Shopping and this generation

At a check out the fellow gave the kid a $20, a couple $1's, and spent several minutes trying to get the millenial to give him a $10 bill back for a 12$ purchase. He finally apologised and scrapped the idea when the kid didn't get it, saying he didnt mean to involve math.

Then the next lady bouthg the remains of a carton of snacks, tthat was open and partially empty. The same kid rung up the entire box (which the lady vetoed) got a manager to cancel the order, then rung them up wrong (didnt count the pieces or didn't put in the sale price). The lady went to the service desk with the product and the receipt.

I told the kid, we'll keep it simple and will use plastic today (bank card). I requested $20 cash back, and he asked me how I wanted my twentys. Just shoulda said I'll take 2.

Dude couldn't win.

He'll make a wonderful politician someday.....about the right caliber.

 

These kids get a ton of crap. I honestly feel they were let down by the adults in their lives. Non present parents, teachers with agendas that don’t include facts, the list could go on…

 

Sadly, that’s not uncommon. There mind gets blown when it comes to math or common sense

 

That is a better way to look at it.
There are things my folks didn't/couldn't teach me, and I did PLENTY of similarly stupid things. And probably had folks wondering about my generation.
About many of my age, they were very right. Others learned and grew, learned comon sense different than home taught....
But I also remember being a prideful, gawky, sometimes really blind teenager, with horomones playing ping-pong with my brain.....
Im surprised my folks let me get away with some of the things I perpetrated.....and wished they hadn't.

 

There so busy trying to teach kids 4 ways to do math, like addition and subtraction. Literally multiple ways to arrive at the same answer and they have to know how to do each way. I have an 8 year old. Some of the stuff they taught him in 2nd grade I didn't understand. Never wasted my brain cells to think about it but at first glance it didn't make total sense. I am lucky momma is a stay at home and takes care of the schooling and homework 99.9% of the time so I don't do it with him. And as far as me not really understanding it...I hold a post bachelor's degree and multiple professional licenses. Im just saying that some some random guy doesn't think I'm a flunky...and yes I know some folks who spend their life in college can't turn on a light switch or go shopping or change their oil if they had too. Those who have been around here long enough know that I also have sense....maybe don't spell check very well...if at allbut hey we all have our flaws!!

 

I've seen some of the ways they teach "math" these days. It is overly complicated and way more difficult to do in one's head than how I learned back in the 60's (not to mention that it just plain doesn't make sense to me). People may put down the "memorization of tables", but dang, it seems much simpler than what they do today and I don't have to show my work until working with much larger numbers.

I mean, I know that 7+9=16 because of memorization so I don't have to do any mental gymnastics or do anything but remember that one thing.. But students now have find the "10" so now 7+9 is the same as (7-1) + (9+1) = 6+10 = 16.

 

What bogieb said !! Also to multiply two numbers; instead of just writing them down and figuring it out
your supposed to make a tic tax toe sheet

 

With all the computerized cash registers that a person uses to ring up sales, the ability to count change back to a person is lost. Not only does the machine ring up the total but also the amount given and then tells the cashier what to give back. When we older people try to make it easier by giving a $20 and 2 ones and want a $10 back, not only is the cashier flummoxed but the cash register is too.

I am going on a rant here. Over the last two years, people have gotten very nasty with retail workers. In our area, many places of businesses are understaffed as the older generation is retiring and there are not enough young people to replace them. As a result, services have slowed down. For example, our post office has a hard time keeping staff because of the way the public treats the workers. The explosion of online buying and a public corporation not keeping up with the technology has the public frustrated and they take out on the poor person standing behind the counter. In talking to people like the person who greets you at the hospital door to give you a mask and direct you to the right place, I am finding that the public in general is losing its kindness and patience. It is sad to hear that.

Okay rant over.

 

I’m torn. I learned math in the 70’s, and then made myself learn how they teach it now in order to help and be able to communicate about it with my kids.
One thing they taught my kids early on was guesstimating. This is under appreciated. All too often someone runs a formula and arrives at a result without stepping back and asking if it makes any practical sense.
Where I depart with the new math is when they roll the guesstimate into the multi step actual calculation. I believe using independent approaches provides the best verification.
All too often people skip the guesstimate (old and young).

 

That really is sad.

 

I agree, computers have taken over so thinking doesnt need to happen. I pick the regular registers with a real human working behind it.
Its more fun to be the kind and loving and patient type when dealing with cashiers, service people etc. I think a few minutes of paying attention to THEM, asking how their shift is, is worth everything.

My sarcasm or mystefied-ness, is reserved for here. Everyone in my line at the store was nice enough....that poor kid totally didnt catch the veiled frustration, or ignored it.

As to people's patience wearing thin, there is evidence all over. Its hard but rewarding to throttle back and enjoy the moment, to be a bit of sunshine in someone's day.....especially when others are being nasty.

 

Many Parents these days really baby their kids.
What they dont realize is they are creating a crybaby monster.

 

If you want to watch them sweat give them exact change, quarters, nickels, dimes and pennys.

 

Robots will fix a lot of our current problems, I don’t know what we are gonna do with these folks though.

 

Someone needs to make a tik tok video of different ways of making change.
Then some may get it.

 

A lot of helicopter parents out there.

 

I have good friends that live in a small town 10 miles from me. I heard their school system was not good. Their son graduated high school and wanted to go in the military. He flunked the math portion of the ASVAB. His mom asked me if I could tutor him. The first night I discovered he could not do simple multiplication or division; like 5x5!!! I asked how he graduated high school. He said the teachers let them use calculators!!!! He never came back and passed on the military.

i told his mom and she broke down and cried.

 

I'll never forget the time I went to Sears (OK, this was about 20 years ago) and I handed the cashier a twenty dollar bill. She just looked at it like it was totally foreign object. She called for her manager to ring it up. While I was waiting I asked if it was her first day and she said no. She seemed embarrassed so I stopped asking questions. I used to have a habit of giving the correct change so I'd get no change back, just bills. Never ceased to amaze me how many times I's give, say $20.19 for something that rang up at $19.19 and the cashier would look at me like I was nuts. Sometimes I could explain the logic of just getting a easy dollar bill back, sometimes they must have thought I was ripping them off somehow. Every now and then one would call a manager. SMH. Nowadays they don't have to think about it as the terminal does the thinking for them. I guess it speeds things up.

 

Nothing to do with shopping but... I had to take a routine random CDL drug test at work and the 20 something nurse had to note the time on the paperwork. She asked me what time it was, I pointed out the (dial) clock on the wall. She said nevermind and went to the other room to get her phone so she could get the time from her phone. I can remember being in grade school being able to read a clock, I knew when lunch was. Whether it be the schools or parents somebody is failing at teaching basic life skills to the next generation.