Just because I work in a shop...

[LunasOrchid]

... doesn't mean I'm thick! 😡

I had a woman approach me on checkout and demanded (didn't ask) that I convert the size of something for her from mm to inches e.g. 270mm by 540mm.

I get my phone out and use google to convert 27cm and 54cm. I tell customer is x inch by y inches. Customer immediately says I'm wrong? That the box says medium and y inches is this long whilst holding her arms out to show me. I explain it is correct and show her my phone. She says no you can't be right. There's no way it's that big.

At this point, I reiterate what I've typed in, and explain that it is definitely correct. She snatches the box from in front of me and says she's going to ask somebody who actually knows what they're doing

I have to admit I did lose my temper here and told her not to bother coming to my till as I won't be serving her. Luckily my supervisor heard everything and backed me 100%.

I was fuming. Why do people assume that people who work in shops are thick and speak down to them. I have a first class degree and a post graduate degree. I work in a shop because it's stress free (most of the time), flexible hours and I enjoy it. I am not thick

@PrincessPain some people really are amazed that we can actually read and write, aren't they? Recounting their usually very small change is always a classic.. why yes, I can add up to 9p .

I'm horrified that phone culture / lack of basic grammar means in society one adult doesn't know the difference between your and you're. Get off your high horse.

Hahaha. You asked for that. Well said.

Sympathies, OP. I would not go back to retail or hospitality if I could help it. Have had all sorts, the one that sticks out most is being told to fuck off and get a life cos she didn't grasp that the job seekers allowance to buy clothes which said 4 items up to a value of £100 didn't mean she could get 5 things if she hadn't spent the full £100 and that I couldn't just put it through the til cos it wouldn't let me code 5 things for that. I had stayed after my shift ended cos I was serving her but when she swore at me I simply dumped her stuff behind the till with a colleague, threw my hands up and walked off. I left retail shortly after that (voluntarily).

I don’t think your thick, but I am horrified that phone culture / lack of basic arithmetic teaching over the last 20 years means in society 2 adults cannot rough divide simple figures like 54 by 2.5 in their head

Muphry's Law [Grin]

I used to work in a shop. The thing I’d get very often was something costing 99p. People would give me a five pound note and a penny to “round it up” and been very surprised to get £4.02 back. That always made me smile.

When you've got a queue of people to serve, it is much quicker to use a calculator. I've always been shit at maths anyway.

OP she was just an a-hole but you have raised the far more interesting question of why society has failed completely to adopt one or t'other system 😀

I flit between the two like a dragonfly on a lilypad. Curtain making is hell. Just when I think I have cracked going metric entirely, the next thing I buy (curtain pole, picture frame etc) is sold in feet and inches and I have to revert and convert.

Perhaps it is all a cunning plan to keep people of a certain age (like me) mentally agile.🤔

Argh apologies for huge sentence and lack of commas.

You don't have to divide by 2.5 though — divide by 5 and then multiply by 2.

Even if I didn't just know, I know that a 15 cm ruler is 12 inches, so would know from that.

She was rude though. She can do her own maths in the future!

Even if I didn't just know, I know that a 15 cm ruler is 12 inches, so would know from that.

A 30cm ruler is 12 inches

I know that you'd divide by 2,5 but probably wouldn't be able to do it on the spot with someone waiting.

Well, we've only been decimal for nearly 50yrs...

Tbh I'm not much good at visualising either measurement.

If size is importantI take a tape measure!

Don't take it to heart!! Dealing with the general public is mostly frustrating.
I remember working in a DIY shop and a customer was asking for advice on how to plumb in a washing machine.
We weren't allowed to give any kind of advice to customers, also I was 16 at the time so I probably wouldn't have picked a teenager to answer any DIY question.
I explained that I couldn't give advice on plumbing in a washing machine and if he wasn't sure how to do it himself; pay for a plumber to install it so he knows it's been done correctly.
He then got proper arsey because I couldn't give him advice. I then explained that I wasn't qualified to give any advice as I'm not a qualified plumber, electrician etc.
He found that utterly ludicrous. I was like "Mate if I was a qualified plumber do you think I'd be working as a cashier on minimum wage?"
The only thing that got me through was bitching about these douches after they'd gone. If you're rude to shop staff be sure you will be bitched about and laughed at by all!!

She’ll be like that With everyone. She’s just a twat.

Also I have a maths degree and would have used my phone for that. Maths is all about using the most efficient and accurate method!

You don't have to divide by 2.5 though — divide by 5 and then multiply by 2.

I am aware of that, but dividing 27 by 5 isn’t exactly the easiest calculation to do in your head either. The op didn’t say she was wanting to find approximately how many inches 27cm and 54cm were equivalent to. She wanted to convert them to inches. Using a calculator is fine for that.

@PolkadotsAndMoonbeams check your sums there, 15cm is not 12 inches....

Even if I didn't just know, I know that a 15 cm ruler is 12 inches, so would know from that.

Muphry’s law strikes again.

Yes, I changed my mind on which ruler I was talking about halfway through. Oops.

15 cm is 6 inches, 30 cm is 12 inches. It's just as well I just know in that case isn't it?!

I'm degree educated. I also suffer with what I now believe is most likely dyscalculia.
I couldn't have converted without a phone either and sometimes the simplest of sums can reduce me to tears of frustration.

I'm horrified that phone culture / lack of basic grammar means in society one adult doesn't know the difference between your and you're. Get off your high horse.

When I was in 6th form I had a Saturday job on the checkout at Tesco.

One day I was serving a man who , in a loud voice , told his young daughter that she had better work harder at school otherwise she would end up being a check out girl like me.

I politely defended myself.

post edited by MNHQ as repeated a deleted post

You're the only person dishing out personal insults. Nobody else called anyone a cunt

@Cannotresist by why would we need to be able to do that if we have machines that can. What are you going to be horrified by next? The fact that most people don’t know how to sew? I can rough divide like that but why would I when I could get the right answer immediately using the calculator on my phone?

You don't have to divide by 2.5 though — divide by 5 and then multiply by 2.

Why has no-one ever mentioned this before? I spend a lot of time converting metric to imperial and back again in my head , and it NEVER occurred to me to do this! (Even though it's obvious now)

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams Thank you!

@eBooksAreBooks even easier to divide by 10 and times by 4

See @Cannotresist we can do mental arithmetic