Stay in school kids....

[moonshadow]

Got me a fountain drink to go with my lunch at a local convenience store today....

Comes up to 54 cents, I dig around in my pocket, but only find some pennies, a nickel, and a quarter. I have a couple of one dollar bills in my pocket.

I hand the clerk a dollar... "wait..." I say... "here's 4 cents"...

He replies... "Uhhh... it's like.. um... only 54 cents....yeah....."

I reply... "I know, I want two quarters back so I don't have a pocket full of smaller change that amounts to nothing"

He still didn't get it, but keyed it in anyway, and the machine dispensed two quarters, I kid you not, he was actually amazed....

"aaaaaahhhhh!!"

Stay in school kids.....

[Gordon]

Yup, I've noticed similar things. Makes you wonder about some of our future generations huh? But then I look at 5 of my grandsons who are all doing very well in school. I see them once a year and am amazed at their intelligence.

[Kirbstone]

Yes. They're destined to stand on our shoulders. I have eight grand-offsprings and keeping up with their prowess is a task in itself. For instance, one 17 yr.-old has a distinction in grade eight clarinet, leads the Birmingham youth wind ensemble, but stars at maths & wants to do that & applied Math at Uni.

Tom

[r.m.anderson]

Yes - unless the machine does the math for these young folk or the cell phone they have to ask Siri for the answer they are completely dumbfounded !

My dad had a drug store (the legitimate type) with soda fountain and all that - the cash register did not perform the magic of these modern marvels.
A customer handed you a bill and sometimes like the above situation change wanting to carry minimal cash around.
One learned fast about counting out/up to the change to be received and voila by golly I did it without the need of otherwise intervention of a calculator
which in those days was the size of the cash register or an L C Smith typewriter !
Certainly not something you carried around in your back pocket ! LOL !

But just you wait - tomorrow it will be all plastic if it has not already dawned on the public with the credit cards.
Then the next stage faze - a lapel button with voice activated - beaming my payment to XYZ department online store.

If you aren't cash savvy I don't know how you are going to exist in tomorrow land.
What NO CASH how am I going to survive the slings and arrows of the market place ?
With absence of the paper dollar and the metallic coins what is left is the round-to-its - bit coins faux legal tender !

So now like the ad for a certain US major bank - "WHAT'S IN YOUR WALLET?" and will it pay my bills ?

[partlyscot]

I’m pretty quick at that sort of thing, but I'm not even close to how quick my mother was. She could total stuff as fast the checkout clerk was keying stuff in at the grocery store, and tell her where she went wrong when she hit the wrong keys. (yeah, I know, keying it in, before bar code scanners)

[Happy-N-Skirts]

About 35 years ago clerks in fast food chains stopped counting change to customers and just handed the customer a handful of coins without counting it. I have also seen "catering truck" (roach coach) drivers with a coin holder on a belt press the levers and of course no prices are marked and they spit out the coins from their changer. I don't know how much they cheat people out of every day.

I have also seen cashiers who talk to each other or other customers while they are scanning my transaction. If I bring it to their attention they might say they are sorry or think there is nothing wrong if they are just scanning. I often speak to the manager about it. The future is here.

[crfriend]

The future is here.

To crib the slogan of (the fictional conglomerate in Max Headroom) Zik Zak; "Know future."

It arrived faster than any of ever imagined it would.

[beachlion]

During my study, it was the sliding rule for calculations. Only in the last few years of my study, electronic calculators became available. The price then was about the same as a desktop computer now. With the slide rule I learned to estimate the answer before I started to do the calculation. With the result of the slide rule I could have a more precise answer and could put the decimal at the right spot. The slide rule is gathering dust now but my way of estimating is still there and it is very handy at times.

[PatJ]

The problem is that calculators are not always accurate. I have had students who wrote down whatever the calculator came up with - not even questioning whether or not the answer was reasonable.

Issues like a low battery can give some really bad answers - failure to clear out previous calculations can distort answers - keying the incorrect numbers - and the list goes on and on.

I hated estimating in school. It was not popular with anyone that I knew - and yet - some of the lessons I learned would have given my students a hint that something was wrong and the calculation re-done. (When adding with rounded numbers to the millions, they shouldn't expect an answer with cents.) I could go on, but I hope that I have confirmed what came before this post on issues in education.

[Sinned]

In mathematics at school as part of exam preparation we were taught that in calculations, as opposed to proving things, to first do an approximate calculation so that you knew roughly what the answer would be then when you did the actual full calculation you knew whether you were in the same ballpark or not. I also used a slide rule even for Advanced Level and the accuracy was generally given in the question as an allowance for this.

I work on checkout and accept cash and give out change hundreds of times during the day. I work out the calculation in my mind then check the screen to ensure that the computer agreed with ME not the other way around. In my time there was a reliance on mental arithmetic as the tills didn't have the functionality that modern ones do. Progress, not really.

[Ralph]

There's a young man working at a sandwich shop I frequent (from my point of view, anyone under 50 is "young" ) and the first time I bought a sandwich from him he amazed me by returning my change the correct, old-school way: Counting up from the amount paid to the next dollar with the change, then up from there with the bills to the amount I paid him. I think he is literally the only person in the city who does that.

[Fred in Skirts]

Just goes to show you that proper training stays with you!! The only problem is today they don't give you proper training.

[moonshadow]

It happened again...

Stopped for a bite to eat for dinner at a local drive through...

Total came up to $17.79.

I had several twenties, a five, and four singles...

I handed him a twenty, the five, and three singles....

As he counted the money, a confounded look overtook his face, he slid the twenty back to me... ?? (Still can't figure that out....?)

I rejected the twenty....

Still perplexed, I just gave him the answer, "I'll get $10.21 back"

I don't think he believed me until he keyed it in and suddenly EUREEKA!

What's up with these kids??

[r.m.anderson]

In some of these (weird wired) situations you have no pennies but a nickel or dime more than necessary -
SOLUTION - if the business has a one of those trays at the check-out counter
"Need a penny - take a penny" - OR - simply tell the clerk to put the change in the penny tray for the next penniless customer !
How long before we become like Canada - doing away with the copper critters ?

Actually a penny for your thoughts - is not going to get you much in these days !

[moonshadow]

You know.. I'm the guy who never takes a penny from the tray, even if it means busting another dollar.. I feel like I'd be a mooch...

But I've probably deposited at least a hundred dollars worth of pennies in those things added up over the years...