Most US students not literate enough for complex tasks

Daily Times ^ | 1/21/06 | AP

[durasell]

Let them tend bar at an airport Holiday Inn for a year.

[who knows what evil?]

Have you ever been at a checkout counter and watch while a young adult tries to give change for 79¢ item paid for with a dollar bill.

For that classic deer in the headlights look; hand the clerk $1.04 when paying for that 79 cent item...ROTF!

[HitmanLV]

Yes, exactly. Or work in a mailroom for Pitney Bowes. Just about a year of that kind of stuff would bring the pie-in-the-sky idealism down to a more practical, respectable, and real-world vision.

But, what do I know? :-)

[durasell]

Unfortunately, what I am seeing are an increasing number of young people in those jobs. Basically, they stay stoned to keep their sanity. There is, I'm convinced, an entire class of people who deal with each and every day of their lives with either legal or illegal drugs of some form or another.

[Wormwood]

For that classic deer in the headlights look; hand the clerk $1.04 when paying for that 79 cent item...ROTF!

I hate getting beck pennies with my change, so I do just that very thing whenever I pay for something in cash.

I am feared and hated by change-making monkeys in two counties.

[HitmanLV]

I don;t doubt it. I think it should be done for a year or so, and the folks

I worked in two offices where mailroom/copy center was run by Pitney Bowers. Overwhelmingly staffed by young minority males (a token 18 or 19 year old girl on occasion), many were aok fellas but some were just bad eggs.

Pitney seemed to be in with some program in NYS to hire mentally impaired people to do simple tasks like distribute mail. Invariably they would say the wrong thing to a secretary and creep her out, and everyone would begin shilling to make it go away.

Another problem was Pitney's habit of just hiring low level criminals and lowlifes. Things got stolen all the time, and all roads led to the mailroom.

More severe was the problem that you referenced. At a law firm I worked at was a very pretty Indian woman, maybe 18 or 19, who was a bona fide crackhead. She was very goodlooking and in short time two of the managers were having affairs with her. This of course led to heat between the two adult males that led further to fisticuffs. Of course, my position was "She's a crackhead, for pete's sake, SHARE!"

Anyway, no doubt drug addictions are present in the ranks, and fueled the need for money so therefore was the engine for at least some of the stolen items.

It's whacked out there, pal.

[durasell]

Have you checked out Kinko's lately? Since Fedex took it over they've managed to fire or replace every worker who knew what they were doing...every Kinko's in the city is filthy now with stoners kind of shuffling around behind the counter in a daze...

[HitmanLV]

Funny you mention - I used to use Kinkos a lot to bind materials for information products I sell. I noticed that too and quit using them about 18 months ago or so. No matter how simple the job (copy and bind 2 copies of a 210 page manual), they could never get it done sooner than 24 hours.

Copymax, on the other hand, often does it while I wait or just mill around the store, and when I see they are unusually busy I say 'I can just come by tomorrow by noon' and they seem really appreciative.

You are right about Kinkos - stoners it appears to be.

[asp1]

"For that classic deer in the headlights look; hand the clerk $1.04 when paying for that 79 cent item...ROTF"

Or how about $5.00 and 4 cents? Watch them hand you back the five, four singles and 25¢. LOL!

[exdem2000]

You are right, parents have to take an active role.

[exdem2000]

taking a guess # 4

[durasell]

The best Kinkos in NYC was on 34th and Madison. Although out of my way, I used them all the time. Now, they're as bad as all the rest. I've also heard reports from L.A. regarding the lowered quality as well. It's too bad, they were a great company.

[HitmanLV]

The ones in LV all stink now. Oh well, I'm sure the suits at FexEx know what they're doing! ;-)

[durasell]

I'm a firm believer that you can always tell a well run company at the point of sale. Kinko's/Fedex don't pass the test. The company that really seems stand out to me lately is Boar's Head. Trucks are clean, the drivers alert and well-turned out. The product is good.

With the loss of mfg jobs, what America has left for blue collar are service jobs. And let me tell you, the state of service jobs stinks.

[HitmanLV]

Yea, I hear that.

[B4Ranch]

Is your choice of alternate spelling proving to us that you are politicaly correct or are you a feminist?

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

For that classic deer in the headlights look; hand the clerk $1.04 when paying for that 79 cent item...ROTF!

The better way is to give them a dollar and let them key the register before you give them the added 4 cents. Not one in 10 knows what to do.

[durasell]

What alternate spelling would that be?

[B4Ranch]

You will still get to dimes and a nickel in change.

[B4Ranch]

What alternate spelling would that be?

"Womyn" rather than "Woman". Are you sure the apostrophe usage is correct in "Womyn's Studies" or is that something else that's changed since my days in a hardwood floored classroom?