I saved 5 cents because my cashier couldn’t do math!
Ooo...five whole cents! Don't spend it all in one place.
The fact that I have five extra cents really is tangential to my story today. It's a tale of rampant stupidity and the fact that it has invaded our society. It's everywhere, and it's really pretty annoying. The lack of even the most basic intelligence is not only ignored, but it's often celebrated. Don't believe me? Check your friendly local social networking site for proof. Within 5 posts, you will find a word misspelled, a piece of poor grammar, or a sentence fragment that makes absolutely no sense when actually read as typed. Some of the more popular ones are a misuse of their/there/they're...it's/its, or my personal pet peeve, when somebody uses the word "of" in place of "have" because of contractions, as in "I should of gone to the store." If you correct these people, you are shunned as a Grammar Nazi, or more likely, "Grammer Nazi."
It's one thing if you're simply posting your own ignorance on your social network where you are the only one who gets judged by your idiocy, but when your lack of concern for the simplest of tasks reflects on others, you'd think it would be taken more seriously. You'd be wrong. I was walking through the grocery store not long ago, and a series of signs caught my eye. I'm guessing the Manager wanted to have a series of specials in the meat section, so displays were made. These were signs meant to be posted for everyone in the store to see. I'm sure whoever made these signs had a smartphone with them and could have taken an extra 10 seconds to look up how to spell a word if they were unsure, but they weren't concerned about things like having a sign that made the store not look like it's run by a bunch of poorly-trained monkeys. The signs (all of them) said, and I'm quoting here, "MANGERS SPECIAL! WHILE SUPLY'S LAST!!" Dear Lord. The sign has 5 words, 40 percent of which are misspelled, it contains a gratuitous apostrophe which has no business being there, and three exclamation points. Simply atrocious.
If I was the manager (Or "Manger"), whoever wrote that sign and actually put it out on a display case for customers to see as a showcase for my store would be turning in their apron and looking for a new job before lunch. But maybe I'm being too harsh. After all, it's only a sign which impacts public perception of my business...surely it can't be directly impacting my business financially. Except last week, I was getting a sandwich from a chain sandwich restaurant which shall remain nameless, but which makes you feel like you're being transported by a type of underground train. My change due at the end of the transaction was 73 cents. I don't know about you, but I was taught coins at a very young age, and the thought of 73 cents appearing in my hand as something other than two quarters, two dimes, and three pennies would seem awkward. Sure, if the register was out of quarters, and I was offered 7 dimes, I would understand, but you get the idea. We all know how to count out 73 cents. It never occurred to me that a cashier...somebody who gets paid by a business to handle, count, and exchange money on behalf of that business would be unfamiliar with coin denominations. My change was handed to me in the form of three quarters and three pennies. I had to double check my receipt to make sure of what happened, and sure enough...my cashier friend was under the impression that three quarters add up to 70 cents. The government recently has looked into abolishing the penny. I think they should just abolish all hard currency, because we've finally reached the point in the slippery slope of stupidity where our cashiers don't know how to deal with it anymore.
I would post this story to a social networking site, but I would just be mocked for being a Math Nazi.
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