You short-changed me!

Hi,



First, what do you think?



Hint: If you tell me that I short-changed you, you are accusing me of dishonesty.



Clive

I'm not....so it's not F.

Hi,

At a grocery store, the cashier gives me a change of five dollars instead of six. Which is best to say?

A. This is the wrong change. OK

B. This is a wrong change. No. 'Change' is an uncountable noun here.

C. This change is wrong. OK

D. You gave me the wrong change. OK

E. Your change is short. No

F. You short-changed me. No

Thank you.

I disagree with Clive on choice F.

You could say, "You short-changed me," but you would accuse the cashier of doing something wrong on purpose, and might start a fight.

This post is in response to choice E, "Your change is short."

It is not the cashier's change that is short; it is the customer's property.

Therefore, the customer could say, "My change is short." because it is the customer's change.

This is interesting...because I was, in fact, going to put "My change is short" among the choices. Thanks for the idea.

Hi,

When I said 'No', I meant it was not a good answer to choose for the question. I didn't necessarily mean the grammar was incorrect.

Where I live, I never hear 'My change is short'.

What I hear is

eg Sorry, you didn't give me enough / the right change.

Clive

Clive:
That is an interesting point that it might be a regional variation.

Let's say that you are a cashier and you came up short for the night, meaning that you ended your workday with less cash in your register than your sales total.
Is it acceptable in your area to say, "My drawer was short"?

Hi,



That sounds OK to me, although cashiers may have other special jargon I don't know about.

eg I think they often talk about their 'tray' rather than their drawer, since they bring the tray and insert it in the drawer.

They might also just say 'I'm short', eg 'I'm short $20'.



Clive