I am pretty up to date on things going on in the world with the younger set. I actually like a lot of the hip hop/rap artists and appreciate their art. Piercings and tattoos don't bother me in the least.
I keep up with the computer world and also what is going on in the regular world. I have to tell you though I have really felt old this past month when as part of my new job I was going to have to perform some cashier duties.
I was a cashier for years, and a very good one at that. I was fast and I was accurate. I live in Canada and some of you probably don't know but we don't have $1 or $2 bills here. We have large coins affectionately referred to as loonies and toonies.
flickr.com/photos/orangejack/245922306/
I have been getting these in my change for years and am totally used to them but here is the rub. I realized that the last time I was a cashier we still had paper money for our single and two dollar bills. Not only that I am so old that the cash registers never used to tell you how much change to give back and we had to calculate it in our own heads. Heaven help the younger generation (yes I did just refer to the younger generation) if a customer gives them $5.04 for a tab that is $3.79. How on earth could they figure that out.
Oh but lets not stop there. I am from a time when we actually had to print off tickets from a ticket machine, some electric, some hand cranked and in the later years squeezed out of a hand gun and stuck onto an item. When that item was on sale we had to put red stickers on them too. Then when the sale was over we would have to go back and peel off all those red tags. Nowadays they just scan it over the bar code and voila like magic the price is there.
www.flickr.com/photos/rileyroxx/151985627/
Well I did fine of course and but I just felt...you know...not young. And by the way she is holding his hand in that photo and not checking his prostate. Jeesh you guys. 
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Ha ha ha, I was NEVER able to figure out what change to give in my head! Thanks goodness for tills that do the calculating for you :)
ReplyDeleteLori,
ReplyDeleteI can really relate to this post!!!! Remebeer paper grocery bags??? Yes, I do not have one store here in Mesa that has them!!!!! ANd this sign???? Is this for real????? Oh My God!
LOL Sandy
I dunno. I like how technology has made life less labour intenstive. No we won't get into the "it's killed jobs" debate today. As for cashiering, I suppose it's all to the company's benefit that the onus has been taken off the operator to do accurate transacation. I did cashier work in the recent past, both manual and hi tech, and frankly, I prefer the latter. Might have something to do with my less than sterling math skills *ahem*.
ReplyDeleteThough I agree, we do seem to be losing something intellectually. I'm appalled at the lousy math skills so many people have. Not just "young people" either! And I'm no math whiz, so I know where I'm shootin' from. I've actually had customers who cannot for the life of them fathom how "3 for 2" works! LOL!
Honest to God Lori, you're the only person I can think of who'd come up with that interpretation of that sign.........ack!
Oh gosh - Earlier this week - I got in line behind a woman who was writing a check to pay for her purchases. A check ferchristsakes!
ReplyDeleteShe didn't even begin to fill out a single bit of it either until after the saleslady told her the total. I about cried. It kept dragging on n on. She needed to borrow a pen (after digging in her purse for forever). Then they needed to see her ID - which she had somewhere in a wallet crammed packed with useless bits & pieces of papers, old receipts & every card shaped card ever made. Then they needed manager approval. Then she has to put all this back into her purse. Then she has to tell the saleslady she should have bought a bigger purse. Then she leaves.
Leaving her purchase behind. The saleslady & me looked at each other as if to unconsciously decide who gets to chase her down. I caved. I told the saleslady - start ringing it up & dashed after the lady. I literally grabbed her hand - forced the bag into it & ran back. Never said a word. Thought I was off the hook. Until. I left the store & there she was again. Just hanging out waiting for someone. Anyone. I didn't give her a chance & literally sprinted by her. I just was not in the mood to dilly dally & wax poetic about the good old days. I wanted the hell outta there pronto.
Cold blooded? yeah ok maybe - but I had already invested more time than should have been allowed by todays modern standards to this whole situation & to be honest with ya - I was just not in the mood to see the humor in any of that. It was a time waster. check writing needs to be banned. BANNED!
I'll go back into my corner now.
They're talking about making our dollars into coins only...I think.
ReplyDeleteScares me, I don't know if I could ever get used to it!
age is just a number....I think I feel younger now than I did 10 years ago...
ReplyDeleteSee, the younger generation doesn't even know what a prostate is! And... It makes me nuts when I get change back and the person just dumps it into my hand! I always used to count it back and still do it in my head when I buy something. Remember how we always put the ones to the side closest to the customer?
ReplyDeleteBy the way... how's the job going anyway?
The restaurant I worked at in high school and college had a few full timers that had been there since it opened and they loved telling us how easy we had it w/the cash register we had. THEY had one that you had to manually punch in numbers, it didn't have a button for "large drink", etc, and they had to figure out the tax themselves and add it to the bill! Many of us didn't believe them for a long time, LOL. I was never good at counting back change in my head until I was a waitress and HAD to.
ReplyDeleteWe were always taught to count the change backwards. I never see that anymore.
ReplyDeleteHey I found a $2 bill the other day - I was trying to remember how old it would have been -- nothing to do with getting older though - right???
ReplyDeleteFor our darling US friends that think these dollar coins are a pain in the butt - I have to say I love them (weight aside). I can go into my change purse thinking I am broke and come out with $15 without really trying - its really great actually.
I like the way you said "not young" - oh how I relate!
ReplyDeleteI had a similar issue the other day contemplating a foray into the world of texting...
How is it that 1984 was 25 years ago??????????????
Oh, she isn't checking out his prostate, she is picking his pocket!
ReplyDeleteSee, he is too cheap to give her any coffee money......
I hear you, and I am a cashier at times also, but I still get fed up waiting for people to dig out their quarter, or those 3 cents. And then they are amazed when they don't get back the change that they thought they would. Not my fault they can't count.
I am sure that you were a very efficient, and pleasant cashier.
Jen
My very first job, about a hundred years ago, was at a drive-in theatre. We had no till, just a cash box. We not only had to calculate change, we had to add up the order in our heads. And quickly, because everyone came in during intermission and wanted to get back before the next feature started!
ReplyDeleteThe biggest problem with the bigger coins is that lots of cash drawers aren't set up with the right number of little boxes -- where to put the twoonies? If only we could get rid of those pesky pennies!
i used to deliver pizza when i was 16, my favourite job. but my least favourite part was counting change, especially when ur thinking tip. any amount that would end in less than a dollar change was a nightmare cuz the cheapos always use that as the tip lol. but anyway, i used to hate figuring out change, i never sucked at math but on the spot math, not my thing. i need paper and a pencil. it probably didn't help that i was high most of the time either lol.
ReplyDeleteas u might know, lori, i just turned 29 and im feeling old, i know ur laughing at me right now lol but its not so much the age that bothers me, its where everyone else is at, at my age and where i'm at. i feel like i'm behind.
also i know u know cadence weapon, just curious to what other hip hop u might've come across. check out my fb links, there's a ton of hip hop on there as well as other music but i would love to know what sounds good to u lol
I think she has her hand in his pocket picking his wallet.
ReplyDeleteAwww...
ReplyDeleteLook, technology moves fast for everyone. It's no longer whether or not you adopt a technology or a technological change, but whether or not you are an early adopter or a late adopter.
I remember going to the pop store to pick out our flavours, return the empties and then go home and bake bread with mom.
Who does that anymore?! LOL.
I am what I am and I'm happy with my age. I don't look back often but find it funny when I talk about research and someone will say "Why didn't you google". There was no Google nor computers at the time...oh well at least at this point I still remember 1980.
ReplyDeleteHa,ha. Are you sure she's not checking his prostrate?
ReplyDelete