A Brief Rant about Education
Saturday, January 19, 2013I recently had a curious experience while making a small purchase at one of those inappropriately-named "convenience" stores that litter our once-lovely landscape, simultaneously abusing our sensibilities and pandering to a host of perceived "needs" that no one really needs. I gave the cashier a bill that was larger than required, then realized that I could limit the amount of spare change in my pocket by adding a few coins to the amount I'd already given to her.
Unfortunately, I handed them over after the cashier had already started entering the amount on her cash register. Sensing her confusion, I explained why I was giving her more money, and told her the amount I should get back.
She froze for a moment, utterly pole-axed, then walked over to a different register, and entered the purchase and tendered amounts there. Once she learned that there had been no flim-flammery, no attempt, on my part, to flummox her with larcenous slight-of-hand, she returned to her original register -- where she began the transaction anew, from the beginning. All in all, the process consumed perhaps five or six minutes for each dollar of my purchase.
Think of the savings of time our society could amass if we were all required to master second-grade arithmetic.
1 Comments:
I just want to add an alternate perspective.
I'm quite capable of basic arithmetic, but when I was a teenager, I worked at a pizza place and probably more than once did something akin to what's described here. There's something about a routine, and punching in the numbers and getting out the change, as dictated by the computer, gets to be a routine. It's not that frequent that somebody hands you more money after you've already done entered the amount of cash received. It may not have been immediately available for her to just go "back" and re-enter the amount of cash received. In addition, being stuck in this situation -- routine disrupted, having to figure out how to adjust the amount of cash received and give change without taking forever -- can leave one flustered, making it take even longer. I certainly was lacking in social skills at that age and would have trouble making small talk while I figured it out. My guess is she was flustered and doing the best she could.
I wasn't there, obviously I don't know, but to assume that the cashier was agog because of simple math rather than managing an abnormal transaction at the register is a bit unfair.
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