• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Cashiers who cannot perform basic math

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
sandorski said:
Pretty much this. Especially when Cash Registers are spitting out the Change amount to them. They pretty much never have to do Math, so when something like this happens they have to switch gears from pushing buttons to thinking.
Click to expand...

I have seen these coin hopper systems. Once drugs and prostitution become more legalized, then people like the OP will be able to join the 21st century and use other means for transactions, like debit or credit cards.

Just kidding OP, I use cash too, especially when I am buying pot.
 
Fayd said:
what kind of italian restaurant do you go to that the bill is only $10.27?
Click to expand...
Different budgets for different people.
$10 for one meal is a bit pricey for my taste.
$10 buys a large pizza that can last me at least two days.
Of course, I'd also probably pay too much money for an upgrade that'd allow me to entirely do away with the need to eat and run on electricity, or maybe a small fusion generator in my chest, fueled for life.



cavemanmoron said:
Not an entire generation, just it seems much more often;
many people younger than 40 seem to have more of a hassle with simple math than us "old Farts".

If all the old farts would just use a debit card then it would not be a hassle. 😉
Click to expand...
Meanwhile, ask someone over 50 to transfer files via Bluetooth from one device to another. 3 strokes and 5 aneurisms later, the person has finally figured out how to open Google and search for "i want to make files go from one phone to another but the blueteeth aren't working."
😉

Not an entire generation, just it seems much more often. Many people older than 50 seem to have more of a hassle with simple technology than us kids.



"Darn kids these days!" - This sentiment has been expressed over and over since the development of spoken language.



Phoenix86 said:
Same thing with $9.05 and you give them $10.10 or $10.25.

They ponder for a minute, I tell them to just enter it in the register. When the "really bright ones" figure out it comes out to $1.05 or $1.10 as opposed to $.95 (if I only gave them a $10) you can see the mind blow moment.
Click to expand...
Some of the mental processing might be going toward, "Why did this person give me such an unusual amount? Normally I'd expect $10.05 against a $9.05 bill. Are they screwing with me or trying to pull some shenanigans?"

Customers can be assholes, too. I worked at Kmart back during college. Someone tried to buy a $30 coffeemaker for $5 by sticking an unrelated UPC over the correct one. I saw that the price and description weren't correct. I flipped it over, saw the slapdash UPC job, glanced at the people, removed the tag, and moved to scan the proper UPC. Suddenly they decided they didn't want it anymore and promptly left. But, we can't go accusing people of being shoplifters, nor were we permitted to pile on the dipshits, tie them up, and wait for the police to get there.
 
Last edited:
I've seen this happen often enough that I avoid the situation as much as possible. It's certainly not new, nor is it confined to individuals under/over any particular age. It's been happening for as long as cash registers have computed customer change. Thirty years? Forty?

I just live with being handed a stack of bills as change for a fifty, or getting back 91 cents in coins instead of handing someone a dime and having them take an extra minute sorting it out. The change just goes into a giant pretzel jar as soon as I get home. Probably have about $1000 in it by now.
 
This happened to me just today - but this lady was like 40's maybe, so she should be able to do math right?

Total came to $12.00 even. I give her a $20 and a $5. She looked at me and handed back the $5 bill saying she could just use the $20. I just rolled my eyes and took it back.
 
Years ago my mom worked at Montgomery Wards, yeah I said years ago -- anyway as an employee she got a 10% discount and she went to by something for, like, $4.49 and the clerk wrote down on a notepad --10c, 10c, 10c, 10c and decided the 10% discount on $4.49 would be $0.40. My mom asked her, 'what about the $0.49' and the clerk said, 'oh, you don't want that do you.'

OK, this had to have been about 40 years ago so you can't blame millennials for that. Face it, there are a lot of stupid people that learned nearly nothing in school. There could not be an easier percentage to figure than 10% -- just move the decimal place for fuck sake.


Brian
 
Also, there are always people better than this, but they are trying to get the hell out quickly.

My fast food cashier days were a couple decades ago, but once they figured out that you were one of the ones who could: speak, understand others, do math, not walk away and do or deal drugs, it was out of the hot and sweaty kitchen and up front dealing with the stunted IQ and drooling creatures they called customers.

We used to do things like punch in the orders in the drive through, pull them back up, cash out, and clear the screen so the timer would clear when there were idiotic sales in a small college town (Houghton, MI + Michigan Tech) like $2.99 20 pc Nugget meals, or 99¢ Whoppers (even better with free cheese and bacon, or free slushies, etc) but you get the normal skeleton crew. Piles of paper receipts, cash drawer with a key in it to pop open on request, and making change in your head (and changing orders at the window was always fun).

But it's not like the whole store was full of people who could do that. Certainly the long time permanent lifers, whether managers or not, weren't up for it. And some of the youthful crew probably needed Velcro on their shoes instead of laces.

You get it all with every generation.

PS

Hell, try this - how many of you could remember phone numbers like a boss? Caller-ID and dialing every number would burn them in and with the right future AT posting personality, you were likely a walking phone book. "hey what's so-and-so's number?" "BAM 111-4567...wait how do I know that?"

Nowadays? If the cell phones and such died? So screwed. I know my number and my wife's number. 😛 I know who is calling because their name and picture shows up on my phone. 😀
 
Tweak155 said:
This happened to me just today - but this lady was like 40's maybe, so she should be able to do math right?

Total came to $12.00 even. I give her a $20 and a $5. She looked at me and handed back the $5 bill saying she could just use the $20. I just rolled my eyes and took it back.
Click to expand...
Wait....why did you do that? Just didn't want the $5 bill?
 
Considering that even ancient registers will tell you the amount for change, this is pretty bad. If he hit $20, it gave him a different amount and that must have been just too much!
 
Tweak155 said:
Yeah but you could tell that didn't even cross her mind, she thought I was dumb for giving her both.
Click to expand...
I guess.

I would have hesitated too because the resulting number of bills would be the same, and it's an unusual sort of thing. Cashiering is very repetitive, so when something happens to break the repetition, it's like hitting a speed bump.
 
VAisforlovers said:
Happened recently but the cashier was trying to rip me off. It happened in NYC (duh?) and these $1 pizza places must get a lot of drunk people late at night. I ordered 1 slice of pizza which was $1 and gave him a $20. The scummy Indian guy behind the counter looks at me while he counts the money and gives me back $9 thinking that I wouldn't catch his slick move. I promptly told him that I gave him $20 and he pretends like he forgot. It was the worst acting job that I've seen in a while.
Click to expand...
Hanlon's razor.

Unless he's pilfering from the register, what incentive does the cashier have to steal your $10?

A Casual Fitz said:
As others have said, why are you paying with cash?
Click to expand...
I pay with cash so that small businesses don't have to eat the processing fee, which is not insignicant for charges $10 or less.
 
Last edited:
manly said:
Hanlon's razor.

Unless he's pilfering from the register, what incentive does the cashier have to steal your $10?
Click to expand...

Cashier's the owner? Or maybe he is pilfering the "extra" money in the register - the books still balance at the end of the day.

But, hey, never ascribe to malice what can be attributed to stupidity.
 
One more time for all the superior wannabes who think cashiering has something to do with math. Counting change is a skill set that many (including ATOT math whizzes) lack. It is pattern recognition combined with hand eye coordination and has very little to do with how intelligent a person is. The change back monitor is there for those who can't çashier because they either lack the skill set for handling money or haven't been properly trained.
 
I'm good at maths and I sometimes have to work in our shop. It's stupid, but when someone is watching me work out the change to give, I start to feel under pressure and start worrying. It's a very basic task and I've done it thousands of times and very rarely make a mistake. It is a stupid thing to worry about really.
 
Tweak155 said:
This happened to me just today - but this lady was like 40's maybe, so she should be able to do math right?

Total came to $12.00 even. I give her a $20 and a $5. She looked at me and handed back the $5 bill saying she could just use the $20. I just rolled my eyes and took it back.
Click to expand...
so what did you expect her to do?? Were you trying to an ahole??
 
First job was convenience store clerk and our register didn't calculate change so you either learned how to do it or found another job. Was given a 5-minute tutorial by the manager and then it was on you. We had a regular who would always try the quick-change scam on the new kids so was given a heads-up on that also.

If clerks had to do it themselves they'd quickly get it. But since the machines do it for them, that's why they are stymied when you offer more money after the calculation has been made. I don't think it's a lack of math skills, it's that they are asked to solve math problems they haven't been taught how to solve. I doubt if any of the current crop of cashiers have even been shown how to handle those situations. "If a customer offers you more money after the register has calculated their change, just add the two together and give them that amount."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top