Here's Your Change...

Have you been to the store and gotten change recently? I haven't. Well, I've been to the store and have paid with a larger amount than the total bill. But what I received was a handful of coins and/or a wad of paper money and the bums rush.

Whatever happened to:

That'll be $12.43... out of $20.00.
(Then I'd hold my hand out and the cashier would begin counting)
$12.43... 44... 45... 50... and two quarters makes $13.00... 14... 15... and 5 makes $20.00. Thanks for shopping at CondomMart. Have a good night.
(And then I have time to put my change in my pocket and the paper money in my wallet, I pick up my purchase and leave.)

Instead I get:

$12.43... Yeah, 20. Pete! ( she yells to the skinny, shaggy and sullen assistant manager) I got a twenty!
Yeah, whatever. He whines, slide it in the SLOT.
(Then she looks at me like I've done something wrong, then looks at the readout on the cash register and grabs some coins and bills from the drawer. She holds her fist out forcing me to put my hand under hers to catch the mess of money in one hand while handing me the receipt with the other hand and before I have time to do ANYTHING with my unproven amount of change or to even pick up my purchase, she reaches past me for the next customer's items.)

Now, I like to think I still have fairly quick reflexes but how do I count my change to make sure it is correct, get my coins in my pocket, my bills into my wallet, my wallet back into my pocket, the receipt into the bag with just two hands in no time at all without looking like a fool? It can't be done.

I blame this developement on two things. Our high schools aren't teaching our kids Life Skills. And parents aren't teaching their kids to have a Work Ethic.

So we have a generation of young adults who aren't capable of making change if the power goes out (This actually happened to me at a McDonalds recently. She claimed, yes, she could get the drawer open to give me the change but without the readout she didn't know how much to give me.)

And without a basic Work Ethic they just don't give a damn. They truly believe that entry level jobs are too demeaning and behave sullenly the whole time they have to do them. They do not see them as foundational to the social and business skills they will need later on in life. They want the corner office right now! And worse yet, they think they deserve it.

These people need to learn that if they want any kind of success in life they will have to do what we learned. You have to WORK for it. Let's check back in twenty years. I'll bet the successful ones will have a better attitude by then.