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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to think that a shop assistant shouldn't need a calculator for 3 x 70p?

76 replies

Flibbertyjibbet · 25/03/2009 10:42

We went for icecreams at the weekend (yes I know it was freezing but we were at the seaside....) I asked for 3 of the 70p cones.

I had £2.10 ready, I hardly needed to even do the sum in my head.

The girl gave us 3 cones, I had put £2.10 on the counter. She waited for her colleague to finish using the calculator while I said pleasantly - 'its £2.10'. She appeared to tap in the numbers wrongly cos she took a really long time to tap in 3 x 70 =, I said nicely -'its £2.10'.

She finally said 'thats £2.10 please'.

Fair enough if they are adding up a massive order with lots of different types of ice creams. But if you work in a place where you sell multiples of the same thing a lot of the time, wouldn't you sort of get to know the price of 2, 3, 4 of each kind or thing?

But then I worked in pubs before they had those clever tills and had to add everything up in my head right first time or the drunks would complain to the landlord.

AIBU? Or am I just so old that I forget the young un's rely on calculators all the time now?

OP posts:

Blondeshavemorefun · 25/03/2009 14:16

would a shop employe someone who couldnt add up basic stuff?

or is mathist? cant think of word - sorry

but yes i would espect someone to be able to add up 70=70=70 or 3x70 if they did it regually

Ineedmorechocolatenow · 25/03/2009 14:18

I've worked in plenty of shops, including a few pubs. I just explained to the manager that I needed a calculator with me. They always seemed fine with that.

I would be surprised if they checked out someone's mental arithmetic ability at interview....

differentID · 25/03/2009 14:20

I work in a shop and do have to do a fair amount of mental arithmatic, which most of the time I have no problem with. However face me a simple sum immediately after complicated stuff and I have to get a calculator- I just can't switch off from the more complicated stuff and forget the basics.

bamboobutton · 25/03/2009 14:28

i'm glad im not the only one who has dyscalculia.

i think people who have no trouble with maths don't realise how humiliating it is not to be able to do simple maths.
if i had been the girl in the icecream van and had a customer telling me how much the total is whilst i was trying to figure it out i think i would have gone and cried from embarrassment.

plus some people, like my dh, don't believe it exists. my dh is always throwing sums at me or asking "whats 15% of 1276".

it's not nice being a grown woman and made to feel like a thickie.

WowOoo · 25/03/2009 14:33

The 3 x 70p is easy enough.

But, if it was 99p, 77p and 45p I would want to use calculator.
Better to use calculator than make mistakes. Obviously no confidence in maths, just like me.

My Mum and Dad could just add up anything as they went along. Wow. I was taught to use a calculator so i blame my education!

notyummy · 25/03/2009 18:04

I dont dispute dyscalculia exists. I refuse to believe that all the kids I encountered who couldn't do the most basic calculations had it. They just hadn't been taught correctly.

I still think YANBU. I expect people to be able to do their jobs quickly and efficiently, and I can think of a couple of jobs I would have been fired from if I couldn't do basic mental arithmetic v quickly. If a person has a diagnosed learning difficulty that is one thing (but I would still look to employ them in a capacity where it did not cause difficulties to customers). If there is no disability, then they need to improve their skills quickly or work elsewhere.

Thunderduck · 25/03/2009 18:06

I fail to see the problem with staff using a calculator if they need to. It will take an extra minute or so at most.

Ineedmorechocolatenow · 25/03/2009 18:09

Sorry, notyummy, but I fail to see how being made to wait a few seconds while she got the calculator is 'causing difficulty' to her, as a customer.

I was helped in Tesco by an employee who was a wheelchair user the other day. It took a little longer for her to take me to the item I wanted. I didn't worry at all about that extra time.....

Ineedmorechocolatenow · 25/03/2009 18:10

Sorry, x-post with Thunderduck...

sarah293 · 25/03/2009 18:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

hmc · 25/03/2009 18:16

I too can do that very simple sum in my head, but really....I wouldn't stress about it!!!

sarah293 · 25/03/2009 18:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

notyummy · 25/03/2009 18:26

There are two issues about the calculator. A person who is incompetent at arithmetic puts the wrong numbers in and then refuses
to believe the answer could be wrong (this has happened to me as a customer and also people who have worked for me have repeatedly done this.) Because they have no number comprehension they cant see that three time 1.20 is blatantly not £36.00. That person cannot be left to serve customers in that position, even if they have a calculator.

I have done at least 2 jobs where the calculator would have been a deal breaker. One was in the military when you have you be able to do time/distance/speed calculations very rapidly, and without the aid of any assistance (a calculator could be removed from you in any number of scenarios and then you would up a creek without a paddle).

The second was as a student when I worked for a firm where we had a trolley full of lunch stuff that we flogged around offices. We always had a line of people waiting to be served, and after then first fortnights trial period you were expected to be able to add up on the spot; an extra couple of minutes per person would have meant that the people got tired waiting and would pop elesewhere for their lunch. As long as you could do mental arithmetic it was no problem at all.

It is a life skill, and I appreciate not everyone has it. As long as you are not in a situation where it impeds others, then it should be no problem.

As I said, if people are better taught from an early age, then fewer would be panicy about it (those who have dyscalculia aside)

Ineedmorechocolatenow · 25/03/2009 18:30

Right, but we're not talking about a job in the military, notyummy, the girl worked in an ice-cream shop.....

notyummy · 25/03/2009 18:37

A potentially busy environment where she needs to be able to at least understand if she has over/undercharged someone, and really should be able to serve people quickly by doing simple orders in her head. If 20 people came along and each odered a different combination of goods I could understand her dragging out a calculator. But 3x a simple figure shouldn't need a prop.

I am not saying she should be sacked....I am jjust saying I would join the OP in feeling a bit irritated (but would probably be too polite to show it).

WowOoo · 25/03/2009 18:38

I was taught badly. I was terrified of one Maths teacher, he had no patience at all. (And was a pervert )

Still got my
G

CSe.
........

WowOoo · 25/03/2009 18:38

Sorry Ds 'helping' there.

notyummy · 25/03/2009 18:40

Basically it comes down to this; I believe people should be quick and competent at the very basic aspects of their job. If her job involved putting stock on the shelves and nothing else, then her need to use a calculator for something so simple would not irk me, however her job hinges on be able to add up quickly.

BackToBasics · 25/03/2009 18:41

Sometimes, when your tired and had enough, simple maths can just go out of your head. Yesterday, a womans order came to £2.35, She gave me 2 x £2 coins and a 5p. I just did not have the brain power at that moment in time to work it out, i was very tired and the whole sum just threw me. I think it was the 5p tbh, it didn't help matters much. Had i been not tired and fed up, i would have worked it out straight away.

notyummy · 25/03/2009 18:45

That is true BacktoBasics. People are not robots.

Thunderduck · 25/03/2009 18:48

NY. What's your opinion of people who have a disability, which may mean they're a little slower than their colleagues, on the checkout for example, working in such jobs?

I'm genuinely curious,not trying to bait you.

notyummy · 25/03/2009 18:52

I already said that a genuine diagnosed disability is a different issue to incompetent.

That said, I worked as a Development Worker many years ago for a charity and one of the roles I had was supporting people with learning disabilities into work. One of the key points of finding suitable employment for anyone with a disability is that it is in a role where their strengths and weaknesses are recognised, and if they cant cope with a job it does neither them or the employer any favours. Jobs should stretch people on occasions, but not put them out of their comfort zone all the time.

hayley2u · 25/03/2009 18:53

i am crap at sums and i would do this if i felt confident with it, sometimes wen i add together i add a few times to make sure im write, we are reliant on calulaters, i would rather have te shameof using one than feeling embarrased and flustered when i get it wrong, anf then im sure you would be a little bit more pissed of. yer i think your being unreasonable,

BalloonSlayer · 25/03/2009 18:54

I suspect as someone else said, it's a result of arithmetic being no longer taught.

In the past, if you struggled with arithmetic (basic sums) you would also struggle with maths.

As calculators were invented, people thought: well, in the future we'll all have calculators so now we can stop bothering with drumming the times tables etc into kids. Now we can teach them maths without worrying too much about arithmetic, and miss out a step. Time and money saved.

In a way it was one of those "predicting the future" issues that didn't quite work.

in the future we will all shop by computer (er no well people actually enjoy going shopping)
in the future we won't need food, just take a pill (no again, we all enjoy eating, we need a pill to stop us bloody eating)
in the future we will all use calculators and have no need to add anything in our heads (there will always be a need for mental arithmetic)

And another problem is that you need to understand the basics before you can understand maths itself.

And maths is not always that useful.

I need to do arithmetic every day of my life. But I am never required to solve a quadratic equation, neither has my knowledge that all angles in a triangle add up to 180 been of any tangible use.

So what once seemed a good idea has resulted in a generation of young people who have no idea whether they have been given the correct change or not, and who do not know a good interest rate from a scandalous one, never mind working out how long it would take to fill a 30 gallon bath with a bucket which holds 2 pints but which has a hole in it which leaks 2floz a second.

Phew, can't believe I've gone on like that!

Sorry

notyummy · 25/03/2009 18:58

Thats the whole point Hayley; I think in some (only a few) jobs you should not be reliant on a calculator.

In addition, at the very least people should be able to know when they are receiving the roughly correct change i.e if you can't do basic sums, then someone could be shortchanging you and you would never know.

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