The "Joys" of Customer Service.

Grats!

I'm pretty sure you have the right to detain him if you do it in as private a way as possible, keep him in satisfactory conditions, and do not be too physical. I'm not a lawyer of course, but we talked about it in our business law class.

Looking back on it, I could have done some things differently. Like told him if he didn't let go of the money I would call security, or follow him out and get his license plate number...

Yea, you've got it on camera I believe. You should talk to your manager about this and see what he/she would like you do. $90 is enough for him to be prosecuted over, and you've got PLENTY of witnesses it seems. Although you REALLY should have done this right as it happened, and it may be too late now. Anything along these lines should be a red flag and you should contact your superiors.

That's pretty intense.....

It was actually my first time having to confront anyone directly like that.

Did you talk to your superiors?

It sounded like you work in a pretty big store.
The way I handle bills is, I don't put them in the drawer right away, but would just put them somewhere on top of the cash register where the customer and I can both see. I only deposit them into the drawer after I've handed the customer the change.

Sometimes I ran into people who want to pay with a larger bill after handed out the change as well. What I do is, if he hasn't put the change in his wallet, I will ask for all the change back, take his larger bill, and hand him the smaller one, then do the calculations again (usually just involve the same coin changes but more bills). If he put the change in his wallet already, I'll just ignore the request saying, "If you want to break a large bill, you can go to the bank." If he were to complain, I'll just ignore him. I gave him the change, and I don't owe him anything.

I recall watching an episode on Real Hustle where a shop keeper was confused to give the hustler too much change.. it's sad really, because the cashiers just wanted to help, and there are people out there trying to take advantage of others' kindness..

Did you talk to your superiors?

I didn't, no. The SC wrote an e-mail to our manager, though.

It sounded like you work in a pretty big store. The way I handle bills is, I don't put them in the drawer right away, but would just put them somewhere on top of the cash register where the customer and I can both see. I only deposit them into the drawer after I've handed the customer the change. Sometimes I ran into people who want to pay with a larger bill after handed out the change as well. What I do is, if he hasn't put the change in his wallet, I will ask for all the change back, take his larger bill, and hand him the smaller one, then do the calculations again (usually just involve the same coin changes but more bills). If he put the change in his wallet already, I'll just ignore the request saying, "If you want to break a large bill, you can go to the bank." If he were to complain, I'll just ignore him. I gave him the change, and I don't owe him anything. I recall watching an episode on Real Hustle where a shop keeper was confused to give the hustler too much change.. it's sad really, because the cashiers just wanted to help, and there are people out there trying to take advantage of others' kindness..

That's what I do, only I vocalize what they gave me as well ("$14.58 out of $50?"). When it comes to them wanting to pay with a larger bill after the change is counted, I'll refuse it, but offer to break the bill for them after I give them their change.

Lol, that's probably how that guy puts the bread on the table.

You said you were shaking, how big was he?

15 hands to the withers.

He wasn't big at all. He's an older guy that was haunched over. I was just shaking because it just wound me up so much. And to hell with that being the way he puts bread on the table. I know for a fact that he hits more than one place in a day, and will on occasion come back more than once and go through a different cashier. And he only shows up when we're busy and have less of a chance at spotting him.

Just a little off-topic question, how many days/hours do you work each week? Do things like this happen all the time?

I work a 40 hours a week, being full-time. Five 8 and a half hour days.

Something like this happens...I think once a week.