I was in a store and my purchase came to 6 dollars even. I went into my wallet intending on handing a 5 and a 1. I couldn’t find a 5 so I handed the lady a 20 and a 1.
She didn’t notice and said, “ok, we’re good.”
She was still holding the 20 and the 1.
She apologized and I apologized back, just to be courteous.
There was a bit of delay, as she looked a bit befuddled and said something to the woman working the register next to her. That woman came over and began tapping out some numbers.
I thought she was probably doing something to zero out the entry of 6 dollars on the register and enter 21 dollars.
Finally, the woman leans in to the first cashier and says, “15.”
I am not kidding. The lady was figuring out the change on a CALCULATOR!!!
The first cashier thanked her and opened the register to hand me my 15 dollars.
Be afraid people, very afraid.
~~~~~~~
Also, the HOA here has decided to open up the outdoor facilities, but they are limiting usage to certain times, because, as we all know, viruses cannot attack you during certain times of the day.
The wisdom of limiting the times means that MORE people will be using the facilities at the same time.
I’m about to ask these assholes what 21 minus 6 is.
(facepalm!)
I have done the same thing before, and after they did the math I got a ten and five ones back. All you can do is roll your eyes and walk away.
lolol.
You know, I can’t tell you how many people I see wearing masks with their noses exposed.
I would guess only half are dumb, I think the other half may be just putting them on half-assed just so people don’t nag them about wearing masks. lol!
Your EYEs are still exposed, regardless of what you’re wearing.
I’m so sick of this.
The problem is when they demand that you act in a certain way because they heard something which they think is valid.
Oh, Vegas parks and activities are open. Golf, pickleball… Come on over! 😀
maybe she wanted to give you some ones back so you could stuff a couple in her panties ?….
MJA, you better be careful with that open invitation, we might show up.
I’ve totally shut down a McDonalds with a similar financial transaction.
21 – 6 = jailbait
But if you want to calculate the payout of a blackjack with a $27 bet on the table, decide to stand or hit with four cards out already, or determine how much you need to maximize the odds on a craps table, their math skills are instant.
Ok, I give up, 19?
You can also throw em if it ends in 52 cents and you give some dollar bills with 2 pennies!
MJA – I’m one of those people who have their nose exposed. Otherwise I can’t f’n breathe. I’m basically pretending to wear a mask so they’ll let me in the store.
Had a Local Buddy out in Cali visiting (6 weeks ago?) He went
into a Legal Weed Dispensary …Picked out a Batch…and the Girl
said it would be $22.00…He tried to give Her two Twenties…She
said wait and pay after I package it for You….10 minutes later…
She walks over and gives Him the Weed…and $18.00 Change…It took
Him ten minutes to explain that it was He that owed $$$ to Her….
Smokem if Ya gottem !!!!
Anyone younger than about 40, with a few exceptions, seems to have permanently internalized that talking doll saying, “Math is hard!”
I remember going to fancy grocery store to pick up a bunch of portobello mushrooms. They were $4.80/lb, I had 3 lbs 12 oz, and sales tax was 5%. I handed the clerk a twenty and said, “You owe me $1.10 change.” She chuckled, and spent the better part of a minute fighting the numbers. She did a double take at her answer, and with awe in her voice asked, “How did you DO THAT?!?”
For those who don’t do mental arithmetic:
— 3 lb 12 oz = 3.75 lbs
— 3.75 x 4.80 is the same as 7.5 x 2.40 and that’s the same as 15 x 1.20 which is easy: 18.
— 5% of 18 is also easy: 0.90, so total came to $18.90
— $20.00 – $18.90 = $1.10
Each step is easy. Seeing what steps to take is the trick. Nobody has taught mental arithmetic to school kids since the 1950s, maybe 60s, because “Math is hard!”
Gladys- right? lol! That’s the only reason I wear one. If they absolutely make me.
It’s also hot as fuck in those things. I’m in the desert! 😀
I once ordered a susage,egg & cheese bisquit @ McDonalds and was told by the very young girl taking my order that they were out of the “square” eggs, to which I ask huh? She says; we have the round eggs but not the square.
I finally extrapolated that in her limited knowledge(from home & work) that they were out of scrambled egg and only had fried, such as with the mcmuffin. Their eggs are apparently are prepared/frozen in the 2 forms.
Years ago, working in a convenience store, to break up the day a little I used to tell people the change in pennies i.e. …and your change is four hundred thirty seven cents. I had a lady look at me cockeyed and say “that doesn’t make any sense, four hundred thirty seven cents”. I explained “there are 100 cents to a dollar so…”. She replied “Oh! I never looked at it that way!”. She then proceeded to walk out and get behind the wheel of a car. I was glad that there were still several hours left in my shift to allow her to get off of the roadf.
Bongo- I’m reading the story thinking, “did she think she was working at Wendy’s?” haha.
*Sigh* Now I want Wendy’s.
The math is hard without a calculator people or a cash register that figures it out for them are everywhere.Also You should have a calculator with you for the Hoa people because we all know they will need it.
And that is how Barack Obama was elected….TWICE.
common core math teaches our young people that you NEVER have to be right when it comes to math because you use convoluted steps to make your wrong answer right.
Add on top of that the “learning curve” they use to make sure “everyone is a winner” and you get generations that cannot do 3rd grade math WITH a computer helping because they have NEVER been taught the basics and have had snowflake morals pounded into their pointy lil-heads for 12+ years so they think that as long as they use the proper gender pronouns their answers are ALWAYS correct…. until that damn cash register spits out some gobbely-gook that ignores common core and gives a correct answer that triggers the low-fo worker into looking for their work-sponsored safe-space.
@MJA May 5, 2020 at 3:59 pm
“Pickleball”? Never heard of it.
The Internets say:
So. It’s like an English drinking game. With rules that read like a…
(clicks link)
And, then, it all made sense.
Hate to tell you, but 20+ years ago McDonalds put the picture outline of the food they sell on their cash register keys because the help couldn’t use a regular cash register. Now they have “Common Core” trained idiots who use an entire copybook to figure out what 2+2 equals.
I was doing two transactions at a grocery store (not currently and no one was waiting) so the cashier hands me a 20 dollar bill as part of the change. Then she rings up the next transaction and I, with bill still in my hand, hand her the 20 dollar bill. She looks it over very carefully and uses one of those pens to see if it was counterfeit. It was an unbelievable moment!
I had one even worse today. Total came to $21.55, I gave her a 20, 1, two quarters and a dime as I did not have a nickel. She hits the cash button and then gets a blank stare on her face as she’s staring at the change. I told her she could just keep the change and she said she couldn’t, but was still looking at the money in the drawer as if the correct coin would jump out at her. I finally saved her and told her she owed me a nickel.
Then she said, “I knew that, I just forgot.”
When I was a curb hop at a BBQ joint in NC in the early ’80’s, we PRIDED ourselves on MEMORIZING the tax tables up through the $10 mark (we could do multiples thereafter in our mind!), so that from the kitchen, to OUR table in the back, we already KNEW the total, wrote it on the ticket, and got it OUT the door – hardly having to break stride!
AND we made change on the spot, including the clicky-dispenser on our hip, full of pennies, nickels, dimes, & quarters!
A sign of today’s HIGHER EDUCATION failure, wait till the plaque schooling takes root.
@Bob M. May 5, 2020 at 5:16 pm
Filthy Americans! Doing the work that United States residents, just, won’t do!
MJA, I had to wear a mask at the Base Commissary. The cheap ass mask my employer issued fit so poorly that I would pull it down off my nose so I could breath comfortably. I had to pull it off so the cashier could hear me ask for plastic bags.
Common core and common sense stupid.
Local shop I asked for a quart of ice cream and she charged me the pint price. I told her it was a quart. She looks down her nose and in a sarky voice says ‘2 quarts make a pint’ and that is a pint. Yeah right dumbass. I no longer argue with these idiots if it’s in my favor.
Panera (I know, I know) Asian Chicken salad please leave off the nuts. Cashier – Those are cashews not nuts. Peanuts are nuts. Alrighty then.
Panera in another town – Asian Chicken salad please leave off the cashews. It comes loaded with cashews. The prep girl says ‘oh I thought those were nuts not cashews.’
I quit.
Anyone ever worked at the gas station an had that mechanical 4-slot change giver on their belt?
Flip the lever for the coin you wanted.
True story, I worked the graveyard shift and a local squad pulled up to buy smokes, and I told him it would be 25 cents of 3 dimes.
He laughed little.
Wiredog1837-
That sounds about right. 😀
Nellis AFB BX and Commissary has been closed since March, here.
Actually, the entire base is no entry for non active.
Can you imagine wearing a burkha and STILL getting the corona?
Those sacks even have screen over the eyes.
Our gun club is open today for the first time in two months. BUT the shooting hours are terminated at 6:00 PM instead of sunset. Control freaks just have to control. It’s in their DNA.
@ Gladys MAY 5, 2020 AT 4:21 PM
MJA – I’m one of those people who have their nose exposed. Otherwise I can’t f’n breathe. I’m basically pretending to wear a mask so they’ll let me in the store.
Get your exemption wallet card right here. It’s good in all 50 States
https://www.barnhardt.biz/
I’m sure Ann would not mind us having it available here too.
Bob M,
Did you work with Betty and Barbie at the BBQ joint with clicky-dispensers? Roller skates and tube socks?
1837,
Paper. Always, paper
Keeps cold – colder
And + Plus you can always make more masks
@BFH & Old Racist White Woman, I really hope these cashiers that you both dealt with were under a certain age. I mean anyone old enough to have working papers should have known how much change to give back but I find the new 17 yr old is actually 13 yr old mentality, 20 is actually 15, 30 is actually between 20-25. I know you understand what I’m saying. It’s the “everything is handed to me” attitude hence needing a calculator for answers. It’s sad. Scary, this is the generation that will be running the world one day. Gosh, I hope not.
God Bless us all!
I noticed that when my neighborhood wasn’t ‘busy’ (people going for walks or driving to and fro) a month ago, we had more coyotes roaming around. And giant owls and shit. Nature senses human weakness. Humans lose instinct so fast when there’s a handful of people telling them what to do every minute of the day and they oblige. It’s so creepy.
You live some place that has an HOA?
You’re dumber than the cashier.
MikeD funny thing is I’m sure the cashiers live in hoa run communities, too.
If it’s a choice between ghetto and hoa run neighborhood, I’ll go with hoa. 🤣
If you really want to confuse them hand them a 2 Bill or one of the Sacajawea or Susan B Anthoney dollar coins and they probably won’t have a clue.
Hand them a $ 2 Bill or one of the Sacajawea or Susan B Anthony dollar coins and see what their reaction would be, they would probably think it was fake. I knew how to make change when I was a paperboy when I was 13 in 1966 collecting from my customers. And when I worked for my dad pumping gas at his gas station in my teens and never made a mistake. It’s so easy that an idiot could do it but I guess todays idiots are dumber than we were but have greater self esteem for being an idiot.
I used to do that stuff all the time until lately. Now everybody wants a card!!
Anytime I hit a drive thru I will give the exact change and usually a denomination greater than what the cost of the meal is. About a third of the time I have to correct them on the dollar amount to be refunded.
JDHasty that’s hilarious. I wonder if anyone’s tried it yet.
Yes they have and I have done enough ADA advocacy to be able to say that it is rock solid. If someone wants to start grilling you after you tell them you have. A physical or mental condition what you are hearing is the slot machine paying off. You just hit the jackpot.
The work I do is for people who need sidewalk features to be designed and constructed to the standard. I have gone toe to to with the State DOT and major cities when they didn’t bother to get it right on flat ground and not only were the facilities they built non compliant, they were unsafe and unusable.
I usually showed up just as lawsuits are about to start flying and am able to talk people down. That being said, I have been right there when jurisdictions and agencies had their asses sued through the floor. The thing they engage in that really ramps up the punitive damages is when they start grilling someone about their condition. It is strictly and absolutely forbidden to cross that line.
Mary Hatch May 5, 2020 at 52 past
Mary may have identified a point of infection
THEY pay for everything with an ATM Credit Card
Or other Banking APPS
Calculating change is not in their daily routine.
Menu in Menu
Trained monkeys with SMART Phones with money buttons
No change needed
Only electrical chargers
. . . and Fill er Up with CASH balances
Money grubbing Bloomberg digital scum
The scary part?
These people vote…..
Oh I still recall when I was 15 or 16 y.o. (late 1960s) and the first day or two after I had just been taught how to operate the cash register. I could handle the math in my head for a $6 purchase if handed $20 + $1. Or a $9.27 purchase if handed a $10. Thank you, 3 is 9.30, 20 is 9.50, and 50 makes it $10.
But the embarrassment lasted a long time after one of the prettier girls among my high school classmates made a purchase for something like $11.12, and handed me a $20 + $1 + a quarter + 2 pennies. And OH NO. I couldn’t quickly figure out how much or what combination I owned back to her . “Thank you Renee, that was $11.12; 5 is 11.17, 10 is 11.27 and 10 is $21.27”. Never entered my mind. Only a feeling of time as a couple of years passed over the next 20 seconds as I pondered in a quiet panic how much change I needed to return to her and I was sure her thoughts were I was probably one of the dumbest boys among the sophomore class.
However, I had the process down pat by the next day. I didn’t want to let Brenda, Carol, Connie, Deana, Donna, Janie, Pam, Sally or Wanda to come in any time soon, and find out how stupid I was. Especially not Wanda. I was ready for any future purchase amount and any formerly confusing currency combination to pay for it so as to receive back the minimum amount of bills and coins. And I was hoping Renee hadn’t already spread the word among my classmates about how dumb I was.
In recent years I have purchased things for 26¢, handed the cashier a quarter and 1 penny. And been handed back 5 pennies. Well, that kind of backfired.
When I travel out of town on business and have to eat at restaurants, as my server hands me the bill I always ask “Do you take Alaskan currency?” I don’t do this to be a smart ass (well, maybe a little), I do it because I like to keep a running tally in my head of how many people respond with the correct answer. In the ten years I’ve been doing it, only one answered “Duh. Of course.” Nearly every one has answered “No, we don’t accept foreign money” or “I have to ask my manager.”
My first job was as a cashier at BDalton books in the mall. I was demoted to stock/restock books because I was soooooo bad at making change (along with forgetting to get signatures after running cards through the credit card machine). It was a waking nightmare for me because math is hard!
Amazingly out here in the Hinterland, Dottie one of the younger women at Dollar General counts your change back to you. Denominationally large to small and then the cents. It’s was like I time warped. I could see all the lights were on in her green eyes. Hope she does well in life.
Illustr8r,
My first ‘paid’ job was delivering papers.
First retail paid job was at a restaurant.
1970s
I showed them how to improve their hamburgers and meatballs for italian styled sandwiches.
Got rave reviews.
And increased traffic.
Total accident, too
I will share the secret here on IOTW
Only with you.
Shh. . .
The secret is to accidently triple the amount of Onion Soup Mix in the meat recipe and then don’t tell anybody when it happened.
Since then I have accepted. . .
Onions make almost everything better
Onions do make things better but my late wife was deathly allergic to them so if I wanted to eat anything with onions I would have to make it for myself or my kids. Every time we ate at a restaurant she’d have to make sure whatever food that she ate was prepared without onions.
I admit too old.
decades ago when I took the CPA exam you had to do the math ON YOUR OWN! I have herd they let you use devices today? Is this right? I said old, left ut retired.
Bean counters that can not count Oy!
@Meatball The Great Onion vs Mushroom War wages on in my household for 20 years now. I say yes to onions-Mr. Illustr8r is a firm NO. Visa versa for mushrooms.
Mary Hatch, I would guess she was in her early to mid twenties.
Old Racist White Woman, see twenty something means 15/16 but the cashier should have figured out the change. So sad what we have graduating these days. Common core is horrible and I pray everyday!!
I was driving on the parkway the other day and a looked right and a guy was picking his nose, off course with mask in DOWN position…
Don’t touch your face! Haha…we were both going only about 50mph.
Uncle Al, I do the double/half shortcut often. Confounds people endlessly. A nun that taught me in the 8th grade saw that I enjoyed math. She taught me that shortcut (which came into play again with algebra). Fun stuff! Doesn’t have to be double/half. Can be times 5 divide by 5. Whatever works.
Another quickie that comes up now and the again. It works with larger numbers, too, but here’s Here’s a small-number example, when multiplying by eleven, spilt the number, add them, pop them in the middle. 45 x 11 = 495. Split the 45 into 4 5. Add 4+5=9. Put the 9 between the 4 and 5. Instantaneous answer in many cases! People go crazy.
…. and three makes buffalo!
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
git it?