Is it me?

[2torts 341]

Yesterday my oh needed a new cable for his I-pad charger so went into the Apple Store in Southampton. He got chatting to the assistant & discovered that she was a student at the university doing business studies. The cable cost £19 & as he was buying 2 he jokingly asked for a discount. She said no as she had to charge the price that came up on her machine. So he said ok I'll give you £38. She again said no as she had to charge the price on her machine. She scanned the cables & then said in a surprised voice oh that is £38! Shouldn't all university students be able to work out that 2 x £19 is £38 without needing a calculator especially ones doing business studies?

[Pesky Pirate 162]

God help the future of our country if we have folk who can’t do simple addition!

[Captain Kidd II 793]

The same people are calculating the effects of Brexit. Frightening! 😂😂😂

[*Dancing Queen* 394]

2 hours ago, 2torts said:

Yesterday my oh needed a new cable for his I-pad charger so went into the Apple Store in Southampton. He got chatting to the assistant & discovered that she was a student at the university doing business studies. The cable cost £19 & as he was buying 2 he jokingly asked for a discount. She said no as she had to charge the price that came up on her machine. So he said ok I'll give you £38. She again said no as she had to charge the price on her machine. She scanned the cables & then said in a surprised voice oh that is £38! Shouldn't all university students be able to work out that 2 x £19 is £38 without needing a calculator especially ones doing business studies?

It doesn't surprise me, when I worked I would regularly take Management Trainee's' through my office and you wouldn't believe just how thick some of these University students were, I'm sure many were very clever but when it came down to common sense or the simplest of tasks they hadn't a clue.

[Countrygirl 225]

1 hour ago, *Dancing Queen* said:

It doesn't surprise me, when I worked I would regularly take Management Trainee's' through my office and you wouldn't believe just how thick some of these University students were, I'm sure many were very clever but when it came down to common sense or the simplest of tasks they hadn't a clue.

I have to agree with you, I once had to ask a Uni student to help out by sorting the mail in a large office, they did not understand the system which was alphabetical, so simple but as you say no common sense, does make you wonder what is taught at school these days,  The younger generation use their phones and computers for everything. What happens when the power goes down, 

[HLM 518]

Obviously some people have never heard of number dyslexia, should anyone really be labelling people as thick just because they couldn't add up. 

I know of two very successful doctors (brother & sister) the sister is dyslexic and the brother wouldn't know what end of a hammer to hold, but they both now have very successful careers, she's a GP in London and he's an A&E doctor, not bad hey.

It pays not to judge sometimes!!

HLM.

 

[Oldworldtraveller 2216]

When I was at school we didn't have electronic calculators, they hadn't been invented, we had to add up figures in our head and learn our tables by rote. When we wrote in our books the spelling was correct because we had learned how to spell. In todays world people do not have to learn how to do either. just put the amount into a machine and it will give the answer. Write on your smart phone, tablet or computer and it will auto spell check. That is the main reason people cannot add up and cannot spell. Yes, dyslexia does affect people, but very few in the overall scheme of things, about 1 in 10 and that covers all forms including people with special needs.

[mitch 324]

i am a bookkeeper, have been in one form or other since i left school in 76 including 18 years in the army so ive seen the progression from no electronics to the amazing machines we have now. but i have to say its not all for the good i dont think. in several posts ive assisted in the recruitment process for several well known accountancy firms and the one thing ive always included is a no machines test of mental arithmetic and accounts skills. you would be horrified at the number of graduates that couldnt complete what were relatvely simple tasks. i still have no formal qualifications but can run rings round all these mba's etc.

[*Dancing Queen* 394]

I can still add a column of figures up quicker in my head than by using a calculator.

[mitch 324]

3 hours ago, HLM said:

Obviously some people have never heard of number dyslexia, should anyone really be labelling people as thick just because they couldn't add up. 

I know of two very successful doctors (brother & sister) the sister is dyslexic and the brother wouldn't know what end of a hammer to hold, but they both now have very successful careers, she's a GP in London and he's an A&E doctor, not bad hey.

It pays not to judge sometimes!!

HLM.

 

i think theres a bit of difference when the job entails working with numbers HLM my brother in law just sees garbage when he looks at a column or row of numbers but he is one awesome car mechanic, has even worked with some major names including morgan but his wife has to do his invoices and books. i would have thought working in a retail environment ought to require basic numeracy.

[HLM 518]

6 hours ago, mitch said:

i think theres a bit of difference when the job entails working with numbers HLM my brother in law just sees garbage when he looks at a column or row of numbers but he is one awesome car mechanic, has even worked with some major names including morgan but his wife has to do his invoices and books. i would have thought working in a retail environment ought to require basic numeracy.

Therefore would you label you brother in law as thick Mitch? I'm guessing not.

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses that's the point I'm making, working in retail is no different that's what tills are for.

We have people working in this Country who can barely speak English let alone read or write it, but do we label them thick? Of course we don't.

Of course I'll be accused of being argumentative by the members, but I happen to feel strongly about this issue and by labelling people thick says more about them than anyone else.

HLM.

 

[Ikea Logistics 12]

i have to ask why go to the apple store to get the cable plenty of others about much cheaper and no you don't need the cable to be original.

[cruise chef 865]

My old Maths teacher said calculators giver you brain rot!!! Possibly a good example!

[Davybe 529]

1 hour ago, cruise chef said:

My old Maths teacher said calculators giver you brain rot!!! Possibly a good example!

The children today are taught differently to what we were 70 years ago, the nearest we had to a calculator was a slide rule/log tables.And we learnt our times tables.

I am Number dyslexic as in I get the numbers I see in the wrong order ,but can work out bills and calculations in my head.My Grandson who was taught his Tables by his dad (A Teacher) is way ahead of his class mates, and surprises us all by getting the bill totalled up right in a restaurant ,He is 10?

My Daughter went to a restaurant and the computers broke down ,the staff were flummoxed as to what to do, my daughter said "Pencil and Paper" take the order down to the kitchen ,took them ages to work out the bill ,they had no idea how to add it all up?....Davybe

[Davybe 529]

2 hours ago, Ikea Logistics said:

i have to ask why go to the apple store to get the cable plenty of others about much cheaper and no you don't need the cable to be original.

I presume the are afraid of setting their homes on fire, far to many iffy cables out there.....Davybe

[mitch 324]

4 hours ago, HLM said:

Therefore would you label you brother in law as thick Mitch? I'm guessing not.

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses that's the point I'm making, working in retail is no different that's what tills are for.

We have people working in this Country who can barely speak English let alone read or write it, but do we label them thick? Of course we don't.

Of course I'll be accused of being argumentative by the members, but I happen to feel strongly about this issue and by labelling people thick says more about them than anyone else.

HLM.

 

sorry HLM but at no point did i label anyone thick.

[Davybe 529]

13 hours ago, mitch said:

i am a bookkeeper, have been in one form or other since i left school in 76 including 18 years in the army so ive seen the progression from no electronics to the amazing machines we have now. but i have to say its not all for the good i dont think. in several posts ive assisted in the recruitment process for several well known accountancy firms and the one thing ive always included is a no machines test of mental arithmetic and accounts skills. you would be horrified at the number of graduates that couldnt complete what were relatvely simple tasks. i still have no formal qualifications but can run rings round all these mba's etc.

I am told by friends still working that for some jobs they give the candidate a pen an paper, and ask them to write their CV by hand, to many CV's computer generated .We are relying  on Computers to sort everything out for us.(Me Included) 

My daughterWho had had written some work for Uni got it ripped up ,as the lecturer had no time for hand written stuff, he needed it printed?.....Davybe

[*Dancing Queen* 394]

1 hour ago, Davybe said:

The children today are taught differently to what we were 70 years ago, the nearest we had to a calculator was a slide rule/log tables.And we learnt our times tables.

I am Number dyslexic as in I get the numbers I see in the wrong order ,but can work out bills and calculations in my head.My Grandson who was taught his Tables by his dad (A Teacher) is way ahead of his class mates, and surprises us all by getting the bill totalled up right in a restaurant ,He is 10?

My Daughter went to a restaurant and the computers broke down ,the staff were flummoxed as to what to do, my daughter said "Pencil and Paper" take the order down to the kitchen ,took them ages to work out the bill ,they had no idea how to add it all up?....Davybe

My brother who is five years younger than me was taught differently to the way I was and he struggles with things I find relatively easy, having said that he excels in many things I don't so it's swings and roundabouts, I have never agreed with the use of calculators etc in schools as they hardly get the brain working, I think it's wonderful that so much is available to the young these days but in my opinion 'back to basics' would do them no harm at all and sadly that is what a lot seem to lack the common sense to work something out for themselves. 

[afcandrew 352]

I feel it is actually more of a mindset these days than anything else.  More & more people are using electronic devices to carry out simple tasks and run their lives.  They then just stop thinking things through as it is second nature to let the device do the work!  That young woman was probably quite capable of multiplying 19 x 2 but I suspect it did not remotely enter her head to even think about it as the computerised till always does it for her (or when not at work a calculator on her phone or a computer...).

[Ikea Logistics 12]

2 hours ago, Davybe said:

I presume the are afraid of setting their homes on fire, far to many iffy cables out there.....Davybe

agreed on iffy cables davy but there are good ones out there(Amazon Basics one at 9.49 Apple Certified) at still cheaper than apple (whose own cables are made by a chinese company) but i see your point

[2torts 341]

2 hours ago, Davybe said:

I presume the are afraid of setting their homes on fire, far to many iffy cables out there.....Davybe

That what we were thinking.

[2torts 341]

6 hours ago, HLM said:

Therefore would you label you brother in law as thick Mitch? I'm guessing not.

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses that's the point I'm making, working in retail is no different that's what tills are for.

We have people working in this Country who can barely speak English let alone read or write it, but do we label them thick? Of course we don't.

Of course I'll be accused of being argumentative by the members, but I happen to feel strongly about this issue and by labelling people thick says more about them than anyone else.

HLM.

 

Yours is the only post in this topic that has used the word thick. 

[HLM 518]

2 hours ago, 2torts said:

Yours is the only post in this topic that has used the word thick. 

Hi 2torts.

"It doesn't surprise me, when I worked I would regularly take Management Trainee's' through my office and you wouldn't believe just how thick some of these University students were, I'm sure many were very clever but when it came down to common sense or the simplest of tasks they hadn't a clue."

Posted by Dancing Queen.

HLM.

 

[HLM 518]

5 hours ago, mitch said:

sorry HLM but at no point did i label anyone thick.

My apologies Mitch, it was said in general and not said to you personally.

HLM.

[*Dancing Queen* 394]

17 minutes ago, HLM said:

Hi 2torts.

"It doesn't surprise me, when I worked I would regularly take Management Trainee's' through my office and you wouldn't believe just how thick some of these University students were, I'm sure many were very clever but when it came down to common sense or the simplest of tasks they hadn't a clue."

Posted by Dancing Queen.

HLM.

 

As usual HLM you take something else out of context, the use of the word 'thick' is an everyday word which I'm sure many use frequently but keep up the good work because if nothing else it highlights to others just how argumentative you can be and your tendency to 'stalk' certain people and I am by no means the only one.

Do enjoy the rest of your your day 😁