On Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:48:00 -0800 (PST), JIMMIE
wrote:

On Jan 28, 12:42*pm, (Doug Miller) wrote:
In article 31, Zootal wrote:

11. You buy an item for $1.27. You hand the clerk two dollars. Without a
using a calculator, how much change should you get back?

We've seen kids at a cash register practically in tears trying to make
change when the power went out.

*Nobody* knows how to make change anymore. I worked my way though college 30+
years ago running a cash register at a drugstore. This is how we were taught
to make change, using your example above, and counting _out loud_ to the
customer:

Put the purchase in a bag, hand it to him, and say "A dollar twenty-seven".
Then three pennies: "28, 29, 30." Then two dimes -- "40, 50." Then two
quarters -- "75, two dollars, thank you sir."

The beauty of this method is that you don't have to do any math to speak of.
All you need to do is count. It doesn't matter if neither the cashier nor the
customer can do the subtraction correctly -- it always produces the correct
change, and everybody knows it.

And nobody under the age of about fifty has any idea how to do that.

They just arent taught. I showed a kid working at a charity garage
sale how to do it . It took all of 30 seconds to show him and he was
VERY appreciative. He had been struggling.

Jimmie

Back in the day, they not only taught that method, but the employees
were instructed to do it "out loud", so the customer would be assured
they were getting the correct change.