You're insane...

[fireheart]

So last night we were insane due to a public holiday today.

I needed a barcode for a pack of nectarines (these were ones in a tub with a 1kg tub) so my coworker went to grab a pack with the barcode. Come back, the barcode doesn't swipe, so I start typing it in. It works

A few seconds later...

CW: Hey, FH, can you remember what that barcode was?
Me: Umm....9310090052451 (Not the actual barcode) I had to repeat it a few times just to make sure that she got it.

CW: You're insane.
Me: Why thank you.

Yes folks, I am insane for being able to memorise and type in huge long barcodes at a time.

Does anyone else have this gift?

[Dasota]

Sort of, but not with the length.

I memorized the prices for all of our drinks in all of their sizes within a week, and I memorized a bunch of the more common orders, like coffee and a bagel, or a coffee and a donut.

I had 3 weeks between my old store and new store, and when I went to my new store they were amazed that I could tell the costumers the prices before I could punch it into the registers. (Old store had the brand spankin new touch screen registers, and the new store had older non touch screen registers)

[infinitemonkies]

At any given moment I can tell you exactly what's in my till.
Not just the total, but how many pennies, dimes, etc.

A couple weeks ago a coworker called me because it was off a couple bucks. I was able, several hours and several beers after I'd gone home to rattle off exactly what was supposed to be in it. Turns out I was right and she had been miscounting.

On the other hand, I frequently mix up my bank card PIN and my voicemail password.

[fireheart]

Oh, it gets better...

not all the markdown barcodes work, so sometimes i have to manually type them in.

They look like this normally.

XXbarcode000priceX

A few times I've had to call over a supervisor for a markdown overrideand they have all been stunned at my ability to type in the whole thing in the space of five seconds.

[PCGameGuy]

I get mocked for being able to do decimal to hexadecimal in my head all the time. I work with cell phones, and often need to convert one to the other or back, so I just got good at it. I think they are all just jealous of those of us with superior mental math capabilities.

[cactus]

So last night we were insane due to a public holiday today.

Happy Australia day!
I don't have that gift, but I'm pretty good at remembering the start of the codes like, half of our candles have codes that start with 6374156*, half start with 8305245* and I can remember which has which.


*not the actual codes.

[Sightings Reporter]

When I worked at an insurance agency, I knew vehicles based on the VIN. I acutally had the VIN to my Ford T-Bird memorized.

[Gerrinson]

Its just that some of us are good with data. I haven't worked at the grocery store since 2001, but I can still rattle off the bar codes for their store brand eggs (which never ever ever scan) as well as the PLUs from Produce & Bakery. They've changed out most of the non-egg store brand items that didn't scan, but I still know those codes too, even if they're pretty much useless.

I wish I could swap them out for better memories.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I have the SKUs of several furniture items at the swamp memorized. They're 8-digit numbers.

I acquired this gift by doing the furniture audit every week. The SKUs are right on the pull tag report.

I also have been told I am insane for having this gift.

[Flying Grype]

At university there was a girl in my dorm who used to work the produce section of a grocery store, and she could remember all of the four-digit produce codes off the top of her head. If you happened to mention 'Chinese eggplant' around her she would blurt '3089!!'

[Peppergirl]

My ex-husband is a parts person at a large local dealership. He has tons of VIN numbers memorized.

After a few months of this, his co-workers started calling him 'Rain Dan'.

(Yes, his name is Dan)

[Zoom]

Pepsi: 01200000017
Diet Pepsi: 01200000053
Coke: 04900001287
Diet Coke: 04900001063
7up: 07800001214
Diet 7up: 07800001234
Dr. Pepper: 05490003019

Hmmm... I think I may have actually got some of the numbers wrong. But I've been disallowed from typing them in directly for over two years now, so I'm out of practice, and in any case I have a hand scanner now.

I also used to memorize our store savings card number, but that number no longer works in the system (EVERYONE used the store card to help customers who lost theirs, so the store account saved over $2 billion and the entire database system locked up).

[fireheart]

I think I love my new coworkers

[PepperElf]

If you happened to mention 'Chinese eggplant' around her she would blurt '3089!!'

bananas = 4011

just one i happened to memorize. the others i don't know.

[protege]

When I ran the camp store...I had all the prices memorized. Good thing I went through a "mind wipe," and forgot them after I'd gone back to school