Me——“So, nabilang mo na ang one thousand peso bills, 500, 20, 50, 100 sabi mo kanina ang total ay P21,300. Ngayon, magkano ang pera?
Cashier—– “11,300”
Me——“Hindi sya nagtutugma. Iba-iba ang sagot mo.”
Me——“Magkano ngayon ang lahat ng pera sa harap mo?”
Cashier—–Eleven thousand three hundred. Ay! Eleven million three hundred thousand pala.”
(Nay ko po, anak ng kangkong at talong. I need a gallon of super-concentrated anti-aging cream.)
Me——“Gusto mo bang i-review?”
Cashier——“Oo mam”
Me——“Gutom ka na ba? Kala ko kasi mabilis lang tayo, napatagal.”
Cashier——“Sorry mam”
Me——“Okay lang, sige bilangin mo uli, take your time.”
I drank water. Nade-dehydrate ako sa mga sagot nya. Kaya nga ako hindi naging professor….
I left the room and closed the door. I went to the finance officer who hired her.
I told her the cashier doesn’t know how to count. I only intended to practice her how to count the bills but I was shocked that she can’t do Math. Even without a calculator, a college graduate and with several years of work experience here and abroad should know how to count P50,000 pesos without the aid of a calculator.
1 pm
Me——“Oh, may total ka na?”
Cashier—–“113,000”
Me——-“So bumaba na, hindi na eleven million?”
Cashier—–“Oo mam”
(Secret info: Total cash is only 50,000 pesos.)
Me—–“So how many are the 1,ooo bills? 500? 100? 50? 20″
She still looked at a loss so I decided to skip number one and move on to my second instruction.
Me—- We go to my second instruction. Read it to make sure you understand what’s being asked of you to do. Read it to me, ano’ng ibig sabihin?”
Me——“Split or divide the cash into 4 equal parts. Regardless of the combination, what’s most important is they should all have the same value. Dapat pare-pareho sila ng amount. Hatiin mo sila sa apat na pare-pareho ng amount.”
I could tell she was having a lot of difficulties.
Me—-“Ilang taon ka na ba dito?”
Cashier——“One year and two months”
(My God, how did she last this long or how did we last this long?” She’s occupying a sensitive position that requires a higher degree of ability at least in basic arithmetic!!)
At this point, I was already very disappointed and felt that this was a useless exercise. I looked at her with compassion but at the same time, I can’t tolerate this lack of basic skills. I don’t have the time, energy, patience to teach her basic math. This is something we learn the moment we are able to count our fingers and toes.
I was beginning to lose my patience but I tried to be calm.
Me——“Kung ako ang professor mo, hindi kita ipapasa. Napaka konti lang ng bibilangin mo, you don’t need a calculator, any second-year high school student can count that.”
Cashier—–“Pasensya na mam, mahina talaga ako sa math.”
Me———-“Karamihan sa tao mahina sa math, but this is simple arithmetic. Hindi naman ito algebra or calculus. You don’t need a calculator to count this. Nagsa-shopping ka, namamalengke ka, nagbibilang ka ng pera mo, sukli.”
(To be continued, part 3)
