OT: Teens Stumped by Rotary Phones
- Thread starter colbert17
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Kids these days can run circles around the older generation from an intellectual stand point. They can do things with calculators that older folk couldn’t do with the highest powered computers. It’s not up to teachers to tell kids how to add, it’s up to them to empower them with the devices at their disposal. I realize kids can solve quadratics in 15 seconds with a calculator so that free’s me up to ask much more challenging and creative questions. This is why innovation speeds up instead of slowing down. What’s considered the “older generation” now was looked at the same way back then as the younger generations are now.
I mean the hilarious thing is this discussion is happening on a forum run by younger people that understand tech for better than those that were running it 10 years ago and it’s lightyears ahead in terms of capabilities.
I mean the hilarious thing is this discussion is happening on a forum run by younger people that understand tech for better than those that were running it 10 years ago and it’s lightyears ahead in terms of capabilities.
Nowhere in that article does it show complaints against the simple calculations talked about on this post.
Coming to theaters for the Summer of 2019...."The Script Talkers" starring the guy from Entourage.
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Actual incident from last week
Just back from purchasing some items at Ross. Total due $18.08. I gave her a $20 then, after she rang it up I remembered I had a quarter. Then this happened:
Me: here's a quarter
Girl: blank stare
M: the quarter is to cover the 8 cents
G: um, math isn't really my strong point (as she states at the register hoping it will tell her what to do)
M: just subtract 8 from 25
G: so I need to give you like 38 cents?
M: nooooo. Let's do it this way 8+2 is 10 and 10+15 is 25 so you owe me 15 +2 so 17 cents
G: oh. Really I'm sorry, math isn't my strong point, especially money
M (to myself) yet you work in a store at a cash register
G: here's your 17 cents and a dollar
M: um, no its 2 dollars. The quarter covered the 8 cents and the $20 bill covered the $18 so you owe me $2
G: (with a totally puzzled look) oh. OK. Have a good day
M:(to myself) we're doomed
Just back from purchasing some items at Ross. Total due $18.08. I gave her a $20 then, after she rang it up I remembered I had a quarter. Then this happened:
Me: here's a quarter
Girl: blank stare
M: the quarter is to cover the 8 cents
G: um, math isn't really my strong point (as she states at the register hoping it will tell her what to do)
M: just subtract 8 from 25
G: so I need to give you like 38 cents?
M: nooooo. Let's do it this way 8+2 is 10 and 10+15 is 25 so you owe me 15 +2 so 17 cents
G: oh. Really I'm sorry, math isn't my strong point, especially money
M (to myself) yet you work in a store at a cash register
G: here's your 17 cents and a dollar
M: um, no its 2 dollars. The quarter covered the 8 cents and the $20 bill covered the $18 so you owe me $2
G: (with a totally puzzled look) oh. OK. Have a good day
M:(to myself) we're doomed
They might think it's some kind of civil defense drill. Then again, they probably don't know what that is either. [laughing]
In the same vein, the other day I had one of the kids at work move my work car for me. An old car with a manual window. I needed to tell him something so made the spinning hand motion for him to roll down the window. He knew what I meant, but kept looking around for the button to lower the window. Had no idea what the crank in the door was for until I showed him.
My niece and nephew did the same exact thing in one of my work trucks. None of them have electric windows. They both looked at my wife and said, "How do you put down the windows?".
The picture in the article is an example of the addition method we were talking about that makes it easier to do in your head but looks weird on paper. That is what has people up in arms, or it least it did but it seems the fervor has waned in past years.
Well I think this is more an example of technology passing you by than an example of teenagers not knowing how to do things. This works both ways though...a few years back I had to leave my car at the dealership for some repair and they gave me a loaner car to use. When I went to drive away in the loaner, the emergency brake light was on, and I could not find the brake. Eventually I went inside and embarrassingly asked how to take off the emergency brake, turns out instead of the actual brake that you lift, it was just a button on the dashboard. Made me feel old and I was only about 25 at the time.
Theyve kind of eliminated that problem here. The Vietnamese dont use any coins at all.
It's good to be able to do the math in one's head, and bad not to be able to do it. I happen to be pretty good at it.
But in my shop, my policy is the customer pays once, and I make change once. If I'm handing him his change but he suddenly whips out 37 cents so something evens out in some way, I politely ignore it. It's too late. I've already moved on mentally to the next transaction and the next customer. And I'm sure that guy walks way and tells people how stupid I am. Oh well. You didn't think of it in time...
But in my shop, my policy is the customer pays once, and I make change once. If I'm handing him his change but he suddenly whips out 37 cents so something evens out in some way, I politely ignore it. It's too late. I've already moved on mentally to the next transaction and the next customer. And I'm sure that guy walks way and tells people how stupid I am. Oh well. You didn't think of it in time...
Sometimes I need singles for a tip. Smart waiter/waitresses make sure you have the right bills for their tip.
Mrs Screw,no wonder the cashier was confused. I had to read your post three times to figure it out. Why didn't you give her a twenty,a nickel and three pennies? I do that all the time.What was your reason for giving her the extra money?I don't see how it was helpful to her or you.In addition,you gave her and me a headache lol
Now this is really driving me crazy Mrs Screw,did you get $2.00 or $2.17 back? See if I help you find Rutgers tablecloths again after this!!!
I got the $2.17 I was due.
I didn't give her a nickle & 3 pennies because I did have that
I did give her the quarter because I was OK with 17 cents change but didn't want 92 cents chance had I not used the quarter
@dconifer there was no one behind me in line so she was not working on the next customers change. She was probably still trying to figure out if I cheated her out of money.
THAT explains the short arms. Been bothering me for years. lol
Mrs. Screw, I'm perfectly cool with how you handled it. You thought ahead, paid in a certain way, and had a reasonable expectation that you'd get back what you wanted. I'd hope my people would know what to do in that situation.
All I'm saying is that I only accept the customer's money once, and then make change based on what they've given me. We have too many other things going on (aside from the transaction) to constantly re-adjust the change given as the customer thinks of different ways to reconfigure the transaction. For us it's "Pay once, get your change once."
As an example: First customer receives 3.34 in change, I turn to next customer to take her order, first customer says "Wait, I have X cents, I'll give you that, you can take these coins back and give me Y bills." We don't do that. He needed to think of that in the first place if that's what he wanted.
All I'm saying is that I only accept the customer's money once, and then make change based on what they've given me. We have too many other things going on (aside from the transaction) to constantly re-adjust the change given as the customer thinks of different ways to reconfigure the transaction. For us it's "Pay once, get your change once."
As an example: First customer receives 3.34 in change, I turn to next customer to take her order, first customer says "Wait, I have X cents, I'll give you that, you can take these coins back and give me Y bills." We don't do that. He needed to think of that in the first place if that's what he wanted.
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I love the idea of less cash being used, and for that reason we have no minimum credit/debit card limit at our shop. But we're probably going to make some kind of adjustment next year, not for theoretical reasons, but for practical ones. We have tons of customers charging/debiting three to four bucks. With the associated banking fees (and for debit there is a flat fee per transaction on top of the % fee based on the amount), it essentially kills any profit on the deal for us. It shouldn't just be the merchant who foots the bill for this Utopian cashless society. Consumers and banks should have to kick in for this, too.
The pizza place around the corner from here up-charges any credit/debit purchase by a certain %. They have a little sign saying so. We may do something like that.
Most customers will be cool, but there's always that 1% that just gripe and complain about everything, and I'm sure this will be on their list...
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