How sad America has gotten. Kids can't understand money transactions.

[diabeticman]

Last edited Fri Aug 2, 2013, 10:18 PM - Edit history (1)

My wife worked late and she want to eat before we go shopping--so we aren't shopping hungry. We have to say within a 40 dollar budget


So the total came too $6.20 So my wife hands the kid a $20.00 bill and 25 cents. She is expcting $14.05 back in change.

The poor teenage kid looks at the money my wife hands him and looks like she's going a second head before his eyes.

He hands her back the quarter and says. "Your change is $13.85" and my wife said "The poor thing was struggling to come up with the right bills and coins.

My wife doesn't fault this kid. she blames a school system that is too busy teaching kids how to pass a freakin' so the school can get funding INSTEAD of teaching them basic life skills.

[TransitJohn]

1. That's not knowing how to count. eom

n/t

[zappaman]

2. That's because everybody swipes a card now.

I must be the last person in the US that carries cash.
Every single person who buys a cup of coffee in front of me doesn't seem to have 2-3 dollars in their pocket and has to swipe a debit card, or worse, a credit card just to pay for a cup of coffee.
A pet peeve...

[Agschmid]

8. I don't even swipe a card anymore...

I scan my phone.

[Fawke Em]

9. I rarely carry cash because, as a small female, if I were robbed, I'd be out the money.

I prefer to carry my check card because I can call and report it stolen and be out nothing.

That is, of course, as long as someone isn't "standing their ground" against me, but I'm white and in the South, so that might never come up.

[DebJ]

23. Swiping a card is faster and prevents the spread of disease.

I hate it when I run to the local convenience store and have to wait while someone digs for their money,
the cashier has to count it, then put it away then give them change, then you wait while they put the
change away. Ugh.
Flu and cold viruses flourish on paper money. When I was a cashier, I was constantly getting colds.

[hobbit709]

29. If you're that worried, why do you even go out in public.

[pipi_k]

38. I can certainly

understand what the person you're replying to is saying.

Money is filthy.

I don't use money anymore, and have only had one (mild) head cold in the past five or six years, at least.

If I use an ATM, I punch the numbers in with a finger that isn't going anywhere near my face, even accidentally, until I get home where I can wash my hands.

Which is another thing. After getting home from anywhere, first thing I do is wash my hands.

And I rinse my nose with saline solution once or twice a day in the winter, when dry air makes noses more vulnerable to germs.

Might seem like a lot of trouble, but so is a head cold which often turns into bronchitis.

[hobbit709]

39. Maybe my immune system is better. I never get colds

Haven't had the flu since 1968. I just don't catch things.

[defacto7]

52. That's probably because you have been handling money

and your immune system has become stronger because of the contact.

Immune systems usually get stronger with reasonable contact with germs. They get weaker the cleaner we are.

[Arcanetrance]

33. No I still carry cash especially since there are still groups of real small businesses

That don't want to pay the fees associated with accepting cards.

[CreekDog]

47. i didn't realize swiping a card was some sort of character flaw

[zappaman]

50. It's not.

But I know you have quite a few others.

[benld74]

3. or shown HOW to make change. My parents taught me when I was 8.

[ZombieHorde]

4. I have a friend who was a server.

When someone handed him cash and coins, he would just hand them back their coins if the cash was enough to cover the bill. I thought that was hilarious.

[LWolf]

5. I wonder if that school system

taught the kid how to spell "dollar" and "growing."

Who, exactly, is your wife blaming for the state of the current system? Miller? Ted Kennedy? GWB? Barack Obama? Arne Duncan?

Or does she think its just bad teachers and teaching?

[bhikkhu]

6. Everyone who goes into retail has to learn how to do it at some point

Its not a matter of "kids are stupid now". I was always good at math, but you don't count change in precalculus. Its a very specific operation in a very specific context, and everybody who is good at it is good at it because they learned how to do it.

In my first job, the manager told me how to count down change, demonstrated, then had me do it a couple of times in sample transactions. I got the idea well enough, but it was probably two or three months before I was proficient (in low volume food service). That's pretty normal.

[petronius]

7. We recently went to a movie matinee, with $6 tickets: my wife handed

over a $20 and the clerk pulled out some bills to give change, hesitated a moment, and said "Uh, it's supposed to be $8, right?"

But in her defense, she was somewhat distracted by the (apparently) cute boys running the snack counter...

[Fawke Em]

11. Good thing to be destracted by in one's teens.

[petronius]

18. Indeed, it was all sort of endearing. We got a smug little

'kids these days!' sort of eyeroll, but we didn't take it as Another Failure of Our Youth Today^TM.

Of course, if the popcorn-boys had provided a less than 105% fill of the popcorn bag, I might have launched into a "back in my day..." tirade!

[Fawke Em]

21. I LOVED the trademark sign!

As the parent of a particularly smart teenaged boy (who is that dark, curly-haired cute, but hasn't realized it yet), I love stories about parents who realize that teens are, um, well, kids-bordering-on-adults.

My son makes straight A's and is in the top percentile of his class. I'm not sweating hormonal distractions too much. I think it's normal.

[ChangeUp106]

10. To be fair

I hate when people do that. I worked as a toll collector for awhile and people would do that. It throws you off after handing out "normal" change all day. Don't do it.

[NewThinkingChance40]

12. A lot of parents

don't even bother showing their kids how to make change. Just look at the new monopoly game with credit cards.

[ChangeUp106]

14. .

Adding the quarter to get 5 cents back is from the older generation I have noticed. Just give the kid a $20 and be done with it,

[Igel]

17. Yes, we older generation.

Who could both do 20.00 - 6.20 = 13.80

and

20.25 = 6.20 = 14.05.

Or, if that last one is too messy,

20.00 - 6.20 = 13.80.

13.80 + 0.25 = 14.05 (making it one of those abominable "two-step problems&quot .

I've seen kids who needed a calculator for 10 / 1 (= 10).

And another for whom

15
+3
18

was not the same as 15 + 3 = 18.

I think it makes sense that students have trouble with these things if we demand mastery of higher-level math. But since they don't have that, either ...

[Lurker Deluxe]

31. What do you do with that change??

If I am buying something with cash and I have a quarter in my pocket and my choice is use the quarter and end up with a nickel or use the dollar and end up with $1.05 in coins I'll use the quarter.

If you never use the coins what do you do with the coins? With direct deposit and CC transactions I never go to the bank anymore ... so, just keep letting that jar of change get bigger and bigger?

[bettyellen]

35. I use mine as a poker bank so people can cash in and out easily...

I have chips, but it seems easier sometimes. Less questions about how much reds are worth, LOL.

[defacto7]

53. Now that's funny!

I guess arithmetic is older generation too... maybe even math. You do know the difference don't you? probably not. What I don't understand is why simple change is not second nature? I know it immediately without thinking about it. So what's the difference? The difference is lack of skill.

BTW, adding the quarter is not to get 5 cents back, it's to have less change by rounding up to the next dollar. You don't even get that.

[sufrommich]

13. And by "kids" you mean the one kid that

you ran into.

[RedCappedBandit]

22. lol, +1

[leftstreet]

44. +1

[defacto7]

55. Really, that's a fair statement.

For the most part young cashiers are pretty sharp.

[dem in texas]

15. Modern cash registers tell the seller how much money to give back

The seller types in how much money you give him and the cash drawer opens and it displays how much money to give back. I remember when I was a kid, I was trained to lay the money from the buyer on the cashier register shelf. Then you took out the change and starting counting from the sale amount up to the money amount as you gave the change back.

I was an auditor and accountant for many years, working with liquor and food operations, and there is a lot of money theft going on. He may have decided to pocket the money, so he opened the drawer with a no sale,so he didn't have the cash register help him with the change.

[FirstLight]

19. I hate that!

My manager used to cover the screen with her hand and say..."count it back" so I could learn the process. Math and me are NOT good buddies, so it took a couple months to get the hang of it. But I would always try NOT to look at that number, just count back the change. I seemed to have a better time balancing at the end of the day as well.

[uncle ray]

16. i blame the business that can't screen for applicants who can count.

not everybody can do it, they should hire competent help, not the cheapest help.

[msongs]

20. I blame the business that doesn't teach employees how to use the register/make change nt

[JHB]

30. Exactly. There are a few genuine dopes, but for the most part...

...it's just that the kids are suddenly on the spot to do something that is much less routine than it used to be.

In the past, when most or all of the transactions were in cash, only a basic orientation was needed about making change (plus time observing to makes sure they were doing it right). After that it became second nature because it was being used all the time.

Now, when swipe or scan is so common, in some places you can go for long stretches without handling cash. Add in that the lid may not have been paying as close attention as he probably should have, and you get someone making an unexpected shift in mental gears with "I can't mess this up" on top.

Counting out change needs more training because practice is less frequent.

This reminds me of my reaction to Steve Allen' book Dumbth. Some of it was on-target, but there was an awful lot of complaining about the deficiencies of hotel staff, and most of those were "dumbth" on the part of management for inadequate training.

[defacto7]

56. Damn, why do you always make so much sense?

I can't even add my decline of civilization shit routine. Germs. It's the germs.

[Hekate]

25. They push a button on the cash register and your change drops into a cup. No need to even learn...

... how to make change correctly. I've had the same experience as your wife -- sometimes cashiers still do it by hand, but so often the reckoning is done for them by the cash register.

I was a cashier for years when I was in college, and I got to be so quick and fast that after awhile I unconsciously memorized the tax table and didn't have to look it up for each purchase.

It's too bad, in a sense -- another small skill made obsolete, like knowing how to tell time on an analog clock instead if a digital clock. DH and I are trying to teach our young grandson how to do some of these things, on the basis that it makes him use his brain.

[madamesilverspurs]

26. Waaaay back in second grade (c 1955)

our teacher used play money and taught us how to make change and count it back. It was good practice in making sure we weren't 'short changed' when we made our small purchases at the candy counter. It is, indeed, rare nowadays to have someone count the change back; it's usually dropped in your hand clumped with the bills and accompanied by a muttered "thereyagohaveaniceday".

[ecstatic]

27. I think she may have jumped to the wrong conclusion

The 25+ generation understands the concept of giving cashiers more money than owed in order to get less coins back, but teenagers today grew up seeing mostly credit card/check card transactions and the rare cash paying customers probably use a straightforward approach to paying. He probably thought your wife was the confused person.

[B Calm]

28. We had a similar experience at a local McDonalds. I asked the boy

if he went to school, and he said he was a senior at the local high school.

[kcr]

32. Did they teach proper spelling and grammar in the old days? n/t

[justiceischeap]

34. I think this has less to do with what the schools are teaching

and what the kids are learning. Everything is computerized nowadays. You don't need to know how to make change (unless you're stuck with a register that doesn't do the math for you).

I consider myself fairly intelligent but I doubt I could have made that change for your wife without using a pen and paper (I can't do most math without a pen and paper, my brain doesn't work that way--some folks are just math challenged).

[pipi_k]

41. Math challenged

is a nice way of putting it...

I just usually call myself a Math Moron.

My brain shuts down completely at the sight of numbers.

So yeah...I would be severely challenged to make change also.

And here's how bad it is...the other day I was calculating how much flea medication I had left for my two dogs before having to order more, I came up with a number that was wrong because I forgot that four packs of four tubes is 16...not the 12 I had written down.

Math. Moron.

[justiceischeap]

42. Yeah, I find the less I "do" math

the worse I get at it. I'm in awe of people who are gifted with numbers.

[MineralMan]

36. Some kids can't. Apparently the one you met couldn't.

That doesn't mean that all kids can't. I stopped giving cashiers change when I pay a long time ago. I give them bills, pocket the change, and dump the change in a jar every evening. Once in a while, I take the jar to the bank when I'm making a deposit, run it through the coin counter, and add that to the deposit.

My strategy is to simplify transactions to save time and hassle. I can deal with some change in my pocket. In the meantime, I put on a nice smile for the minimum wage kid at the cash register, since he or she doesn't usually get that much recognition from customers, who are so concerned with their own stuff that they don't even notice the cashier.

Making life easy is a good thing, all around.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

37. Something this basic

seems the responsibility of the parent......... more than the school system.

[supernova]

40. Very simple skill and now very rare

My first job out of college was working in a video rental place. LOL. `It was a small local chain. The owner was very smart and bombastic and at times an idiot. But a smart idiot when it came to business.

I had the good fortune to work in the flagship store with his mom. She was lovely and an Old School Shopkeep (TM). She taught me the proper way to make change and never short change your customer or yourself. If you do it this way, you will never get it wrong:

1) Take the money they give you, whatever it is. If it's the same as the price, fine. Simple. If they need change:

2) Count up up from the price of the item to the amount they gave you. Let the customer see you do this and count it out loud.

I am now a business owner. For now I deal in cash only and this is how I make change. It works and it inspires confidence in your customers that you are dealing honestly with them.

[bettyellen]

43. I was in the infamous Tiki Bar during a blackout and none of the waiters knew the price of anything

or how to add the prices up. Couldn't find it written down anywhere because it was all computerized. I was blown away because they do handle single drink orders all the time- in cash, they just never paid attention to anything but the how much change to give part.
They basically let us figure out our own tabs and told them to keep the change because they were stressed enough.

[leftstreet]

45. How is public education at fault here?

One anecdotal experience and the system is at fault

[Posteritatis]

46. Kids These Days Suck, Unlike The Past, Perfect Ones, vol. MCCXXXVIII (nt)

[CreekDog]

48. apparently your wife is upset the kid went to a regular school instead of Hamburger University

i had to read Steinbeck and Hemingway and learn Chemistry in high school.

which helped me more than your wife's preferred curriculum.

[CreekDog]

49. New proposed curriculum for public high schools:

English
Fine Arts
Music
Algebra/Geometry/Trigonometry/Calculus Counting Change Back
Information SciencesComputing for Cashiering
Physical Education

[Skeeter Barnes]

51. He might just need some more experience. The kid will probably improve with some time on the job.

edited to add:

If I own a business and my employees don't know how to do the job, that would be my fault.

It is my job as the owner to train them or hire someone to train them.

[defacto7]

54. Don't blame the teachers.

Not in a broad brush stroke anyway. Let your imagination run wild but don't blame the teachers.