tales of random incompetence

[contentlove]

This morning, at Cafe Medici, I asked the woman behind the counter how much their coffee beans cost. She named a price. I asked if that was by the pound, or in the bags out by the counter, which were 12 oz. She said that was "for the pounds in the bags". I said, "those are not pounds, they are 12 ounces." She asked quietly, "How many ounces

Comments

[skeletoncrew]

Cash registers make the brain lazy. I can count back change, but I still had to kick-start my brain on those occasions when I needed to. Never helped when those occasions involved already belligerent customers.

Incidentally, it was appalling how often I ran into customers who needed me to tell them how much 10% would be.

[moonrose]

That's my trouble - I can easily count back from your total to the amount you gave me, but at the end of the day I usually just say bugger it and let the machine tell me what amount to give back. Now.... not being able to pull that amount of change from the drawer is a different matter, and I'm pretty sure even at my deadest at work I can wrap my brain around how to make 39 cents given the pennies nickels dimes and quarters at my disposal, so I don't worry too much. Yet.

[contentlove]

That just wouldn't be cool with me when it comes to my money or someone else's. I've worked in a lot of cash based businesses. If it works for you okay...but...

[royalbananafish]

You know, that may be somewhat true. But in my experience, the longer I worked at a register the easier it was for me to figure it in my head (and work out how many combinations of coins can make 35 cents, or whatever).

[skeletoncrew]

See now that I have no trouble with, my issue was when someone would change what they were giving me at the last minute (common scam technique actually) and I'd need to revise what change I'd be giving. My brain just doesn't seem to shift gears easily.

[contentlove]

I share this with you. The last sales gig I did was a few years ago when I worked the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar for a friend's soap company. After a day, I could do all the tax in my head, it's 8.25%. There are just only a certain amount of numerical combinations. As I said above, I've worked in a lot of cash businesses, and it's just, well, you need to be able to do this or you're gonna get screwed eventually. No offense to anyone intended here.