The this math does not compute thread

[nevets88]

Arrggghhhh!

[iacas]

Recently:

I once argued with a clerk at the grocery store in my college town. I had four cases of Coke (12 packs), each of which were $2.99. She "kindly" pointed out that the 24-packs were "on sale" for $6.99 that week.

[boogielicious]

I see it all the time when you have multiple sizes of product.  This is why grocers are required to put a cost per unit size statement on the shelf.

[nevets88]

DOH!

[Valleygolfer]

[SIZE=28px]DOH![/SIZE] [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/99110/] [/URL]

Well if 3 others are indifferent and 3 like math then maybe it's a majority...

[nevets88]

[Yukari]

Some people automatically assume that larger quantity is cheaper and will buy the larger one. 

Seen it happen. 

[rehmwa]

When I used to work pizza in college, I'd frequently:

have people get confused when asking about number of slices and different sizes (8 slices for 10"/12", 12 for 14"/16") would have the same number of slices.  I'd finally answer the question with "I have the cutter, how many slices do you want?"

have people think that buying two 10" pieces was more pizza than one 14" pizza (2 x pi x 5^2 = 50pi, pi x 7^2 = 49pi) - but the 14" weighed more due to the topping tables.  But you can't convince a college kid to pay less for more weight.  (And 16 "small" slices is more than 12 "large" slices)

Someone would ask me what size pizza I had - I'd say 10", 12", 14", 16".  They'd pause and ask for a 'medium'....or, The BEST question ever - "How big is your 16" pizza?"

Also ordering sodas - What size?  12, 16 and 20 ounces......"which one is medium?"  seriously - medium is smaller than the large....or go to a store for a soda and they only offer Large, X-Large, and Jumbo....

 

people don't like numbers

[Buckeyebowman]

You got that right! First there was "new" math, and then "common core" math, both of which are totally hosed up!

I encountered this. Made a purchase that came to, say $4.50. Hand the girl a 10, and she punches in 1, double zero, double zero, cash tendered. Now the register is telling her to give me $95.50 in change, and she realizes something is wrong! I see immediately what happened and tell the girl to just give me $5.50 in change and her drawer will still balance.

She couldn't comprehend the explanation, and called the front end manager over. I explained the situation to her, and SHE couldn't understand it either. She had to go through this whole rigamarole of canceling the prior sale and ringing it up again. After doing that, the cashier held her hand out for more money! She had already put my ten in the drawer! Here we go again! Unbelievable!

[boogielicious]

8 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

You got that right! First there was "new" math, and then "common core" math, both of which are totally hosed up!

I encountered this. Made a purchase that came to, say $4.50. Hand the girl a 10, and she punches in 1, double zero, double zero, cash tendered. Now the register is telling her to give me $95.50 in change, and she realizes something is wrong! I see immediately what happened and tell the girl to just give me $5.50 in change and her drawer will still balance.

She couldn't comprehend the explanation, and called the front end manager over. I explained the situation to her, and SHE couldn't understand it either. She had to go through this whole rigamarole of canceling the prior sale and ringing it up again. After doing that, the cashier held her hand out for more money! She had already put my ten in the drawer! Here we go again! Unbelievable!

That may be more of her being flustered for entering the wrong information in the register than a math issue. Registers now record transactions. Incorrect transactions must be voided or the accounting at the end of the day is off.

[Buckeyebowman]

On 5/4/2016 at 7:38 AM, boogielicious said:

That may be more of her being flustered for entering the wrong information in the register than a math issue. Registers now record transactions. Incorrect transactions must be voided or the accounting at the end of the day is off.

Nonsense! The machine does not know that I did not hand her $100, nor does it know that she did not hand me back $95.50 in change! All it "knows" is that there should be $4.50 more in the till! Which there is.

Consider. There is no quantitative difference between submitting $100 or $10 for a $4.50 purchase. The former results in $95.50 being returned in change, the latter $5.50. The net is still $4.50 plus in the till!

Jesus! I can't stand this over complication of something that should be simple! Basic math is not that hard!

As for the "stupid" cashier being flustered, I can somewhat appreciate that, because it stems from her not being properly instructed in her youth!

Edited May 9, 2016 by Buckeyebowman

[boogielicious]

5 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Nonsense! The machine does not know that I did not hand her $100, nor does it know that she did not hand me back $95.50 in change! All it "knows" is that there should be $4.50 more in the till! Which there is.

Consider. There is no quantitative difference between submitting $100 or $10 for a $4.50 purchase. The former results in $95.50 being returned in change, the latter $5.50. The net is still $4.50 plus in the till!

Jesus! I can't stand this over complication of something that should be simple! Basic math is not that hard!

As for the "stupid" cashier being flustered, I can somewhat appreciate that, because it stems from her not being properly instructed in her youth!

For you and I, basic math is not hard. I don't think algebra and Calculus are hard either because I am very good at math. But the kid working at the register of the store you went to is not good at math otherwise they probably wouldn't be working there. 

Most likely no one has show them the simple way to make change either. I was taught by my mother when she had a store and I worked there at 12 years old. I would blame the managers as much as the kid. 

[Buckeyebowman]

Well, the front end "manager" was the bigger part of my problem, rather than the cashier. However, both of them comprised the problem and it speaks to the state of education in this country today!

The fact that neither of them could understand simple math blew me away! For Christ's sake, the one woman was supposed to be a manager! She was as big a dimbulb as the cashier!

And we're not talking algebra and calculus here, this is simple addition and subtraction! I ran a paper route from ages 10 to 12. I was taught to make change by my Dad. It's EASY! That is, if you can simply COUNT!

[newtogolf]

On 5/9/2016 at 1:02 AM, Buckeyebowman said:

Nonsense! The machine does not know that I did not hand her $100, nor does it know that she did not hand me back $95.50 in change! All it "knows" is that there should be $4.50 more in the till! Which there is.

Consider. There is no quantitative difference between submitting $100 or $10 for a $4.50 purchase. The former results in $95.50 being returned in change, the latter $5.50. The net is still $4.50 plus in the till!

Jesus! I can't stand this over complication of something that should be simple! Basic math is not that hard!

As for the "stupid" cashier being flustered, I can somewhat appreciate that, because it stems from her not being properly instructed in her youth!

Unless it was a mechanical cash register and not a computerized one, the amount tendered matters.  

[RFKFREAK]

I've always appreciated math being easy for me.

It was one of my favorite subjects in school.  I probably should have gone into a field that involved math like a cashier at a supermarket. 

[Abu3baid]

8 hours ago, newtogolf said:

Unless it was a mechanical cash register and not a computerized one, the amount tendered matters.  

I think that was the contention.. It doesn't matter what kind of register it is, in the end it can't tell the difference between giving 5.50  for a 10 or giving 95.50 for 100.  In the end, the sale was for 4.50$ and that is exactly what will be in the register mechanical or other wise.. 

No one will ever care did the customer pay 100 or 10 for the items purchased.

[iacas]

6 hours ago, Abu3baid said:

No one will ever care did the customer pay 100 or 10 for the items purchased.

That's not true.

I have a relative that balances drawers at Wal-Mart. The amount tendered matters.

I agree that it shouldn't matter. And that it doesn't mathematically.

[Lihu]

On May 4, 2016 at 7:58 PM, Buckeyebowman said:

You got that right! First there was "new" math, and then "common core" math, both of which are totally hosed up!

I encountered this. Made a purchase that came to, say $4.50. Hand the girl a 10, and she punches in 1, double zero, double zero, cash tendered. Now the register is telling her to give me $95.50 in change, and she realizes something is wrong! I see immediately what happened and tell the girl to just give me $5.50 in change and her drawer will still balance.

She couldn't comprehend the explanation, and called the front end manager over. I explained the situation to her, and SHE couldn't understand it either. She had to go through this whole rigamarole of canceling the prior sale and ringing it up again. After doing that, the cashier held her hand out for more money! She had already put my ten in the drawer! Here we go again! Unbelievable!

Sounds familiar...

15 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Well, the front end "manager" was the bigger part of my problem, rather than the cashier. However, both of them comprised the problem and it speaks to the state of education in this country today!

The fact that neither of them could understand simple math blew me away! For Christ's sake, the one woman was supposed to be a manager! She was as big a dimbulb as the cashier!

And we're not talking algebra and calculus here, this is simple addition and subtraction! I ran a paper route from ages 10 to 12. I was taught to make change by my Dad. It's EASY! That is, if you can simply COUNT!

Sorry, just had a good laugh with my kids after we read these two posts! 

On April 20, 2016 at 0:16 PM, rehmwa said:

When I used to work pizza in college, I'd frequently:

have people get confused when asking about number of slices and different sizes (8 slices for 10"/12", 12 for 14"/16") would have the same number of slices.  I'd finally answer the question with "I have the cutter, how many slices do you want?"

have people think that buying two 10" pieces was more pizza than one 14" pizza (2 x pi x 5^2 = 50pi, pi x 7^2 = 49pi) - but the 14" weighed more due to the topping tables.  But you can't convince a college kid to pay less for more weight.  (And 16 "small" slices is more than 12 "large" slices)

Someone would ask me what size pizza I had - I'd say 10", 12", 14", 16".  They'd pause and ask for a 'medium'....or, The BEST question ever - "How big is your 16" pizza?"

Also ordering sodas - What size?  12, 16 and 20 ounces......"which one is medium?"  seriously - medium is smaller than the large....or go to a store for a soda and they only offer Large, X-Large, and Jumbo....

 

people don't like numbers

Good one!

 

On April 20, 2016 at 8:19 AM, nevets88 said:

My wife laughed at this one.