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Thread: Mathemetician

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    Veteran Member beautiful.'s Avatar
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    Default Mathemetician

    So I roll into Victoria's Secret today to pay a credit card bill. The chick asks how much I want to pay and I say "45 dollars" and hand her a $100 bill. She types something into the computer then looks really perplexed, like I just asked her what the square root of 74839087663489 is. She stands there for literally about 2 minutes and at this point I'm starting to wonder what in the hell is going on, but I can see she is deep in thought so I kept my mouth shut.

    Then she busts out a calculator and I think to myself "sweet, she's going to give me some fancy figure like my interest rate or something".. I look over to see what she's going to punch into the calculator. Sure enough, she had to use the calculator to subtract $45 from $100 and figure out that she owed me $55 change. I'm not a math person, but ummmmm...

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    God/dess FrustratedBunny's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mathemetician

    yeah, I'm not the best at math either, but that's pretty bad.

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    Default Re: Mathemetician

    I'm sure there's some people out there who still have to use their fingers to solve problems. Some people just aren't that strong in math.



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    Veteran Member beautiful.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Mathemetician

    I can understand being bad at math, but maybe retail isn't an industry you should go into if your math skills aren't that strong. Or at least go somewhere where the cash register tells you how much change you owe.

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    Default Re: Mathemetician

    wow! just wow.

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    Default Re: Mathemetician

    I worked at VS not too long ago. The registers should show on the screen what change you have to give back to the customer whenever they make purchases, cc payments, etc. I don't know why she had to break out the calculator to figure it out. She may have been a newbie and just fucked up the 'House Payment' process.



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    Veteran Member LadySoft's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mathemetician

    mathematics was my worst subject and i hate math but i know how to add, subtract, divide and multiply. i've worked a register b4 and believe me, sometimes when you are in situation like that with people staring at you, its like getting stage fright; sometimes its not like you don't know your stuff, its just that you are so scared what people would think, so you forget everything... the calculator really did save her.
    Last edited by LadySoft; 10-13-2007 at 02:08 PM.
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    Default Re: Mathemetician

    I use a calculator for any calculation I have to make. Better that than making an error. She probably just blanked and decided to go the calculator route rather than make a mistake.

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    Default Re: Mathemetician

    Subtracting $45 from $100 is not exactly a major feat of mental arithmetic.

    I think the gradual loss of the ability to do sums in our head stems from:

    (a) The ready availability of electronic calculators.

    (b) The reluctance of schools to teach mental arithmetic.

    I went to school before the advent of calculators and was taught mental arithmetic - a habit that has stayed with me.

    For example, in the dim and distant days when I worked behind a bar, I'd always add up the cost of the drinks mentally and tell the customer what they owed. Now most people seem to go to the till, input the cost of every individual drink, then come back and tell me what I owe.

    If we don't use a skill, it deteriorates. For example, I normally use word processing to compose letters, memo's etc. As a result, my handwriting (which was once neat and legible) has deteriorated into an untidy scrawl.

    I wonder if any of us will be able to do sums or write without the aid of electronic devices in 50 years time?

    Phil.

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