quote:

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"The ticket was $9 and I had $8 and some change to get rid of. So I paid with 3 quarters and 3 dimes which would have had me with a nickel change. The ticket seller told me they don't carry nickels and if I want my nickel I have to go to the Guest Services desk. I thought this was a bit odd so I went to Guest Services where I was told again...they don't carry any nickels in the drawers. So I asked to speak to the manager. The manager came over... he told me it's policy that AMC doesn't have any change in any drawers. Now I am not bent out of shape over a nickel, I am just utterly confused that a major movie theater chain would not have any coin change in any cash drawers (except maybe concessions). I asked for the managers name and he got an attitude and asked for mine which I gladly wrote down for him. "

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This story has been on the front page of DIGG, and is picking up quite a few comments, very few positive toward AMC.

[ 08-01-2007, 05:20 PM: Message edited by: Mark Lensenmayer ]
 

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Posted by Christopher Howland (Member # 4386) on 08-01-2007, 11:25 AM:
 
I work at a Regal, and we also don't carry any change except for quarters. The concessions are rounded to quarters as well to eliminate the need for pennies, nickels, and dimes. Unfortunately, when someone pays with change like that guy did,we would run into the same problem!
 

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Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 08-01-2007, 12:25 PM:
 
Even going back many years at G.C.C., when they made all the pricing round to the quarter the only time we ever had anything but quarters is if somebody paid with them.
 

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Posted by Matt Fields (Member # 3211) on 08-01-2007, 01:05 PM:
 
We round everything to a quarter, but still keep 25 cents worth of dimes and nickels in each concession/box office drawer just in case.

Why didn't the manager or someone pull a nickle out of their pocket/purse and pay the man?
 

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Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 08-01-2007, 01:29 PM:
 
We run into the same situation occasionally, but we usually give the customer the benefit by running the drawer short by the nickel, dime, or penny.
 

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Posted by David Zylstra (Member # 4230) on 08-01-2007, 01:51 PM:
 
We would have the same issue, but somewhere somehow this man would have gotten his nickel - most theatres I've worked at always have odd change lying around in pencil drawers and the like (not a slush fund, just the odd penny/nickel/dime/etc that are found lying around after deposits are done), and any manager with sense would find the nickel somewhere even if it was his/her own pocket.

I should touch base with some of the Loews turned AMC managers I used to work with in the area and see if it was their location that did this . . . .
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 08-01-2007, 02:15 PM:
 
what about kids and even adults that pay for their concession with bills and pocket change when they go see either a kid show or a family movie? Mgmt team drops that change immediately in the safe for after hours countdown?

..goofy operation, it looks like - Monte
 

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Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 08-01-2007, 02:33 PM:
 
I have given a nickle back out of my pocket when this happens. I have also, when I had no change on me, told the concessionist to give one of the dimes back to the customer and run a nickle short in the regester. We have a small bowl of assorted change to draw from to make it even.
Even if I forget to even up the till, it's still only a nickle, for crying out loud...
 

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Posted by Josh Rosen (Member # 4291) on 08-01-2007, 02:59 PM:
 
We used to have all the prices round to the nearest quarter, but even then we still carried nickles in the registers and just didn't open the roll until they where needed. I think we might have kept a penny roll in there as well as a precaution.

Now however our prices are not rounded so all the cash drawers need a full assortment of change.
 

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Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 08-01-2007, 10:05 PM:
 
The manager, in this case, was dead wrong. If you don't have the appropriate change, you eat the nickel, not the customer. Simply give him back the third dime, and say have a nice day! What company is going to notice a nickel drawer shortage, more importantly, care?
 

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Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 08-02-2007, 02:31 AM:
 
Not much else to say, agreed with Mike.
 

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Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 08-02-2007, 06:30 AM:
 
I agree with Dustin, who agrees with Mike Give the guy the five cents and forget about it. (I was about to try and type the "cent" symbol, and realized it's not on the keyboard! I guess that shows how unimportant a few pennies have become.)
 

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Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 08-02-2007, 09:23 AM:
 
5¢ saved is 5¢ earned.
 

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 08-05-2007, 09:22 PM:
 
Maybe 5 cents earned, but possibly a $15 (assuming he buys a drink and popcorn) loss. This is assuming the next time the guy goes to a movie he will not return to that theater. I wouldn't.
 

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Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 08-06-2007, 02:40 AM:
 
We don't use nickles or dimes or pennies either.

I just ran in to this also yesterday, a lady came up to guest servies and wanted a quarter for her three dimes. I just gave her one of the dimes back and "ate" the nickle.
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 08-06-2007, 03:04 AM:
 
I'm at an AMC and we have the same thing... only some of our concession tills have dimes, nickels, and pennies for such weird situations. Even if someone pays with those, the managers would usually just deposit quarters and leave some change in the till.

Regardless, that guy obviously handled the situation wrong. He clearly didn't follow the L.A.S.T principles (Listen, Apologize, Solve, Thank). I don't know what he was thinking asking the guy for his name; did he think the guest would suddenly go "You're right! You shouldn't have nickels in your drawers and I only figured it out from you asking me for my name."
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 08-06-2007, 03:18 AM:
 

quote: Chris Slycord

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...the L.A.S.T principles (Listen, Apologize, Solve, Thank).

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Wow! I've never heard that before. What a great philosophy when dealing with the public.

Thanks Chris!
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 08-06-2007, 03:29 AM:
 

quote:

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Wow! I've never heard that before. What a great philosophy when dealing with the public.

Thanks Chris! [thumbsup]

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quote: Joe Redifer

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Alt + 155

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OR ... alt 0162 works too


 

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Posted by Kara Tillotson (Member # 3899) on 08-12-2007, 02:59 PM:
 
Thats crazy!!!
Most of our prices always were even ammounts or half ammounts but we still used change from time to time. granted, not to often, but thats sort of crass...
 

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Posted by Martin Brooks (Member # 1269) on 08-12-2007, 11:14 PM:
 
It would seem to me that this would be illegal in most States. You have to accept legal tender and it seems to me you're not permitted to short customer change just because you don't happen to have any.

It actually costs more to make pennies and nickels than they're worth and we should really get rid of them, but no politician would ever take that stance because it's actually admitting the reality of inflation.
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 08-13-2007, 12:39 AM:
 

quote: Martin Brooks

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It would seem to me that this would be illegal in most States. You have to accept legal tender and it seems to me you're not permitted to short customer change just because you don't happen to have any.

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You've never ridden a bus then have you? They have this policy that you must have "exact change" and no change is given back to you. Not giving back change isn't always illegal.

And no, you don't have to accept legal tender either; it would be entirely legal for a business to say "We only accept major credit cards." Granted, it would also be entirely stupid for a business to do this.

edit:
On the other hand, I'm nitpicking with some of the specifics you used here. It's not completely "on topic."

And if the person was told "We don't have the nickel to give you" it wouldn't necessarily be illegal simply because that person chose to still give them his money. Like when I road the bus and was told I wouldn't get change back that wasn't illegal. I had a choice. What would be illegal is if they said "We don't have the nickel" and the guy said "I'll take my money elsewhere" and the kid said "I've already got your money."

That said, they handled this awfully bad.
 

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Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 08-13-2007, 07:21 AM:
 
D.155 (0X.9B) is the Extended ASCII code for ¢. TMI?
 

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Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 08-13-2007, 07:23 PM:
 
We only keep quarters in the tills, but also all the nickels, dimes and pennies that come in are counted and dumped in a coffee cup along with the occasional foreign coin for use in a case like this, the cup typically has $2-3 in it. Cup stays behind the bottled water refer.
 

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Posted by Wyatt Copeland (Member # 4433) on 08-17-2007, 01:18 AM:
 
I know I'm just jumping on the same boat by agreeing, but every day I find gobs of pennies, nickles, dimes, quarters, even bills out in the parking lot or the lobby or especially the theatre where everyone likes to throw their feet up and let their pockets convenieuntly empty themselves onto the floor. Most of the time I drop the spare change in a cup in the office. I'm surprised noone just grabbed a nickle off the floor and said here you go!
Hell, I've had a lot of cases where a customer would be a nickle SHORT and I'd foot the remaining bill just to get the rest of their $8.45.
Oi..some people.
 

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Posted by Scott D. Neff (Member # 185) on 08-17-2007, 03:10 PM:
 
Arrgh -- cups of change in the office. An Auditor's nightmare.
 

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Posted by Wyatt Copeland (Member # 4433) on 08-17-2007, 07:19 PM:
 
Hey that change got a pizza party last year
 

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Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 08-18-2007, 04:01 AM:
 
I hate that too! Why the hell not just send it to the bank? They say they use it to make cashiers "even", but who really cares about change? Just deposit the crap already and get it out of my hair. I can usually let the cups slide, so long as it doesn't become bills... Of course, we recently took over a theatre that had half a desk-drawer full of change. I know it's a rip-off (8%), but Coinstar, here I come....
 

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Posted by Joel N. Weber II (Member # 3530) on 08-18-2007, 09:07 AM:
 

quote: Chris Slycord

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And no, you don't have to accept legal tender either; it would be entirely legal for a business to say "We only accept major credit cards." Granted, it would also be entirely stupid for a business to do this.

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quote:

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Legal tender or forced tender is payment that, by law, cannot be refused in settlement of a debt denominated in the same currency.

[...]

In some jurisdictions legal tender can be refused as payment if no debt exists prior to the time of payment (for example, where the obligation to pay arises substantially contemporaneously with the offer of payment). Consequently vending machines and transport staff do not have to accept the largest denomination of banknote for a single bus fare or bar of chocolate, and even shopkeepers can reject large banknotes — this is covered by the legal concept known as invitation to treat. However, restaurants that do not collect money until after a meal is served would have to accept that legal tender for payment of the debt incurred in purchasing the meal.

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quote: Mike Spaeth

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They say they use it to make cashiers "even", but who really cares about change?

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