Monday, November 5, 2012

Mrs. HM's Lividity Knows No Bounds

I am livid. LIVID!

Perhaps I should have raised my sons to be poopyheads. Okay, maybe I did raise one like that...but today he was the wrong one.

The Pony and I stopped at our regular gassing-up convenience store to feed T-Hoe. Let the record show that this is neither the gas station chicken store, nor the cheap refill 44 oz. Diet Coke store. Just the gas store. I hopped out (okay, gingerly slid down the side of the leather seat to see if my toothpick legs would hold my sweet-potato body) and pumped the gas. The Pony is the payer. He trots inside and dispenses the cash.

Today our pump divulged $38.12 of gas. That's only half a tank for T-Hoe, but we top him off when he's half empty. I gave The Pony two twenties and twelve cents. Because, you see, I did not want to add to my barrel of change on the console. I wanted to get rid of some change. And get two ones back.

The Pony returned with one dollar and eighty-eight cents.

Sweet Gummi Mary! I need to fire up the ol' handbasket factory forthwith! What misbegotten third-grade dropout cannot make change for $38.12 from two twenties and twelve cents? The poor Pony bore the brunt of my misplaced ire.

"Why are you bringing me a handful of change? Didn't you pay with the twelve cents?"

"I DID! But she gave me back a one and eighty-eight cents! I even told her, 'The twelve cents is there. I already gave you the twelve cents.' But she just looked at me and didn't give me more back!"

"I should go in there and ask for my twelve cents!"

"It isn't worth it. That's why I just left. It's only twelve cents."

"It's the principle of the matter. Do you think, if you just gave her thirty-eight dollars, that she would forget the twelve cents? I THINK NOT! She would demand that you pay the twelve cents you still owed for gas. Yet now, she has taken twelve extra cents. That's not fair."

"Just forget it! It's not worth it."

"This is how it starts. What if she does that to customers all day long? She is stealing. If she's that dumb not to know what she did, she might be LOSING money for the store. But I doubt THAT is what's happening."

I did not go in to complain. It was raining. And 41 degrees. At home, I explained the situation to the #1 son. "Would YOU have just let her forget it?"

"No way! I would have said, 'How stupid ARE you that you can't do simple math? Give me my twelve cents change!'

I'm hoping he meant he would say that AFTER he had politely explained the error in her calculations. And I notice that he did NOT say, "Give me my MOM's twelve cents change."

4 comments:

  1. Yes, indeedy. The young'uns in Missouri might not be able to figure out that the 12 cents was meant to ensure that you got an even 2 dollars back, but that's only because it's not on the MAP test.

    Only important skills---skills that the children will have need of when they are older--are tested on the great and mighty MAP test.

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  2. Sioux,
    Now you've gone and done it. I have to dust off my soapbox for the next post. Stand back so you are not spattered by my spittle.

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  3. Oh, you can rest assured that I would hve marched boldly in and demanded my 12 cents! Just think if she does this 10 times a day and gets an average of 25 cents per scam. That's $2.50 per day and even if she only works 4 days a week, that's a tidy $10 ..... tax free. 52 weeks a year and she has a nice little bonus.

    I actually think she may have been confused by the change. She probably saw the two twenties in his hand and keyed that amount into the cash register and the screen indicated $1.88 was the required change. Then he presented the dime and two pennies and she was totally out of her element. He was just a kid and she figured she could just dismiss him easily enough without having to actually do that math in her empty head.

    Either scenario is sad, though.

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  4. Kathy,
    We require out students to take three years of math: Algebra and Geometry. Things most of them will never use again. Making change, on the other hand, without the aid of electronics, is a skill that many of them will need. You should see folks run for a calculator when the register goes down.

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