a Dilbert moment

[cellio]

My previous entry reminded me of something that happened to me a few months ago, and that I thought I would record here.

Recently I had the following encounter in the deli section of a large grocery store:

Me: I'd like a pint of the jello salad, please.

(The kid behind the counter reaches for the cup-sized container.)

Me: Sorry -- pint, not cup.
Kid: Huh?
Me: (pointing) This size.
Kid: Oh. That's a pound.
Me: That depends on what you put in it.
Kid: Huh?
Me: "Pint" is volume, not weight. What that amount weighs depends on what you put in it.
Kid: This is a pound, not a pint.
Me: If you fill it with potato salad it's probably more than a pound; if you fill it with that marshmallow fluff it's a lot less.
Kid: Huh?
Me: Never mind, just give me a pound of jello.

In case you're wondering, my pound of jello weighed about 12 ounces.

Comments

[fuck-drugs.livejournal.com]

you're a hippie.

[yitz.livejournal.com]

you can't expect a kid working in a grocery store to think... if i were working in a deli i wouldn't spare any brain cells for anything *in* the deli/grocerystore .. come to think o it, wouldnt waste any brain cells on ANY job.. which is why i think it's proof of God's existence and daily intervention that i am still employed.. ;)

[cellio]

I was startled by it, because it's not like units of measure is advanced knowledge. I remember studying this stuff in grade school. I wasn't trying to make him feel bad; by the time I realized that we had a lack of knowledge rather than a lack of communication, it was too late.

Re:

[yitz.livejournal.com]

it's funny .. really .. it is a very fundamental kind of knowledge.. but also a knowledge mostly made irrelevant nowadays, where everything comes in appropriate serving sizes.. forget about ounces, grams, it's not even 3 tbsps of kool-aid powder.. it's 2 scoops of the supplied plastic scooper.. (whatever metric it may be synchronized with) [there's not even the number 2, it's a pic of two scooper-icons]

everything is so convenient that u never really have to think about any of that stuff, which makes it a very low priority on people's need to know list.. otoh, kids probably stand a better chance o programming TiVo or navigating multitudinous sattellite-TV channel listings.. or finding the necesary mp3s/divx movies on the net.. (shrug shrug)

in neal stephenson's diamond age, he has kids who are illiterate, but they still can 'read' media-glyphs in order to navigate menus or find things on their equivalent of the net.. i couldn't imagine such a thing really possible.. but on looking at your post n my response to it.. i think i can imagine it a lil better now ..

Now you can *really* annoy him!

[sethcohen.livejournal.com]

Next time you go, demand a half-litre of jello. Or, to be more precise, ask for 473ml. He won't have any clue, but he'll look even stupider. 8^)