I am an old cashier and so was my mom. I learned to count change at an early age and use it all the time.

I made sure my children learned (34 and 36) and my son is a trucker and adds mileage and fuel consumption stuff like crazy in his head.

Taught the kids to read a regular clock before I would give them a digital and had a harder time teaching them military time, but both kids use it in their jobs.

Just last week in my one nursing class, teacher asked if anyone knew how to tell military time. Only two of us raised our hands. The others acted as though she was talking a foreign language. She said they need to learn because the job will require it.

All good skills to have.

It is really gets bad when you hand the clerk a $100. bill for your purchase of 74.21......then you find a penny.......the clerks are completely and totally lost..........after all the register had told them ( not to think) and give you back 25.79. I once had a clerk who was so confused she handed me back my cent and told me the cash register would not accept it.

It is really gets bad when you hand the clerk a $100. bill for your purchase of 74.21......then you find a penny.......the clerks are completely and totally lost..........after all the register had told them ( not to think) and give you back 25.79. I once had a clerk who was so confused she handed me back my cent and told me the cash register would not accept it.

I need a "like" button for this one. Oops! Meant to quote bearisgrey's post

what irritates me the most is when they take the bill you gave them and put it right in the register - unless they remember what you gave them, there is no proof
I had someone once give me a 10 - I put it ON the register not in - and got their change. They tried to tell me they gave me a 20. Wonder how many times these folks have gotten taken?????

Maybe not but it is good to know anyway. I made my kids learn that way.The way I look at it. What happens if you are not able to have electricity one day? The old timey ways of doing things are going to be very useful

It's not recent that people don't know how to make change so the blame isn't fully on the use of computers instead of their heads. I remember back about 45 years ago before computerized registers that my supermarket used to have a lot of items for sale at 3 for $1. Cashiers had a problem if I bought only one item.

Another problem is that many young kids couldn't care less about getting the correct change, theirs included. It's the "whatever' attitude.

I remember this instance: my purchase was $10.36. I gave the cashier $20.01. The cashier handed me back the penny. I told her I didn't like pennies. She said well "I can't take it"! I said yes you can, just give me back $9.65. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!

Several years ago DH and I had a small yogurt shop. Employees were HS kids. I taught them to make change in the manner you describe and one of them asked me one time. Why bother? The cash register does it for you. I asked her how she was going to do her job if the register stopped working or the power went out. She replied that she would close the door and go home. Needless to say we hired a more enlightened employee. Ann in TN

First let me assure you that I am NOT a youngster. I had a run-in with an old geezer (probably the same age as me, but stuck in the "olden days" ) the other day at the local diner about this same thing. He was sitting there in his bib overalls (or overhauls as he called them) griping about kids using computers in schools. Going on and on about how when he was young they had to learn to do everything "by hand". He was sure that the kids now days are much stupider than he was because the old fashioned ways were best. Finally, having had enough, I spoke up and said, " If you have grandkids, you better HOPE and PRAY that they learn how to use computers and have them available to learn on, because if they don't, and you encourage them to do things the old fashioned way, they have no chance of surviving in the world when they are grown. Just because your grandparents used horses to plow with, doesn't mean the guys who use the fancy new air-conditioned, computerized tractors aren't farmers. And oh, by the way, because of technology, they work smarter and produce more than the guys with the horse - pulled plows did". Just because things have progressed from what we grew up with, doesn't mean the old way was better. It's good to have the old knowledge, but, it's good to keep learning new things too. Just my opinion, of course.