I Know It Is Pointless...

[Jackdaw33]

...to ask for things in pounds and ounces these days, but I was surprised this afternoon when an assistant had to ask her manager what a dozen was.

[Old_Geezer]

Shop assistants seem to be getting worse. Wasn't that long ago I asked for a quarter of sliced meat (ham I think). It seemed dear so I weighed it when I got home. It was more like a half pound ! And I've lost count of the number of times I ask for a couple of something only to be asked how many.

Did her manager know ?

[losgigs]

I'm surprised too, since surely most people buy eggs in a dozen, or half dozen box. Not sure if that measurement is taught in schools these days. Will have to ask my young grandchildren if they know what a dozen is.

[ummmm]

No way!!

I still ask for things in pounds. Our local butcher, greengrocer and Morrisons (over the counter) seem to have weighing machines that accommodate.

[Jackdaw33]

Her manager knew, and started taking the mickey out of her. She said, "Ask him if he wants a baker's dozen", which she did in all seriousness.

[Peter Pedant]

I have heard wun pence referred to for 1p

I am surprised that she didnt say
Dozen ? oo we dont have any of them here dear ....

[Mamyalynne]

Maybe they aren't taught units like dozen,score or gross any more -or certainly not during in store training it seems.

Cooked meats I always bought and still do by number of slices for simplicity and joint by eye - you get to know what will feed your family.

[Jackdaw33]

Score or gross I can understand, but not dozen.

[ummmm]

Peter....why not just type 'one'?

[Jackdaw33]

...because he's a pedant!

[ummmm]

I find this pointless use of words 'wun' 'skoolz' etc as bad as the rhyming slang used in news!

[Mamyalynne]

Saw 'roolz' used twice earlier , what ?

[ummmm]

Lol...it's not like it's even less letters involved.

[Mamyalynne]

True.

[ummmm]

And he keeps referring to BarMaid as 'bam bam' lol

[Mamyalynne]

Hmm.

[Eve]

It's a while back but when I worked on a deli counter we used to be able to do the appropriate conversions to still work in pounds and ounces when asked for (the tills were in grams). One of the confusing ones though was when asked for say a pound of something, weighing it out to be told they wanted a pound in money's worth.

I can still remember to this day how many of each of the different sausages constituted a half and whole pound of sausages!

[douglas9401]

Try as I might I couldn't locate a two bob rocket for Guy Fawkes night. :-P

[Jackdaw33]

If you asked for a pound it was weight. Otherwise you would ask for a pound's worth.

[Eve]

Not according to some of my former customers :) At least it was clearer when asked for a pound's worth.

[Jackdaw33]

...and I couldn't get a penny banger or a threepenny jumping jack.