Numeracy

Originally posted November 2007

To be a Morris dancer you need to be able to count to at least 8, preferably 12, and in some exceptional cases 32.  So one expects a level of numeracy in dancers, especially those of us who are Countdown afficionados.  Even so I’m still a little surprised at what happened in Asda today.

Here at Chateau Midden we’re nearly at the end of the chutney and jam making season.  I’m doing my last batches of apple jelly and we were running out of sugar.  So off I went to Asda for one of their excellent value 5-kilo bags of white granulated sugar.

When I got it to the checkout sugar started spilling from a tiny hole in a crease at the bottom.  The checkout assistant asked me if I’d like another, I agreed and she called her supervisor on the intercom. 

“Ask the customer if she’ll have it half price” said the supervisor.

The customer was happy to do so.

The full price was £3.45, which divided in two in my head comes to £1.72 and a bit.

The assistant looked a little blank, thought a little, then finally asked “Would £1.50 be all right?”

It would have been churlish to refuse.