Three men come to a hotel and each ask for a room. The innkeeper takes $10 from each of them and gives them a key. Then he remembers that a discount applies and asks the bell hop to return $5, making their total cost $25. When the bell hop encounters the men, they each take $1 back from him and leave the bell hop with a $2 tip. So, how much did each man pay for the room? Each paid $10 and got $1 back, so you could say they each paid $9 for the room. 3 (men) x 9 (dollars)= $27 plus $2 for the bell hop, right? That makes $29. What happened to the extra dollar?
All in the way you explain it. They each paid $10, so there is $30 in the cash register. The bell hop takes out $5, now there is $25 in the cash register. The bell hop gives the three men $1 each and get a $2 tip. Cash register $25
3 Men X $1 ea = $ 3 Bell hopTip $ 2 Total $30 Mikek
Each paid $10 and got $1 back, so you could say they each paid $9 for the room. 3 (men) x 9 (dollars)=3D $27, which INCLUDES $2 for the bell hop (not plus $2 for the bell hop!). That leaves $25 for the hotel.
The fallacy is thinking that the price the men paid + the tip should equal the ORIGINAL (non-discounted) total purchase price; in actuality the total that the men paid should only equal the DISCOUNTED price plus the tip. ...as it does here: The men paid $27 total, which is equal to the discounted price of $25 + the $2 tip.
Consider a slightly different example where, say, the discount is $15, and the men choose to let the bellhop keep the entire $15: Now the men still paid $10/ea ($30 total), plus an extra $15 for the bellhop. "That makes $45 total, right? What happened to the missing $15?" -- This is more obviously mistaken; being just $1 off is kinda specious.
I think it's in Penn & Teller's Bullshit! show where they demonstrate how easily it is to confuse people like this -- their actor has no problem whatsoever scamming numerous street vendors out of a few dollars here and there based on, e.g., telling the street vendor they computed change incorrectly and, "...it should be like this... (bogus math follows)..." Since the whole point is to expose how easily people are led astray, they alwayss returned the ill-gotten gains to the vendors... but amazingly, some of the vendors would stand there and argue, refusing to take back the money, saying no, they gave them the correct change, *they* surely couldn't be scammed like that!
Yes, easy to get confused. Sort of like paying a cashier $1 for a 77 cent item and the change comes up on the register as 23 cents. Then give them 2 pennies, so you can get a quarter change, and they get confused.
Yes, and there's the other type of cashier who insists on getting the last penny when the total might be $10.21. You hand them a 10 and a couple dimes, and they insist the total is $10.21 and you owe another penny. That's when I take out a $20 bill and ask for the change.
For many years now there have been no cent or 2 cent coins used in Oz. Prices are still quoted to the odd cent but the cash register rounds off the total to the nearest 5 cents (up or down). Which is a lot easier on today's Math starved kids then when we had 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shllings in a Pound.
Around here there is generally a penny jar at the register, throw in excess pennies in your change or take as needed to make your "cents".
Though I have been know to do Bill's $20 bill trick on asshole clerks, but with a variation...
Suppose the bill is $19.28... Hand clerk $20 bill. She/he rings it up, so the register shows what she/he should count out as change...
72¢. Then I reach into my pocket and hand she/he a quarter plus a nickel... and enjoy the perplexed face ;-) ...Jim Thompson
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What a sick and ignorant attitude. Decent sales clerks appreciate the gesture, since it can help them keep from opening another roll of coins that will have to be counted at the end of their shift. I have quite a few thank me for handing them the change.
Tip jar? WTF do you shop that they underpay the employees so much that the customer is expected to tip the clerk?
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You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a Band-Aid? on it, because it's
Teflon coated.
FWIW, the only place I've seen a "tip jar" at a retail place was at a Starbuck's; but in ordinary convenience stores, I've seen a "spare penny" dish, where you can toss three or four pennies just so they don't load down your pocket, but if you're a couple of pennies short, there are a few spares lying there.
Three or so decades ago, I got a part time job as a bartender/burger flipper (at $3.25/hr - after a couple of weeks I got a raise, I think because I was the first beertender the guy had who wasn't robbing him); When ringing out the till my first night, I came up fifty cents short. The thing was, the guy didn't even bother to count pennies, and someone had actually paid for a beer with fifty pennies!
BTW, where do you shop where the kounter kiddies actually know enough arithmetic to know the difference?
Yeah, when I've got a couple of spare bucks for a 6" Meatball with extra cheese. But if they have a tip jar, I've never noticed it, and why tip somebody who charges twenty cents extra for a slice of cheese? ;-)
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