And this is my problem how?

[ArcticChicken]

From November 2005-January 2006 I had a holiday gig with a bookstore. Surprisingly I only caught one asshat and one total moron in that two month time (yes I did the math right, I worked neither the whole of November nor the whole of January).

The Asshat was a chrochety old jerk who hadn't caught on to the concept of computers.

I don't remember the exact conversation but it was something like this:
ME: HI! How can I help you?
AH: Can you tell me how much this book is?
ME: Sure, it's $6.95 before tax.
AH: No, I asked you to tell me how much it is.
ME: Sir, I don't--
AH: How can you not know how much it is?!?
ME: Sir the---
AH: This is ridiculous!!
ME: I don't ev--
AH: I want to talk to your manager!!

I call my manager over (greatest manger ever, btw) and he goes into a long rant about "Kids these days" and she'd better count the till really carefully, and blah, blah, blah. Then he turns to me and snaps:

AH: I go to the store and purchase one dozen two cent stamps, how many do I have?
ME: (my brain go oh! hey! two divided by twelve, I can do this) Six.
AH: No, I have twelve!!
And he storms out of the store.

Now, for the record, this was in Philly, where the sales tax is 7%, but I hadn't been living in Philly long enough to even know what the sales tax was, and I can't do percentages in my head anyway, and besides the computer takes care of that for me anyway. Also, what, precisely, does knowing the definition of one dozen have to do with my mathematical acuity?


Now, the other guy was just a case of total moronitis.

ME: Hi, how can I help you?
TM: Yes, I'd like the new Harry Potter book, please.
ME: (Pointing to the rather obvious Harry Potter display near the entrance) The latest Harry Potter is right over there sir.
TM: No, not that one, I've read that one already.
ME: Well, thats the most recent Harry Potter book, sir.
TM: But I saw last night on the news a whole bunch of people in line with the new Harry Potter book.
ME: Yes, I saw that, too, they've just announced the release date of the next Harry Potter, and they were showing footage from the last release.
TM: But I saw on the news....
ME: I'm sorry, but that over there is the most recent Harry Potter book.

Now, I have to ask, did he honestly believe that he had missed the hype that always accompanies those things, that somehow he had totally blanked on the hectic mob of fans that always crowded a bookstore on the release date? A blind-deaf-mute man would have seen the normal crowd.
Ah, well, at least he was polite about it.

[rerant]

AH: I go to the store and purchase one dozen two cent stamps, how many do I have?
ME: (my brain go oh! hey! two divided by twelve, I can do this) Six.
AH: No, I have twelve!!
And he storms out of the store.

Now if you had said that with a sarcastic tone and rolled your eyes it would have been golden.

[siead_lietrathua]

"AH: I go to the store and purchase one dozen two cent stamps, how many do I have?"

none sir, we only sell books of the 52 cent stamps....

[MadRocketScientist]

I don't remember the exact conversation but it was something like this:
ME: HI! How can I help you?
AH: Can you tell me how much this book is?
ME: Sure, it's $6.95 before tax.
AH: No, I asked you to tell me how much it is.
ME: Sir, I don't--
AH: How can you not know how much it is?!?
ME: Sir the---
AH: This is ridiculous!!
ME: I don't ev--
AH: I want to talk to your manager!!

He can't add the percentage in his head, but he expects you to be able to do so? What an ass!

[gunsage]

I go to the store and purchase one dozen two cent stamps, how many do I have?

...

Enough?

[Imogene]

ME: (my brain go oh! hey! two divided by twelve, I can do this) Six.

Um...
2 divided by twelve... or 1 divided by 6... is half of .33 repeating, or roughly, .065. So, using the math your head set up, he has less than a tenth of a stamp. Which means he can send less than a tenth of a letter.

Hah! You old fart.

However, the only way in which a dozen differs from twelve is in a baker's dozen.

[ta2ooed1]

AH: I go to the store and purchase one dozen two cent stamps, how many do I have?
ME: (my brain go oh! hey! two divided by twelve, I can do this) Six.
AH: No, I have twelve!!
And he storms out of the store.

I hate to tell you this but you would have 12 if you purchase a dozen stamps no matter how much they cost.

[ArcticChicken]

I hate to tell you this but you would have 12 if you purchase a dozen stamps no matter how much they cost.

Yeah, I realized that a second later, but he was my first ever customer who was mean for the sake of meanness and I wasn't thinking clearly, I was thinking about the two numbers he gave me. I could just as easily have come up with 24, 'cause I assumed he'd set me, y'know, a math problem, given that that was what he was complaining about.