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Old 01-10-2018, 10:49 AM
 
855 posts, read 619,505 times
Reputation: 1815

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Quote:
Originally Posted by BlakeJones View Post
Sure, let's make up a disorder to pretend someone isn't a complete moron who can't subtract 14 from 49. That's some co-incidence that all these people with dyscalculia found work as cashiers
And the irony continues...

Quote:
Originally Posted by KaraG View Post
You know, why use cash registers at all? Let's all do math.

Customers should be able to do the math in their head too. Walk up to the register, lay your items down and hand the cashier what you owe. In exact change, since the cashiers are all morons.

And don't forget the tax. It's simple multiplication from 3rd grade.
So much win. Well said!


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Old 01-10-2018, 11:15 AM
 
Location: Buckeye, AZ
38,936 posts, read 23,749,907 times
Reputation: 14125
Quote:
Originally Posted by snj90 View Post
I don't really blame the cashiers for this. It seems like an undesirable job, and you probably have lots of things going through your mind all at once. That being said, from my standpoint, I do prefer machines. The last time I did something like this, I was at the self checkout. I think my item was $10.69. I put in 70 cents and a $20 to get back a 10 and a penny. I don't think I would have done the same with a human cashier.
They would, if this is communicated. Many on this thread think you can throw change at a cashier at any time and they should be able to snap to realizing the two quarters and two dimes given to them after the 20 dollar bill means the person wants $10 back and maybe give the penny to the jar rather than gettive a five, four ones, a penny, a quarter and a nickle...

This is the thread in a nutshell, customers not getting what they want and getting mad at the cashier when they didn't tell them that. People who work at a place aren't always mind readers. The mutant "X-gene" has been found yet to create mutant abilities like mind reading...
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Old 01-10-2018, 11:18 AM
 
Location: Buckeye, AZ
38,936 posts, read 23,749,907 times
Reputation: 14125
Quote:
Originally Posted by KaraG View Post
You know, why use cash registers at all? Let's all do math.

Customers should be able to do the math in their head too. Walk up to the register, lay your items down and hand the cashier what you owe. In exact change, since the cashiers are all morons.

And don't forget the tax. It's simple multiplication from 3rd grade.
I thought it was 4th/5th grade. 3rd for me and I'm in prime age of the high end "young whipper snappers" this thread is deriding, was actually mostly times table math. You know 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, etc. or 9, 18, 27, 36, 45 etc.
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Old 01-10-2018, 06:59 PM
 
Location: Washington state
6,972 posts, read 4,821,162 times
Reputation: 21742
Quote:
Originally Posted by snj90 View Post
I don't really blame the cashiers for this. It seems like an undesirable job, and you probably have lots of things going through your mind all at once. That being said, from my standpoint, I do prefer machines. The last time I did something like this, I was at the self checkout. I think my item was $10.69. I put in 70 cents and a $20 to get back a 10 and a penny. I don't think I would have done the same with a human cashier.
Don't forget that the majority of places where cashiers work also sell alcohol and tobacco, and every cashier has to be careful not to sell to anyone underage. I could also not sell anything to anyone who I even thought was buying a product for someone underage or who didn't have an ID. And I couldn't sell to anyone, driving or not, who appeared (to me) to already be intoxicated. And what a lot of people don't understand is that if a cashier makes a mistake with the booze or the cigarettes, they, personally, get a fine as well as the manager or owner.

Unless you've been there, you guys have no idea how often cashiers are yelled at, cussed out, threatened, and/or have things thrown at them. I was called a b*tch regularly several times a night, every night.

And of course that doesn't include all the other scams that people try to pull on cashiers, besides the money ones. Or keeping track of "customers" who come in to case the store to rob it later. All of this in addition to dealing with the regular lovable public and their insane demands. And I suppose I should add, including stocking, ordering, and cleaning the place, for minimum wage.

It's a thankless job. I enjoyed it, but it's not for everyone.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mkpunk View Post
I thought it was 4th/5th grade. 3rd for me and I'm in prime age of the high end "young whipper snappers" this thread is deriding, was actually mostly times table math. You know 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, etc. or 9, 18, 27, 36, 45 etc.
You guys sure have me beat. I flunked math all through high school and it wasn't until I went back and took a basic math class at the community college when I was in my 20s that I finally understood decimals and percentages. And I was working in a bank at the time as a teller!

I will say the one thing that both cursed me (trying to learn math in high school) and is also a huge blessing to me now I know how to deal with it, is I have synesthesia. I have the more common kind, where people see their numbers and letters in colors. I also have a number line I can "see" in my head. This is what always made adding and subtracting so easy for me and why it was so hard to learn anything beyond that.

So when I made change, I can "see" the change that is needed. Sounds weird, I know, but I can't get on anyone else's case for not being able to add and subtract with lightning speed. I know not everyone has a number line they can "look" at in their mind.
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Old 01-10-2018, 08:02 PM
 
Location: Texas
13,480 posts, read 8,301,361 times
Reputation: 25947
Quote:
Originally Posted by rodentraiser View Post
Unless you've been there, you guys have no idea how often cashiers are yelled at, cussed out, threatened, and/or have things thrown at them. I was called a b*tch regularly several times a night, every night.
.
I've worked as a cashier and didn't experience this on a regular basis at all, and certainly not "several times a night, every night", as you were. If you really are getting all those negative reactions from customers, on a daily basis, you need to ask yourself what you are doing that is so offensive.


I also didn't see all the scams going on that you said you experienced. Most people just want to pay for their stuff and get out. I got the occasional bad check, that was about it.
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Old 01-10-2018, 09:27 PM
 
855 posts, read 619,505 times
Reputation: 1815
Most of my customers are gems, and make my job very enjoyable.
Every now and then there's one that goes off in such a way that I
momentarily wonder if we've been transported onto the set of Jerry
Springer. Got one of those adorable peeps just today. Such a treat,
they were!

Fortunately, those kinds of customers rarely return. Not that I blame
them; if I had behaved that way, I wouldn't either... I'd be too
ashamed of myself to show my face there again...


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Old 01-10-2018, 09:41 PM
 
4,096 posts, read 6,180,853 times
Reputation: 7406
it’s really pretty simple to teach anyone how to count back change. The supervisors are just not doing it because they haven’t been told to. Less mistakes when using the computer but they really should teach the principles of counting change back because many people do supplement their cash to get even change back. Anyone can learn it.
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Old 01-10-2018, 10:04 PM
 
Location: Buckeye, AZ
38,936 posts, read 23,749,907 times
Reputation: 14125
Quote:
Originally Posted by rodentraiser View Post
Don't forget that the majority of places where cashiers work also sell alcohol and tobacco, and every cashier has to be careful not to sell to anyone underage. I could also not sell anything to anyone who I even thought was buying a product for someone underage or who didn't have an ID. And I couldn't sell to anyone, driving or not, who appeared (to me) to already be intoxicated. And what a lot of people don't understand is that if a cashier makes a mistake with the booze or the cigarettes, they, personally, get a fine as well as the manager or owner.

Unless you've been there, you guys have no idea how often cashiers are yelled at, cussed out, threatened, and/or have things thrown at them. I was called a b*tch regularly several times a night, every night.

And of course that doesn't include all the other scams that people try to pull on cashiers, besides the money ones. Or keeping track of "customers" who come in to case the store to rob it later. All of this in addition to dealing with the regular lovable public and their insane demands. And I suppose I should add, including stocking, ordering, and cleaning the place, for minimum wage.

It's a thankless job. I enjoyed it, but it's not for everyone.



You guys sure have me beat. I flunked math all through high school and it wasn't until I went back and took a basic math class at the community college when I was in my 20s that I finally understood decimals and percentages. And I was working in a bank at the time as a teller!

I will say the one thing that both cursed me (trying to learn math in high school) and is also a huge blessing to me now I know how to deal with it, is I have synesthesia. I have the more common kind, where people see their numbers and letters in colors. I also have a number line I can "see" in my head. This is what always made adding and subtracting so easy for me and why it was so hard to learn anything beyond that.

So when I made change, I can "see" the change that is needed. Sounds weird, I know, but I can't get on anyone else's case for not being able to add and subtract with lightning speed. I know not everyone has a number line they can "look" at in their mind.
Great post. You are spot on.

I know many like you that were in Remedial Math or general college math courses and were horrible. Many were a year or two younger than me. I had to take Remedial Math due to a bad testing but my GPA was thankful because I got it. I can't tell you how many would ask why for 2x+3=7, you make +3, -3 on both sides and wouldn't take, "That's how math is done" for an answer from me...

I got math but I do have to debunk something. IMHO, knowing the price for everything in your purchase including tax isn't exactly "mental math." Unless you chunk your 5 items, it is a bit hard to add them together as the prices get higher, then add multiplying and adding in tax, forget it. I know it is good "to practice" it, but I can far easier do it in my calculator. Plus, unless you know for a fact what the tax is there, it can be hard to figure out tax yourself.
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Old 01-10-2018, 10:04 PM
 
Location: A Yankee in northeast TN
15,967 posts, read 20,942,819 times
Reputation: 43226
Quote:
Originally Posted by PriscillaVanilla View Post
I've worked as a cashier and didn't experience this on a regular basis at all, and certainly not "several times a night, every night", as you were. If you really are getting all those negative reactions from customers, on a daily basis, you need to ask yourself what you are doing that is so offensive.


I also didn't see all the scams going on that you said you experienced. Most people just want to pay for their stuff and get out. I got the occasional bad check, that was about it.
Wow, just because you were lucky... trust me it has more to do with the area and the clientele than it does with the cashiers. Take it from a veteran of nearly two dozen retail locations in all sorts of neighborhoods and income brackets. There is a huuuuuge difference in the way the cashiers are treated from one place to another. Talk about offensive.
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Old 01-10-2018, 10:56 PM
 
Location: Oakland, CA
28,226 posts, read 36,723,096 times
Reputation: 28561
Quote:
Originally Posted by mkpunk View Post
Great post. You are spot on.

I know many like you that were in Remedial Math or general college math courses and were horrible. Many were a year or two younger than me. I had to take Remedial Math due to a bad testing but my GPA was thankful because I got it. I can't tell you how many would ask why for 2x+3=7, you make +3, -3 on both sides and wouldn't take, "That's how math is done" for an answer from me...

I got math but I do have to debunk something. IMHO, knowing the price for everything in your purchase including tax isn't exactly "mental math." Unless you chunk your 5 items, it is a bit hard to add them together as the prices get higher, then add multiplying and adding in tax, forget it. I know it is good "to practice" it, but I can far easier do it in my calculator. Plus, unless you know for a fact what the tax is there, it can be hard to figure out tax yourself.
One of the good practices I got from my parents as a kid - we always had to estimate/add up the items in the cart. Whoever was closest (between my sister and I) would "win" but I do not remember any prizes. I won most of the time - I was faster at math than my sister.

I didn't think about this then, but it was a fun game, and pretty helpful in life.

This was easiest when we lived in a state with 5% tax. When tax is let's say 8.25% it is much harder to do the math. Now our local tax is basically 10% which is a lot easier to calculate.

I will admit I am pretty good at mental arithmetic, but I am very rusty these days. I used to be great. Now I just estimate, and I don't get mad if I am off by a few dollars. I used to be able to get things within a dollar.

I have a lot of tricks. For example, I am much better at multiplying (or dividing) by 4s and 5s than 3s, so I'll round stuff to put it in chunks of 4s or 5s. So if there is a restaurant bill for $74, and 4 people, I'll round up to $80. Then divide 80/4 for 20. 6/4 is $1.50, so then I'll subtract $1.50 from $20 to get the final cost of $18.50. It is a super roundabout way to handle the transaction, but breaking it out into chunks makes it easier for me. That's how I think about change as well.

So back to your shopping example. The way I always thought about it was like so. Let's pretend the 8 items I have were the following costs:
$1
$15
$8.50
$2.25
$2.75
$23.65
$8
$12

I'd end up chunking things: 12 + 8 = 20, 2.25+2.75 = 5, so now I am at 25. 1+15+23.65= ~40. Now it is 65 + 8.50. $73.50 + 8% tax? so 10% is 7.35 and 2% tax is ~.15 so the tax is ~7.

Total is about $80.

That's how I'd handle a shopping trip, it would be a good enough estimate. I think about tax in 1%, 5%, and 10% increments and add and subtract to get to where I need to go.
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