(no subject)

[disneydream06]

I had a meeting last night to discuss the Caucuses next Tuesday. I was meeting somebody at Caribou Coffee. Never been there and I don't drink coffee, but after checking out their menu online I decided to try an Iced Apple Blast, which is an iced version of a carameled hot apple cider. It was actually quite yummy. :)
What brings me to this entry, is the lack of simple math skills in this country.
The drink totaled out at $5.49. She rang it up on the cash register and for some reason it said $0.00 change from the $6.00 I gave her. She called another employee over and asked what she should do. His brilliant idea? Get out his phone to subtract $5.49 from $6.00, I assume on a calculator. Seriously? You couldn't subtract that in your head? :o

Comments

[matrixmann]

That's it when the teacher says in Math, 7th grade: "We all do this with a calculator, that's faster."

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

UGH.....

[matrixmann]

It's true - those ones where the Math teacher allowed the calculator (that all collectively have) to be used first in 8th or 9th class and he was eager for his students to learn some things by heart or still do them "on foot" (as they say here), those later have better skills for calculation by brain power.

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

I remember when I was in 7th grade, we had a couple of days where we used calculators, and that was it. :p

[matrixmann]

There are still people alive which recall the slipstick...

But that's the way it is.
Be forced to do a lot by your own hand, you'll be more skilled later on than people which weren't.

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

Exactly. :)

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

Some people are just mathematical imbeciles - and lazy too.

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

LOL............

[seaivy.livejournal.com]

lol
or as we old timers did it
round up to 50 cents - put the penny aside
$5.50 plus 50 is $ 6.00
give the customer 50 cents and the penny
LOL !

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[owlstorm_9]

soooo pathetic.

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

Pretty sad, huh?

[owlstorm_9]

didn't get to use calculators until high school algebra & then it was almost less confusing without them...

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

I just remember a few days in 7th grade math. :o

[chaquir.livejournal.com]

sheeeeeeeeeeezzzz that's pathetic really!
There is nothing difficult about that!

people are so not used to count with the head. I notice that in my class too when I'm measuring something and I ask them to multiply it by 2. Most are just lost! URGH!

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

UGH......

[fallconsmate.livejournal.com]

well FIRST off, she put it into the register wrong. she should have punched in that you gave her $6 and gotten the answer that she gives you $.51 change.

the second bit is that i had to find that using a calculator, because i cannot do math on that simple a level. i have a learning disability called discalculia, much like dyslexia, but with numbers. (and my spellcheck does not like the word discalculia and wants to use "miscalculate" instead. ironic.)

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear about your disability.

(and my spellcheck does not like the word discalculia and wants to use "miscalculate" instead. ironic.)
LOL...

[fallconsmate.livejournal.com]

eh, it's more a "math does not work for me" but i got very good grades in all the literature/english spectrum. you win some, you lose some!

that's how i try to go through things, gotta make the best of it.

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

Thank goodness it didn't effect your reading too. :o

[fallconsmate.livejournal.com]

"affect". *giggling*

sorry, but it made me laugh! :D

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

UGH, I hate those two words. :o

[fallconsmate.livejournal.com]

i read a lot of fanfic. it's a cheap entertainment, you know? and there are a LOT of writers who do not know the difference! heel/heal. right/rite. affect/effect. (affect is something that happens, like "he was affected by the sound of thunder". effect is like "the sound effects were amazing". that's how i remember!)

oh and the one that frosts my ass: accept/except. how many many times i see signs that say "no checks excepted"!!!

but sometimes the plot and storyline are good enough that i can correct spelling (OMG, and the your/you're or their/they're/there errors!!!) in my mind and just go on reading. :)

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

accept/except?
I don't like those either, but I do better at them. LOL.....

[doomcookie99.livejournal.com]

Some people are really dense.

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

LOL.......

[doomcookie99.livejournal.com]

It's true though Jon :p

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

Oh yes.
I work with many like that. :o

[doomcookie99.livejournal.com]

OMG. The stupidity!

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

Yeppers. :o

[doomcookie99.livejournal.com]

Aw jeez... *smh*

[howlin-wolf-66.livejournal.com]

Even *I* can do that, and given the state of my numeracy skills, that's saying something!

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

I just stood there and watched them trying to figure it out and wanted to go, Um, I think it's 51 cents. Ugh...

[doomcookie99.livejournal.com]

Love your icon btw. :)

[britalone.livejournal.com]

If schooling in USA is anything like here, kids don't learn mental arithmetic and seem unable to work out simple maths without a calculator. When I went to school there were no calculators! Yes I really am that old! lol

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

Sounds about right. I vaguely remember using calculators for a couple of days in 7th grade math class. LOL........

[kaishin108.livejournal.com]

Back in the day we never had it where it would tell you how much change to give, we had to figure it out. They are SO dependent for the register to tell them.
Something similar happened to me the other day, it is just SAD :-(

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

Very sad. :(

[fairy69.livejournal.com]

The fact that she had to call someone over to ask what to do is a problem in itself...American education at its finest ;)

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

Ain't that the truth. :o

[endlessblush.livejournal.com]

oh dear

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

Some times, they really are the good old days. :o