[Ber999T]

When I left school in 75/76 and started work in a Butchers shop I had to work out the prices in my head as meat was asked for in various amounts of weight ie £1.76p per pound and asked for 3/4 of a pound =£1.32p.

Yes I too remember the Imperial money weights etc.

When I first started on the buses we had the old TIM's (Ticket Issuing Machine) and cash bag over the shoulder and some of the TIM's had the old money on the dial with the 11d blocked off.

Now adays I work with people who have been taught both ways and sometimes forget that the younger staff are only used to metric and when I say turn left in 300yds get a look of shock so then have to quickly turn it into 250mtr LOL

I still can't get used to the use of kilometers and meters but guess I'll have to as like Lettie I will have to work out childs weight, age for dose of drugs and power of equipment when required.

But I still work out how much change I will get back and sometimes cause confusion by offering the odd pence to make MY change eaiser to put in MY pocket ie cost £5.15 offer a £10 note and the 15p (so I get a five pound note!!) sometimes the look on their face is brill (ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh wot do i do now????) as the till has been rung up and shows change as £4.85.

It has to come down to the way people react to the change of system of teaching but I agree that they need the basic skills of Adding and Subtracting so that they can think on their feet and NOT get robbed when they go shopping.

Yes it does come with experence and I'm not the best of spellers but I am getting better and my keyborad skills are getting better thanks to Accyweb LOL