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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be slightly "wow really" at this

150 replies

Lonnie · 13/05/2010 19:14

I wasnt in the mood to cook tonight dh was out and it was just me and the kids so we decided to have a take away went to fish and chips shop was served by a very polite I would estimate 16-17 year old whom took my order and then said that will be £11.90 I handed her £22 and at this point the chip shop owner stepped closer to her and said "seeing you how gave wrong change yesterday with the £10 now be careful today" She went "I dont know how to do that I dont know how much I need to give her back" I was quite shocked and just said "£10.10" but after i was thinking this is really not a hard piece of math and I would expect someone working in a shop to be able to do a piece of math like that in their head. at the dinner table I asked my lot whom could do it asking them to put their hand up in the air once they had it all bar dd3 (age 6) could do it within 1 min ds and dn (8 and 16) doing it within max 10 seconds.. (ds being a bit of a math wiz I did expect him to be able to that fast) dd2 whom struggles in school was the longest (age 10 ) but still got it within the minute..

So I am obviously aware that this girl could have had issues but I find it quite that she wasnt able to do this if she worked in a fish and chips shop (she isnt new Ive seen her there before she has been working there for a while)

I did ask cant the till do that for you?"+ and she went no but the owner went well yes so perhaps once I left she was taught how to use the till in that way

OP posts:
scurryfunge · 13/05/2010 20:12

Lonnie, you cannot possibly comment on how you made the girl feel about the transaction.Only she can answer that.

Original poster
Lonnie · 13/05/2010 20:13

BAFE I have used tils in the past was also why I asked her if the til wasnt able to do it, I also stated in my OP I was aware that there could be a issue, because of thar I wasnt patronising towards her. (unlike others here)

I have also taken on board that yes she could have felt flusted I will truthfully say I had not considered that.

Sometimes the written word doesnt come out right I 100% did not intend to come out smug if I am smug I say so outright.

OP posts:
Original poster
Lonnie · 13/05/2010 20:14

off course I cant scurry. I can make an assumption.

Much like most here did about me today.

OP posts:
scurryfunge · 13/05/2010 20:14

Three out of every four people having difficulty with mathmatics, the other two don't care

zam72 · 13/05/2010 20:15

Hmm....YABU. Mental arithmetic is something I find really hard and the logic of adding up piecemeal really, really hard. I don't know why. But I got the top 1st in my year and have a PhD in a science subject....so she might not be one chip short of a butty.

IMoveTheStars · 13/05/2010 20:15

I worked in HMV as a teenager. I'm usually good at maths, mental arithmetic is one of my strong points, but the first time someone did this to me (gave me £20.50 when the amount was £15.50 I think), it baffled me. I was confused, faced with a customer and had to input the amount into the til.

So don't be too hard on her, she may have just had a daft moment.

CoinOperatedGirl · 13/05/2010 20:16

I used to work in McDonalds when doing my A-Levels, I had a condescending idiot berate me for a similar situation. Funny thing is I am actually quite good at maths, got a B at A-Level, not too bad with mental arithmetic. I used to zone out at work, my body may have been serving big macs, but my mind was elswhere (probably thinking about how much my feet hurt).

Could have been something similar.

cupcakesandbunting · 13/05/2010 20:18

Lonnie Thu 13-May-10 20:14:15
off course I cant scurry. I can make an assumption.

Much like most here did about me today.

Is OP bitching at us for doing exactly what she did wrgt the girl serving her?

Oh. The. Ironing. I really must crack on...

bibbitybobbityhat · 13/05/2010 20:24

Lonnie - you are/were being entirely U and you know it.

StayFrosty · 13/05/2010 20:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Sufi · 13/05/2010 20:29

YABU.

9 GCSEs, 3 A Levels, 1 undergraduate degree, 2 masters degrees.

And yet I can't add up for shit. It doesn't make me thick, it just means that numbers and me don't get on - which I think is a form of numerical dyslexia, if such a thing exists.

undercovamutha · 13/05/2010 20:29

OP - despite the fact that you say you smiled at the girl, and offered her some helpful advice about using the till, there is no getting away from the fact that your OP was smug.

YABU. Many very intelligent people struggle with Maths. One of my friends at Uni got a 1st in English, but failed her GCSE Maths FIVE times (she has still not passed it to this day).

Also my DH has a management job, and a degree, and he struggles hugely with mental arithmetic to the point where he struggles to work out periods of time (e.g. how many hours are between 1.30 and 5pm). He almost has to work it out on his fingers. However he is (successfully) responsible for budgets and financial planning at work. Mental arithmetic is just very challenging for many people.

Shaz10 · 13/05/2010 20:31

Sufi - Dyscalculia

undercovamutha · 13/05/2010 20:34

Fascinating stuff Shaz10. I have always wondered why DH can do budgets at work, but if you ask him how many hours there are between 10am and 1pm, he has to literally say out loud '10 to 11, 11 to 12, 12 to 1' whilst looking at his fingers!!!! If someone was to ask me, I would just automatically say '3 hours' not even realising that I had calculated it!

cupcakesandbunting · 13/05/2010 20:37

OP was smug in the extreme, using this poor girl's issues with numeracy to showboat her own DCs as mini-Carol Vordermans.

Send your children to me, OP. I'll give them a spelling test that will pickle their tiny brains into such an oblivion that they might forget that they have such a pompous dolt for a mother.

cupcakesandbunting · 13/05/2010 20:39

p.s do you have nothing better to discuss around the dining table than the inadequate maths skills of the people serving you your food? What a snoreathon hoot it must be living with you.

mrsjuan · 13/05/2010 20:41

I got an A* at GCSE maths and have a 1st from Cambridge (not in maths) and I still panic if someone asks me to do even the simplest arithmetic in my head.

Were your fish and chips nice?

cupcakesandbunting · 13/05/2010 20:44

I've got to say it; whilst this thread has got me hopping mad at the brass neck of the OP, I don't half fancy some fish and chips.

colditz · 13/05/2010 20:45

I worked in a shop[ for my first job, and the first time someone gave me more money than they strictly had to and expected notes back, i was flummoxed. I had no IDEA what that man wanted me to do with the £20 and 40p he had given me (he wanted topay for something that was £5.40 and receive £15 change, I know that now)

Interestingly, I passed maths GCSE with a C and no problems.

She's working in a chip shop, for Goodness' sake. She's not trying to do your tax returns for you.

tillys · 13/05/2010 20:45

why is everyone being grouchy tonight am newish to MN and every thread is the same tonight can't everyone just be nice for a few minutes?

MrsC2010 · 13/05/2010 20:46

Ahhhh I see...it is ok for you to patronise the shop girl for not being able to do a sum in her head when being watched by you (waiting to demonstrate your children's abilities) and her (pretty mean) sounding boss. But, it isn't alright for people on here to point out your own mistakes, when you were able to write that (pretty awful) first post in peace and quiet, on a PC with spell check (were you to want to use it) in your own time, with no-one breathing down your neck...and you still got it that wrong?

Why is it ok for you to criticise, but not to receive criticism?

For what it's worth, I am horrendous at mental arithmetic as I have no confidence whatsoever in my ability to do it. I worked in shops as a youngster before my various degrees and was pretty good at it, the two don't have to equate. Besides, smugness isn't nice.

Kaloki · 13/05/2010 20:52

I have a shite grasp of maths, my memory is totally visual. I have the ability to work it out, given time to visualise it and possibly doodle to work it out. Somehow subtraction is harder than addition with this method.

The majority of my jobs have been in shops, sometimes customers needed to wait a little longer for change, and sometimes it wasn't spot on. But you know what, I did damn well, and gave good customer service, luckily the majority of my customers didn't care.

Mental arithmetic is useful, yes, but not essential and an inability to do so is certainly not fair game for criticism. In the same way that poor spelling/punctuation isn't fair game.

Funny how sneering at people who are bad at maths is seen as ok when spelling isn't.

At school I was top of the class to start off with, then dropped to the bottom class because I needed paper to work out calculations. Had fuck all to do with intelligence.

islandofsodor · 13/05/2010 20:55

It constantly amazes me that shop assistants (and I was one once too) do not seem able to work out how to give rounded up change.

I always try and pay with the amount that means the shop has to use the least coins.

My mum is very fond of telling me that when she was at school she learnt commercial maths maybe the old ways were not so bad.

Lonnie, I really don't know why you don't come across very well on here. On the other forums where we used to meet you were very well liked and respected and folks I have met Lonnie in real life, though it was several years ago, she is a really nice, caring person. Maybe it says something about mumsnet these days.

PixieOnaLeaf · 13/05/2010 21:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

scurryfunge · 13/05/2010 21:02

islandofsodor, maybe the OP can display her nice, caring attitude with us some day