Minimum wage = Minimum math skills

[Raiders Army]

I almost got screwed out of $5 today. I was at the commissary and had a coupon for buy 2 get 1 free (Herbal Essences hair products). I bought shampoo, conditioner, and hair gel; instead of giving me $2.69 off with the coupon, the cashier added $2.69 to the bill. I caught it as I was walking out the store and had to go back.

Anyhow, this is the third time in the past six months that something like this has happened. I was at the movie theater and the guy added an extra popcorn. I was at Carl's Jr. and the guy added an extra sandwich. The only time it went my way was at Fuddrucker's when I got $20 off my meal by mistake.

Is it just me or do most cashiers lack the math skills necessary to perform their jobs? Or perhaps is it the fact that they don't care? Why is it that they tend to make mistakes that cost me money instead of save me money? Is it that they need to err on the side of having too much cash in their drawer when they close?

[Cringer]

My wife could go on for hours about this crap. I will keep her away from here just so the house remains calm.

[Greyroofoo]

My commissary has self check-out and, with the exception of old people who can't handle technology and take waaaaaaaaay too long, i like them

[Mustang]

Not so much a math skill as opposed to a problem with listening and/or paying attention. (Keying in an extra sandwich, extra popcorn.. not keying in the coupon as a discount)

Of course, minimum wage jobs don't have the market cornered on people not paying attention.

[Mustang]

My commissary has self check-out and, with the exception of old people who can't handle technology and take waaaaaaaaay too long, i like them

And the asshats that take in a cart full of groceries...

[Raiders Army]

Not so much a math skill as opposed to a problem with listening and/or paying attention. (Keying in an extra sandwich, extra popcorn.. not keying in the coupon as a discount)

Of course, minimum wage jobs don't have the market cornered on people not paying attention.

True on all counts, but I wonder if technology and simplicity has caused people to lose math skills as a result of pushing buttons for "meal deals" etc.

I mean, if cashiers actually had to figure out change from a twenty, wouldn't they naturally get better over time at math skills? I've never held a job in retail or fast food so I don't know how hard it could be, but I'd imagine that someone would get better at doing math in their head over time vice relying on the cash register to tell them what to do. GIGO.

[Cringer]

I just think the real level of education people have in this world has been overblown. There was never a shortage of people who were dumb, lazy, unmotivated, or all of the above. Today is no different IMO.

[Greyroofoo]

And the asshats that take in a cart full of groceries...

gaaaah! I hate that as well!!

[Rich1033]

My commissary has self check-out and, with the exception of old people who can't handle technology and take waaaaaaaaay too long, i like them

Unless I have 5 items or less, Im not a fan. People get payed to do that crap, I dont want to do it.

Im just sour since Im a night owl and at night is when I usually do my shopping. Its nice to avoid crowds, but my local store doesnt like to have any regular checkouts running at that time so I get to do it all myself. A huge pain in the ass IMO.

[Mustang]

Unless I have 5 items or less, Im not a fan.

1.... 2... 3... 4... FIVE

http://kingdomofstyle.typepad.co.uk/photos/uncategorized/sesame_street_count_dracula.jpg

[Rizon]

Some of those mistakes that work out in their favor is a common cashiers scam. They short you on purpose and pocket the difference.

[oykib]

http://kingdomofstyle.typepad.co.uk/photos/uncategorized/sesame_street_count_dracula.jpg

PIMP. He has a cape and everything.

[TheOhioStateUniversity]

Maybe within the process of doing the same type of job for hours they make mistakes. People working minimum wage jobs are human too. Also, while I can understand incompetence exists and can be frustrating in minimum wage and all jobs in general, an automatic air of elitism in regards to the latter always bothers me.

[EagleFan]

There are some serious math skills lacking in the kids in their late teen/early 20's. Many have no clue at all and could not figure out the change due you if the little machine didn;t tell them what number to give back.

I was at a drive trough and the total came to 4.78 and I gave the cashier 5.03. That damn near blew her mind. She kept repeating the total to me and I said that I heard what the total was. She kept trying to give me the .03 back before she rung it up. Then when she rung oit up with the .03 she stared at the register when it spit out a quarter for my change as if some kind of magic just happened.

Another time I paid with a 10 but this cashier entered 100 and even though she left the bill on top of the tray whie she counted out the change she got up to 90 some dollars in change and then looked at what I gave her, then again at the register and was still going to give me what the register said before I said that I think she put an extra 0 on the end of the amount paid.

Don't even get me started on the customer service these days. Pulling up to one drive through and getting greeted with "What you want?" sure as hell didn't make me want to get anything there.

Or when you are paying at a register and the operator is paying more attention to the conversation she is having with another employee than to ringing you out...

Sorry, I think this has struck a nerve... ;)

[Vince]

As someone who has extensive experience in the food industry, you would be amazed at how much crap you take on an hourly basis from the average customer. And that is working at real restaurant, where there is at least some modicum of respect usually; I can't imagine the disrespect you'd have to deal with constantly at a fast food restaurant or elsewhere.

Now, I realized early on to suck it up and deal, because most of my money came from the quality of service I rendered the customer...but take Joe Blow high school fast food jockey. What possible incentive does he have to care about your order? You're definitely not giving him a tip no matter what he does. Outside of possibly losing his job if he's that terrible, he's not making any more money by being pleasant and happy. And dealing with people who continually treat you like you are the scum of the earth doesn't really help you stay in a good mood.

As for deteriorating math skills...it's pretty depressing, but for the most part people at a register are doing more than simply taking money and making change. They're preparing orders, checking them, making sure they get to the right customer...and while of course, ALL of these things are usually flawed at a fast food restaurant, it makes it easier to see how mistakes are made, especially if someone is in a hurry.

EDIT: What TOSU said, only longer :)

[sterlingice]

Don't even get me started on the customer service these days. Pulling up to one drive through and getting greeted with "What you want?" sure as hell didn't make me want to get anything there.

Or when you are paying at a register and the operator is paying more attention to the conversation she is having with another employee than to ringing you out...

Not that it's the only justification and not that's it's right, but, realistically, you can't complain too much about the service when you're paying a few bucks for food. You get what you pay for and that includes service.

SI

[MJ4H]

Actually god dammit I paid for two sandwiches and got one. How the fuck is that getting what I paid for??

;)

ETA: i had no idea i had this many posts. i need to get out more. i go to mcdonalds brb

[JonInMiddleGA]

And when these paragons of piss poor performance are finally drummed out of retail for their ineptitude & incompetence they will be welcomed with open arms by the cable tv industry, the airline industry, and the sales departments of most major media companies.

The first two are more common for most folks but it's the last one that really gets my goat.

[MJ4H]

I'm admiring the alliteration at the beginning of your post.

[larrymcg421]

And when these paragons of piss poor performance are finally drummed out of retail for their ineptitude & incompetence they will be welcomed with open arms by the cable tv industry, the airline industry, and the sales departments of most major media companies.

The first two are more common for most folks but it's the last one that really gets my goat.

+1

If you guys think these math challenged minimum wage workers are bad, try going over a billing issue with a Comcast rep.

[Mustang]

I'm admiring the alliteration at the beginning of your post.

It's even better if you say it like Robin...

Holy paragons of piss poor performance Batman

[korme]

PIMP. He has a cape and everything.

Bitch you've been late 5 times. How many times must I slap you?

1... 2.... 3.... 3 times!

[korme]

As someone who has extensive experience in the food industry, you would be amazed at how much crap you take on an hourly basis from the average customer. And that is working at real restaurant, where there is at least some modicum of respect usually; I can't imagine the disrespect you'd have to deal with constantly at a fast food restaurant or elsewhere.

Now, I realized early on to suck it up and deal, because most of my money came from the quality of service I rendered the customer...but take Joe Blow high school fast food jockey. What possible incentive does he have to care about your order? You're definitely not giving him a tip no matter what he does. Outside of possibly losing his job if he's that terrible, he's not making any more money by being pleasant and happy. And dealing with people who continually treat you like you are the scum of the earth doesn't really help you stay in a good mood.

As for deteriorating math skills...it's pretty depressing, but for the most part people at a register are doing more than simply taking money and making change. They're preparing orders, checking them, making sure they get to the right customer...and while of course, ALL of these things are usually flawed at a fast food restaurant, it makes it easier to see how mistakes are made, especially if someone is in a hurry.

EDIT: What TOSU said, only longer :)

Ahh.. the problems summed to a T as to what is wrong with hourly pay.

If McDonalds Employee X makes your burger extra fast and with extra care or takes his sweet ass time and makes a mistake or two, he's still getting paid the same.

[Greyroofoo]

stores get what they pay for

[OldGiants]

I was at a drive trough and the total came to 4.78 and I gave the cashier 5.03. That damn near blew her mind. She kept repeating the total to me and I said that I heard what the total was. She kept trying to give me the .03 back before she rung it up. Then when she rung oit up with the .03 she stared at the register when it spit out a quarter for my change as if some kind of magic just happened.


I love doing this. It almost always makes a crappy day one turd less crappy.

My wife and I also keep running estimates of our purchases in our heads. So when the cashier says "That'll be $175.38." after ringing up five items we know are less than $50, we like to say, "That's impossible." The clerk will point to the screen and repeat "$175.38." Then I quickly hold up each item and say the price, adding up a running total as I go. The baffled clerk points to the amount as if god had chiseled the number there in his own inscrutable way, and I say, "Bring your supervisor over and redo the bill so she can see which remedial training course to sign you up for."

This usually amuses the folks in line behind me, and gets the issue settled, although not fast.

[Greyroofoo]

I say, "Bring your supervisor over and redo the bill so she can see which remedial training course to sign you up for."

That's just being an ass

[terpkristin]

I can understand that people aren't all rocket scientists, so I try to cut people slack on math errors, even though I think they should be obvious.

What I can't stand is when a dead register brings a place down entirely. I'm not talking about places like Best Buy, where it's all computerized, and if the computer system is down, inventory isn't tracked, etc, I'm talking about the older-style registers at local mom-and-pop type shops where you just put in the dollar amounts and it totals it and opens the drawer. I was recently at a local coffee shop when their cash registers went down and they refused to take any orders for anybody because they wouldn't be able to run credit card purchases. Nevermind that I had cash. And my bill totaled $3.19. And their credit card system isn't actually attached to their cash registers at all, it's a separate machine you run it through. And that you could still open and close the drawer.

I try to support the local shops, but I'll never be going back to that one. I had a similar experience at a La Madeline about a year ago, but as they're a bigger chain, I don't know how much their inventory tracking/records keeping is tied to their registers. I still didn't see a problem with manually tracking what people bought and the cash transactions and then updating the register later in a slow period, instead of refusing to sell stuff to people. Never going back to that one, either..

/tk

[Lorena]

My mother-in-law teaches third grade and was told she can no longer give timed multiplication tests because they hurt their self-esteem.

No way, tell me you're joking!

[rowech]

No way, tell me you're joking!

Wish I was. Principal said they enough high stakes testing as it is and they don't need something like this. Went on to say it teaches bad habits because it teaches students to go as fast as they can instead of checking for accuracy.

[Raiders Army]

Some of those mistakes that work out in their favor is a common cashiers scam. They short you on purpose and pocket the difference.

I think you're the only one in the thread that talked about why their "mistakes" more often than not work out against you as opposed to in your favor.

[JeeberD]

If the register shows the wrong amount, it's very unlikely a scam. Now, of course, if they're asking for a different price than the register shows, something's up.

[sterlingice]

My wife and I also keep running estimates of our purchases in our heads. So when the cashier says "That'll be $175.38." after ringing up five items we know are less than $50, we like to say, "That's impossible."

Should I point out that you can have 5 items less than $50 and still get a total of $175.38 ;)

SI

[OldGiants]

That's just being an ass

Yes, I'm frequently a very bad person.

[Danny]

I worked as a cashier in a grocery store for a year and a half before quitting recently for better opportunities since I am almost done with school. They are some of the nicest, most genuine people you could meet. Yes, they make mistakes, some more frequently than others, but if you work with them instead of being an ass over every mistake, that helps.

[Raiders Army]

I worked as a cashier in a grocery store for a year and a half before quitting recently for better opportunities since I am almost done with school. They are some of the nicest, most genuine people you could meet. Yes, they make mistakes, some more frequently than others, but if you work with them instead of being an ass over every mistake, that helps.

Is it that you (the consumer) notices mistakes not in your favor more as opposed to mistakes in your favor or is it that the cashiers make more mistakes in the business' favor? I agree that not being an ass helps.

[JeeberD]

Should I point out that you can have 5 items less than $50 and still get a total of $175.38 ;)

SI

That one confused me too, but I THINK he meant five items that totaled less than $50. If not, he's the one who needs remedial classes... :D

[Cringer]

This is exactly where this thread should head, people using math skills to make a point only to have their math mistakes pointed out. :)

[RPI-Fan]

Is it that you (the consumer) notices mistakes not in your favor more as opposed to mistakes in your favor or is it that the cashiers make more mistakes in the business' favor? I agree that not being an ass helps.

This is definitely what I was thinking when reading this thread.

Here's one study that DEFINITELY supports this idea -- many other are available but I don't have time to do a literature review right now.

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do;jsessionid=73B63005B2AD09EBA679C58F1364549C?contentType=Article&hdAction=lnkhtml&contentId=857852

[Danny]

Is it that you (the consumer) notices mistakes not in your favor more as opposed to mistakes in your favor or is it that the cashiers make more mistakes in the business' favor? I agree that not being an ass helps.

At our store, the drawers were short more often then they were over, so at least regarding the transferring of cash, the customer benefited overall. Rarely (though I did see it happen a few times) did a customer report a cashier giving back too much money, but if the cashier gave back not enough, of course they said something, often they were wrong as well. As one example, a customer swear they gave me a $50 instead of $20, I told her I didn't think so, but I would check my drawer (the $50 would be face up in the stack of 20's if I made a mistake). We searched the whole drawer and there was not a single $50 bill. She had me call up the manager and had him check the drawer and everything as well. She wasn't rude about it at least, she just really believed she gave us a $50 bill. Like two days later she called the store to apologize cause she found the $50 bill in her purse.

Personally, I would try and save my customers as much money as possible. I asked every customer for their discount card, if they said they didn't have one and didn't want one, I would put the discount in anyway, often they never even noticed. I would always mention buy 1 get 1 deals if they didn't get a second one or if there was a bigger size for less money of the product they wanted. I took some coupons that were questionable and many other things. I tried not to do anything immoral or dishonest to the company I worked for, but beyond that every dollar I could save my customers I made sure to. Most of the other checkers I worked with were the same way.

However, mistakes do happen. The store I worked at is across the street from a university, and is pretty much swamped at all times, so its pretty non stop and I made mistakes too. It's nice when the customer works with you to quickly resolve the matter. I'm sure anyone that has a job where they have to constantly deal with customers non stop can attest to that it's not always easy dealing with some of people you get.

[Vince]

I can understand that people aren't all rocket scientists, so I try to cut people slack on math errors, even though I think they should be obvious.

What I can't stand is when a dead register brings a place down entirely. I'm not talking about places like Best Buy, where it's all computerized, and if the computer system is down, inventory isn't tracked, etc, I'm talking about the older-style registers at local mom-and-pop type shops where you just put in the dollar amounts and it totals it and opens the drawer. I was recently at a local coffee shop when their cash registers went down and they refused to take any orders for anybody because they wouldn't be able to run credit card purchases. Nevermind that I had cash. And my bill totaled $3.19. And their credit card system isn't actually attached to their cash registers at all, it's a separate machine you run it through. And that you could still open and close the drawer.

I try to support the local shops, but I'll never be going back to that one. I had a similar experience at a La Madeline about a year ago, but as they're a bigger chain, I don't know how much their inventory tracking/records keeping is tied to their registers. I still didn't see a problem with manually tracking what people bought and the cash transactions and then updating the register later in a slow period, instead of refusing to sell stuff to people. Never going back to that one, either..

/tk

It's really sad how hamstrung certain companies get when the computer system is down. Sort of like how sad I get when I find that I have "nothing to do" when my internet is down. It's about that point that I kick myself in the ass and go outside to do some sort of normal activity :)

[Klinglerware]

Is it that you (the consumer) notices mistakes not in your favor more as opposed to mistakes in your favor or is it that the cashiers make more mistakes in the business' favor? I agree that not being an ass helps.

Yeah, I agree with you and RPI-Fan about the implication here: mistakes happen, and sometimes you will be shorted, but sometimes the mistake will be in your favor, so it ought to even out over time.

[Raiders Army]

This is definitely what I was thinking when reading this thread.

Here's one study that DEFINITELY supports this idea -- many other are available but I don't have time to do a literature review right now.

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do;jsessionid=73B63005B2AD09EBA679C58F1364549C?contentType=Article&hdAction=lnkhtml&contentId=857852
That's an interesting article. In conjunction with Danny's quote below:
At our store, the drawers were short more often then they were over, so at least regarding the transferring of cash, the customer benefited overall. Rarely (though I did see it happen a few times) did a customer report a cashier giving back too much money, but if the cashier gave back not enough, of course they said something, often they were wrong as well. As one example, a customer swear they gave me a $50 instead of $20, I told her I didn't think so, but I would check my drawer (the $50 would be face up in the stack of 20's if I made a mistake). We searched the whole drawer and there was not a single $50 bill. She had me call up the manager and had him check the drawer and everything as well. She wasn't rude about it at least, she just really believed she gave us a $50 bill. Like two days later she called the store to apologize cause she found the $50 bill in her purse.

Personally, I would try and save my customers as much money as possible. I asked every customer for their discount card, if they said they didn't have one and didn't want one, I would put the discount in anyway, often they never even noticed. I would always mention buy 1 get 1 deals if they didn't get a second one or if there was a bigger size for less money of the product they wanted. I took some coupons that were questionable and many other things. I tried not to do anything immoral or dishonest to the company I worked for, but beyond that every dollar I could save my customers I made sure to. Most of the other checkers I worked with were the same way.

However, mistakes do happen. The store I worked at is across the street from a university, and is pretty much swamped at all times, so its pretty non stop and I made mistakes too. It's nice when the customer works with you to quickly resolve the matter. I'm sure anyone that has a job where they have to constantly deal with customers non stop can attest to that it's not always easy dealing with some of people you get.

This is interesting to me. Now that I think about it, I can think of at least four separate times over the past six months that a cashier has saved me money by telling me about a deal that I didn't know about. It's funny how this all evens out over time. Maybe Earl Hickey has something...

[Raiders Army]

FWIW, we got our family portraits today. The photographer/photoshopper/cashier at Sears saved us $12 by signing us up for their frequent member program for $4 (saved $1 with the military discount). That got rid of the $16 sitting fee. It's just how much you notice it.