When I was a small boy in Britain in the 1950s, I used to admire the way that my mother and other women could walk around a shop, pick up four or five items, calculate the cost in their heads, and have the money ready before the cashier had finished adding things up. That skill has naturally declined, but I saw the amusing depths to which it has sunk a couple of days ago in 7/11 when I bought a litre of milk. I gave my milk to a lad behind the counter and he scanned the container, and the machine registered the price, 91.75 baht, but it did not show him how much change should be given. His problem then was to determine how much change to give from 100 baht, and he went in search of a calculator. We expect problems with addition, but I had never seen such a problem with simple deduction. Given that a lot of Thai men are keen gamblers, I thought that they would have better than average mental arithmetic.

Some years ago, the counter clerk at my Bangkok apartment phoned me in my room to tell me they had forgotten to charge me for my water consumption on my last rent notice. When I eventually went down to pay her, she grabbed a calculator before telling me that 2 units of water @ B 16 was going to cost me B 32.

and when you gave her 40 baht she probably had to use the same calculator to calculate the change....

100 - 91.75? You are expecting too much!

 

85 Baht cost, 100 Baht given. Calculator!

 

Worst ever:

Tesco, cost 315 Baht, given 1015 Baht.

Dumb nut hammers 1000 Baht to the cash register.

Then realizes that something is wrong.

Thinking, thinking... then taking a pencil and a notebook.

(seems they don't have calculators at Tesco)

Obviously doubting the result.

Then shouting over to a colleague.

Response: 700! OK!

Fortunately no long queue.

 

I have had this experience, too, of course, and now I just hold the loose change in my hand where the person can see it and ask for the coins if required. But 91.75 to 100 doesn't need calculation - just counting: 92, 93, 94 and so on. I was surprised that the lad couldn't do that.

40 minutes ago, Ombra said:

I have had this experience, too, of course, and now I just hold the loose change in my hand where the person can see it and ask for the coins if required. But 91.75 to 100 doesn't need calculation - just counting: 92, 93, 94 and so on. I was surprised that the lad couldn't do that.

 

I would not expect any better from a young till-worker in the UK:

 

Bill: £2.27.

 

Cash tendered: £10.00 note.

 

Change calculated and "talked back" into the customers hand thus:

 

"£2.27 plus 1 is 28, 2 is 30, 20 is 50, 50 is £1.00, plus 2 is 3.00, another 2 is 5.00 and 5 is £10.00"

 

Is much appreciated by "older" customers in the UK.

 

And frequently provokes admiration and surprise (from young and old) that someone can still calculate and do it the "old fashioned" way.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Ombra said:

That skill has naturally declined, but I saw the amusing depths to which it has sunk a couple of days ago in 7/11 when I bought a litre of milk.

Your mom was shopping in a Thai 7/11?

I think not, and I dispute any skills have declined, Thais just never had those skills.

 

On second thoughts, maybe you logic skills have declined.

Today in central festival looking at sandals. 700 baht and the assistant pipes up “30% discount,” and then gets his calculator out. In my head: 3 x 7 = 21 add a zero and deduct from 700 = 490. Still tapping away I say “490?” A few taps later “490 baht sir”.

I think the old style educational approach was very good but got lost with the introduction of the calculator and the move away from traditional teaching.