The Suck That Refreshes

[calulu]

So my day in sales has just barely began but the suck is already strong.

Me: Obviously
SC: Lady with no concept of measurements and wax in her freaking ears.

SC: And how big is that arrangment?
Me: 20 inches tall and 15 inches in diameter
SC: How big is that?
Me: 20 inches
SC: How big is that?
Me: 20 inches
SC: (whiny voice now) I know, you keep saying that, but how tall is that really?
Me: 20 inches, you know, 1 foot and 8 inches more
SC: Yeah, but what is it as tall as?
Me: it's about 2/3's of the way to two feet tall.
SC: (more whiny) But that doesn't tell me a thing... how tall is it against other things I know how tall are?
Me: Ma'am, how can I possibly know what you know and don't know the dimensions of in your life. It is 20 inches tall
SC: Is it as tall as a two liter Coca Cola bottle or as tall as a 20 ounce coke.

and so on.........

She finally hung up in a huff after accusing me of being not helpful.

Math fail on her part.

[Taboo]

....wow. Just wow. How was she able to even use the phone?

[Nashida]

....wow. Just wow. How was she able to even use the phone?

Because she knows it's at least a third of the size of a 20 ounce bottle of Coke, if we stick to her...umm...Coke System of Measurement.

[GiftShopGirl]

Because she knows it's at least a third of the size of a 20 ounce bottle of Coke, if we stick to her...umm...Coke System of Measurement.

Wow, I guess some SCs really do live in alternate realities - in mystical worlds where all units are measured in coke, and (of course) everything is cheaper than the price signs.

[hinakiba777]

How many 2L coke bottles is that?

That is just.... *sighs*

[chainedbarista]

what? they're introducing another measurement system? aren't metric and standard enough? oh wait, it's just another moron system...silly me.

coke bottles; hmm, i wonder what this one was doing in grade school.

[cinema guy]

I was going to say you could have shown her with a tape, or simply holding your hands apart, but then I read:

She finally hung up in a huff after accusing me of being not helpful.

So yeah, maths challenged.

[Calud]

I don't know what 20 inches are.

According to the US CIA World Factbook in 2006, the International System of Units (SI or Metric System) is the official system of measurement for all nations except for Myanmar, Liberia, and the United States.

Meters rule.

[Crab]

"...OK, do you know anyone who's six foot tall?"
"Yeah."
"It comes up to their knees."

Also, ironically, meters do rule, but sometimes rule in metres.[/surreal nitpick]

[sms001]

calulu, I gotta go with crab on this one. We defend each other here at CS when a cashier/csr has a language or math skill problem that interferes slightly with their job, so it really only seems fair to let a customer slide if they aren't that good at spatial perception. Giving a real world example might of made the sale. Still sucky customer for constant repetition and not cluing you in to her problem though!

I don't know what 20 inches are.
Meters rule.

Yes they do.

But I find it a bit strange that other parts of the world don't have at least a vague idea of what one of the most high profile nation's system of measurements is like. Twenty inches is about half a meter, btw. (oops! .5 metre)

[Calud]

Well, I do have some clue what 20 inches are. But seriously, the bigger question is: Why don't you get metric already?

[Slytovhand]

Maybe that's what they meant... "How big is 20 inches... in metric?"

No??

Oh well... worth a try

But, given that "Coke" is the world's 2nd most recognised word, maybe it should be a new system of measurement.

[sms001]

Well, I do have some clue what 20 inches are. But seriously, the bigger question is: Why don't you get metric already?

ah. "Pretending" as an entry point for pointing out our foibles, eh?

Short answer 1: I don't know.

Short answer 2: $$$

Long answer: We tried pretty hard during the early seventies. Big education push, dual signs, dual package labeling, etc. But as Europeans are starting to realize with the difficulties of unionization, having any large number of people agree to any standard is very difficult. Changing a standard is even worse.

The U.S. was also already a HUGE producing nation when the rest of the world was starting to change to metric so the costs even then would have been enormous. Worth it now in hindsight? Of course. But realizing then that metric would become nearly universal might have been a little harder.

That said, we are adopting/adapting slowly (we were one of the original members of the BIPM, after all.) We see athletes run races in meters, druggies buy things by the gram all the time, heck, even calulu's SC knows what 2 "liters" are! Fear not Panigg, short of crashing another rocket or two, we'll be along eventually.

[Calud]

Ah nice. Didn't know you already tried it once.

Now, of course my comment was meant more satirical than anything else. I know it's not easy for 300+ million people to just change a system.

But you shouldn't just flat out asume anyone that doesn't know what an inch is, is stupid. I could ask a few people around me and everyone would look at me funny, open up google and then tell me.

Now, the woman in the story is at fault of maybe one thing: Not admitting that she doesn't know the system. Maybe she isn't from any of the countries I mentioned earlier. Chance are, she grew up in a country where they teach decent English, but not the US system of measurement.

So buttomline: If someone asks you that question, while maybe odd to you, is a totally legit question to anyone else in the world.

[Mikkel]

Well, I do have some clue what 20 inches are.

The diameter of a sixyearolds bicyclewheel?