Letters for July 15, 2016

• Clerks should know basic math

Clerks should know basic math

Three times in the past months, three different clerks at three different stores have given me too much change. All three shops were well established local businesses.

In two cases, the clerks entered an incorrect amount tendered onto the receipt, and therefore, returned excess change. In the third instance, the clerk simply shut the register without looking at the cash I handed her, and without returning the 35 cents she owed me. When I protested, she cheerfully opened the register and handed me a dollar. Clearly she had no intention of cheating me, but simply did not understand how to make change.

Was my experience unique? I hope so, but suspect that it was not. If it was not, businesses all over Kauai may be losing money because clerks seem unable or unwilling to do the simple arithmetic required to make change.

Shop owners, managers, human resource directors, and anyone else charged with hiring salespeople, I urge you to make sure that those you put behind your cash registers have the necessary skills. Your business may be losing money not because your employees are dishonest, but because they are innumerate.

H.M. Wyeth, Anahola