New Math and Clueless Clerks

Sue went to the grocery store at lunch today. It was a simple transaction, less than $20. The total was actually $17.07 Using her ATM card, Sue asked for $2.93 change in order to round the bill up to a neat $20. Easy to remember if you lose the receipt. The girl at the register handed her $20. Sue gave it back and tried to explain that she had been given too much change. The clerk was clueless, she had no idea what Sue was talking about. "The receipt says Debit $20.00, so I gave you $20.00.", was about the only response she was able to offer. Sue tried to reason with her, to no avail.

The Assistant Manager was called over, surely he could straighten this out. Nope. Totally beyond his power of reasoning. Time to call in the big guns. The Manager! It took him a minute or two, collecting information on all sides to the dispute, before carefully adding and subtracting the applicable numbers, which proved Sue to be correct. She had been given $20 too much.

It's frightening to think of all the time and effort that was brought to bear in correcting a problem as simple as addition and subtraction. But it's one of the many things I love about Sue. Me, I would have given up after the Assistant Manager and just tossed the $20 in the Salvation Army kettle outside.