Here’s an epistemological problem: I flew back from Amsterdam the other day and took £50 out at the airport while waiting for my bags to turn up on the carousel. It was a bank holiday so when I got home all the shops were shut and I ended up going to Chicken Cottage and spending £3.29 on some chicken nuggets and chips. This left me with two £20 notes and one £5 note and a few pieces of loose change. When I went to the local greengrocery type shop the next day that’s all the British money I had on me. I bought some groceries and a quiche for lunch (how healthy!) the total cost of which was £6.18 – so I hand over one of my £20 notes and a 20p piece and get back £4.02 change…
I look at the girl, the girl looks at me… and I say “I gave you a £20 right?”
And she says, “no, I’m almost certain you gave me a £10″, and takes the £10 she thinks I gave her out of the till to show me.
And then I start to think, did I give her a £10 note? If I did where the hell did it come from? Maybe I only got £40 out at the airport?
Since I go to that shop quite a lot she said they’d check the takings for the day and if they were £10 over then they’d give it back to me next time I visit. So I go back in today (twice, they hadn’t done the count this morning) and they tell me they weren’t £10 over and so that’s that.
Only I did take £50 out at the airport, and I’m certain I gave her a £20. Certain beyond any doubt? Well yeah, pretty much – as certain as I am that I’m not a brain in a vat at any rate. Oh well, it’s only money. It’s just that I did like that shop.
Back when I worked for Marks and Spencer, we were trained to tell the customer exactly what they’d handed over, as in, “That’s 20 pounds and 20 pence, and here’s your four pounds and 2p change.”
Mostly to avoid the “but I gave you 20 quid” when they’d handed over a tenner cons, but also to stop the general confusion you fell into.
i generally announce when i hand over a £20 note. they say “that will be 4 pounds and 20 pence”, and then i say “here’s 20 pounds”. just a habit to develop. like locking your car. :)
Check your online banking for how much you took out!
Why worry, it’s only £10.
This is one reason why I prefer £10 notes to £20 notes.
That and they have good ol’ Charlie Darwin on them.
That’s outrageous, you should break in and steal it back.