Counting failure
Spare time gives me a chance to do things I haven’t done in years. This morning; a round of “crush the expensive boxes”. You see, I’ve always believed in keeping the original packaging for articles that might need warranty service. And after enough years go by, the boxes fill the space allotted. Even small boxes…
This was a Pentax moment. All of the carefully stored black cartons have been examined for hidden booty and then folded down for recycling. Now the cupboard is bare. The lenses and camera bodies are mine for the next few decades, and I won’t need to put them back in the box (I have an oversize knapsack for that). I also checked the various pairs of shoes, and the “too worn to be worn” are gone.
It bothers me when people in retail fail to understand simple measures. I’ve already mentioned the kilogram of coffee situation; this evening another one came to my attention. I had to return (recycle) a certain number of empty containers, conveniently packaged by the dozen. Look it up; it’s a standard, noble measure of quantity. When the clerk did her calculation, based upon eighteen, I could only accept the amount of money as my wage for witnessing stupidity. What do they teach in school? It didn’t make much difference, in the final tally, but what if that clerk goes on to “bigger and better?” What would happen if the commerce dealt in millions, or trillions? It goes beyond a “British vs American” error, and someone is going to come up short.
