Re: GG and CD shop clerks

[Tim Conway <timcon@COMSWEST.NET.AU>]

Bradley Lehman wrote:

>I looked at the sales slip later. Evidently they rolled it back to the
>original 50% off 9.99, 4.99, 4.99 and then manually took off 5.99, 3.59,
>3.59. Decent idea, wrong execution. Staring at it now I still can't figure
>out how they came up with those particular numbers. Their numbers aren't
>proportionate to one another. Anyone?
>
>More importantly, what thought processes go through their minds?  There
>has to be SOME pattern to it, but what?

Who knows? And the phenomenon is not confined to shop clerks.

In 1973 I was living in Kenya and had to drive my then-wife to a gyne/obs
doctor some miles away from where we lived (Nandi Hills, if anyone's
interested) for a check-up. This was her first visit to this doctor so
the receptionist said she would have to fill out a form with her details.
Normally, they give you the form and you write in all the details
yourself, but this receptionist was having none of that sort of nonsense.
She asked my wife questions (name, date of birth, address, etc) and
laboriously wrote what she thought my wife said in reply.

Both of us were able to read upside down with accuracy and it was clear
that every answer was wrongly-transcribed. Most errors were minor, but
the 'Age' box had '94' in it. The receptionist had figured that from my
wife's year of birth (1946) which, mirabile dictu, she had taken down
properly.

My wife pointed out as politely and diplomatically as she could that she
couldn't possibly be 94 years old...or could she? The receptionist
scowled but re-did her calculation. The new answer? 49. Obvious, really:
she'd dyslexically reversed the two digits on her first attempt. Anyone
could see that.

We gave up trying, and my wife filled out another form when she was being
seen by the doctor.

Going back to Bradley's adventure with The Percent Gang, I have a pet
theory that few people actually understand what 'percent' means, hence
the constant referral in the media to that mythical beast, the Percentage
Point. I could enlarge on that but won't as it is too far off-topic, but
it seems that just as some people are tone-deaf, and some colour-blind,
others (many others) are mathematically dyslexic/illiterate/innumerate
(take your pick).


Tim Conway
Broome, WA, Oz