[UncleWede]

Most GenX wouldn't even NEED their glasses to find that jet

[roastbeef]

meh, i'm not that great with math. if i have to count backwards and subtract or whatever, it might take me a few seconds on the spot. i don't deal with money like that at work. this handicap of mine doesn't really matter, i've been successful. i was a cashier in my younger days and i don't remember this being a huge problem.

[andrewmr]

Originally Posted by RKM

I hand them my cash and tell them how much change I have coming. I get a blank look as they punch it in. When the machine verifies what I told them they say, "How did you know that?" They think it's some sort of witchcraft.

This.....

Just tell them....
If I can swap out someone's heart, I can for sure figure out how many pennies I get back.

[DETRoadster]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

Most GenX wouldn't even NEED their glasses to find that jet

The son of a bitch rolled into a dark corner of the shop. Rolled I tell ya!

[AnOldBiker]

Several years ago, we found our grandkids use calculators in class, approved by the teachers. My wife started teaching them proper math methods.

And when I used a slide rule ......

[cmyx6go]

Originally Posted by 2000cs

When I was a kid we learned long math, column addition and subtraction. It was a necessary skill at the store because the registers didn’t compute change back in the day, and the cashiers didn’t always get it right. I remember my mom going over the register tape when she got home, matching each item from the grocery and re-totaling the slip - and going back in when she found an error!

People from her generation could look at a column of numbers (3+ digits each) and tell you at a glance if the total is correct. I can’t do that (although I try). But I can do change in my head faster than the clerk can take my payment and key it into the register.

Now with electronic registers, that is no longer needed. Mistakes are rare, and not a math problem but a “data entry” problem if there is an error.

The old skills are cool, but really that’s about it. Tech is definitely better, if less satisfying, in the same way that a Seiko keeps great time but lacks the what, romance?, of a hand made watch.

And if tech crashes, we're all screwed.

[Dackelone]

skip to 01:25...

[jimbobiggens]

It's good to be able to do things the old fashioned way - but when I was in networking class, the instructor got pissed at me when I mentioned subnetting was not something a boss wants to see an employee doing by hand. You might even get wrote up for poor time management skills. The app on my phone can do it a whole lot faster than I can with a pencil.

[2000cs]

Originally Posted by cmyx6go

And if tech crashes, we're all screwed.

Cash registers will be the least of our worries. That’s why EMP is such an important threat, even if remote.

[EL Jeffe 5]

put blame on G W Bush JK

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_dollar_riddle

[amgraham]

A few years ago, we were having some friends over for dinner one evening. They lived near one of the best bakeries in town so they offered to pick up dinner rolls on the way. The price was something like $0.40/each or $4.00/dozen. My buddy asked for a dozen. Since it was later in the afternoon, they were almost out... She says, "I'm sorry but I only have eleven rolls." He tells her it's no big deal, eleven will work. She charges him $4.40. He said, "It's $4.00/dozen".

Her reply: "But you only got eleven..."

[Turkish Pickle]

Originally Posted by DETRoadster

I struggle with this as someone who is getting on in years, being closer to retirement than I am comfortable with. Is basic arithmetic a needed life skill or was your father wasting your time? What about cursive penmanship? Necessary life skill or a waste of time?

How many of us can raise and harvest our own crops and livestock? Technology took care of that for us and it's no longer seen as a basic life skill.

My nephew had to call a plumber to his new house because the previous owner had hooked the hot and cold water supplies up backwards to the kitchen sink. I was laughing about it and my wife reminded me the only reason I found out is he mentioned it while he was helping me set up my new wifi router that had me baffled. Hmmm. Self reflection time.

Perhaps what fathers need to be doing at the dinner table today is quizzing their kids on coding because the machines take care of the simple stuff.

But yes, at a high level I do agree with you. Doing math in your head should be a basic function of that job. Sadly for the average Sbux employee, the art of pulling a good espresso shot is not part of their knowledge base either as they simply push a button and the technology does the rest.

call me a little shit, but i know my tables, can set up my wifi and take care of mechanical things too...

"technology took care of that" is just an excuse imo, yeah we have phones that are vastly more powerful than what 3 people went to the moon with, but there's no reason not to use that to acquire information. a few years back my mom gave me shit because i was looking up youtube videos on how to make eggs like i like them.

imo the issue is lacking self-sufficiency, you know? it's impossible to know everything at a master level, sure, but i also feel like a person living in 2019 should know basics like how to reverse two pipes as well as setting up a new router.

unless you are too deep in it, a normal person wouldn't need to know how to replace the water heater or write code that blocks access to a certain device after it streams too much netflix etc and that's fine because that's why society creates professionals in their respective fields.

[RickFLM4]

More troubling than the actual lack of basic math skills for some is the apparent perception they don't matter.

[Turkish Pickle]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

More troubling than the actual lack of basic math skills for some is the apparent perception they don't matter.

"haha joke's on my teacher, they said id never have a calculator on me at all times now look at us" - every single annoying I DRINK SOY MILK AND CRAFT BEERS WHILE LISTENING TO MY VINYLS dude ever

my personal favorite is being forced to recite pronouns when introducing yourself though, don't think anything can beat that

[King Rudi]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

More troubling than the actual lack of basic math skills for some is the apparent perception they don't matter.

I recall the ex-wife's daughter explaining to us one evening (discussing her poor grades) that she didn't need an education. She only needed to be pretty so that a rich man would marry her. I think her words were "If you're pretty, you don't have to be smart."

Ironically her mother, my ex-wife, spent the next hour trying to set her straight as to her train of thought. Four years later, that bitch left me to marry a guy from England that she only met in person the day before she got married to him. Why? His mother past away and he inherited a fortune and she no longer has to work.

[Turkish Pickle]

Originally Posted by Now_Rudi

I recall the ex-wife's daughter explaining to us one evening (discussing her poor grades) that she didn't need an education. She only needed to be pretty so that a rich man would marry her. I think her words were "If you're pretty, you don't have to be smart."

Ironically her mother, my ex-wife, spent the next hour trying to set her straight as to her train of thought. Four years later, that bitch left me to marry a guy from England that she only met in person the day before she got married to him. Why? His mother past away and he inherited a fortune and she no longer has to work.

I shouldn't be laughing but that's funny man

[gjm120]

I'm old enough that when I started work there was a desk calculator right there. After that dumb computer terminals, then PCs and so on. Due to having that crutch so handy, I'd probably have to resort to the calculator app on my phone to make change.

[brk_05]

Eh, some people just aren't mathematically inclined. Everyone is so quick to blame technology, the education system, them dang youths ("Get off my lawn!"), etc.

My wife is a very bright, Masters educated, successful speech therapist, but she can't do math for shit, haha.

[King Rudi]

Originally Posted by Bayerische Motoren Werke

I shouldn't be laughing but that's funny man

Laugh away sir. It is funny. I take great delight in knowing that she's miserable wherever she is in life because she is just one of those people. Absolutely stunning beautiful woman on the outside and broken garbage on the inside.

[DETRoadster]

Originally Posted by Bayerische Motoren Werke

call me a little shit, but i know my tables, can set up my wifi and take care of mechanical things too..

And your Turkish so you can probably grow a sweet beard in like 45 minutes where I try for a month and it still comes in all patchy.

Stop showing off you little shit.

[cmyx6go]

Originally Posted by DETRoadster

And your Turkish so you can probably grow a sweet beard in like 45 minutes where I try for a month and it still comes in all patchy.

Stop showing off you little shit.

OMG - I just spit out my coffee.