Guy works at Lowe’s and can’t read a tape measure? WTF?

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Mark Henry

I picked up some trim, it was sold by the foot, I told the cashier I had fourteen 10 foot pieces, she had to find the calculator.
I said "You're kidding right?"

I said a little more than you'e kidding. Here's the story: I go to the self check out at the HD with 2) 4 foot pieces of different moldings. I also had a couple of other small items which I scanned. I scanned the first piece of molding and the machine says wait for attendant. A woman comes from the central station there and I say, "It's 4 feet." She takes the molding over to the next check out station where there is a vertical 'feet' stick and I guess she verifies that it's 4 feet. She hands it back to me and I scan the 2nd one.

Well, OK, of course it says wait for attendant and I do while she's over on another of the four scanners helping someone. She sees her alert and comes back over to me and I say, "Like the first one, it's 4 feet showing her them stood together next to one another on the floor showing they are the same in length.

Nope, she takes the 2nd one over to the stick.


(sigh)

If you think there aren't people who aren't as bad as Wally World, hit the Depot. I hate the place but they've run all the lumber yards out of business. I live in a city of nearly half a million people and we have not one real lumber yard. Have to drive 30 minutes to the nearest (and most expensive one).

[Baz]

Originally Posted by gchappel

I needed 15ft of heavy gauge battery cable and went to the local auto parts store.
I asked the clerk- young female- how they measured it. She pointed at the floor and said those are 1 foot square tiles and we just lay it out. I actually thought it was a good idea.
She proceeded to lay it out diagonally across the tiles and count. I tried to explain to her that the distance across a diagonal tile was different than across the straight edge. She insisted, so I left with about 21 feet of cable. I did take a piece of string and showed her how the straight edge and the diagonal was different. She stood there trying it again and again- like it was some type of magic trick.
We are doomed.
Gary

Wow....should have bought some fuel line while you were there!!!

[MBAtarga]

How about when the salesperson goes to do you a favor and pulls out the calculator to determine what the 30% off price would be for you on that $9.99 tool?

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by R K T

There is a difference though. The older folks that may have a problem with doing math etc quickly in their head may have left school very early in life to "work on the farm".
Today's young people have had an education. Well, maybe not!

I understand (and agree in spirit with) what you wrote, but disagree with the specifics of the example. My grandmother had little formal education in a third world country. She'd be considered a little village girl, educationally. But she knew her math. Give her numbers, and she could do all the equations in her head. OK, maybe it wasn't calculus she was figuring out in her mind, but all the routine math needed for daily business transactions, figuring out recipes, etc, she could just spit right out. Scratch paper was for sissies.

[aigel]

Haha, the angry old geezer is strong in this thread.

The main issue here is the damn standard system with fractions of inches, feet etc. I worked construction with a bunch of not so smart guys in Europe, and reading a meter stick was easy for all, even the dumbest ones. It got hard when you had to do arithmetic but never an issue with a straight reading.

G

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by aigel

Haha, the angry old geezer is strong in this thread.

The main issue here is ....

....people are stupid .

And I resent that first part....I've been pretty happy all day...other than being inside watching the dang snow fall....just ain't right!

[flipper35]

I just replaced the water softener and needed to re-plumb a bit. Figured go with PEX so off to Menards I go with the piece I needed to fit and a picture of where it needed to go taken on my phone. She said you need this, this , this and we rent the tool you need at the service desk.

Of course I did not take into account the different heights so I did make another run for additional elbows.

By the way, I like PEX better than trying to sweat pipes with water dripping back down the pipes.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by aigel

Haha, the angry old geezer is strong in this thread.

The main issue here is the damn standard system with fractions of inches, feet etc. I worked construction with a bunch of not so smart guys in Europe, and reading a meter stick was easy for all, even the dumbest ones. It got hard when you had to do arithmetic but never an issue with a straight reading.

G

George, I think this is going on all over the world. I bet you will get the same thing outta Europe. Just dumb people who need a job. I think the older folks had been around and sees that its a simple survival skill, so they bone up a little on that whereas a young (not too much of a go getter)person will take the easiest path like go to his calculator or the story pole.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Zeke

I said a little more than you'e kidding. Here's the story: I go to the self check out at the HD with 2) 4 foot pieces of different moldings. I also had a couple of other small items which I scanned. I scanned the first piece of molding and the machine says wait for attendant. A woman comes from the central station there and I say, "It's 4 feet." She takes the molding over to the next check out station where there is a vertical 'feet' stick and I guess she verifies that it's 4 feet. She hands it back to me and I scan the 2nd one.

Well, OK, of course it says wait for attendant and I do while she's over on another of the four scanners helping someone. She sees her alert and comes back over to me and I say, "Like the first one, it's 4 feet showing her them stood together next to one another on the floor showing they are the same in length.

Nope, she takes the 2nd one over to the stick.




If you think there aren't people who aren't as bad as Wally World, hit the Depot. I hate the place but they've run all the lumber yards out of business. I live in a city of nearly half a million people and we have not one real lumber yard. Have to drive 30 minutes to the nearest (and most expensive one).

or some strange reason, I find this really funny now that's happenning to you. I thought only I encounter those fabulous people at the check out.

[RKDinOKC]

The only questions I ever ask in those stores is where the heck something is.

[SCadaddle]

Here is a metric tape measure that I own. It is graduated in millimeters. Total length is 5 Meters.








However, someone in the production department dropped the ball when they didn't change "3 inches" notation on the side of the tape measure case (front to back dimension) to (most nearly) 75mm.

[Mark Henry]

Originally Posted by SCadaddle

Here is a metric tape measure that I own. It is graduated in millimeters. Total length is 5 Meter


However, someone in the production department dropped the ball when they didn't change "3 inches" notation on the side of the tape measure case (front to back dimension) to (most nearly) 75mm.

This one is obvious, metric tape in a standard case. That is a pure bean counter doing, they didn't want to tool for a metric case.

We see this all the time as in Canada the metric system is the official system but in construction with so much of our material coming from the US, or being built for the US market, standard is still prevalent.
At lowes, HD plywood comes in 4'X8' X 19mm sheets, click laminate flooring is all metric but on the box area is in sq/ft, plumbing and electrical is almost all standard, etc., etc.


Only Burma, Liberia, and the US haven't adopted the metric system.

[aigel]

Originally Posted by look 171

George, I think this is going on all over the world. I bet you will get the same thing outta Europe. Just dumb people who need a job. I think the older folks had been around and sees that its a simple survival skill, so they bone up a little on that whereas a young (not too much of a go getter)person will take the easiest path like go to his calculator or the story pole.

No, seriously, it is just not obvious that 3/8 is less than 1/2. All numbers are larger, how can that be shorter? Try it with a 3rd grader. is 2 cm larger or smaller than 3 cm? Anyone will answer that right.

I am not saying people here are stupider than people in Europe but for the same level of smart, the metric system is a TON better. Why make it hard on people.

I once had a poor guy here ask me how many years were in a century. I thought it was hilarious. But then, he had to learn that there are 4 quarts to the gallon two pints being a quart and that each pint was 16 oz etc. etc. - no wonder he thought a century may be some odd number, maybe 120 years or 5/8s decades!

G

[unclebilly]

And this is why I like Costco, Amazon, Rock Auto, and the like. No idiot ‘experts’. I buy what I need and if it doesn’t work out, they give me my money back without argument.

[R K T]

Back in the early 70s I learned all about Kilos, Ounces and Grams!

[fanaudical]

(Heavy sigh) - I wish it was just tape measures - I work with a couple people at my current employment who can't reliably read DIGITAL micrometers or calipers. One is a "machinist", the other a QC "inspector"...

[1979-930]

Originally Posted by gchappel

I needed 15ft of heavy gauge battery cable and went to the local auto parts store.
I asked the clerk- young female- how they measured it. She pointed at the floor and said those are 1 foot square tiles and we just lay it out. I actually thought it was a good idea.
She proceeded to lay it out diagonally across the tiles and count. I tried to explain to her that the distance across a diagonal tile was different than across the straight edge. She insisted, so I left with about 21 feet of cable. I did take a piece of string and showed her how the straight edge and the diagonal was different. She stood there trying it again and again- like it was some type of magic trick.
We are doomed.
Gary

Yea,
The Pythagorean Theorem was figured out around 500BC.
Yet here we are...


Sent from my iPhone while Driving

[look 171]

Originally Posted by 1979-930

Yea,
The Pythagorean Theorem was figured out around 500BC.
Yet here we are...


Sent from my iPhone while Driving

and now we have freaking Common Core math.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by 1979-930

Yea,
The Pythagorean Theorem was figured out around 500BC.
Yet here we are...

Ernest T. Bass would call it triangle math....if he knew what a triangle was. But he could stomp his foot and build stuff

[flatbutt]

For any skill it's important to start training young