Innumeracy
I've been working on my hottub. (What my baby wants my baby gets) and I've been going to a local pool supply place for parts. One of the things I needed was about 2 feet of standard flexi pipe. The woman in the store (who is there every time - I think she's the co-owner, or the boss' wife, or both) pulled out this piece of pipe:
She: "Will this do? I'm not sure this is even two feet."
Me "Uh, that's a fair bit more than 2 feet. I'll take it. How much?"
She: "Well, it's $2.95 per foot. I'll just charge you for one foot though."
Me (Uh, who am I to argue?)
She was off by 80% at the minimum. Her guess was more like half of the true measurement. (It did not escape me that there is a convenient placemat right on the countertop that has ruler markings on it specifically for the purpose of measuring parts.)
This astonishes me. And this is not the first time she's done this. She did the same thing last time too.
I don't know what her husband's been telling her about judging lengths of pipe - but man, ! guess it's workin' for him...
She: "Will this do? I'm not sure this is even two feet."
Me "Uh, that's a fair bit more than 2 feet. I'll take it. How much?"
She: "Well, it's $2.95 per foot. I'll just charge you for one foot though."
Me (Uh, who am I to argue?)
She was off by 80% at the minimum. Her guess was more like half of the true measurement. (It did not escape me that there is a convenient placemat right on the countertop that has ruler markings on it specifically for the purpose of measuring parts.)
This astonishes me. And this is not the first time she's done this. She did the same thing last time too.
I don't know what her husband's been telling her about judging lengths of pipe - but man, ! guess it's workin' for him...