nPostednNovember 4, 2013
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Ka-ching!
Ka-ching!n
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nAncashier ringing up a sale, in the old days, might just “accidentally”nput some of the money into his or her own pocket instead of into thentill. This kind of small-time theft often hurt business owners—younknow, the guys who were paying the rent and utilities, the guys whonbought the clothes or food the cashier sold to the customers…
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| The first cash register kept a running total of monies– but didn’t have a drawer for the money! |
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nInnan effort to make sure his cashiers were honest, business owner JamesnRitty invented the world’s first cash register. The cashier pushednthe button that corresponded with the amount of the sale, and a bellnwould ring to alert all that the sale had been “rung up”n(probably where that term came from, right?). And the cash registernkept track of the cumulative total of all the button pushes so that,nat the end of the day (or night) the business owner would know hownmuch money should be in the till. n
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nAndnthen he or she could compare that amount to the amount that wasnactually in the till!
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| A lot of old cash registers are really beautiful! |
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nRittynreceived a patent for his invention on this date in 1879, and hencalled it “Ritty’s Incorruptible Cashier.”
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nInsuspect that, although the cash register couldn’t be corrupted, humanncashiers could still figure out sneaky ways to steal little bits herenand there, if they were corrupt enough! Still, cash registers do makenit easier to add up and keep track of sales while also making itnharder to steal.
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nItnwas hard for me to find an article that gives a great explanation fornhow a pre-electronic cash register worked, but here is onenthat makes a stab at it.
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| A lot of modern cash registers look a little like robots. (Robots that don’t move!) Or computers (which they are). Or pieces from the space program. |
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nAlsonon this date:
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Diwali (November 3 – 7)
Diwali (November 3 – 7)
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nNational Chicken Lady Day
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nHumoristnWill Rogers’s birthday
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nBarbieninventor Ruth Handler’s birthday
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nUnitynDay in Russia
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nPlannAhead:
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Checknout my Pinterest boards for:
Checknout my Pinterest boards for:
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nn Novembern holidays
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nn Novembern birthdays
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- n Historicaln anniversaries in November
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nn Decembern holidays
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nn Decembern birthdays
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- n Historicaln anniversaries in December
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