Let me preface this post by saying I do not typically carry cash. I am one of those people that will put an 89 cent bottle of water on the debit card.
But, our debit card got hacked and we canceled it. While we are waiting for new cards we have to spend cash. I run into the grocery store for a few items (one of which was Wine J) and the total comes to $31.03. I hand the cashier a one hundred dollar bill and three pennies. She typed in some numbers and the register beeped. She typed the numbers two or three more times after each attempt the register beeped again. She finally said out loud “How many zeros is that?” “Um, three” I told her “one, zero, zero, zero, three.” She had to try two more times to get it right. Then she had to count my change back….quick pop quiz, how much change should I get??
She counts out “thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five” as she counts out ones, “forty” as she grabbed a five, “fifty” she grabbed a ten—what?? OK, now I am amused and no longer annoyed. Wouldn’t most people go for the twenties? Next grabbing twenties she says “sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety” and stops. She is obviously recounting in her head as her lips are moving and she is shuffling the cash. She grabs another ten and recounts to herself before counting the change back to me.
I got home and asked the teen “if you worked at a grocery store and someone had a total of $31.03 and they gave you $100.03 what numbers would you type into the register and how much change would they get?” “Uuhh, one, zero, zero, zero, three and sixty nine dollars.” Bam—like three seconds to figure it out. So I ask the little brick. Same questions (fully knowing math is not his strong suit and he even got it right quicker in his head after an error than the cashier did with the help of the register.
I want a bumper sticker that says “My Autistic child is smarter than your grocery store cashier.” LOL
Life With Legos 