This morning we popped out to a Greek deli which is normally a 30 minute drive, but ended up taking nearly 2 hours due to road works taking a motorway down from 4 lanes to one. Being a Saturday it makes sense they do the road works over the weekend yet there was no one working so go figure that one out lol. Monday morning is going to be hell as this area is notorious for bottlenecks as this is the main route to the airport and industrial area so trucks are everywhere.
None of my own photographs today as the place was packed with customers and this is in the heart of the Greek community with very little English being spoken. I had no idea so many Greeks were around and the various nationalities tend to stick to certain areas. Where I live it is mainly a Portuguese influence and if you want some different specialty foods you have to drive and find them.
We sat down and had a coffee and then visited the deli which is all connected with the restaurant. After grabbing a variety of different foods to try it came to paying the bill which was all fine until I arrived home and looked at the till slip. The bill was R1119.58 ($65) and my card receipt showed R119.58 so I was charged R1000 less ($60). I kind of feel bad because they are not going to cash up and balance the till so I will pop in next week on my travels and settle the difference. This was not even a thought of a post for today, but due to the size of error it has bugged me all day. I do not want bad juju lol and will pay in the balance.
I guess missing out 1 digit is easy to do and my worry is the lady who did the mistake will have to pay in and why I feel bad and why I will go out of my way and make this right.
Staffing and mistakes operating the till is actually fairly common and it has happened to me so often. I joke it must be my good looks putting them off as this happens at least once or twice a month. Not this amount though and is more like giving someone R100 and getting back R150 and receiving the items for free and if I notice immediately highlight their error and make sure they correct their mistake. If I was a business owner relying on staff for payments I would be concerned.
Todays mistake may be a once off or you hope it is as how can you continue in business if this is happening multiple times a week. This is not dealing with change and is a card machine so you have to manually input the amount and I never noticed at the time and maybe they need a system that automatically inputs the amount not relying on human error. The big supermarkets have this and do not rely on human intervention for a good reason as it not only saves time, but removes any risk relying on staff as finding the correct staff to do certain jobs is not so easy. The standard of education is always a worry and many are illiterate with no skills. being able to read and write is a bonus and why I do the stock takes on my own.