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Had my latest exposure to math-illiterates today. Since I seldom purchase anything with cash, I miss out on a lot of opportunities. But when I do use cash, I can almost count on seeing yet another example.
Today I stopped at a Dunkin' Donuts and bought two donuts, which came to $3.76. I handed the gall a $5 bill and told her that I thought I had a penny, but she had already rung in the $5. I handed her the penny and she was clearly clueless on what to do next. She took some random change out of the drawer three times, each time putting it back in and trying to think of what to do next. I finally took pity on her and told her she owed me a quarter, to which she replied, "Oh, yes, I knew that." I wanted to respond, "Well, is sure looked like you pretty obviously did not."
This is also tied in with a basic lack of attention to detail or concern about providing decent customer service. I had just come from Wendy's were I ordered a large chili with cheese (and paid with credit card, so at least there wasn't that to contend with). I told her that I would like "lots of crackers and two packs of chili sauce." I got a single pack of crackers and 23 packets of chili sauce. Plus, I got a fork instead of a spoon and no napkins at all. This seems to be the norm. Three times in a row I got onion rings at Culver's and they specifically asked if I wanted sauce. I said yes to their house sauce. I paid the $50 for it. I didn't get it a single time -- I still have no idea what it tastes like. I actually don't do fast food very often any more, so I am out of the habit of checking every item in the order before I pull away. Fifteen years ago that was different and I actually kept track of how frequently the order got messed up in some way and over the course of a year it was just over 85%. So it's not surprising that it now seems to be going asymptotically to unity.
Today I stopped at a Dunkin' Donuts and bought two donuts, which came to $3.76. I handed the gall a $5 bill and told her that I thought I had a penny, but she had already rung in the $5. I handed her the penny and she was clearly clueless on what to do next. She took some random change out of the drawer three times, each time putting it back in and trying to think of what to do next. I finally took pity on her and told her she owed me a quarter, to which she replied, "Oh, yes, I knew that." I wanted to respond, "Well, is sure looked like you pretty obviously did not."
This is also tied in with a basic lack of attention to detail or concern about providing decent customer service. I had just come from Wendy's were I ordered a large chili with cheese (and paid with credit card, so at least there wasn't that to contend with). I told her that I would like "lots of crackers and two packs of chili sauce." I got a single pack of crackers and 23 packets of chili sauce. Plus, I got a fork instead of a spoon and no napkins at all. This seems to be the norm. Three times in a row I got onion rings at Culver's and they specifically asked if I wanted sauce. I said yes to their house sauce. I paid the $50 for it. I didn't get it a single time -- I still have no idea what it tastes like. I actually don't do fast food very often any more, so I am out of the habit of checking every item in the order before I pull away. Fifteen years ago that was different and I actually kept track of how frequently the order got messed up in some way and over the course of a year it was just over 85%. So it's not surprising that it now seems to be going asymptotically to unity.
