gadget reliance...

[Abby Normal]

I went out for lunch today. I decided to go to a small restaurant that has great food and good lunch specials. Everything was great until I went to pay. The register isn't like Mcdonalds where you punch in number and it tells you how much change to give. They just basically have a till, and a credit card machine.

I had a $20 bill. My total was $6.95. The waiter couldn't figure out the change.

So he tried to use the calculator that was on the counter. And couldn't get it to work properly.
(by the dazed and confused look oh his face, I'm guessing it was an adding machine.)

So he pulls out his Iphone and uses the calculator application.

I guess I should give him props for knowing what resources he had available to him to figure it out.

[Deleted]

there are people that I work with that don't understand how adding machines work. And we work in accounting. Sheesh.

[shanendoah]

We make fun of people for not knowing basic math, but it's really easy to make mistakes. When I took calculus in high school, on our first test, not a single person in class made a calc mistake, but none of us got 100% either. Every single person in class had made at least one basic math- addition, subtraction, multiplication or division mistake. Every single one of us.
For retail locations, people making those mistakes regularly can be very costly.
At the same time, this is why I was taught to count change back to a person starting with what they owed and going up to what they paid-
so I would have handed you a nickle and said "6.95, that's seven" then three ones and a ten (or two fives) counting back up to 20. Can't tell you how many times that trick caught my mistakes when I worked video rental.

[chiver78]

I was taught to count back change the same way, shanendoah. my managers at the grocery store I worked at used to give me grief because I would just hit "cash" for exact amounts and count change back to customers instead of punching in whatever dollar amount they gave me.

[Abby Normal]

Exactly, count back change. Especially if you can't do the math. But to have neither skill....

[kgb18]

I'm really, really bad at math, but I'd like to think I could figure out change.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

My grandmother made me learn to count back change because she got tired of me relying on the calculator. I've caught quite a few mistakes both my own and others by knowing how to do that.

I messed with a poor kid at McD's once. I think my bill was $4.20 and I gave him $10.10. I thought his head was going to explode.

I went to the cafteria last week and the girl's computer froze. She could not make change AT ALL and like the OP had to get otu her phone. I almost wanted to hold up the line and teach her how to count back change. That's just ridiculous.

What would she have done if her phone was broken or she forgot to charge it? Asked someone for paper and a pen?

[hoops902]

I went to Burger King the other day and the machines were down. They rounded all the prices down to the nearest dollar and didn't charge us any sales tax. The lady taking the order also said I could just upsize our meals if I wanted to because they weren't charging for that either (because it's all less than $1 to upcharge).

[8 Bit WWBG]

...:::"I think my bill was $4.20 and I gave him $10.10.":::...

If you were really devious, you could tell the kid that he can just round it down to $6 and not bother with the coins. I could see it being pretty easy to take advantage of people's inability to do basic math.

If I have it, I will sometimes pay with a little extra in order to get a more favorable denomination of change. Ex. On a tab that is 4.70, I might try and give 5.20 so I get 2 quarters instead of 3 dimes or something.

[myrrh]

I learned long ago not to expect the ability to count back change. If I'm paying with cash (which seems to be more rare these days) I'll tell the cashier that I have change so they don't enter the value of the bill right away.

[marvholly]

"kids" have NOT been able to make change for MANY years.

DD2 worked at a fast food place while in college - 1997-2000 approx. She was made a shift mgr just because we had taught her to do that.

[Wisconsin Beth]

I can do change. Just don't ask me to do sales tax. <Beth shudders.> I need paper and pencil (or a calculator) for that. I had a paper route for 4 years so making change is pretty easy. Admittedly a lot of people would round up to the nearest dollar for a tip but still. And then I worked a circulation desk at the public library for 10 years. And I cashiered at a local garden story for about 18 months, before they had scanners and barcodes in place.

By the way, I hate adding machines. I've never got the hang of them. Thank God I don't need to use them (or fail to use them) anymore. ;D