Hi and Happy Tuesday. In order to have more variety on Tuesdays, I decided to add another theme. That way I can alternate with the new theme of Thoughtful Tuesdays with Tuesday Tunes. On these days, I will write about things I have been thinking about, assorted and random thoughts of mine and others, as well as ways to be thoughtful to other people in our life and who we meet.
Today’s I Thought So! is about something that happened on Sunday morning before church. We stopped by a local gas station to get a newspaper and some Easter candy for Ian. After deciding that was all we wanted, the clerk rang up my order. He said, Your total is $2.28. So I gave the clerk $5.03.
He looked at me funny and said, “You sure must want a lot of change back.” As I was standing there, I thought to myself, did I give him the wrong amount? Did I make a mistake? I didn’t speak up since I wasn’t totally sure. Do you know what amount I was trying to get back?
We then got in the car and I whipped out my phone, which includes a calculator. I subtracted $2.28 from $5.03 and saw the total that I thought it would be. I thought so! I knew so! I then said out loud to Ian, “That clerk didn’t know the correct change to give to me.” He said, “Okay Mommy” and went back to playing with his Lego Minifigure. He didn’t know and didn’t seem to care.
Then I debated going back into the store to tell the clerk what I had been thinking would be my change. After a minute of hemming and hawing, I decided against doing that since I didn’t want to come across as a know-it-all. Besides, the store was packed with people, Ian was already belted in his booster seat, and we needed to get to church. So off we went.
I doubted myself since I’ve never been as strong at math as writing. Words have always been my thing, not numbers. Until I worked for three summers while in college at an Arby’s Restaurant. That job was great for earning money, meeting some fun people, and learning how the real world works.
It also helped with my math skills. I worked on the cash registers and often was in the drive-thru at lunch. During that quick time, I had to learn to count back change since our cash registers didn’t figure it out for us.
So in this case, with a total of $2.28, and giving $5.03 to the clerk, the change that I should have received was $2.75. I thought so! I was proud of myself for figuring that out in my head, but not so proud that I doubted myself and then didn’t speak up. I will have to work on that. But still remember to be kind and thoughtful to someone else. Clearly a challenge at times.
(Thanks to Power Point for the clip art cash register. I thought it would be a fun image to include.)
I wonder when I can put my math skills to use again. Lord knows I need to! LOL. Have a great day.
I Still Wonder... 