to think someone operating a till should be able to calculate basic percentages?

[Bigmouthstrikesagain]

I have come across this lack of basic mathematical ability twice now in the past month...

First I was at a Department store attempting to buy a curtain that had been reduced in price by 50% (it was £55 originally). The assitant scanned the item and to his horror it did not come up with the reduced price so he was left scratching his head for a couple of minutes before I helpfully pointed out that half of £55 is £27.50 he was literally trying to work it out on his fingers (I thought he was going to take his shoes and socks off!).

Today I went to a book shop with a 15% off voucher - picked up two books and took them to the till. The very pleasant young man serving me got his calculator out and tapped away for a bit before asking me how to work out percentages - I told him to divide by 100 and multiply by 15 to get the percentage to take off my purchase price. He duly did so.

Both were young men in their mid twenties neither seemed in any way to be particularly stupid just completely clueless. Is it too much to ask that people leave school able to do simple calculations - both of these sums I could do in my head and without the aid of paper or calculator so what the fug is going on???

[PuppyMonkey]

Sorry but I would have panicked when put on the spot about the 15% one too (and I am otherwise dead clever etc etc) - particularly with a scary lady tapping her fingers impatiently waiting.

"I told him to divide by 100 and multiply by 15 to get the percentage to take off my purchase price." ooh crikey, i'm coming out in a funny rash... what was the original price he had to deal with... erm... eek.

[breatheslowly]

DH wanted some lovely BHS pants. They come in a pack of 4 at £10 but the only pack left had one pair missing. We had to explain to 3 members of staff that £8 wasn't the right price for 3/4 of the pack (unless they thought that the pants had scarcity value).

[Bigmouthstrikesagain]

Oi puppy - I amnot impatient lady I am smiling lady watching her small person tap dancing on the shop floor!

[Bigmouthstrikesagain]

And the shop had distributed those 15% vouchers to promote their small indpendant bookshop at our school (hand typed they were) so he better learn %'s sharpish!

[diamondsandtiaras]

I agree that you don't necessarily remember everything you were taught at school, and especially if you don't continue to use your skills after you leave. I was good at maths at school (top set, A grade at GCSE etc etc), but I stopped studying it 14 years ago and would have to stop and think about a percentage........although I think I could work out 50 or 25 percent!

[porcamiseria]

you get what you pay for...........

have to say I'd struggle with a 15% on the spot tho

[TheCoalitionNeedsYou]

It's a basic skill I'd expect everyone to have.
It's shamefull that this isn't seen as bad as illiteracy. Doing 17.5% to the penny as mental arithmetic fair enough, but 50/20/15/10/5 are properly simple, and anyone OUGHT to be able to do more complex ones with a pencil and paper.

[BrigitBigKnickers]

Another way to work out 15% (bit quicker mentally I find)

Work out 10% half it for 5% and add them together.

e.g. 15% of £34

10%= divide by 10= £3.40
5%= half of £3.40= £1.70
Add them together £5.10

[hairytriangle]

Yabu yabu yabu!!!

[PuppyMonkey]

Anyway, if he had a calculator, why didn't you just tell him to use the % button to work out the 15% thing?

[Bigmouthstrikesagain]

Actually that is how I would work it out in my head Brit - but I had been put on the spot by him as it were so I just gave the first method I could think of iyswim.

I am surprised so many people think I am being unreasonable to be honest - I would want all those capable of learning it to be able to calculate percentages - christ it is not quantum physics! Why set such low expectations for ourselves...?

[Bigmouthstrikesagain]

Do all calculators have a percentage button? Thats cheatin'

[muminthemiddle]

YANBU
One of my pet hates too.
Along with the shop assistants who, when I politely point out that the price I have been charged is not that which the shop has clearly stated on the display signs, glaze their eyes over and stare into the middle distance, wishing for a puff of smoke to vanish me away.
A basic element of primary maths should be required if you are working on a till.

[ThatVikRinA22]

the way they teach percentages in school these days is just plain weird!!!

10% - move decimal place on place to left
1% - move decimal place 2 places to left

if you can do that you can work out any percentage at all. but i found out with my 13 yr old dd that they dont teach it like that any more!

[FlookCrow]

YABU. There is no link between till management and being able to work out percentages. Indeed, the till should be doing the work for you!

[ChunkyPickle]

17.5% is almost as easy as 15% -

10% + half of that (5%) plus half of that (2.5%) et voila!

I'm in north america right now, and you need to learn to do percentages in your head as they don't add the tax on the shelf price, but only at the till.

It's crazy annoying... I really don't understand why they make life hard for themselves...

[EnglandAllenPoe]

i have maths A level (Ooooo-oooooOOH!)- i stil like to check on a calculator because if you ask for the wrong figure it can cause a complaint.

there is nothing wrong with double checking rather than over/ under charging a customer.

[Ladyanonymous]

We complain on here about people who sit on their backsides doing jack and claiming benefits and we then slag off those who try their best.

I struggle with Maths terribly and always have to the point that I didn't even sit my GCSE and have always lied about having it on job applications - I was however always at the top of the year at English and have excelled in my career through hard work, night classes and listening to those wiser than me.

Give kids who are trying to earn a buck in their free time a break....at least they are trying? They don' teach MA in school anymore.

YABU

[Kaloki]

The other thing to take into account, is after a tedious day working at the till you do find that your brain tends to switch off.

I know there were a fair few times I'd lose the ability to do things that normally I could do easily. Maths being the one I most usually got flummoxed by, I think it was staring at numbers on screen all day.

Although I was also known to ask questions which I had just been told the answer to, due to my brain being mainly on autopilot.

PS. I've always struggled with working out 15%, I tend to work out maths visually (hard to explain) and 15% doesn't look right.

[booyhoo]

i am useless with percentages. for some reason 15% is teh hardest for me to work out. and I used to work in a bank

[mnistooaddictive]

The fact is that he has probably been taught it numerous times but just didn't get it. There are actually people who don't learn everything they are taught first time! MA is taught in schools believe me but if you struggle with it, you struggle with it.

I was taught art at school. The teacher told me again and again how to draw, all the skills I needed and showed what to do. I still can't draw at all, not even stick people, why? Art isn't my thing. Some people are like that with Maths. I have taught children again and again and again in diferent and interesting and straightforward ways and some just don't get it.
Vicar - no we don't teach children to move th decimal point because that is teaching 'magic' without understanding. You are not moving the decimal poiint, you are moving the numbers. Once you know it and understand then moving the decimal point is a rule you can remember but teaching children rules they do not understand means they are less likely to remember as every lesson it is a different rule that makes no sense.

[Numberfour]

YANBU at all.

I used to work for a conveyancing practice and my colleagues (many had post GCSE qualifications) could not work out 10% of the purchase price when it came to asking for the deposit!

[noblegiraffe]

It's probably not that they can't work out 50% or 10% or whatever, but that they can't remember how to do it. It's not the skill, but the knowledge.

50% -> halve it
25% -> halve it, then halve it again
10% -> divide by 10

I have taught % many times and with the less able children, generally once they are reminded how to do it, they can do it. But you can guarantee that by the next lesson, some of them will need reminding again.

[sunny2010]

'I wasnt ever taught properly in primary school, but managed to self teach and then went onto grammar school in the next county so did ok at maths from that point, got a B at GCSE

I also dont know all my times table blush i can work out my 6/7/8 tables when required from others but dont know it by rote like i should. I was not taught, but was luckily bright enough to cover it up by finding ways round it.'

Exactly littleducks - I got a C but I count in my head all the time! haha I dont care thats why calculators/tills were invented. Im 26 so maybe its just our generation. I cant say it ever hinders my daily life particularly.

[serenity]

In my previous, prechildren retail career, I once had to go to a struggling store that had had a massive refit to help recruit new staff.

At the time we had a couple of basic multiple choice tests, one of which was a general maths test- nothing complicated, just questions that would test whether the candidate could work out change, take off sales percentages etc. We had a minimum pass rate, below which we shouldn't offer a position. Out of the 200 people we saw, none, yes none of them passed. We had no choice, we didn't have time to re-advertise so we had to recruit from that pool.

I was pretty shocked at the time, but it seems to be a pretty common difficulty (I have a friend with a huge maths brain block who'll ring me up at odd times to work things out for her. She's not stupid, she's just not mathematically inclined)