Tuesday, May 19, 2009

The Sad, Sad Future Of Our Young People

Today I went to Dunkin' Donuts to get a bagel and an iced latte. My total bill came to $7.33, I gave the guy a $20.00 bill.

When he opened the drawer to give me my change, I saw that he was fiddling with a whole stack of ones, so I said to him, "I can give you the exact amount if you don't want to give out all of your ones."

He said, "Uh, it's too late."

His expression told me all I needed to know; that he didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to complete the transaction without the computerized cash register telling him how to give change or give money back or whatever it was that it was too late for. The guy in line behind me looked over and raised his brows. I looked back with a shoulder shrug and a look that said, that's what you get these days.

The manager happened to be walking by at the tail end of the transaction just in time to tell the cashier, "It's not too late. Just give her back her twenty and she'll give you the exact amount. No problem."

So I got my bagel and my latte and went on my merry little way, but carried with me for the rest of the day the thought of how so many people (mostly young ones) lack even the simplest skills. I'm no math whiz, but it's so hard for me to believe that people don't know how to handle something like this. It's not brain surgery. They are getting paid at a job and they don't even know what they're doing.

Boggles the mind, I tell you.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
1 YEAR AGO: Sighting The American Idiots
2 YEARS AGO: Orbiting Out Of Control
3 YEARS AGO: Passing Through Life
4 YEARS AGO: Texas Pride?

3 comments:

Evil Pixie said...

That is sad. And scary. I had a similar experience but I was in a retail store and the power went out. The salesgirl (and I do mean girl) helping me couldn't complete my transaction and I'm convinced it was because she couldn't do the math without the cash register. I say this because another saleswoman (she was older) came over and was able to do the transaction without any problem. Sad state for our future.

Gil said...

Reminds me of the kid who couldn't change a twenty for the guy beside me. The guy asked the kid if he could please change the twenty while the the drawer was open and the kid was counting out my change. He told the guy that he would have to buy something in order to get the bill changed. I then said well I just bought something and the drawer is still open you can just change it for me. No dice. We just figured that the kid couldn't count to twenty. Just another stop at dRunkin donuts!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I've seen lots of these types of kids. It's the start of the summer so this could be a first job for many. Nerves, maybe? Hey - I give them credit for working! In my area I see lots of spoiled teenagers who don't get a job until after college. Parents spoil 'em, they never learn responsibility, and then they come into the workforce as adults feeling this big sense of entitlement without having done a thing to earn it.