A skill my mother made sure to pass on to my sister and me is counting change.
When I first started working the cash register at the farm stand, the machine didn’t tell you how much change to give the customer. Technically there was a way to do it, but it was very convoluted and annoying.
My mom worked as a bank teller for a while pre-millenium/ computerization, which is where she learned how to efficiently count change. So she insisted on teaching first me, then my sister, as well as the occasional farm worker, how to do it. It’s not that hard, you just have to switch the way you think about it from counting down to counting up.
Instead of subtracting the total from what the customer gives you, start with the total’s cents and count up to the nearest quarter. Then the closest dollar, then closest multiple of five/ ten, etc. until you get to what the customer handed you.
For example, let’s say the total was $14.63 and the customer gave you a $20 bill. The closest 5 to $.63 is $.65, so count up to it, grabbing 2 pennies. The closest quarter to $.65 is $.75, so grab a dime. Then grab a quarter to make it $15 even. They gave you a $20, so to make it even change, give them a $5. So the total change would be 2 pennies, 1 dime, 1 quarter, and a $5 bill. Or $5.37, if I did my math correctly.
It’s even easier when you don’t use pennies and round totals to the nearest nickle, which is what the farm did after a bit. Pennies are pretty useless these days in that they cost more to make than they’re worth.
