Did you know 50 ounces equals a half pound???
dreher
Member Posts: 8,886 ✭✭✭✭
I was at the deli at a local grocery store. I was looking at the sashemi grade tuna steaks. I asked the 20 year old about what one of the steaks weighed. His answer was about half a pound, 50 ounces.
I said "I'm sorry, how many ounces??" Again he said 50. I looked at him and said 50 ounces is 3 pounds, 2 ounces. A half pound is 8 ounces. I was hit with the blankest look. I told him I used to teach math and math mistakes drive me crazy. He told me he didn't really know how to read the deli's digital scale.
Since no one was around us we had a math lesson with me explaining that 0.50 reading on his scale was 0.50 of one pound which is a half pound not 50 ounces and we talked for maybe 5 minutes about correctly reading his scale.
This kid wasn't stupid. He caught on pretty quick so I'm guessing the public school system had let him down and his employer hadn't done much in the way of job training. After our little math lesson he thanked me saying this makes a lot more sense now. 😊
This was one of those situations which you can't make up your mind if this is sad or kind of funny. Anyway, I enjoyed our math lesson, he was a nice kid.
Comments
Sad. You should try to read their writing or printing. No penmanship now days but they can use their THUMP and text if you can make out their lingo.
He was probably a good football player in school.
Good football players do not have to learn anything useful in school or college other than football.
I once seen a pro football player on TV wheel of fortune and when he accidently filled in the last letter of the riddle sentence he could not correctly read the sentence.(and it did not embarrass him because he was making millions playing football and did not need to know how to read)
AND they eventually get to cast a vote and then we suffer the consequences.
(for at least 4 years, sometimes 8 years)
and
it seems to be getting worse.
Like I said, this kid was a nice kid but if he was an athlete, maybe he was a cross country runner. He was tall and skinny. Smart enough as he picked up what I was telling him quickly.
For months, a local place had a sign renting office space for .50 cents a square foot. I SO much wanted to see a contract with it printed exactly that way. Just to teach them a lesson the hard way. I often see produce priced that way in my local grocery, but have given up trying to convince a manager it's wrong.
What a *. There is no excuse for that.
Not surprising
Where I was, commercial rental space was drip line to drip line, not floor space.
Margaret Thatcher
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
Mark Twain
I have had several cashiers mess up at the grocery store. It is like they don't really care either when you correct them. I bought a bunch of bananas at 52 cents a pound or something like that. The kid asked what they cost I told him and he never weighed them just rang up 52 cents, there were about 2 pounds of bananas there.
One of my (many) pet peeves is a decimal placed in front of millimeter, as in .9 mm Glock or the infamous .88 mm flak gun the Germans used so effectively in WWII.
Good job taking the time and having the patience to help the kid, We are all ignorant about many things. I try to take the time to share when a kid is interested in knowing, what ever the subject may be.
Hay pennies have gone out of favor due to inflation.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
... Maybe he was just not so good at math...maybe History or Science was his thing...
"Good football players do not have to learn anything useful in school or college other than football."
Really? That statement is a REALLY broad generalization...must be that way in your part of the world, not around here, and football around here has pretty much always been a religion...I played football ALL thru school, and if your grades werent good, you got kicked off the team, didn't matter if you were "good" or "just Ok" at playing...
This is sad but so typical.
I just finished teaching a small shop class for some college students. I had 11 students in the class and only one (1) of them could do simple math in their head. One of the problems they had to solve was to determine how much excess stock was on a part and then take half off each side. In every case...out comes the calculator and it gives them an answer. 10 of them couldn't even divide by two. This is what our educational system has sunk to, and it is a big factor in why and how the rest of the world (mainly Asia) is eating our a-- and desert too !
I've witnessed similar mathematical errors in public... I've always chalked it up to the "New Math" of todays world.
Glad you helped the kid out. It is embarrassing to be ignorant so your impromptu lesson should be a boost for his self confidence.
I do now. Thanks for educating me.
Not only have I had similar issues with store workers problems with weights and measures but have many times had to tell a cashier what kind of produce I was buying! Many don't even know the difference between a parsnip and a turnip! 😲
I was teaching the Geocaching merit badge in my Scouts troop and we were looking at maps talking about latitude and longitude and GPS. Most of the boys had heard of it.
So I told them the GPS system runs off a network of satellites and clocks that agree with each other. The signal from one satellite makes a huge circle on the earth at a known time. The signal from another satellite at the same time makes another circle, and they intersect at...........???? and only a couple of the boys knew the intersections were two points.
Then I asked what happens when a signal from a 3rd satellite happens at the same time? Everyone's eyes went blank. So I explained that the 3rd circle intersects the other two and resolves to one point, and our little GPS knows that's where we are. They all pretty much looked at me like I had a 3rd eyeball in my forehead.
After the troop meeting one of the boys came up and said "About that GPS experiment..." I said "Yes??" He said "Wouldn't the 3rd satellite have make TWO points of intersection, one at our location and another way below the surface of the earth?"
I just about fell over. I couldn't believe this kid understood that. We talked math for awhile and I asked him where he was getting his math education? He said "Oh, I'm home schooled".
Hats off to the parent that's taking the time to raise this next generation of Americans!
The sooner we get sports out of schools the sooner society will be a better place. The S in School should stand for Scolastics not Sports.
Some...but not all!!! Our son and daughter played all sports from pee we to college...Our daughter has a successful online business, and this is a pic of our son "Truck" last weekend in Albuquerque...In college football he was in the RMAC first team two years in a row and RMAC all academics...His IQ is off the charts...
Combat Vet VN
D.A.V Life Member
I've seen listings right here on GunBroker for things like a .12 gauge shotgun. Pretty darn small caliber.