Clueless Youth Struggle With Old Technology & Stuff We Grew Up With

[noblepa]

They don't teach kids in school how to make change, either. You know, the bill is $7.53 and the customer gives you a $10 bill. You count out 2 cents makes $7.55, 2 dimes makes $7.75, a quarter makes $8.00 and 2 one dollar bills makes $10.

We once had breakfast at a Bob Evans restaurant on Sunday, after church. Just as we were finishing our meal, the lights went out. No problem, it was a sunny day and our table was near a window.

When we went to pay our bill at the cash register, that is when the problem arose. The young girl at the register couldn't cope with her register being shut off due to lack of power. She was telling others waiting to pay, "If you have exact change, I can take your money. Others will have to wait." She couldn't make change without the register telling her how much.

I looked, and on the shelf behind her were little piles of money on top of the guest checks, each with the exact change. She must have had twenty of them.

Finally, the manager saw the crowd and came over, grabbed all the cash and started using it to make change. He also knew how to open the register manually.

She simply had no clue how to make change without the register telling her how much to give.

I've also seen kids completely flummoxed by entering the incorrect "Cash Tendered" amount. The bill is $7.53 and the customer gives them a $10. The accidentally hit $100 cash tendered and the register tells them to give the customer $92.47 instead of the correct amount of $2.42. They don't understand that the "Cash Tendered" amount is just there to calculate the change due. It does not affect the day's sales totals or the amount of cash that should be in the register (as long as they don't really give the customer $92.47).

[Volkonski]

Back in my grocery store days the checkouts had electromechanical NCR cash registers. When the power went out the registers had hand cranks so we stockers/bundle boys stood next to the registers giving the cranks a turn after the checkout girls entered every price.

[MN-Skeptic]

They don't teach kids in school how to make change, either.

I rarely go to fast food restaurants, but when I do and I use cash, I'm hesitant to give them an un-obvious amount. Say, for example, that my meal is $12.43. I would like to give them a $23.03 - one $20, three $1s, and three pennies if that's what I have in my wallet. I distinctly remember learning about how to count change in 2nd or 3rd grade! I think all of us would see the obvious answer to my scenario.

[keith]

I remember woŕking at a fast food restaurant during summer after graduating high school.

One day a guy came in trying to scam with the old fast change schtick.

I was actually faster than him and he got really frustrated that he couldnt get me confused. He was good but I was better at catching on to what he was doing.

[neonzx]

They don't teach kids in school how to make change, either.

I rarely go to fast food restaurants, but when I do and I use cash, I'm hesitant to give them an un-obvious amount. Say, for example, that my meal is $12.43. I would like to give them a $23.03 - one $20, three $1s, and three pennies if that's what I have in my wallet. I distinctly remember learning about how to count change in 2nd or 3rd grade! I think all of us would see the obvious answer to my scenario.

I did do and still do that. And it's not just young clerks or cashiers who get a confused look, older ones as well.

But then I say just ring it in they get an "oh! " moment when the register does the math. Easy change.

[Reddog]

I'm glad I went to school when they had analog clocks. Imagine the torture

... and that feeling on really dull days that the big hand might be moving backwards

To me the torture started about an hour before lunch when the kitchen smells started wafting through the building.

[bill_g]

On clock faces - I recall wondering about the significance of both hands straight up - noon. When they were on 1-1 or 2-2 etc, was there something important happening then too? I chased that idea for years. 4:20 is a recent invention. Doesn't count.

[Rolodex]

I grew up in summers working at my grandmother's country store where I learned to make change by "counting up." She didn't have a cash register. When I got my first job working retail at a major chain, I had a hard time making change when I put the cash amount in that a customer paid and the register told me how much give in change. I wonder how many people even pay in cash any more.

[northland10]

I haven't been in a school building in years. Do they no longer have analog clocks in the hallways or classrooms? They've all been replaced with digital clocks?

The district where I used to teach just built a new elementary school, and it appears to have all analog clocks. However, the suburban district where I grew up recently built new middle schools and they have digital clocks (and more bells and whistles than the rural district where I taught).

As for the other comment about making change, I am not sure if it is a lack of being taught or a lack of practice. Cashiers and workers at restaurants are called upon to make change less and less as more and more pay by card, even for small stuff. Practice makes permanent, and if they don't get much practice, they have to think about it more. Thus, it is slower.

[bill_g]

I grew up in summers working at my grandmother's country store where I learned to make change by "counting up." She didn't have a cash register. When I got my first job working retail at a major chain, I had a hard time making change when I put the cash amount in that a customer paid and the register told me how much give in change. I wonder how many people even pay in cash any more.

Weed shops are cash only. That's a Federal Banking limitation. (cough)

The food carts switched to card only during covid, and haven't looked back. Fast Food OTOH gladly takes a tenner for a burger these days. Convenience stores see a lot of cash. Liquor stores too. Gas stations. Soda machines. Even the grocery store self checkout accepts bills.

But, the days of the average person needing a money clip are gone.

[AndyinPA]

If you're in the Scandinavian countries, cash is rarely used. There were places on my last trip in May where there were stores that would not take cash, only credit cards. I came home with more kronor than I would have liked.

It's becoming a little more common here, too, to have places that have gone credit card only. We have a national register trolley park/amusement park, Kennywood, that takes only credit cards. If you want to go and prefer cash, you have to exchange it for a card.

I usually won't put anything less than $10 on a credit card. That's just me. Hubby would put a dollar on it, and that drove me nuts. I was at a Starbucks the other day, and the girl at the register could not figure out to take my $7 for a $6.09 purchase. She had the register tied up waiting for the customer before me who went to his car for something. He didn't return quickly, but she didn't want to void his purchase on the machine. When there started to be a line, she finally voided his purchase, and the machine told her what to give me back.

[neonzx]

... I was at a Starbucks the other day, and the girl at the register could not figure out to take my $7 for a $6.09 purchase. She had the register tied up waiting for the customer before me who went to his car for something. He didn't return quickly, but she didn't want to void his purchase on the machine. When there started to be a line, she finally voided his purchase, and the machine told her what to give me back.

I'm sure she knew how much to return in change. Perhaps insufficiency in training. Man leaves to car because he super important. Slide the order to a queue and deal with other customers.

But she probably cant cash out customers if the computer won't let her.

[Maybenaut]

They don't teach kids in school how to make change, either.

When I was in Coast Guard boot camp we spent a lot of time learning to tie knots. Other than the overhand knot and a bow that I used to tie my shoes every day, I never tied a single knot in the Coast Guard.

Then they quit teaching knot-tying and taught life-skills instead. One of my Boatswain Mate friends was lamenting the fact that new recruits would show up at his small boat station unable to tie a bowline. I asked how much time he (or others), spent teaching a noob how to tie a particular knot compared to how much of his time was wasted when his newest member was writing bad checks all over town because he didn’t know how to balance a checkbook.

[northland10]

I know how to tie a bowline. I know how to tie it one handed with my eyes closed. This may be due to having taught lots of knot-tying over the years.

I also have figures out that I am not good at folding towels and sheets. I only know how to fold things in a triangle (with no red showing). Taught that a bunch as well.

[Volkonski]

Just occurred to me that the clocks in my elementary school, built as a high school in 1908, had Roman numerals on the faces.

[tek]

In the Catholic school I went to, they had no numbers at all - I'm sure to make it harder for us.

[northland10]

For some reason, Big Ben is now just flashing 12:00.

[bill_g]

RUN!