The Next Generation (this was disturbing)

[Yael]

So tonight, I had a craving for trans-fats (it happens) and went to McDonalds. Order came to $5.08, so I gave the girl working the drivethru $10.10.

She punched a few keys and the drawer opened. And she just stood there. Holding a $10 in one hand and a dime in the other.

Finally, she started yelling (!) for the manager. When he finally yelled (!) back to her to ask what she needed, she responded that she only put a $10 into the register but I gave her a dime and she had no idea how much change to give me.

I was stunned. I leaned toward the window and said, "$5 dollars and 2 cents". Her face brightened up and she, grateful to have had some help, gave me my change and went back to gather my food.

:(

[shadowknows69]

1. Ouch

this is why anything under a quarter should be eliminated. We can't expect the American worker to deal in pennies and nickels can we?

[LeftyMom]

2. I'd believe it.

The cashiers at the last retail store I worked in had no idea how to give change, either.

I guess there's no standardized test for giving change in schools so nobody teaches how. :shrug:

[Pavulon]

3. Having worked shit jobs...

Doing the same thing 8000 times can make your brain go into auto pilot...

Or she could have been really stoned, or calculator trained.

[NashVegas]

28. Shit Job Has Nothing to Do With It

I've worked with college grads who can't add 3-digit numbers without a calculator.

They're all calc-trained now, I think.

The Unibomber Manifesto had a nifty passage about how when a new technology is introduced, it's just neato - up until the point where so much has been built around it that we become dependent on that technology. At that point, we have lost a skill.

[BeHereNow]

4. I can't tell you how many times I have experienced the same thing.

It is a disgrace to our nation's leaders that the kids working
in slave wage jobs can not make change.
Shame on the leaders of this country.
BHN

[Dhalgren]

14. As George Carlin said in one of his shows, slaves need to be kept

stupid - they make better slaves that way. The last thing in the world the owners of this country want is a bunch of well educated, critically-thinking slaves...

[BeHereNow]

16. And THAT, is the reality...

Ever read the book, "The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America?"
I work in a high school- trust me, we are doomed.
BHN

[MissB]

5. At my kids' grade school figuring out change is part of the math

curriculum.

I've noticed the same thing. Lots of teens/early 20-ish people can't deal with figuring out change.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. I taught third and fourth graders how to count out change

but that was in Illinois. When I moved to Texas, I wasn't allowed to do it. I was told all kids needed was a calculator, and there was no reason for them to memorize the addition table. Many in many class didn't know that 1 + 1=2. This was fourth grade. I quit teaching soon after.

[MissB]

8. That is horrifying.

Clerks are often amazed when my kids do the math in their heads for what the change is supposed to be.

My fourth grader is heading into pre-algebra this year. There is a bit of a disparity between what they teach and what he is capable of, but it isn't as bad as what you're experience was! My third grader is doing 4th grade (mostly multiplication/division/complex fractions) this next school year.

They don't even introduce calculators until late 4th grade.

[originalpckelly]

21. That's BS. What happens if they don't have a calculator?

And we're talking about wrote learning at that, not the ability to use reason and logic, something that I have noticed is oft missing in our school system. Even the smartest kids I knew were incapable of an original thought, it's pretty damn sad if you ask me.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

26. To use reason and logic,

you have to have a clue about our numbers and how the basic functions operate, ie, when you add, the answer is the same or bigger than the two numbers added-when you subtract, the answer is the same or smaller than the two numbers involved in the subtraction process. I used to make hundreds charts to show the patterns to kids who were right brained and had trouble with learning about the patterns involved in basic arithmetic. Once they caught on, they could use reason to figure out if the answer given was logical.

The principal in the Texas school had no answer for me when I asked about the batteries-just said that learning the basics and showing kids patterns wasn't in the curriculum and to leave her alone in her office, because she had better things to do.

[tabasco]

31. That's rote learning.

Who shall cast the first stone ...

[Lydia Leftcoast]

38. I know--in the early 1990s, when I was a college professor, one of my

colleagues, a professor of education, was speaking enthusiastically about the new math curriculum in which kids never learned the multiplication tables or long division, just used calculators.

I was horrified. What if they didn't have a calculator handy?

He just shrugged and said that calculators were so cheap that everyone always had one and that modern cash registers made it unnecessary to know how to make change or figure sales tax.

My mother the former kindergarten teacher has nothing but scorn for professors of education. She referred to them as "idiots who sit in their offices thinking up useless ideas for us real teachers."

I'm glad to see that the "calculators only" era is past, but not without ruining the math skills of an entire generation.

[quiet.american]

7. Not necessarily just the younger generation -- I rarely run into anyone who can count change.

And that's without the "...wait, I've got a dime" twist!

[cynatnite]

18. I've ran into a lot of people who can't count change n/t

[Recursion]

9. Hasn't anybody looked at McDonald's registers lately?

The kids don't make change, not because they aren't capable of subtracting but because they're paid shit and the management doesn't trust them not to steal. You give them a bill, the punch in the type of bill you gave them, and the change is automatically spit out into a little cup for you to pick up.

[karlrschneider]

10. I encounter variations on that theme with frightening regularity.

A lot of these idiots can't even count up a few coins to get a total. It really amazes (and disturbs) me. :mad:

[billbuckhead]

23. Everybody is an idiot to somebody

:rofl:

[karlrschneider]

24. And some are idiots to everyone else.

funny how that works, isn't it?

[blogslut]

11. Kinda odd

I would have assumed that MacDonalds would have the kind of register where the cashier types in the cash given and the machine calculates the amount of change to return. I agree that it's sad the poor girl couldn't figure it out on her own, I just find it odd that the register didn't tell her how much to give back. Did you offer the dime before or after she opened her drawer?

[Yael]

13. Nope -- at the same time and this restaurant did not have the change shoot

As in, "$5.08? Here is $10.10"

It just really saddened me. While many have noted counting change, I don't seperate that from simple math -- and this math was about as simple as it gets. It isn't like I handed her $10.03 and she had to back into the whole nickle scenario. :(

[Raine]

12. I've had that happen

to me too. :wow: I've had to explain why I gave them change along with bills and this goes back 10-15 years ago so it's nothing new. Very sad state of education when people can't figure it out and I myself am not that good at math but still I know.

[azurnoir]

15. Had that happen too n/t

[cynatnite]

17. The machine didn't tell her?

Usually they do.

Very few people know how to count out change and it's so easy, too.

[Luke_R]

19. It's funny when

The bill comes to 2.04, you give them five dollars, then dig in your pocket for a nickel. When you find it, they say, "I've already punched 5 into the register", cause they're to dumb to do anything other than what the register says.

[originalpckelly]

20. Of course, this is a burger flipper, she's there for a reason folks.

I wouldn't say this is indicative of my whole generation.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

22. My grandpa owned a butcher shop and he did his calculations with a pencil on a paper bag....

He didn't use a cash register, so he became very good with numbers and was able to do rather sizable calculations in his brain even without a pencil. All math takes is practice, over and over and over. Kids here get no practice. They have their school lesson, they do homework, take a test, and then never use math at home, at the store, nowhere.

[NashVegas]

30. They Still Do That!

I had a gift certificate for a butcher shop and didn't use the full amount. He did the math right on the certificate.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

34. Isn't that funny?!?!

Wish I had my grandpa's math skills!

[w8liftinglady]

25. I wish High School had a course on Work:101

as a parent who has been trying fervently to get my son a job,it would be an asset

[JesterCS]

27. Working at McD's myself

The drawer will tell you on screen what the change is. But if you put it in wrong. It will tell you a wrong number, and that can throw you off for a second.

[Solly Mack]

29. I stopped adding change to get a single bill back a long time ago

because of just that


it was just too painful to watch

[BlooInBloo]

32. Americans are stupid. A precondition for fixing it is *admitting* it. Which no-one wants to do....

... and so it continues.

[ContraBass Black]

33. I froze up my first time on a register.

She could have been new to it.

[Canuckistanian]

37. I was fairly good at basic math, but I couldn't give out change for years

There's something about doing math while someone's watching you, ready to pounce on you if you get the wrong answer.

Now, I'm not afraid and I could probably do the most complex transactions with ease.

[HughMoran]

35. Doh!

My young kids are already faster at money math than that. Let's hope the next generation isn't all a bunch of calculator key punchers.

[mmonk]

36. Bwaha! I know what you mean.

I went to a Taco Bell and ordered food, the girl said what I owed and I gave her a $20 bill. She just kind of stared for a minute then said the machine (cash register) didn't take 20's. I stood there stunned for a second trying to figure out how I would respond when a manager just happened to notice and gave me the change. Evidently, the new fangled cash register's display must not have lightened up to show what the amount of change would be or something similar. I worry about the generation that's going to be in charge of things soon.