No, it's one dollar OFF.

[Dreamstalker]

We have $1 and $2 off coupons that get stuck to deli items/seafood that is getting close to end of shelf life. Still perfectly good, but we want to move it. (these coupons cause SCO to throw a shitfit, but I digress)

SC beckons me over for the coupons. Three innocent sandwiches, three dollar-off coupons. Okay, scan items (assuring her that yes, I will put the coupons in), scan assistant card, scan coupons (smacking her hand away from the menu), override, all's well and I go off to return two tubs of ice cream someone left on the SCO.

Suddenly I hear her screaming all the way over in Frozen. "Help! Help! One dollar! Help me! One dollar!" or something like that.

I manage to figure out that she is convinced that the dollar off coupon means that the item is in fact one dollar. No. It's one dollar OFF. Lather, rinse, repeat at least twice.

So she no longer wants the sandwiches. Okay, I'll take them off. Wait...what? You don't want to pay but you still want them? Not how it works. You want the coupons back? That's not happening either, they're the store's and meant to be used at point of purchase and only if a cashier removes it.

Much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and finally I prevail. I bring the sandwiches back to the deli, tell deli manager that they're still good and all did have dollar off coupons but here's what happened. He hadn't heard that one either, but wasn't surprised.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

These days I don't know if people can't read or if they're just creatively misinterpreting signs to get what they want.

Not too long ago I ended up in a five-minute argument with some moron because they insisted the sign reading ".50 off" meant the item was 50 percent off.

Uh uh. Percent signs go after the number. It's fifty cents off. No, you do get half off because you don't know how to read.

Tell you what, we're really close to the eyecare center; why don't you pop in there for an eye exam?

[eltf177]

These days I don't know if people can't read or if they're just creatively misinterpreting signs to get what they want.

I vote for the latter, and they hope management's not willing to argue and will just cave in...

[DGoddessChardonnay]

These days I don't know if people can't read or if they're just creatively misinterpreting signs to get what they want.

Not too long ago I ended up in a five-minute argument with some moron because they insisted the sign reading ".50 off" meant the item was 50 percent off.

Uh uh. Percent signs go after the number. It's fifty cents off. No, you do get half off because you don't know how to read.

Tell you what, we're really close to the eyecare center; why don't you pop in there for an eye exam?

I'd say it's the latter as well and we have an eye care center right across the street beside an Urgent Care.

Maybe I should refer some of our customers there (the eye care place) since they seem to have trouble reading a simple tag. According to my uncle, they're pretty good (he goes there for his annual exam every year like clockwork.)

[wheeitsmee]

Well, to be mathematically correct, ".50 = 50%".
But that's a math environment
I would never look at it that way in a retail environment.

Math class: .50 = 50%
Retail: .50 = 50 cents
Machining: .50 = five hundred thousandths

[Dreamstalker]

Our sale tags are starting to list the quantity savings (i.e. if the tag is 2/$6, the tag will say "Save $1.98 on 2" instead of "Save 99 cents EACH"). I've lost count of how many times I've had to tell someone that no, it does not mean you save $1.98 on each one.

Occasionally the tags will have a percentage, which is even worse. No, you don't PAY 33 cents (or save 33 cents), you save 33%. Yes, it rang up properly. No, I won't pull out a calculator and do your math for you, I'm not paid anywhere near enough to be a tutor.

[wolfie]

Machining: .50 = five hundred thousandths

Machining .50 = five hundred thousandths with a tolerance of plus or minus 5 thousandths.

If it were given as .5, the tolerance would be plus or minus 50 thousandths.
If it were given as .500, the tolerance would be plus or minus half a thousandth.

[Mr Hero]

These days I don't know if people can't read or if they're just creatively misinterpreting signs to get what they want.

Not too long ago I ended up in a five-minute argument with some moron because they insisted the sign reading ".50 off" meant the item was 50 percent off.

Uh uh. Percent signs go after the number. It's fifty cents off. No, you do get half off because you don't know how to read.

Tell you what, we're really close to the eyecare center; why don't you pop in there for an eye exam?

I think a compromise is in order here. Don't do $.50 or 50% off. Instead do .50% off.

[MoonCat]

It could be worse. If a sign says "free" in any context, that's all they see. I swear I remember a story where a customer saw the words "gluten free" on a product and insisted that meant the item was free

[dalesys]

... a customer saw the words "gluten free" on a product and ...

... asked if it had glue nine as a substitute, as they'd read in Cat's Cradle that that stuff was very dangerous.

[notalwaysright]

Arg. SC logic, "I saw some number at some time so that's the price!" How many times have I stood in an aisle and had a customer dead serious want the sale price for stuff 12' away from the thing they want?

Every once in a while instead of doing the normal % off sale, the company will do something like "3 yards for $4." This creates a giant headache. Because the computer doesn't say that. It says 1.33 per yard. Normally once I explain the math it's okay, but not always. And isn't if funny that I'm kinda defending people who can't divide 4 by 3?

[wheeitsmee]

Machining .50 = five hundred thousandths with a tolerance of plus or minus 5 thousandths.

If it were given as .5, the tolerance would be plus or minus 50 thousandths.
If it were given as .500, the tolerance would be plus or minus half a thousandth.

Thank you. I just started classes, so I always worry I've got it wrong.

[wolfie]

Thank you. I just started classes, so I always worry I've got it wrong.

If tolerances are explicitly specified, you go by those. In the examples I gave, I was using the "rule of thumb" for when tolerances are not specified. For numbers to the right of the decimal point, the tolerance (plus and minus) is half of what a "1" in the last digit shown would be.

.5 - last digit shown is tenths of an inch. Half of a "1" in this digit is .05 inches, so your tolerance would be +/- .05 inches.
.50 - last digit shown is hundredths of an inch. Half of a "1" in this digit is .005 inches, so your tolerance would be +/- .005 inches.
.500 - by same logic, tolerance is +/- 0.0005 inches.
.5 +.002/-.003 - tolerance is explicitly specified, so that's what you use. Yes, asymmetric tolerances (plus tolerance and minus tolerance are different) are something you may run into.

Another rule of thumb: Measurement using calipers is to be trusted only to +/- 0.005 inches, even if the dial/digital readout shows smaller "steps". If you need to measure to the last thousandth, use a micrometer.

With micrometers, I prefer the friction thimble (coiled spring inside - when the spindle stops moving, the rotation of the thimble causes the spring to coil to a smaller diameter, so it slips against the inside of the thimble) to the ratchet thimble (little knurled piece sticks out of the end of the thimble, clicks off an internal detent mechanism when the spindle stops moving). Try out both kinds to see which you prefer. Some micrometers have a DRO in addition to the markings.

With calipers, there are basically 3 kinds: vernier, dial, and digital. Vernier has the least chance of "going wrong", but it's the slowest to read. I had one when I started in a machine shop, foreman told me to get a dial caliper. I'd steer clear of digital - from what I've seen on milling machine DROs, a fault can cause it to "skip" counts (and on some cheaper calipers, I've seen that they'll "skip" counts if the jaws are moved too fast for the electronics to keep pace - with the DRO zeroed and jaws closed, open it quickly to roughly 2/3 of its maximum, then slide it closed slowly, and when the jaws are fully closed it'll have a negative measurement shown on the display). Since digital calipers lack a dial (or a vernier), there's nothing to double-check the readout against to see if it's accurate (unless you routinely check it against gauge blocks).

On a milling machine, before using it I'd turn the X crank to zero on the scale, hit the zero button on the X scale of the DRO, then turn the X crank 30 turns (last turn being slow - due to tolerances in the drive screw's fit, the direction of rotation MUST NOT BE REVERSED - to wind up at zero on the scale again. Each turn of the crank is .200 inch, so 30 turns is 6 inches - I've seen DROs that were more than .100 out. Repeat for the Y axis. Once you've "sanity checked" the DRO, it's a LOT more convenient than using the mechanical scales, but it's a lot easier for it to "go bad" without being obvious. The mechanical scales are harder to use, but they're accurate - doing a "sanity check" with the mechanical scales, and then using the DRO for convenience, is a good compromise.

[Aragarthiel]

Every once in a while instead of doing the normal % off sale, the company will do something like "3 yards for $4." This creates a giant headache. Because the computer doesn't say that. It says 1.33 per yard. Normally once I explain the math it's okay, but not always. And isn't if funny that I'm kinda defending people who can't divide 4 by 3?

I'm the kind of person who does most of my shopping math in my head, and I HATE these sales. It doesn't help that some stores will round two-thirds of a dollar off to $.66 while others do $.67. The only one that's worse is anything involving division and the number 7 (7 for $3, 6 for $7, etc.).

[XCashier]

These days I don't know if people can't read or if they're just creatively misinterpreting signs to get what they want.

That's a good question. I originally thought it was aliteracy, that they could read but didn't bother to. Now, I'm thinking you're on to something. It's happening far too often for it to merely be laziness or ignorance.