I stopped at the grocery store after work. I got one item that came to $7.01. I handed the checkout girl a $20 bill and a penny.
She had the drawer open and turned to the cashier next to her "it was $7.01 and she gave me $20.01, how much change do I give her?"
Now the change display on the register showed "$0.00", so I don't know if it was a register malfunction or if she entered something incorrectly, but still -- $20.01 given, $7.01 due and she has to ask how much change??
I'm not stunned. It seems anyone under 30 has no clue, when it comes to change. Don's bill came to 27.56. He gave the girl 33.00, and she couldn't figure out why. Oh, gosh, give then the penny or the nickel or whatever AFTER they've rung in, say your twenty, and then they're really lost. And, none of them know how to COUNT change, if the machine doesn't tell them how much, they simply cannot do it. Noreen who still counts change out the old/right way, no matter what the machine says.
.... "that was $27.56, sir, out of $33.00"; as I'm counting back four pennys, a nickel, a dime, and a quarter, "that's sixty, sixty-five, seventy-five, Twenty-eight, and five is Thirty-Three"
I'm not. :-( I see this kind of thing far too often. And, not to put down many of the wonderful people who work for minimum wage, my brother says, "If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys." Alas, he is too right!
Years ago, when I was "young", one of my first "grown-up" jobs was clerking at Eaton's. I remember spending TWO days in training on the cash registers, and a 1/2 day on how to count change back. It is with me to this day, and I don't need a cash register to tell me how to count change. ;>)
Here's a funny. Back then, they still had those pneumatic tubes in some departments where you put the bill and the money in, and eventually your change came back for the customer.
Noreen, we had that happen yesterday at Stop&Shop. The clerk didn't hear me announce that I had the 4¢ that was needed, probably because I was at the end of the counter, bagging my own items, and she sure didn't seem to want to make contact with anyone except to take money and make change per the computer(no Hello or anything), so when I got her attention and handed her the pennies, she wasn't sure what to give back to the other half. I just told her, "You were going to give back $2.96, I gave you 4¢, so that makes it $3.00." After I got outside, I commented on what her reaction would have been if I'd let her count out the 96¢, and then stopped her from closing the drawer and asked if she'd give me a $1 for change.
It happens far too often! I think it comes from reliance on calculators and computers to do our thinking.
In the job interview for my first job when I was 17 (gift wrapper at J. C. Penney during Christmas shopping season) I had to make change and count it back to the store manager. This was in 1980.
On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 20:49:46 -0600, "Shillelagh" spewed forth :
I clearly remember playing "store" in Grade 1 - for at least an hour a day, every day, for most of the time after the holiday break. We had learned how to add two two-digit numbers, and subtract them, so it was time to start making change. Mrs. Legner would help anyone who needed help, but we all learned how to make change for any amount, from any amount.
My first job in high school was clerking at the local department store (owned by locals, hence "local"). The cash rack supervisor tested me for maybe 20 minutes on my changemaking skills, then sent me forth to do my job.
That was in...1982. I guess all that "new math" that came into vogue after I finished elementary school precludes teaching the handling of money. I'm certainly not a decrepit old crone, but it irks me to no end that people as little as five years my junior don't know how to make change.
On more than one occasion I've been told that the change the register calculated is the change I have to live with. Seems a lot of cashiers these days have been convinced by their supervisors that figuring change in one's head will absolutely lead to drawer shortages; most places require the cashier on the drawer to make up the difference, sooo...
One cashier actually told me she was incapable of figuring out how much change I should get back from $20.17 for a sale of $15.67, after the register had already told her how much to give me back for the $20. I was flabbergasted by that confession and had more than a few choice words for the store manager.
What a sad state of affairs when even removing one's shoes won't solve such a basic arithmetic problem.
PS -- When I was shopping in Britain I never encountered this problem. When I paid cash I usually had a queue forming behind me while I figured out which coin was what, but the clerks all could do arithmetic!! I still have some two-quid coins around here somewhere...
PPS -- The store I worked for used those pneumatic tubes to shuttle stuff around, too. We used to joke that with enough air pressure we could probably egg-bomb the Student Union on Campus :D
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Reply to the list as I do not publish an email address to USENET. This practice has cut my spam by more than 95%. Of course, I did have to abandon a perfectly good email account...
And that comment makes me think that while they may not fail in school, just how successful will they be in the real world? I've never been a cashier, and I know my brain is slower than it was as a teen/twenty-something, however, I;d like to think that I would at least be willing to make the effort to find the proper totals, even if I had to resort to paper and pencil. I really am starting to agree that younger people are *too* dependent on calculators. JM2C, Carey in MA
I absolutely detested math with a passion when I was in school.... I'm
*still* not wild about it. If a teacher put a math sheet in front of me for a test I would freeze up inside and panic. It didn't matter that my Mom did everything she possibly could to try to help me learn it... she even bought some of those math cards with the questions on the front and the answers on the back and would try going through it all with me over and over and over and over.... it was math and it just was NOT sinking in. I could do the questions if given a few minutes and allowed to use my fingers... but the teachers wouldn't allow that at all, and if you were caught using your fingers to count you either got a rap on the knuckles with a ruler, and/or you were sent to the principal's office. Gee, is there any wonder that I would panic when I saw a math sheet?
To this day, if someone throws a quick math question at me such as 4 x 6, I can do that one, but not instantly... I have to count by fours six times (yes, using my fingers... normally in my pocket so no one can see).... or count by fours three times (12) then double it because of six being double three.... or count by sixes four times which is quicker for me. ;o) However, if they throw a 9 x 7 or something similar at me and I don't have a calculator on hand... I am lost... even though my Mom did the muliplication tables with me repeatedly. Given a piece of paper and pen, and don't stand there watching me, and I can work it out in a few minutes. Math still instills panic in me and freezes me up inside.
About five years before Matthew was born my aunt bought me a calculator (we didn't have them when I was in school, and wouldn't have been allowed to use them anyway), and I was overjoyed at being able to do math quicker for my banking purposes and also for selling knitted items at craft shows. Mind you, I was still pretty nervous when it came to giving back change, and embarrassed working out the difference on a calculator... but eventually (I think it was because it was my own money I was working with) I got the hang of it, and was able to make change without the calculator even though I still used it to add up the items if the customer bought more than two things. I *used* to feel stupid because I had a hard time with math, until I realized that I could do it when it came to my own banking and my own sales at craft shows... and until I realized that math (although it *is* important) isn't the only thing in the world that is important, and I had skills in other areas like writing, English and grammar, and even art.
*shrug* So, I guess because of my own problems with math (and Matthew, unfortunately got that gene from me too), I am a bit more understanding and patient with cashiers who do have that problem.
The main thing that boggles my mind is that most (not all) stores now have the cash registers that actually tell them *exactly* how much change to give back.. and occasionally some of those cashiers (even seeing the amount to give back.... $2.37 for instance) can't figure out to give back two dollars... one quarter... one dime... and two pennies. I mean, when I am picking up my loose change from the table I count it... so that isn't really difficult. And watch out when the electricity goes out for a couple of hours... everything comes to a total standstill, because they don't have the cash registers to tell them the right change to give back... not to mention the light, of course. *grin*
Actually, come to think of it... my *biggest* gripe is the banks!!! If the computers are down, they can't do anything! I definitely miss the times when bank cashiers had to know exactly what they were doing and how to do it on paper, and type it up themselves... before they got computers to do it all for them.
Interesting as I know that the kids here can't give back change unless the register tells them how much. During a shopping trip to the grocery store last year they had a power failure and the computers went down. Could the kids figure out what to give you as change, no way, one didn't even know how to use the calculator that had been given to them. It's sad to see it happen, but it does.
Karen ! i don`t see why you should apologize, juat as i don`t see why you get so upset about my reaction to your post. World economy is not so good, and there are too many people ,[mostly women] who are jobless. Working as cashiers , is a job many women, who have mno other opportunities can do. The point of your original post was understood , and the discussion developed, to a point that i thought it important to write my oppinion. It is a SAD fact, but education all over the globe is not getting the status =money,we as parents think or even we as Society think it should get ,,, We want Better educated people, but aren`t active in Pushing politicians to put more money in the system ,, than we Heave our shoulders and write like you that .........
If you are really surprised , do something about it,,, volunteer to teach in a school , or help a kid that has problems.... Several years ago, i 'was `surprised and disturbed` , like you say, by the [non] level of Handicraft guides,,,, i didn`t write or complain in public , I made a survey , wrote long letters to the Ministry of education , worked out a plan , on how to enhance those courses. After some long discussions i got a position as adviser to the Manager County Branch, Department of Culture and Art, in the ministry of Education, culture and sport. I didn`t ask foe a salary only fare and post costs, and in 3 years i updated the program to 21cent levels , to pre Academic level ...I never said the young women , couldn`t do it , i just thought nobody gave them the right education ,,, once they got it , they do wonders ,,,,, Every year the program now works without me , but we see the level of arts and craft education flourishing ,,, My colleagues and friend within the system ,, say it was a very god revolution .. By advancing the education , i forced the system to have a higher regard for the profession , once this happened the Sustem itself wants to keep a high level and enhance it a bit more every year.
And i think that it is unkind of you to to be appaled ,,, the others on the ng weren`t so unkind about it....
I have nothing to hide in this group Karen, i don`t know what you are hinting at . I am active in enhancing education for females, i do it on and off line. I believe all of us women of now , enjoy many rights, for which our Foremothers fought, and we should all give our part to make the world a better place for future women and men.
No Madam , my issue was with the unkind way , you described those girls. >Again I don't really
Why should i use a killfile ?, i never kill anything, i am a vegetarian. mirjam
I've tried to stay away from this thread but here I am. Sometimes the talk of "kids today" and getting all nostalgic for the back in the olden days would seem to go along with the stereotype of how all old people are out of touch, grouchy, etc. :)
Sure, there are examples of cashiers not being able to count back change. Does that mean they are unable to survive in the world? Hardly. They have never had to do or had to rely on that skill to make sure they have correct change. The register has always told them what to give or get. I don't see an education crisis for this problem.
Of course, having worked a register on occasion, and having a brain fart when someone gave me a different amount than expected may influence my opinion. I manage to survive just fine in the world and am not undereducated. I can even balance a checkbook! But oh the warm fuzzy feeling when someone gives you a look or says something about your level of intelligence just because you didn't react as expected.
You know, we joke among ourselves about forgetfulness or things like that that go along with our ages, at least for those of us at that point in life. It's not fun when someone who doesn't take the time to consider other factors assume the worst about it.
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