I think that math and thinking are in decline.

[quakerboy]

My family decided on Burgerking some weeks ago. I notice that a "double stack" is $2. A small soda $1, a small fry $1. A double stack meal(sandwich, small fry, small soda) is 4.89.


Then today I stopped at Subway. I like to think that the Subway consumer is the higher end of the fast food consumer pool, the ones that can appreciate some level of vegetable nutrition.

First I noticed the cookies. 1 for $.50. 3 for 1.25. Used to be a buck, but inflation. Fair enough, you get a small discount for ordering 3. Then listed on the menue was 12 for $5.00. So you get another discount for ordering even more. But wait. No. Its the same price. If you order 3 for 1.25 4 times, you pay $5.00 for 12 cookies.

As I am pondering this, and the apparent decline of math/thinking in our nation, a man walks in, beelines to the soda fridge, pulls out a bottle of coke, and asks how much. $1.95. He hands the worker 2 one dollar bills and says "keep the dime" and walks out.

[madinmaryland]

1. Laziness and/or they just don't care.

:shrug:

[Odin2005]

2. It seems a lot of my 20-something peers are incompetents at basic arithmetic.

I once had a co-worker ask me what 2x12 is!!! :banghead:

[quakerboy]

3. Its a hard one

I mean, you have to figure out what the x stands for, and I just dont see how you can do that with the information given..

[Tuesday Afternoon]

4. I posted about this years ago in GD

and got slammed for being cheap.

:rofl:

gotta love GD

[eppur_se_muova]

5. It's people who are in decline.

Math still works just great, as does thinking.

[dimbear]

6. They're out of date.

Our computers do those things for us.

[Chan790]

7. Check this one.

The ATM at the bank says "There is a $3.50 fee for withdrawals for non-clients." This has never confused anybody before in history that I am aware of, they take the $3.50 out of the account you make the withdrawal from.

My last week with the bank a man comes in and tells me the ATM didn't give him his change.

I look at him quizzically.

I say: "What change?"
guy: "For a five."
Me: "What for?"
guy: "It told me there was a fee of $3.50, I put a $5 in the slot."
Me: "It doesn't work that way."

I explain how it does work. I also explain that ATMs don't make change and they don't dispense coinage. (Note: I am aware there is a very-small number which do dispense rolled quarters...this isn't one of those.) I also possess great fear that my ATM is now going to require a service call because I cannot conceptualize how one shoves a $5 into the ATM since the deposit slot is behind a robotic-door. I excuse myself to see how badly the ATM is fucked. It's fine and somehow the $5 is sitting on top of the paper-receipt roll. He must have somehow slid it into the receipt dispenser. I return the $5 to the man.

guy: "What is this for?"
Me: "The ATM takes the $3.50 out of your linked account. This is yours."
guy: "I don't want it to. I want to pay it in cash."
Me: "If you go to your bank, you can deposit the $3.50 into your account and it'll be exactly the same as if you paid cash."
guy: "okay"

But wait, this is not over yet. >>Five minutes later<<

**ring ring ring**
Me: "Hello...(mindless corporate-approved phone-answering speech)"
Phone-caller: "This is Alva from Wells Fargo." (Note: In a banking district, you tend to know your competitor's staff...you interact a lot. I know Alva.)
Me: "okay."
Alva: "Did you just help a Mr.______? He says you told him that he could pay your ATM fee in cash here. $3.50 out of a $5."
Me: "Effectively." I then tell the story to this point.
Alva: "That's what I figured. Did you also tell him that we owed him $2 in change from a $5?"
Me: "No. No. Nope."

[kwassa]

8. There are three kinds of people in this world. Those that are good at math, and those that aren't.