Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I doubt the cashier can't do simple maths. Most likely she was caught off guard in the middle of her routine process, that caused her mind slow to digest interruptions. OP's inefficient way to put across request may have added to the confusion. Anyway its a minor issue, the cashier would not be the topic of a thread if not for OP's request.
...you just calculated 2% of $7.35 when you were supposed to calculate 2% of $73.50. "When did basic math get so hard for people?"
Thank you for catching my mistake. It is way harder to type out an explanation than just doing it. I usually don't type things out. It took me longer to think about how to explain my thought process than just doing it.
Two jobs everyone ought to have in life. Cashier and waiter/waitress. ONLY then does that give anyone the "right" to judge others who do these "jobs". I watch people struggle at using the self-checkouts. That is always fun to observe. We are in a different tech age and things that we were used to back in the day are gone. That would include counting out change. For the record, I have done both of the jobs in my younger days. Stinks!!!! Only takes one jerk to ruin your shift and there is always one of those.
Cashiering is not an easy job. You have to remember plenty in each transaction, and then basically "reset" with each new customer. There are tricks of the trade - like leaving the bills the person gives you on the counter or on top of the register before handing back the change.... and so on.
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.
This is so interesting. I used to wonder how people could not spell when once you've read a word you can call it up on the little screen inside your forehead and just read off the letters.
Came to find out that not everyone has a little screen inside their foreheads. And some of us don't have number lines, either.
I can do arithmetic, fractions, percentages, all pretty well, but when it comes to math like Algebra and above, that part of my brain is just missing. It's why I gave up trying to get a degree. Basic math was a requirement, and I spent the money and failed the remedial math course. It just does not stick.
I feel like my head is going to explode. This seems all over the place. How is this one mental, two intuitive, and three works out? Rounding and round off work but most times you would need to round up due to .07, .08, .09 being the average end cent so often this will raise your cost. Intuitively, this is all over the place to add $20, have to remember that and compute another number. I have a really good long-term memory but with a lot of things going on, my short-term isnt always the best so jumping like that, i would need pad and paper. But the real one that gets me is the tax.The 2% tax I think was computed wrong. Shouldn't it be 2% of the total, not 2% of the 10% tax? Making your tax under $6.00? Now yes, i would likely round the $79 to $80, but the fact you did 2% of the 10% is flawed beyond belief.
It sounds weird, but basically, I have to organize each of the numbers before I can process them. I can't just pick one and move on to the next one. I need to group then do. Something about the grouping helps me remember things. Everyone processes information differently.
But as I mentioned, I totally struggled trying to explain this whole grouping and sorting process. This happens in the moment for me. I got confused trying to explain it here!
Yes I totally miscalculated in my long-winded explanation of my own mental workflow, I can see how it isn't super clear in words.
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.
Sounds as if rodentraiser was working with a lot of alcoholics and people trying to buy controlled products underage or when intoxicated. That's going to be different than working with people who are picking up groceries for the family.
Two jobs everyone ought to have in life. Cashier and waiter/waitress. ONLY then does that give anyone the "right" to judge others who do these "jobs". I watch people struggle at using the self-checkouts. That is always fun to observe. We are in a different tech age and things that we were used to back in the day are gone. That would include counting out change. For the record, I have done both of the jobs in my younger days. Stinks!!!! Only takes one jerk to ruin your shift and there is always one of those.
I've been a cashier. I was never a waitress/server, but I have utmost respect for them because I know damn well I could never remember who ordered what or that there's any guarantee I wouldn't drop the food and get fired on the first day.
Two jobs everyone ought to have in life. Cashier and waiter/waitress. ONLY then does that give anyone the "right" to judge others who do these "jobs". I watch people struggle at using the self-checkouts. That is always fun to observe. We are in a different tech age and things that we were used to back in the day are gone. That would include counting out change. For the record, I have done both of the jobs in my younger days. Stinks!!!! Only takes one jerk to ruin your shift and there is always one of those.
I've done both jobs too, long ago. I don't remember too many jerks or having trouble making change.
I do remember, as a waitress and this is off topic, a lg party left and their partially eaten meals on the table, a motorcycle gang walked in, sat at that table and proceeded to eat all leftovers.
No problems with change since they ordered nothing!
Regarding counting out change, there was a site I used to visit to
practice that. I was gearing up for my first cashier job, and even
though I knew the register would figure out the change for me, I
wanted to know how to do it just in case some random power-
outage or zombie apocolypse occurred. Once I got the hang
of it, it became so relaxing that I included it in my list of online
games!
So I went to a big box store for a return today. I had paid with my debit and they needed to give me cash back. It was $4 and some change. So I asked the cashier if I could just give her $1 so she could give me a $5 instead.
So she took my one. Then tried to hand it back to me with the change. So I said can you trade this for a $5? She had shut the drawer (and not yet handed me the coins). Then she had to get the drawer open again. Then she got the $5 and put the change back. And shut the drawer. Then finally she got someone to open it again and I got all my change.
Several years ago I stopped trying to maximize my quarters because people were just too confused when I gave the a dime with my bills when the total change was 85 cents.
When did basic math get so hard for people?
At the end of an eight hour shift I could hardly speak English, my native language, much less count.
I made plenty of mistakes when I was young.
I work in statistics now. Take it easy on people. They make mistakes. You do too.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
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!
