So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Bushman]

Ace and True Value market themselves as stores where customers might actually get reliable advice on whatever little project at home has them in the store in the first place. And, in my experience, it’s not all marketing. The floor staff is available without searching high and low for them and they at least know where to find the merchandise without consulting their smartphones (which the customer can do himself, and as I have at the big box places pretty much every time I shop there).

I've found that true of Ace as well. Sometimes, I think some stores get too big for their own good.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I had quite a string of mediocre math teachers. Some were more interested in looking down students' blouses than they were in actually teaching, some were stoned half the time and drunk the other half, and some had meter-sticks (it was the 70s, after all) shoved so far up their educational philosophies that they had no time for anyone but the students who didn't actually need teaching at all.

Given, however, that they were paid so little that some had to work summer jobs in the poultry-processing plants, I can't really blame them for a lack of positive motivation. I was actually quite upset when one of the few teachers I did like got arrested for shoplifting a carton of cigarettes.

 

[Harp]

I cannot place my faults other than myself. Fortune unrecognized at the time, a Catholic grammar
and high school tuition which I recognize and bless my parents for having given.
All the books that the nuns assigned have stayed with me all my life, and, the Christian Brothers while
certainly strict served discipline sorely needed. I just wish I wasn't so apathetic.

 

[Zombie_61]

It is not to defend the developments in Oregon to note that there were no proficiency testing requirements for a high school diploma when I was a kid. None whatsoever. As I recall, graduates had to have passing grades in core classes and some minimal overall grade-point average...

When I was in high school (class of '79, Go Cardinals!) we not only had to get a passing grade in all of our classes, but pass "The Finals" (i.e., the final exams to prove you actually learned what you were supposed to learn) as well. I passed both, but still couldn't graduate because my counselor screwed up my senior year schedule and I wound up being 26 "credits" short at graduation time. So, no diploma. A few years after I left high school I went back and took the G.E.D. (General Educational Development, as it's called now) and passed just so I could get that certificate, but I really did it because Mom told me Dad was disappointed that I didn't officially graduate high school.

...My teachers in school were all top-notch, the nuns and Christian Brothers
all cared and strove to inspire...

I've been inspired now and then by a little Christian Brothers myself.

 

[Bushman]

I cannot place my faults other than myself.

I came to terms with the fact that I am numerically dyslexic long ago. Because of that, I'll never truly be able to work in the sciences, one of my passionate interests. One of the single most important pieces of advice I gave to my younger cousins when they started college not quite sure what they wanted in life, was to play to their strengths, and not just their passions. It's true that working a job you love means never truly working a day in your life, but it's realistic to accept that working a job you're good at is just as important, if not more so. Finding a lifelong career was, for me, finding a marriage in what I was good at and what I loved in life.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
There’s really nothing for boosting one’s sense of worth that beats being really good at one’s occupation. And being good means caring to be good, caring enough to focus and figure out better ways to do whatever it is one does. Cuz, you know, you can always be better.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Most of my closest childhood friends all earned engineering degrees, my dearest having earned a Masters in Mechanical (Design) from M.I.T. Barely getting through two years of algebra and geometry, I was odd man out. I did well for myself, career wise, but the lack of math and science depth has gnawed at me on occasion.

There are times in retirement when I've considered going back and taking community college math courses. Not because I "need" them to fulfill a degree requirement, but just as an exercise in self improvement. Trig and calculus in my sixties: it'd be quite an old man's accomplishment, I think.

But dang-- a course or two in Modern European or Ancient History would be so much more... fun.

 

[Fifty150]

Lowe's, a store I used to shop at because their departmental staff actually KNEW what they were talking about,

I’ve found very little expertise among the staff at the big box stores.

I think it all depends on who is working, at the moment you walk into the store. I needed a fastener. I knew what I needed. The Lowes website showed it in inventory, and what aisle and bay. So of course, when I went to the store, it wasn't there. I found the clerk in the aisle. He knew exactly what I was looking for. But it wasn't in the place it's suppose to be. He said that it's a common occurrence. Customers are always picking up nuts and bolts, then misplacing it when they don't want it. Or they take what they want, and simply take it without paying. It's 1 nut or bolt at a time. Loss prevention can't watch $0.25 items. And there's no way for the inventory to be accurate. Or for them to clean up and organize the aisle. So it will always be a mess, unless they throw everything away, install a fresh display, keep everything in a locked case so that the customer has to ask for it.

I recently had to replace the over-the-range microwave. I might well have bought one at Lowe’s had there been anyone there to assist me in a timely manner. I ended up buying one online, and arranging for delivery and installation online as well.

The appliance section manager at the local Lowes told me that out of all of the items on the sales floor, and the items advertised; most items are not actually in stock in the store. They use the online system, as you would do at home, and place the order. At such time, the manufacturer's distributor sends the item out. There are very few items that you can actually walk into the store to buy, then take home with you. If you need something right away, like a washing machine or a stove, you take whatever is in stock or you have to live without it for up to 6 weeks.

Big stores in general, do not do a very good job of selling their goods. Even in a grocery store. Half the time, there might be someone there who knows the product. The other half of the time, the person was placed into that job without any training. Meat comes packaged. The meat department clerk is not a butcher, doesn't know anything about meat, and is not able to answer your questions. The produce clerks know nothing about produce. Their job is just to open a box, put the product onto the display shelf, and repeat. Don't ask if your tomato is greenhouse grown, open pollinated, or flown in from another country. The meat department clerk won't be able to do any custom cuts.

 

[Fifty150]

There are times in retirement when I've considered going back and taking community college math courses. Not because I "need" them to fulfill a degree requirement, but just as an exercise in self improvement. Trig and calculus in my sixties: it'd be quite an old man's accomplishment, I think.

But dang-- a course or two in Modern European or Ancient History would be so much more... fun.

Or you could return to the class room as an instructor. If there is a subject which you have an interest, be the instructor. Lead and guide the students in discovering the information. I know a few people who teach life skills at community centers, adult education centers, and community colleges. Swimming, judo, Thai cooking, butchery, welding, motorcycle safety......

 

[GHT]

But dang-- a course or two in Modern European or Ancient History would be so much more... fun.

The American and the French revolutions were turning points in modern world history. These revolutions changed modern politics, as they both challenged monarchies. Their claims to establish the sovereignty of the people were a milestone, and really opened the way to a new kind of modern ideological politics. Modern, that is, a time from the end of the 18th century, to the present, is as much world history as it is European. I recommend you start with the causes of The French Revolution.

 

[tonyb]

I think it all depends on who is working, at the moment you walk into the store. I needed a fastener. I knew what I needed. The Lowes website showed it in inventory, and what aisle and bay. So of course, when I went to the store, it wasn't there. I found the clerk in the aisle. He knew exactly what I was looking for. But it wasn't in the place it's suppose to be. He said that it's a common occurrence. Customers are always picking up nuts and bolts, then misplacing it when they don't want it. Or they take what they want, and simply take it without paying. It's 1 nut or bolt at a time. Loss prevention can't watch $0.25 items. And there's no way for the inventory to be accurate. Or for them to clean up and organize the aisle. So it will always be a mess, unless they throw everything away, install a fresh display, keep everything in a locked case so that the customer has to ask for it.



The appliance section manager at the local Lowes told me that out of all of the items on the sales floor, and the items advertised; most items are not actually in stock in the store. They use the online system, as you would do at home, and place the order. At such time, the manufacturer's distributor sends the item out. There are very few items that you can actually walk into the store to buy, then take home with you. If you need something right away, like a washing machine or a stove, you take whatever is in stock or you have to live without it for up to 6 weeks.

Big stores in general, do not do a very good job of selling their goods. Even in a grocery store. Half the time, there might be someone there who knows the product. The other half of the time, the person was placed into that job without any training. Meat comes packaged. The meat department clerk is not a butcher, doesn't know anything about meat, and is not able to answer your questions. The produce clerks know nothing about produce. Their job is just to open a box, put the product onto the display shelf, and repeat. Don't ask if your tomato is greenhouse grown, open pollinated, or flown in from another country. The meat department clerk won't be able to do any custom cuts.

What keeps me returning to the big-box stores (Blowe’s, for instance) is that they have more variety than the Ace and True Value stores. It’s just a bigger store with more stuff. That’s what had me there night before last. I wanted spray paint in colors and finishes (satin, not glossy) which I saw from my online search were in stock at the Blowe’s a couple miles from home.

As to lack of product expertise at the supermarket …

Nine days ago I bought salmon at a local (Denver area) supermarket, to bring for dinner at a friend’s cabin up in the mountains. I told the young man working the fish counter that I wanted half a fish. That left him unclear as to just what I wanted. He pointed to sections of filet.

In Seattle, where whole fish are a common sight, telling the fish monger you want half a fish causes no confusion at all. I doubt the young man at my now-local supermarket ever handles whole salmon.

 

[HudsonHawk]

So on being bad at math...

What bugs me is not people who are bad at math, we all have our growth areas (Mrs. Hawk is a math whiz, but has trouble spelling C-A-T), but those who are bad at math and will argue that they are not. Of course, this is not limited to math. For whatever reason, I've seen many popular memes going around the social media lately with something like:

5 + 2 x 10 = ?

You will get 10 different answers, 9 of them wrong, yet people will still insist "that's the way I do it".



By the way...the answer is 25.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^
In an era of every person being entitled to his or her “own truth,” and is “empowered” to “speak it,” it ought not be surprising that such “personal empowerment” would extend to arithmetic.

Just tell the traffic cop that based on your “lived experience” (what other kind of experience is there?), red means go.

 

[Harp]

The American and the French revolutions were turning points in modern world history. These revolutions changed modern politics, as they both challenged monarchies. Their claims to establish the sovereignty of the people were a milestone, and really opened the way to a new kind of modern ideological politics. Modern, that is, a time from the end of the 18th century, to the present, is as much world history as it is European. I recommend you start with the causes of The French Revolution.

There are times in retirement when I've considered going back and taking community college math courses.
But dang-- a course or two in Modern European or Ancient History would be so much more... fun.

I might add reading Rousseau's Disourses on Inequality and The Social Contract with Voltaire's various philosophies
before tackling the French Revolution which saw over seventeen thousand civilians executed. This is an exceedingly
complex Enlightenment inspired revolution despite the deprivation and social inequality that ignited hellishness.

 

[Zombie_61]

...5 + 2 x 10 = ?

You will get 10 different answers, 9 of them wrong, yet people will still insist "that's the way I do it".

By the way...the answer is 25.

My problem with equations like this (aside from the fact that I've never had to use one in real life) is that I can never remember if we're supposed to perform the multiplication and division first, or the addition and subtraction.

 

[ChrisB]

My problem with equations like this (aside from the fact that I've never had to use one in real life) is that I can never remember if we're supposed to perform the multiplication and division first, or the addition and subtraction.

My Dear Aunt Sally: multiply & divide, then add & subtract

 

[Zombie_61]

My Dear Aunt Sally: multiply & divide, then add & subtract

But...I don't have an Aunt Sally.

 

[Bushman]

Big stores in general, do not do a very good job of selling their goods. Even in a grocery store. Half the time, there might be someone there who knows the product. The other half of the time, the person was placed into that job without any training. Meat comes packaged. The meat department clerk is not a butcher, doesn't know anything about meat, and is not able to answer your questions. The produce clerks know nothing about produce. Their job is just to open a box, put the product onto the display shelf, and repeat. Don't ask if your tomato is greenhouse grown, open pollinated, or flown in from another country. The meat department clerk won't be able to do any custom cuts.

Incidentally, of all the local chain grocers in my area, the only one with an in-house butcher is the only one that consistently has the best meat.

Tried out the produce section at a local Jewel as a summer job when I was a teenager once. Only got the job because I mentioned one of the town board members was my neighbor, and in the end I got fired for throwing out moldy veggies. Take that for what you will.

What keeps me returning to the big-box stores (Blowe’s, for instance) is that they have more variety than the Ace and True Value stores. It’s just a bigger store with more stuff. That’s what had me there night before last. I wanted spray paint in colors and finishes (satin, not glossy) which I saw from my online search were in stock at the Blowe’s a couple miles from home.

I've actually found the opposite to be true. I'm constantly amazed by how much my local Ace can pack into that little store. It also often has items (such as succulent soil) that my Lowe's doesn't carry. My Lowe's has a lot of stock, but not a lot of variety. If you want a shovel, you get a choice between a 4ft round head, or a 6ft round head. No spades, coal shovels, or anything like that. Couldn't even find electric clippers when I was in there last.

So on being bad at math...

5 + 2 x 10 = ?

You will get 10 different answers, 9 of them wrong, yet people will still insist "that's the way I do it".

By the way...the answer is 25.

25?! I got George Washington!

^^^^
In an era of every person being entitled to his or her “own truth,” and is “empowered” to “speak it,” it ought not be surprising that such “personal empowerment” would extend to arithmetic.

Just tell the traffic cop that based on your “lived experience” (what other kind of experience is there?), red means go.

That reminds me of this:

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
“ … they just want to be right” is right, all right.

 

[Fifty150]

era of every person being entitled to his or her “own truth,” and is “empowered” to “speak it,”

^^^^^
“ … they just want to be right” is right, all right.