There's usually a long time between events, but when it happens, it's particularly entertaining. You can't predict them, you just have to be there when it happens. Like the beauty of a solar eclipse or the devastation of a tornado, it's a truly special event.
What is it?
My friend and I went out to the local Subway sandwich shop to fetch a light dinner before watching the Phillies eventually lose to the Braves on Tuesday night. A simple sandwich and a drink - couldn't be easier, right? I think you already know the answer.
It was simple until it came time for the Sandwich Artist [trainee] to ring up the purchase. I'm not sure what was going on with my friend, since I was too busy watching the customers build up in line behind me. He was taking a while, and there seemed to be some fumbling over money.
I realize that it was probably the kid's second night on the job, but why did he reach for my order to ring it up, and wonder, to my friend, "Is this yours too?" Nope, one sandwich per person, Chief.
Then it's my turn. My order came to $6.49, and like any good consumer, I handed the kid 7 dollars - expecting that it would be plenty. Faith and begorrah, the kid screws up the keypunch on the register and the thing goes haywire. His boss, realizing that his employee is in deep trouble, wanders over.
Seeing that the kid had the blank stare of the proverbial deer in the headlights, he hit a few buttons, to no avail, and eventually slid a calculator in front of the kid so he could make change. He slid a calculator in front of the kid so he could make change. A calculator. He slid a calculator in front of the kid. Just handed it to him, so he could make change.
At this point, I have begun to see the entertainment value of this little transaction, while my friend waits helpless near my locked car, having mistakenly expected me to waddle out immediately after him.
I began to smile as I felt the kid's angst, and I realized what a tiger must feel like when he sees a defenseless antelope wandering around smelling flowers and looking at the sky.
I silently mouthed to the supervisor, "Fif - tee - one - cents," and now, we both have begun to sense the humor in the situation.
The kid enters the numbers: 7 - point - zero - zero. Minus. Six - point - four - nine. Equals.
Boing.
"Fifty one cents change," he proclaims. By this time the value of the money has changed from the point of the original transaction.
I smile and take my expected change and silently weep for the future of society. I realize that it is neither an indictment on people as a whole or a condition that completely affects young people, but it does point to the failure of an educational system that encourages children to use calculators and discourages them from discovering the simple mathematics behind a problem. Am I to believe that the kid cannot subtract 49 from a hundred in his head?
As it is with so many things, and as I have written here many times before; it is the quick and easy answer. The obvious solution to the problem. What it bypasses is thinking.
And we're all for that.
2 comments:
i've been craving subway for days now.
6" oat and honey turkey sub with sweet onion dressing and all the fixins.
gah. oh and the pizza. yum!
I wish this were a rarity but alas!!! This reminds me of the other side of the coin: when I used to work at Borders a few years ago and I was one of the few people to have started in public service jobs before the days of computer cash registers and I had learned to count change back to people, as in someone gives you a 10 for a $7 sale, and you get 3 ones out, and count them back into their hand, "8, 9, 10." I had so many people get confused about it I finally had to start saying, "$3 is your change," or just not saying anything and giving them the money and letting them figure it out (the register told what the change would be anyway so they could compare). Anyway I've said it once and I'll say it again - this country is going to hell in a handbasket... I shudder to think of what will happen when your cashier and his cronies are in the majority in business, govt., etc. Yikes!!!!
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