No Change

I was recently ordering takeout at a restaurant--doesn't matter which one.  Anyway, I owed $8.62.  I checked my change and didn't have 62 cents, but I did have 12 cents.  So I gave the cashier the 12 cents, figuring it would make for easier change. Then I checked to see if I had nine dollars, but not quite, so I gave the cashier a twenty-dollar bill.

The cashier punched some buttons, the cash drawer opened, and she gave me 12 dollars back.  I figured she must have thought I gave her $20.62.  In a fit of honestly, I told her what I'd actually paid--she owed me $11.50, not $12.  She said since she rang it up wrong so she'd have to call the manager.

I said how about instead I just give you a dollar back and you give me 50 cents--I'll have proper change and no one will be any the wiser.  But no, this was something only the manager could handle.  So the manager came over and it took a couple minutes to clear things up.

I realize people who operate cash registers aren't necessarily good with numbers.  In fact, the cash register is there to take care of the numbers so they don't have to.  But still, haven't they figured out as long as the cash register receives the proper amount in the end, it doesn't matter how you ring it up?  I guess not.