primitives describe things that never happened

[dixierose]

I worked a retail job back in the day of the mechanical cash register, and we had to use the "count-up" method of returning change, and had to recite the amount as we were doling it out. For instance, if the product, including tax, was $8.56, and they paid with a tenner, then we would have to do the following:

First, we state the amount received. "$10.00." We place the bill or bills on the register flat above the cash drawer, in plain site. Then we would recite the following:

“Your purchase was $8.56, out of $10.00. That’s $8.56,
plus 4 cents (4 pennies) makes $8.60,
plus 5 cents (a nickel) makes $8.65,
plus 10 cents (a dime) makes $8.75,
plus 25 cents (a quarter) makes $9.00.”
plus 1 dollar (a dollar bill) makes $10.00.”

Nowadays, all amounts are shown on verbatim with no calculation necessary. But if I were the manager, I would still insist that at least the first sentence, "Your purchase was $8.56, out of $10.00," be stated, and the ten dollar bill be placed on top of the register, above the cash drawer or in a conspicuous, appropriate location be done.

Ah, good times.

Most cashiers today cannot count back change if their lives depended on it. There are many times I go into a gas station with a 20 and buy a drink. I'll tell the cashier to put the rest in gas. I ALWAYS have to tell them how much that will be. Then they ring up the drink, look at the change on the register and say "You were right".

[SVPete]

Most cashiers today cannot count back change if their lives depended on it. There are many times I go into a gas station with a 20 and buy a drink. I'll tell the cashier to put the rest in gas. I ALWAYS have to tell them how much that will be. Then they ring up the drink, look at the change on the register and say "You were right".

Counting back change was already becoming a lost art back in the 1970s. As you say, cash registers were doing the calculation. I suppose part of it was the push to incorporate modern technology into cash registers, but I think another purpose was to be able to use the less-Math-capable that PSs had started churning out. Similarly, the cashier terminal systems that McD started using back in the mid-late 70s improved accuracy while utilizing lower skilled people. Among other PT jobs I had in college I worked at a Christian bookstore, where I counted back change for customers' purchases.

[Maverick1987]

I had an out of control car pass me on the freeway a few weeks ago. The occupant, a young black male, was driving very erratically -- high speeds, sudden lane changes, passing on shoulder, very dangerous stuff.  15 or so minutes later I passed that same vehicle, which was now stopped on the shoulder thanks to one of Texas' finest.  I don't know the outcome, but I do remember asking myself... "will this kid now complain to his family and friends that he was stopped solely because he was DWB (driving while black)?"

[diesel driver]

I had an out of control car pass me on the freeway a few weeks ago. The occupant, a young black male, was driving very erratically -- high speeds, sudden lane changes, passing on shoulder, very dangerous stuff.  15 or so minutes later I passed that same vehicle, which was now stopped on the shoulder thanks to one of Texas' finest.  I don't know the outcome, but I do remember asking myself... "will this kid now complain to his family and friends that he was stopped solely because he was DWB (driving while black)?"

Don't put it past him.

There was a young black female college student here recently that got 3 speeding tickets within an hour, 2 by the same trooper, all within 10 miles and all in excess of 95 mph.

Her mother came in from California to complain the reason she was ticketed was because she was black...

[SVPete]

Don't put it past him.

There was a young black female college student here recently that got 3 speeding tickets within an hour, 2 by the same trooper, all within 10 miles and all in excess of 95 mph.

Her mother came in from California to complain the reason she was ticketed was because she was black...

I have a stupid, probably complex, question, if the car being stopped did not pass a police car close by so the officer saw the driver, at what point in a traffic stop would a police officer recognize the skin color of the driver? I would think that if the officer's car was always behind the car being stopped the officer might not know the driver's skin color until the cars are both stopped on the side of the road, possibly not until the police officer is walking up to the side of the stopped car.