to expect someone on the till to be able to do simple sums in head?

[Blondeshavemorefun]

I went to a soft play area this am and we stayed for lunch

all drinks, food, crisps etc are price ranged at 50p or £1.00 or £1.50 or £2.00

simple to work out,you would have thought

he wrote the order down and it looked like this

2 sandwiches @ £2 each = 4.00
tea 1.00
kids drink .50
3 crisps @ .50 each 1.50
2 banana @.50p each 1.00
apple .50

and he took forever to work it out

I looked at it and managed to work out it was £8.50 and I was reading upside down

then said it came to £ 9.00

i said no it was £8.50 and he disagreed

he counted again and said it was £9,00 - i said no it was £8.50 and in the end the manager came out (who was pratically still in nappys ) - who looked at it, and agreed it was £9.00 so also couldnt work it out

and eventually did it on the calculater on my phone

and yes it was £8.50

so

aibu to expect a prob 18/20yr to be able to work out simple sums - esp if they are on the till?

You don't need to add up the numbers to know that 9.00 was wrong, just observe that 3 of the numbers ended in 50p.

Simple checking of whether an answer is sensible should be taught in schools (if it isn't already).

I can still remember a broken till moment when the girl couldn't understand how I instantaneously knew that 4 identical items all costing less than £1 could not amount to more than £4.

I got an E in GCSE maths, Im not stupid, Im reasonably intelligent actually, but I cant do maths. There is just something that makes my mind go blank when faced with a problem.

I also work on a till luckily it is a very reliable till and has only broke down on me once.
As for working out percentages after 9 years working there I have them all memorized so I dont need to ask anymore!!

For the record, I was able to add those prices up, so he must suffer worse than I do, I feel quite sorry for him. They should supply a calculator.

Its not exactly a cheap laugh is it when she is being over charged by 50p.

And lets not forget it wasnt just the lad on the till. It was the manager too.

Some people just can't add. I have a friend: trained lawyer, masters degree, who couldn't work out that 6 months from March gets you to September (not October, as he thought). Everyone has stupid moments.

Fair enough, sometimes peoples' brains do freeze or whatever. But in this case, both the guy on the till and the manager got it wrong, several times AND argued with the customer, who was right.

So Blondes is deffo NBU, the soft play people need to brush up their basic maths (like spotting that 3x50 cannot equal a round pound).

It is quite annoying sometimes, I had this in Sainsburys the other day, I bought six cakes on 3 for 2, 3 @ £1, and 3 @ 70p. I asked for them in price order, but she still managed to overcharge me by 30p by not grouping them together. When I explained the problem she put them through again, wrongly, and then when she finally got it right she was acting as if I was being unreasonable, and gave the man waiting behind me a 'sorry about HIM' look.

This makes me cringe a bit because I am SO bad at maths - it's worse in a situation like you described. If I had been on that till I know I would have been all panicky and hot and would have just had a complete mental block. I had to work my butt off and take my gcse maths 4 times just so I could go on to english at uni, but sadly since then it has long fallen out of my brain.

I know they didn't handle it particularly well, especially the manager, but spare a thought for those of us who genuinely struggle with maths.

I am already dreading the whole helping my kids with their homework

I agree people should be able to grasp basic maths... would put in a plea for understanding for people who work in a high-pressure retail environment though.

I worked in McDonalds between school and uni and it was relentless... I remember the guy next to me ringing something through the till wrong and the guy saying in his posh accent at the top of his voice "I could have worked that out in my head, did you never go to school?". My colleague was gutted, and embarrassed. But posh bloke only had his own order to think about, and till bloke had done dozens and dozens that day.

The fact is if you're doing endless, wall-to-wall transactions you do depend on the till.

YANBU or mean - there was a time when tills didn't do it for you and people worked it out. It's a 'use it or lose it' thing, I suspect

Sorry BHMF - but I think YABU. I can't do mental maths either (and I'm in finance!). Can I cheekily point out that you spelled 'calculator' and 'nappies' wrong in two of your posts... so perhaps we all have faults?!!

I panic, i dont want to get it wrong and so my brain freezes. Also if your till is down in some places you have to pay it out of your own money and/or even get a warning and then the sack if it keeps happening!
Some people also have problems with math does this mean they should never be allowed to work with money?

I'm pretty bad at maths but could add up prices like that, thank goodness. I do find it a bit that some shop assistants look utterly baffled if you give them, say £10.04 for something that came to £5.04. You might as well say 'Can I give you the 4p, oh, and I'll have a long blank stare as well please.'

My mind goes blank whenever anyone asks me anything to do with my job and it always involves numbers. It's a miracle I still have one really!

I actually took a Level 1 Maths course through the OU to boost my confidence. I passed but still have a brain fart with numbers. However, even I could add your figures to the correct sum.

YANBU

Tidey ROFL

Tidey ROFL

anyway op, you must put your 'adding upside down numbers' skill on your resume, employers really rate it

I work in a 'posh' shop and over the past two weeks we've had a number of horrid situations, including...
having to ask a man to 'put the chair down please' (he was lifting it over his head)

a man who punched his girlfriend in the face
a man was verbally abusive to a team member

nowadays, sadly the maths at the till is not the most challenging part of working in retail!!

YABU - maths terrify me, and the thought of having to work out anything in front of anyone brings me out in a cold sweat. Degree and postgrad. but still took 2 attempts to pass o grade maths. I'm not sure there is a number of equivalent of dyslexia, but if there is I have it - no doubt about it.

there is, and I think it's called dyscalculia or something along those lines. HTH!

GIBBONINARIBBON im not mean and I def wasnt feeling superior - just felt sad and dare i say embarassed that this 20yr ish cant do simple sums

and you must all admit they were simple

fwiw this morning i wrote the same amounts down this am and gave to my dc6 - she got it right first time

it is BASIC maths - not hard amounts, long division or percentages etc - just simple adding

LAKELOVER - i never said i was perfect, and I def have faults - ask mr blondes

i 100% agree with you my spelling on those 2 words was wrong - but my bad spelling doesnt make any difference to anyone iyswim (tho obv if i was an english techer i would expect my spelling to be perfect )- where yesterday BOTH adults couldnt work out a simple sum and then argued with me

isnt the customer ALWAYS right - well i was that time

maybe the till bloke was feeling flustered if used to a till but what was the managers excuse?

hmmm the customer is not always right.

but i was

tbh it was the tone of your post...I can only post my reaction after reading it and I felt it was mean and smug (nice touch about a 6 yr old child managing it btw)

ofc it's frustrating when something you could do in 5 seconds takes someone longer (esp when you are waiting on that person) but who are you to presume anything about that person? or why it's taking them so long? I could go on but it would bore you I'm sure. This is AIBU, you asked, I gave my opinion. I thought the post was mean.

Thanks edam - away to look dyscalculia up now