[evilking]

Was I the only one who had to listen to times-tables tapes in the car on the way to school? I'm beginning to think so...


Had to buy a specific medical item last week, non-urgent, although it turns out no chemist within 50 miles stocked what I needed. So I put an order in with a local but professional pharmacy, attached to a medical clinic/surgery, and I went to collect this morning. The item comes in packets of 6 (six), with 12 (twelve) packets to a box. So many items are there in total per box?


That's what I asked the pharmacist (not assistant, not cashier, not cleaning person). I couldn't see the important details (12 packets of 6) from where I was standing, so I asked the pharmacist. I saw her mouth the words twelve and six, then pause. After the pause, she started looking at each side of the box in turn. I was confused, maybe she didn't hear me (people say I have an american accent, possibly canadian). I repeated the question while rummaging through my wallet. Still nothing. I know why she's not answering me, I know but I can't accept it. I could feel it in my chest, the anticipation of the sound of "72", a wave of desperation suffocating my thoughts... tell me "72", just say "72", it's "72", come on "72". Please, I'm begging you, just SAY IT! It hurts!


She shows me the box and tells me there are twelve packets of six...


I pay and leave, for the rest of the day I'm not myself. I'm exhausted, a piece of me is still in that pharmacy.



EK

 

[Kirosia]

Kirosia failed high school algebra and now he talks like this.

 

[MomijiTMO]

Pfft even addition is hard for most 20 somethings. I took the work experience girl to the post office and we had to buy $500 of stamps and then pay the postage on an item [$12.50]. She couldn't add them together.

Not the first time either.

 

[tjumper78]

that is friggin weird and disturbing.
all the pharmacists i know are uber smart...

 

[MomijiTMO]

It's probably the way universities work. There is so much emphasis on remembering things and not so much on placed on fast thinking.

Best example was in my last virology prac - all 18 groups had their immunoblotting fail. So what happened? How likely is it for all 18 to fail? It was pretty obviously a reagent was fubar [degraded/incorrect conc] yet half the class was freaking out thinking they had stuffed it. When finally told by the tutors that it was not a student error, they couldn't even think of how it could have stuffed up.

Yet all of these kids will get As on the exam as they can memorise anything. Ask them to do something useful and they can't.

 

[rawrster]

well with the calculators on our phones most people I know do not know how to do math very well. Most of the time it doesn't bother me except when I'm out with some friends and somehow I always end up calculating the tax and tip and how much each person should pay.

People should know basic math since I find that quite important in everyday life but outside of that you don't really need to know much however it is quite sad at times when people can't even do that.

 

[DayoftheGreek]

I don't do much mental math at all, so I'm not as good at it as I was in highschool.

However, if you want to derive/use maxwell's, gauss's, or a number of other electromagnetism laws I would be much less mentally clumsy.

I sure wish I could've made this claim when I first took the classes though.

 

[Rip N' Burn]

Ordered some food for take-out and the price was something along the lines of $8.52 (can't remember exactly). Anyways, I give them a 10 dollar bill with some change to get $2 back instead a bunch of change that's going to add more weight in my pocket. Well, I threw the cashier for a loop when I gave her the ten and change. For a moment I though I miscalculated the difference in my mind and then she took out the calculator.....

Edit: It was $2 back but I stated $7.52 originally instead of $8.52. Ah well, time to go back to elementary school again. I now understand that evilking was referring to people like me

 

[logwed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rip N' Burn /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ordered some food for take-out and the price was something along the lines of $7.52 (can't remember exactly). Anyways, I give them a 10 dollar bill with some change to get $3 back instead a bunch of change that's going to add more weight in my pocket. Well, I threw the cashier for a loop when I gave her the ten and change. For a moment I though I miscalculated the difference in my mind and then she took out the calculator.....

FTFY

 

[Anonanimal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MomijiTMO /img/forum/go_quote.gif Pfft even addition is hard for most 20 somethings.

This statement might bother me even more than the OP. Being 26 I resent the statement, though I know that it's probably true as a worldwide statistic.

 

[talleywho]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rip N' Burn /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ordered some food for take-out and the price was something along the lines of $7.52 (can't remember exactly). Anyways, I give them a 10 dollar bill with some change to get $2 back instead a bunch of change that's going to add more weight in my pocket. Well, I threw the cashier for a loop when I gave her the ten and change. For a moment I though I miscalculated the difference in my mind and then she took out the calculator.....

While working in customer service I have had this happen to me before. Something happens when on the other side of the cash register. If it's my own money I can figure any amount for correct change, instantly, but when it's someone else's money I sometimes have to struggle for the amount. Fear of short changing someone I guess.

 

[9pintube]

1 + 1 = 3 we're in bigger trouble then most think.........I feel your pain,evilking

 

[MomijiTMO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anonanimal /img/forum/go_quote.gif This statement might bother me even more than the OP. Being 26 I resent the statement, though I know that it's probably true as a worldwide statistic.

I'm 21

.

It's just my observation of my peers. Everyone just pulls out their phone and if you ask them to do things in their head, they can't.

 

[Anonanimal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MomijiTMO /img/forum/go_quote.gif Everyone just pulls out their phone and if you ask them to do things in their head, they can't.

Exactly.

 

[Armaegis]

I actually run a math program for kids on the weekends (about 140 kids, staff of 22). The first thing I did when I became principal several years ago: I banned calculators.