That's 400m squared....(longish)

[Marmalady]

So it's a Saturday afternoon, and as usual the store is packed and we're all run off our feet. In the midst of it all occurs this little gem.

Me:
SCL: Soil Conditioner Lady
R: Supervisor

SCL brings a trolley to my till, with a few bits and pieces plus two large bags of 'Soil Conditioner and Improver'.

Me : *noticing price of the conditioner as I ring it up* Wow, £19.99! I didn't realise that stuff cost so much!
SCL: I know, that's why I was so pleased to see that I can get 2 bags for that price.
Me : *looks at screen - I have put in the amount as 2, but there is no discount showing* It doesn't seem to be putting the deal through... *goes to next screen - still no discount showing*
Me: Did it say Buy one get one free on the shelving?
SCL: No, it says it here on the front of the bag, look!

She points to the bottom part of the bag. It says "400 m2 for £19.99" (the 2 after the m is superscripted, but this keyboard can't do that, you'll have to imagine it)

Me : Ah no, what that says is "400 square metres for £19.99. You get 400 square metres of coverage for £19.99, is what they mean.
SCL: *shakes her head* NO, that says "400 metres, 2 for £19.99". That's how I read it.
Me: *thinks... help...* But the 2 is superscripted, that's the usual abbreviation for square metres.
SCL: They don't write it like that where I come from!
Me: *hits the PA button* Supervisor to Till 12, please.

Enter the cheery person known as R.

R: How can I help?
Me: There seems to be a bit of confusion as to whether this should be selling for £19.99 for two bags.
R: *looks at product* No, not for this, we have deals on our compost and hard landscaping, but not this.
SCL: The bag says "2 for £19.99! Right there, look!
R: *looks* No, that says 400 square metres for £19.99.
SCL: NO! Look! 400 metres, 2 for £19.99!
R: But 'square metres' is always written like that....
SCL: Not where I come from!
R: Well... that is a pretty universal way of writing it....
SCL: Not where I come from!
R: *realises that argument will get him nowhere* Well I'll leave it with you, but that is the common way of writing squared metres...
SCL: *does cbf as she realises that she is not getting the second bag free* I'll just have the one bag then.

R hoists the other bag on his shoulder and takes it away. SCL pays for her shopping but with a lot of discontented muttering under her breath.

A minute or two later, R comes past my till again and says, "Did I step into a parallel universe just then?"

Help me here, people - I thought it was the accepted way everywhere to write it like that, certainly in the UK, or am I wrong?

[sms001]

Nope. you aren't wrong - 'bout as universal as it gets. Even if it weren't, a moment's sensible thinking would clue SCL in; a bag that covered 400 meters (in a LINE) would be a heck of a lot smaller. But since she already can't read, I'm guessing logic is gonna be way over her head. Kudos to you and R for not asking her where she came from, btw.

(And I believe the tag for superscript is /sup? don't know if it works here though.)

[MoonCat]

I love the "That's how I read it." So? That doesn't make it correct! And it was printed by the manufacturer/supplier, not the store. That should have been a clue right there.

[MiloMorai]

She was an East-ender wasn't she?

[HawaiianShirts]

Ow! The stupid!
I knew I shouldn't have started reading this part of the forum in the morning.

I don't think I've ever seen a product with a two-for-one price printed right on the packaging (unless said product contained two items or was somehow attached to another item). I think she was making stuff up to get a better deal.

Me: But the 2 is superscripted, that's the usual abbreviation for square metres.
SCL: They don't write it like that where I come from!

Where you come from? You mean, like, your house? Where I come from (that is, MY house), "not can do it, drive" is acceptable grammar, and porcupine is pronounced "pine-key-cone," but you don't see me talking like that to anybody but my own family.

What you think does not always equal what is true.

[Marmalady]

She was an East-ender wasn't she?

Er, no... she was a local, I'm the East-ender (born in Forest Gate, London).....

Actually the more I think about it, the more I'm inclined to think it was a scamming attempt - she can't possibly have got to that age (I estimate she was about 50) without knowing how 'squared' is denoted. Maybe she thought that she could tell me that it meant '2 for £19.99' and I would just accept it? Because all of us till operators are as thick as a dockers sandwich, right?

[joe hx]

I've seen square feet abbreviated as "sq ft" but then again, that's way over here

[Andara Bledin]

The superscript 2 is mathematical notation for the preceding value being squared, aka to the second power. I learned about that while still in grade school.

^-.-^