didn't she say something?'

She thought there was something funny, but she wasn't certain enough to mention it until he was gone.

If you'd been standing where she was and seen this, wouldn't you have said something to the cashier?

[dreamflower]

I don't know if I would have before or not, especially if I was not 100% sure-- but I certainly would after this! But I'm not sure I'd have caught on even if I was just a spectator. Now I know what to look out for.

[ansostuff.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

I hope the guy gets taken, but I guess it's not something the police would prioritize.

[dreamflower]

Probably not. If I had not had so many people in line and the back area so busy, I might could have reported it in time for him to get caught. As it is, he got clean away. *sigh*

[shirebound]

I'm totally confused, too! I probably would have done exactly what you did. I'm so sorry this happened to you. :(

[dreamflower]

Thank you dear! (((hugs)))

[lily-the-hobbit.livejournal.com]

Don't feel bad. Such things happen.
*hugs*

[dreamflower]

Alas, they do! ((hugs back))

It's just the first time it's ever happened to me.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

ugh. Like Janet said, I would have probably been swindled by that, too. I'm easily distracted.

(HOWEVER, I have a few students who think they are sly at taking more than one piece of candy when I let them take ONE PIECE of candy at the end of class and I've been amazingly good at catching them, lol!)

Anyway, sorry that happened to you! :( Ick.

[dreamflower]

LOL! Kids can be pretty sharp when it comes to candy! Hopefully they won't grow up to be con artists!

Thanks! I needed a giggle!

[ceshaughnessy.livejournal.com]

That man should be ashamed of himself!!

[dreamflower]

Well, he should be; he was certainly old enough to know better. But he was probably just giving himself a mental high five for conning me and coming away with $20 he didn't have before. Easy money!

Of course, one of these days he'll regret it. What goes around comes around, I truly do believe.

[elandulin.livejournal.com]

To this day, I can't see how that very same con works in Paper Moon! Every time I see that movie I try to catch what's happening, and every time my husband explains and I still don't see it. Obviously it's a very successful and time-honored con, and it seems like it works best when the customer is a completely innocuous and disarming sort of person, and not the sort you would ever expect to be conning you.

Actually, you shouldn't feel like an idiot, because really, the guy chose you because he could see you were a nice person, and not the sort to be rude and suspicious and make a big scene. If it cost $20, so be it. Karma will see to retribution!

Oh, Dreamflower!!!

[kayleelupin.livejournal.com]

((((Dreamflower)))) I'm so sorry to hear about this!!!

I would have been taken in, too...I used to work at Barnes & Noble, though not at the register except once for a training, and this didn't happen then. But I'm sure if I had been in charge of a register and this had happened, I'd have been in big trouble! (The head cashier would have made Lobelia Sackville-Baggins look like Bell Gamgee. Seriously.)

And on the subject of hobbits, what do you think Miss Dora would have to say about THAT person...although trying to deal with him would unfortunately constitute having an Adventure! Pity.

Kaylee Arafinwiel

(((morehugs)))