Australia locations

DD2 is a store manager. When the holiday season was looming, she took her people aside one at a time and asked them this:

"A customer comes in and makes a purchase. She gives you a twenty dollar bill, and the register says you owe her $3.73 in change. She gives you two cents and says she wants three quarters. What is the total amount of change you give her and in what denominations of money?"

Only two employees could answer correctly. They got to run the registers for most of the season. She is now trying to figure out how to get bigger brains to work at her store.

NightMist

But did the extra money he 'made' actually go in the till?

Sally at the Seaside ~~~~~~~~~~ (uk)

What subjects were tested? I had a friend at college who graduated from a New York high school. I only remember that he had to take tests. That would have been 1965. How did New York ever get along without No Child left Behind?

I always thought CONUS stood for Contiguous United States. Not so?

No one suggested I thought US citizens were stupid...I have had some wonderful, stimulating conversations [both on-line and in person] with some EXTREMELY bright folks from all across the US who have managed, nonethless, not to talk down to me. But, I have to agree with some of the comments made here about geographical ignorance: when I was in North Carolina last year, I finally had to give up telling people I lived just a bit west of Washington State. Too often the response was "Is that east or west of here?" Sigh. Maybe it's because y'all have 50 states that it's hard to remember what's where? It's easier I guess with only 13 to remember.

Kim Graham THE WORD IN PATCHWORK

Answering my own post here: as a former proofreader, the Contiguous/Continuous question piqued my interest, so I went looking to see which it is. We're both wrong: it IS the Continental US Army. Just to further muddy the waters: here's what Wikipedia has to say:

There could have been confusion because NC has a town/city named Washington, NC. Barbara in SC during the summer and FL during the winter