Comment on On the Commoditization of Cognition by gaby

Parent Post: On the Commoditization of Cognition

gaby · 6/24/2025, 4:08:26 PM · permalink

Fun story:  
  
**The coin trick**  
  
If I throw a familiar coin in front of you you instantly know how much money that is. For some two or even 4 coin combinations this also works. Back when everyone used cash, like remembering phone numbers, people would instantly know the value of coin combinations. Sometimes it would even surprise me if it (incidentally) worked with rather large piles of money.  
  
I met an old man once who could hold a hand full of coins and knew the value by the volume and weight. He learned that by having people put money in his hand all day long for 60ish years. He would still look but the back of his head had already figured it out.  
  
**The checkout**  
  
Before barcodes took over the Aldi had a product code for each product. Casheers were expected to know most of those numbers. I see one  who scanned the conveyor with his eyes and hammered away on the register with something like 800 apm. The line moved supper fast, people couldn't keep up bagging their shopping. He did the job a hundred times faster than the bar code checkout.  
  
There also was a small corner store back in the days, like a mini supermarket, it was ran by an old man, an ancient family business. One could pile up any amount of shopping onto his counter. He would look at it once and tell you what it costs. He knew tons of familiar but also somewhat irrational product combinations. Like pair up things that cost 95 cents and things that cost 1.05. He wasn't a hundred times faster. He just knew the total instantly, without any effort. Then he wrote it on your tab and that was it.  
  
**Extra plot..**  
  
The best episode was a visit from a demented old lady with a shopping list with some 5-6 items on it. He gathered everything then summarized everything she forgot. Your strawberry jello should almost be finished by now. No cookies for the weekend? Then he named the 3 kinds she always bought. Do the kids still visit every week? YES! Then you need coffee creamer too. On and on he went. The old lady was supper excited. yes! yes! yes! She left with 80 products. Everything vanished into her bag one by one. She left, he wrote down the total in his book. This is why I cant retire he said. I responded mockingly mimicking the old ladies enthusiasm, yes!, yes!, precisely!

13 bumps

mrinfinity · 6/24/2025, 5:05:23 PM · permalink

8 bumps

turkey · 6/26/2025, 9:48:11 PM · permalink

4 bumps

mrinfinity · 6/26/2025, 11:16:41 PM · permalink

3 bumps

lol · 6/26/2025, 5:17:46 PM · permalink

3 bumps

gaby · 6/26/2025, 9:01:23 PM · permalink

2 bumps

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