math champ
An actual conversation that took place when I went to pay Ji's "tuition" at his playschool two days ago:
| Me: | Hi, I have the tuition payment for Ji Hong. |
| Principal: | Yes. Thank you. |
| Me: | It's, um, 19 000 [handing over the money] right? Hm, but on the invoice it says that this is for April? No, it's from April until the end of July. And Ji Hong will finish on the last day of May. Then, he'll start at the big school in August. we we actually only need to pay for two months, not four. |
| Principal: | But our monthly fees are more expensive. Paying quarterly is cheaper for you. |
| Me: | Really? |
| Principal: | The monthly fee would be 6000, so it's more expensive. |
| Me: | [Calculating madly in my head] Wouldn't that be about, um, 12 000? |
| Principal: | [Taking paper, getting out calculator] Let's see. First, the tuition, then plus lunch and mini tennis fees, that would be 13 450. |
| Me: | So that seems to be less than 19 000. |
| Principal: | Yes. |
| Me: | So I'll take back, um, how much from the 19 000? |
| Principal: | [Calculating the total once again since we didn't write the figure down] You'd pay 13 450, so you get back 5 550. |
| Me: | Ok, so [since I paid in 500 bills] I'll take back 5 500, and you'll owe me 50. |
| Principal: | You'll owe 550. |
| Me: | Huh? [Recalculating in my head] No, I think it's 50. |
| Principal: | [Rechecking figures on the calculator] Yes. 50. |
| Me: | But I don't have 50. I can give you 100. |
| Principal: | [Taking 100], Ok, thank you. See you tomorrow! |
| Me: | But wait, you owe me 50 now... |
[Delhi-25-April-2007]
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