Idiot sightings
 

Inspired by Classic's post here.

Not long after grocery store delis started using digital scales, my Mom asked for a third of a pound of ham. The young woman behind the counter froze with a confused look on her face. Mom translated ".33".

"Oooh." the girl said, "Do you work at a deli, too?"

:lol:

That is funny as hell. I wonder what most of them would do if they actually had to count your change back to you without the register telling them how much change to give you.

Some not even then.:smack:

I dunno. I worked as a cashier at Target a few years ago (just needed something to do!). Having learned the "proper" way to count change back from an elderly mom & pop grocery store owner in my teens, I did so once when I'd made a mistake putting in the correct cash amount and my customer FREAKED. Manager came over and had to void out the sale and start over, told me to never do that again. All because I'd put in $20 instead of $14.50 or something like that.

Believe it or, I've run into that. Same exact thing...I asked for a third of a pound of something and had to tell the clerk "it's when the scale says .33 pound. Morons!

lol - morans snigger.

I got it - thats why I was laughing.

:'(

The kid in early spring was in so much trouble as to not even know how to calculate the slope of a line or what an X and Y intercepts were. Of course, that is taught in October. Teacher simply kept passing him. Confrontations with the Superintendent eventually resulted in a lawsuit in State court. The school board paid $60,000 to reeducate the kid - a trust fund. They lost on all six counts in court - a slam dunk.

And BTW, that lady's Congressman Gerlach refused to help. The Congressman from another district (who will run for state Senator), Sestack, stepped forward to assist.

So I did some of the tutoring. I asked him what one quarter was. He started dividing one by four - long division. So, what is a quarter of a dollar? A quarter. A quarter of one - write 25 cents. Without being challenged by his teachers, even that relationship was never learned.

Doing volunteer house construction, many volunteers could not even identify one quater inch marks on a tape measure. At least some were college graduates. One I remember in particular was a communication major.

Now this is one of the better public school systems in the county - according to published stats. What happens in Philadelphia when 50% of students drop out?

Consumer Reports made this problem obvious when creating simple failures. Then taking that computer to a shop to fix. Most problems were never solved the first time. “Follow the evidence” – a simple concept that comes from even doing math – was never learned. Technical competence even among computer repairmen is so pathetic that repairmen immediately start swapping part - starting with the power supply. Cannot think through a problem. Do not even understand how to first define a problem. Never learn that simple concept as taught in math. Since relationships such as one divided by four is same as a quarter of a dollar.

Ask many cashiers to make change without using the cash register. They cannot even do what was done routinely in the jungle 100 years ago. Nobody needs a calculator to make change. But even that simplest concept that comes from learning how to solve problem by doing things is …

Kids here don't seem to understand "quarter" as anything except a coin either. They use the term "one fourth" everywhere else. Maybe terminology has changed to reduce confusion and you just weren't asking the question in the right way? I just assumed it was a Brit/American difference, but maybe it's a generational one.

I've never had that happen but I do think it's funny when they are a couple decimals over and they ask if that's ok. I've never said no so I don't know how they would tear off a fraction.

Frontline on PBS tonight (Tuesday) may discuss this problem in a piece entitled "Digital Nation". This Frontline broadcast will also be available via the www.pbs.org website.

Very interesting! I'll watch it.

I still use 'quarter' as it relates to time.

Try it on a kid and you'll feel like an old gramps.

Well I guess one fourth makes sense logically.... one third, one fourth, one fifth.

I think I'll campaign for a change to onteen, twoteen and threeteen

a quarter means $2500

Maybe in rap and car sales but in my quarter it means Led Zeppelin!

I almost never say one fourth.

go fourth and multiply

because of too many fifths? Which results in a sextext of a circle.

and you'll soon have a seventh son of a seventh son.....

Octopussy and nano-posts. Decimating the entire thread.

Which happens to be exactly how they do it in Russian: odinadsat', dvenadsat', trinadsat'.

And exactly how they don't do it in the Romance languages: French until sixteen, Spanish until fifteen.

You pick up your textbook, you take your choice.

Next time, ask the deli attendant for 0.33 recurring pounds. Time the blank stare.

So, back to idiot sightings, this guy in a car sales yard was looking at a car, and after sitting in the front seat for a while, got in the back to check it out. He didn't stop to think about child-safe locks on the rear doors. He didn't consider that the power windows wouldn't work without the ignition on. At least, not until it was too late.
It was lucky for him the sales chap was about and came and let him out but I got a quick look at him in the mirror while he was there. :smack:

What's really sad is that sounds like something I might have done, ZG. :lol2:

First time I was in the US, Oregon somewhere, somebody asked me the time to which I replied "Five and twenty past ten", to huge guffaws of jolly laughter and cries of "Say it again, say it again". It became a party trick when the clock stood at the relevant time some wag would cry "Listen everyone, Cazz honey, what's the time"?

Oh my gawd! I have done so many stupid things as a result of too many fifths. :drunk:

Two large and a monkey to you , guv'nor

Quarter as in 1/4 is still used in my generation, but only when buying McDonalds or weed.

I'm a drummer, so "quarter" notes, 8ths, and 16ths are something I think about every day. Also, I know how to use a tape measure.

A note from my sister's landlord, posted on the front door to the building:

Is you sister's name Sarah Connor?

come with me if you want to live

ooo-eeerrr!

lol you ƒuckin' dorks

"I'll be LEFT Back"!!

Apparently this person works at Microsoft
 

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http://i.imgur.com/EKdl9.png

Huh. I didn't know they made a Prius without the giant bar through the rear window.

a quarter means 4 oz.

:joint:

It's not the first time someone was hosed at microsoft.

Neo-natal Prius?

I didn't know Microsoft was in Washington state.:eyebrow:

Yeah dude, just outside Seattle, isn't it?

Oh, wait. The office you are looking for cannot be found....

Yup. Here.

We lived up there for seven years, but I worked at Aldus which (at the time) was in Pioneer square downtown.

I knew about Steve Ballmer's involvement is Seattle sports, and Paul Allen's Experience Music Project, but still didn't associate Microsoft with Washington State.:smack:

You see. You really do learn something new every day at the Cellar.

Wow, self-referential thread. :p

I've been at work for less than 30 minutes and have had 2 already.

Caller "Our mouse isn't working."
Me "You're using _____ application?"
Caller "Yes"
Me "You can't use your mouse in the ______ application, only the keyboard." (its a dos based program)
Caller "We always use our mouse!"
Caller to another person in room "We always use the mouse for ______, she's saying we can't!"
Caller to me "Oh, nevermind, we don't use it."

I'm trying to figure what application still supports a dos version and not coming up with anything.

. . . or a company that is still using them and why.
I admittedly don't know jack about programming, but I just assumed the DOS based programs were replaced a decade ago.


I now get skeered when I see a c: prompt flashing at me - its been too long.

Either they haven't, or they're using decade or older programming. I don't think MTP would lie.

I never implied she was.

You're really reaching here, man. Quit seeing grievous insult where there is none.

I know a lot of companies that still use DOS programs. Well, they did when I did computer repair a few years back. A textile company jumps to mind first.

That same company I worked for liked to install Win98SE whenever possible. This would have been ... 2004 I think? Right around there.

I work with a 'DOS based' program every day. You can use the mouse...but not to navigate....only to highlight, right click and copy/paste info displayed on the screen.

ADP dealer suite

IT sucks. the most NON-intuitive random crap evar. but it's our main interface for the things we do in a car dealer. I'll take screen shots tomorrow if anyone wants to see.

Never underestimate the stinginess of a manager whose system is struggling on. In 1999 I did a stint at a major city daily newspaper where they used monochrome monitors, non-standard keyboards, and software to match. It must have been pre-1988 at least.

Wow - thats interesting - I really had no idea there were that many still around.