Do they not teach basic math anymore.

[Big Ed]

Originally posted by wludavid
As an A/B student from a public school, I resent that! Oops, my break's over. I gotta get back to the cash register.

Seriously though, one of my little pleasures in life is to hand a cashier something like $5.07 when the total came to $4.82. They usually look befuddled, then they type it in and see that the change is a quarter, they get this "DUUUUUDE" look on their face.

Except when you have a 5 out, the total coes to 4.82, the guy has already punched in the 5.00 when you hand him the additional 7 cents. Love the quizzical look. At that point you could tell him that your correct change is 20 bucks and they probably wouldn't question it.

[tcar]

Originally posted by masraum
Have you ever tried to do that on $7/hr? I think that's about $16-17k a year.

Nope. Under 15k a year.

[Big Ed]

Originally posted by tcar
Nope. Under 15k a year.

He couldn't do the math.

[masraum]

Originally posted by Big Ed
He couldn't do the math.

the manager was counting my drawer and said I was $44.38 off so i was distracted.












But if you want I can do binary to decimal conversions in my head and give you ranges of IP addresses.

[KFC911]

Originally posted by masraum
....
But if you want I can do binary to decimal conversions in my head and give you ranges of IP addresses.

Binary....or Hexidecimal? I'm rusty (use it or lose it), but I used to be really good at mental hex stuff (LOTS of experience reading dumps, traces, etc.), but I haven't messed with strings of 1s and 0s since college (where one memorable assignment was coding a program in 'machine language').... I couldn't imagine doing binary conversions (more than a byte or two long)....I NEED hex as a crutch !

PS: you must be one of the 10 types of people....one who understands vs. those who don't!

[masraum]

Originally posted by KC911
Binary....or Hexidecimal? I'm rusty (use it or lose it), but I used to be really good at mental hex stuff (LOTS of experience reading dumps, traces, etc.), but I haven't messed with strings of 1s and 0s since college (where one memorable assignment was coding a program in 'machine language').... I couldn't imagine doing binary conversions (more than a byte or two long)....I NEED hex as a crutch !

PS: you must be one of the 10 types of people....those who understand vs. those who don't!

I can do hex, but I'm slower. I do more network addressing and subnet masks which is binary. shudder... programming.

Yep, I'm one of the 10 people.

[widebody911]

Originally posted by masraum
But if you want I can do binary to decimal conversions in my head and give you ranges of IP addresses.

I gave him $255.25 in change because we're on an RFC 1918 class C

[KNS]

Originally posted by Rick Lee :

"Life is hard on stupid people".


I like that quote all by itself!

[legion]

Originally posted by masraum
I see your point, but the problem is that there are people that are trying to live on that wage. There are "adults" who have graduated HS and gotten married at 18 or 19 and work at retail jobs and are trying to live, rent an apt, eat, drive a car, have car ins. Have you ever tried to do that on $7/hr? I think that's about $16-17k a year.

So we should overpay ignorant high school dropouts because some of them might have kids? The only way they are going to take responsibility for their lives is if they are not comfortable where they are at...

[mudman]

Every day that I am in a supplier's store I see grown men, business owners, asking for help figuring out brick, stone, wall block, etc. How pathetic! This is how you pay your bills, learn the damned trade! I'm talking square footage and volume for aggregate and simple construction math. It is fun though when the counter person knows me and aks for my help, I'm usually half the age of the other contractor, and always make it a point to use big words and quick math written in draftmans print.
-Jeremy

PS, when the wrong change thing happens to me, I just keep shaking my head until they figure it out themselves, I've gotten more in change than what I paid in the first place a couple of times, too. Fools. I am going to rule the world if things continue this way! I have been considering a hostile takeover of Ohio lately, any others from Michigan want to help?
-Jeremy

[singpilot]

Originally posted by Rick Lee
Here's a scary story. In college, some friends and I were at some other friends' place and there was a big bag of reefer on the coffee table.

One girl inquires: "Wow! How much is in there?"

Guy replies, "An ounce."

Girl: "How many eighths is that?"

Entire rooom in unison: "EIGHT."

Girl: "Well geeze, I don't know anything about metrics."

I am not kidding. This conversation really took place between folks who had made it into college.

How much of the ninth eighth had she smoked at that point?

[masraum]

Originally posted by mudman
Every day that I am in a supplier's store I see grown men, business owners, asking for help figuring out brick, stone, wall block, etc. How pathetic! This is how you pay your bills, learn the damned trade! I'm talking square footage and volume for aggregate and simple construction math. It is fun though when the counter person knows me and aks for my help, I'm usually half the age of the other contractor, and always make it a point to use big words and quick math written in draftmans print.
-Jeremy

PS, when the wrong change thing happens to me, I just keep shaking my head until they figure it out themselves, I've gotten more in change than what I paid in the first place a couple of times, too. Fools. I am going to rule the world if things continue this way! I have been considering a hostile takeover of Ohio lately, any others from Michigan want to help?
-Jeremy

I think that's hilarious, but they must think you're a real ass. hahaha

PS What's "draftman's print"? Is it some sort of shorthand or are you just talking about the really neatly printed alphabet used in drafting? Google left me hanging.

[wcc]

Originally posted by mudman
I have been considering a hostile takeover of Ohio lately, any others from Michigan want to help?
-Jeremy

I'm in!!!!

[mudman]

Bill, we will need some kind of cool acronym to do this right, I'll start thinking...

Steve, yeah, I'm an ass, but if you want good math then you've gotta deal with it! Yes, I was reffering to neat hand writing, as opposed to the chicken scratch stuff I see from most people. I have seen other companies quotes/bids that are unreadable. My industry is hilarious.

[Rick Lee]

You guys ever watch Jay Leno's Jay Walking? There are some amazingly stupid people out there.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally posted by mudman
Bill, we will need some kind of cool acronym to do this right, I'll start thinking...

Steve, yeah, I'm an ass, but if you want good math then you've gotta deal with it! Yes, I was reffering to neat hand writing, as opposed to the chicken scratch stuff I see from most people. I have seen other companies quotes/bids that are unreadable. My industry is hilarious.

I did construction for years before I went back to get my engineering degree. Amazing the guys that can't figure the square footage of a square room.

What is it they say, 20 years ago American kids were near the best in the world at math, now they're not in the top 20? Scary world, hard to innovate and stay ahead when the majority of engineers and scientists are Indian, Chinese, Japanese, etc. Nobody that goes to college wants a "hard" degree, I can't count the people I know that majored in business management. Now they're working at Target for $25k a year, that education sure is paying off.

[Rick Lee]

The sure sign of our decline is that we graduate more lawyers than engineers per year, while CHina and India to the inverse.

[kang]

Originally posted by Rick Lee
You guys ever watch Jay Leno's Jay Walking? There are some amazingly stupid people out there.

Yep. Half the people out there have below average intelligence.

[masraum]

Originally posted by kang
Yep. Half the people out there have below average intelligence.

The funny thing is that if half of them are at a given point, then they are average. It's just that the average is so darn low.

And, unfortunately some of them are fairly intelligent, they are just poorly educated because no one told them it was important. I put most of the blame with parents. If parents stressed education and grades more (and had control of their kids) then more kids would have better grades and better educations.

Sometimes it's the person's ability. Some people just have a brain that doesn't work as well as others, but for the most part, I think it's a vicious circle.

[mudman]

Originally posted by masraum
The funny thing is that if half of them are at a given point, then they are average. It's just that the average is so darn low.

Uh, speaking of basic math....???