Bartender says a customer kept buying one $7.50 beer at 1:45 AM with a $100 bill, so she counted out his change in $1 bills

After her act of petty revenge bore fruit, Zaria (zariavalee) took to Reddit to share how she dealt with a recurring nuisance at work. In her post, the bartender noted, “We serve until 2 at the bar i work at and for about two months there was a guy who’d show up every friday around 1:45, order one guinness, and hand me a crisp 100. every. SINGLE. time. beer is like 7.50.” Zaria told the community that by that time of the night, she is in the midst of closing the bar and register.

She wrote that since she has already pulled out the money for the final count of the night, the $100 note “means digging back into the drop, making change out of whatever’s left, and recounting later.” After the first few times of this happening, “i asked if he had anything smaller. he’d smile and say “that’s all they gave me at the atm”.. the atm hands out twenties, so sure buddy.”

So, Zaria noted that she began stashing every $1 bill received after midnight in a separate stack under the register rather than in the drawer. By the time the following Friday rolled around, the bartender said she had over a hundred singles ready to go. When the customer handed over his $100 bill, she “started counting his change out loud onto the bar, extra slow just to be extra petty.” She said that the resulting stack was so large that he had to hold it in both hands, but from that point on, he paid with $20 bills.

Some commenters thought something shady was going on

Many users were concerned that the customer’s alleged repeated behavior was a red flag, with one user writing, ”maybe you’re one of his lowkey laundering spots.” However, many also shared their stories of dealing with too much change, with one Redditor sharing, “Guy shows up with a bucket of change and expected me to count out his total for him.” 

Other Redditors shared how, as children, they saved their singles for large purchases and accidentally made cashiers’ lives difficult. One user shared that they bought skates with a roll of collected notes, noting, “It never occurred to me how big of a pain in the a** that would be and I apologized profusely. But 30 years later and I still feel bad about it.”

On Stack Exchange, users noted that breaking a $100 bill is often a hassle. One user mentioned, “Almost any major chain retailer will break a $100 for a small transaction. You may get attitude though because places like Wal-Mart may have to get extra manager approval to accept the bill or test it using a chemical ink to ensure it is not counterfeit.” Others highlighted that a bank is the best place to break a large bill as stores and hotels can refuse if they don’t have the change, even if it upsets the customer. 

Outside of the conversation around notes, a lot of Redditors loved how she solved her problem, with one commenter noting, “Petty can be the perfect level for teaching!” Another wrote, “Some people only learn the hard way…” A third user mentioned, “Good thing he learned. I was waiting for you to start collecting pennies.” As for those concerned about counterfeits, Zaria edited her post to say that she did check the notes.

Attack of the Fanboy was unable to independently verify Zaria’s customer’s side of the story, as this account originates solely from her Reddit post.