is our education system that bad?

Faolchu

went to the bank yesterday and took what little money i had out. anyway i made a simple request, of that X amount can i get Y in €20 notes. now the Y was a nice simple round numbe.

an example would be say, Can i withdraw €500 and get €200 of it in 20s. Well the member of Mensa behind the counter needed a calculator to figure out that she would have to give me €300 in 50s! that's right she picked up a calculater and typed 5 0 0 - 2 0 0 = to find out how much in 50s she should give me :eek:

so a bank teller cant figure out all on her own that 500-200 = 300 is it any wonder the world is in the ****ter

Pherekydes

Faolchu wrote: »

went to the bank yesterday and took what little money i had out. anyway i made a simple request, of that X amount can i get Y in €20 notes. now the Y was a nice simple round numbe.

an example would be say, Can i withdraw €500 and get €200 of it in 20s. Well the member of Mensa behind the counter needed a calculator to figure out that she would have to give me €300 in 50s! that's right she picked up a calculater and typed 5 0 0 - 2 0 0 = to find out how much in 50s she should give me :eek:

so a bank teller cant figure out all on her own that 500-200 = 300 is it any wonder the world is in the ****ter

It's probably a habit of the teller.

What's with the lower case 'I', lack of capitalisation and misspellings in your post? Habit, too? Or will you blame that on the education system?

Oranage2

So you based this on one person who may or may not have availed of an education?

mikemac

Just force of habit OP

She does hundreds of these a day, just an automatic reaction to pick up the calculator

Sure I come home and answer my Eircom phone and give my employers name like it's a work call sometimes. Just habit, when you have a boring job you go on autopilot

Tubsandtiles

Faolchu wrote: »

went to the bank yesterday and took what little money i had out. anyway i made a simple request, of that X amount can i get Y in €20 notes. now the Y was a nice simple round numbe.

an example would be say, Can i withdraw €500 and get €200 of it in 20s. Well the member of Mensa behind the counter needed a calculator to figure out that she would have to give me €300 in 50s! that's right she picked up a calculater and typed 5 0 0 - 2 0 0 = to find out how much in 50s she should give me :eek:

so a bank teller cant figure out all on her own that 500-200 = 300 is it any wonder the world is in the ****ter

They run a financial company where it is probably compulsory that their cash drawer etc is not a cent over in the evening, its not that the teller is bad at maths, more than likely s/he has a degree in some sort of financial subject. I would rather see someone doing their job correct then grabbing money quickly making you paranoid you were not given enough .

As for our education being flawed, yes it is in terms of learning aload of informaton off for an exam that supposedly dictates the rest of your life

Faolchu

Pherekydes wrote: »

It's probably a habit of the teller.

What's with the lower case 'I', lack of capitalisation and misspellings in your post? Habit, too? Or will you blame that on the education system?

I'll put that down to a lack of a complete education on my part. While you're pointing things out should there not be a comma after the word or in your last sentence?

Oranage2 wrote: »

So you based this on one person who may or may not have availed of an education?

I would assume to work as a bank teller she would have at the very least need to have passed the Leaving cert, which is suppose to provide a basic level of maths is it not?

jebuz

Based on your bewildering experience in the bank, yes we're all morons.

mikemac

Bashing teachers and banks in one post

Impressive OP :cool:

Pherekydes

Faolchu wrote: »

I would assume to work as a bank teller she would have at the very least need to have passed the Leaving cert, which is suppose to provide a basic level of maths is it not?

You're not talking about maths, though; you're just talking about basic arithmetic, with which people are prone to making silly mistakes from time to time, especially when tired or under the weather.

Faolchu

obviously i'm wrong to thing that it is strange that someone needs a calculator to subtract 200 from 500. I'll get back under my rock

seamus

When you're dealing with large sums of cash and any serious mistakes can result in disciplinary actions or possibly losing your job, then I wouldn't begrudge anyone who isn't completely confident with numbers, the use of a calculator.

I take it for granted, but there are plenty of people who would be well able to do the sum (500 - 200) in their head, but not be 100% confident that they're correct.

srsly78

Some of the more veteran bank employees have golden contracts like in the civil service, they can't be fired. And their union also kicks up a fuss about new training etc to use such technologies as mathematics and IT.

human repellent

Actually when working in a bank you're advised to ALWAYS use a calculator no matter the figure, it's obviously a habit of the teller.

Riskymove

Faolchu wrote: »

While you're pointing things out should there not be a comma after the word or in your last sentence?

NO

mikemac

srsly78 wrote: »

Some of the more veteran bank employees have golden contracts like in the civil service,

Good for them, it used to be a desirable job and now you'd earn much the same in Tesco. It's become just an ordinary customer service job with low pay to match

srsly78 wrote: »

And their union also kicks up a fuss about new training etc to use such technologies as mathematics and IT.

The IBOA are whipped, you are crediting them with far too much power
One of the weaker unions out there

Haven't been strong in decades

OneArt

Faolchu wrote: »

went to the bank yesterday and took what little money i had out. anyway i made a simple request, of that X amount can i get Y in €20 notes. now the Y was a nice simple round numbe.

an example would be say, Can i withdraw €500 and get €200 of it in 20s. Well the member of Mensa behind the counter needed a calculator to figure out that she would have to give me €300 in 50s! that's right she picked up a calculater and typed 5 0 0 - 2 0 0 = to find out how much in 50s she should give me :eek:

so a bank teller cant figure out all on her own that 500-200 = 300 is it any wonder the world is in the ****ter

People are willing to give dyslexics all the help they need, but when it comes to people who suffer from discalculia (the mathematical version), there's nothing for us. And furthermore we're given out to for not being able to do maths in our heads.

Likeliness is she didn't have it, but I've been in that situation many times. Whilst I find learning a language quite easy, I am literally stuck when it comes to maths and use a calculator for the most basic calculations because I don't trust my own.

Just sayin'.

4leto

Well its not great and getting worse our literacy and mathematics standards have fallen our universities and the quality of the graduates are falling in international leagues. That is to spite having the best paid teaching staff in Europe. They claim its due to the influx of immigrant pupils, perhaps. No as classes will get bigger and the teachers more militant Ireland is destined to be a nation of dumb-asses well even dumber asses soon.

hooradiation

in before someone talks about Idiocracy like it was a fucking documentary.

4leto

hooradiation wrote: »

in before someone talks about Idiocracy like it was a fucking documentary.

Well if the education system was better I would have known that.:(

Lando Griffin

Pherekydes wrote: »

people are prone to making silly mistakes from time to time, especially when tired or under the weather.

:eek: Or both.

Snakeblood

mikemac wrote: »

Bashing teachers and banks in one post

Impressive OP :cool:

You'd think a guard would have been around to help out but no, probably smoking outside a pharmacy. :mad:

positron

Going to the bank to take money out?

Quit bragging you posh git!

LandL84

Calculators don't make mistakes, so the banker probably trusts it more than herself.. or maybe she was tired, sick, hangover etc. so she couldn't think straight I know, it looks totally unprofessional, but if she feels more confident using calculator, let her do it and stop judging.

Dravokivich

with most tills systems in banks the teller need to state how many of what notes they are taking out.

McCrack

Another stupid AH thread