topic Re: Did you ever do the math? in Community Chat

Did you ever do the math?

lovesrecess — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:12:08 GMT

Went to a drs appointment this morning...the woman at the desk said I needed to pay 10% of $300. I said okay, and tried to give her $30. She said no, she would need to “ do the math” first to make sure that $30 was 10%. Someone had taken the calculator, so she did it with a pen and paper....tragic. She finally took my word for it and settled for $30.

Guess calculators are the new math. Even cash registers tell you how much change to give...have you ever had to do the math for a sales person?

Re: Did you ever do the math?

NYCLatinaMe — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:16:50 GMT

yes, maybe she was having a bad day

Re: Did you ever do the math?

SurferWife — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:18:37 GMT

I'll be the first to say I'm no math genius, but that's just plum pitiful.

Re: Did you ever do the math?

sidsmom — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:20:18 GMT

I don’t see anything wrong with someone having brain fog with math.

There are so many other things to put on my Life Resume other than

’Good At Math’ as a resume bullet point. 🙄

Re: Did you ever do the math?

deepwaterdotter — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:24:26 GMT

My copay at the clinic is a set dollar amount, so we both know how much I owe when I arrive for my appointment.

Re: Did you ever do the math?

Bri369 — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:24:31 GMT

10% of any amount is extremely easy to figure out. I know a lot of people hear percents and decimals and freeze up.

The way they teach math today is awful, IMO.

Re: Did you ever do the math?

Bri369 — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:25:39 GMT

All of our copays are dollar amounts too

Re: Did you ever do the math?

CelticCrafter — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:26:51 GMT

That's as sad as someone asking what time it was, telling them it was quarter past two and them saying they had no idea what that meant.

Re: Did you ever do the math?

sensibleshoppingsoothes — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:28:28 GMT

This is an extreme examble, but the inability to do the simplest mental arithmetic (let's not even call it math) is sadly the norm today. Wnen I help at our Public Library's book sales and add things like 25 cents and $2.50 in my head, people have literally asked me if I'm doing magic. So sad.

Re: Did you ever do the math?

Daysdee — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:28:36 GMT

I notice many in stores depend on the cash register to tell them the amount of change due. They don't know how to count the change back. Also, 10% is the easiest to know.

Re: Did you ever do the math?

proudlyfromNJ — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:31:14 GMT

Well I am 71 and I stink at math. Always did.

Re: Did you ever do the math?

QVCkitty1 — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:48:17 GMT

Math is not my strong suit, but I can figure 10% of something.

Re: Did you ever do the math?

AuntG — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:49:06 GMT

Pretty funny considering it was 10%.

The best math you can learn is.....

sidsmom — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 23:11:46 GMT

Re: Did you ever do the math?

chiclets — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 23:12:40 GMT

This is today's world.

It always happens when I give a cashier lets say, a twenty dollar bill and then the exact coin amount for something costing $3.25, and they forget to put it in the register correctly and then tell me they can not take the coin because it will not register now and I can not have all dollars back.

Then I say, OK, give me back the change I gave you and give me what it says. She gives me the dollar and change back and I tell her do not close your drawer, I hand her all the coin, what she gave me and what I gave her, which would equal a dollar, and then I watch her as she glares at the coin trying to add it up and then I am told she is not allowed to do that!

Ever wait in line at the bank and hear the teller tell the young adult to sign their name and they say, we do not do script, only print. Printing a name is not a signature.

Re: Did you ever do the math?

SeaMaiden — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 01:04:51 GMT

When I was17 at my very first waitress job year 1975....in a tiny cafe called The Coffee Pot, the lady who trained me ( was probably 50 and had worked there forever) taught me to count change back to the customer. Tills back then were just the old fashioned kind.

THAT WAS THE BEST THING ANYONE EVER TAUGHT ME!! Years later even with the newfangled cash registers that do everything....counting back change still came into play, And those younger people who never learned how to count back change were in a stump as how to give proper change back when they by mistake, put in the wrong money given by the customer....and so had to figure out the change back. I taught a few youngsters how to count change back over my working career🙂

Re: Did you ever do the math?

Sooner — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 23:31:43 GMT

You don't have to figure up 10 percent of something. That's not even math. It's pathetic that people don't know this. People who went to school in this country. Pathetic.

Re: Did you ever do the math?

QueenDanceALot — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 23:47:15 GMT

She was just showing you an example of why the U.S. is ranked 38th in the world in math education (out of 70 countries).

That's just so sad.

I saw a news item several weeks ago where a teacher brought the abacus back to her elementary school classroom. I thought that was a great idea.

Re: Did you ever do the math?

cactusgal — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 00:14:33 GMT

Re: Did you ever do the math?

BirkiLady — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 00:17:26 GMT

That's inexcusable! A child is able to figure 10% out. Why is someone paying her to work for them?

Hope you taught her how to do the percentage! Or talked with her employer. That doesn't speak well for their business.