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Honored Contributor
Posts: 10,168
Registered: ‎03-14-2010

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?

 

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,171
Registered: ‎01-14-2017

Re: Did you ever do the math?

yes, maybe she was having a bad day

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,143
Registered: ‎12-12-2010

Re: Did you ever do the math?

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

Time is just a drop in the bucket compared to eternity. It isn’t how long you live that matters; it is how well you are prepared to die. ~~Colonel Robert B. Thieme, Jr.
Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,415
Registered: ‎11-25-2011

Re: Did you ever do the math?

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. 🙄

Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,028
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Did you ever do the math?

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

Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,942
Registered: ‎11-03-2018

Re: Did you ever do the math?

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.   

Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,942
Registered: ‎11-03-2018

Re: Did you ever do the math?

All of our copays are dollar amounts too 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 10,366
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Did you ever do the math?

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.

Frequent Contributor
Posts: 77
Registered: ‎06-18-2010

Re: Did you ever do the math?


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.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,012
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Did you ever do the math?

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.