I am continually frustrated by people who cannot think for themselves. If the "computer" tells them something, they accept it as gospel. Any attempt to analyze, or actually use a thought process is lost on them.

Case in point.

Last night I visited the Carl's Jr. at the corner of Spring Mtn. and Decatur. The sign in the window advertised two Western Bacon Cheeseburgers for $4. The sign also said that you could make it a combo for $2 more. Alrighty then.

The guy says $7.13.

Now, I know that the sales tax rate just went up in Nevada. The new 8.1% tax rate isn't as easy to calculate as the sales tax rate of 5% when I lived in Maryland. 5% was a piece of cake to calculate, but I don't think this has any bearing on what happened last night.

Deep breath.

I say to the guy, lets assume that the sales tax rate is 10%. It's NOT, but let's make this rather simple for you. IF the sales tax was 10% we could take the $6 charge for the food and make a simple calculation to determine that the tax would be 60¢ for a total of $6.60.

By this time another guy, who I assumed was the manager had joined the "discussion".

By what you are telling me, the sales tax would have to be near 20% to arrive at $7.13 (actually it would have to be 19% but at this point......nothing was getting through)

The "manager" guy says to me "Sorry, I'm not good at math."

Sigh.

You, sir, are not good at logic either.

And I won't give you a passing score at customer service!
I finally gave up, left the food on the counter and walked out without paying.

Yes, the computer was not programmed to make this transaction automatically. As I learned via a phone call to the on duty manager this morning, the operator had to manually deduct 60¢ to arrive at the advertised price.

I'll NOT be a customer of this restaurant again.

I've already barred myself from the McDonald's closest to my house for a similar incident. In that case, after I tired of "arguing" with the cashier I asked for the manager. She listened to my story, looked at the computerized total and said "That's the total the computer is telling me, that's what I have to charge you."

SIGH!

When did people stop being able to THINK!

This wide spread problem has vast political and social implications, at least in my mind.

If you didn't know it already, we're pretty much doomed to live with stupidity.