My boss and her math skills

The BBQ Pit
1

Today we had a meeting with supervisors from our phone group to discuss fulfillment kit requests. During the meeting, the phone group brought up that fewer of our kit requestors are asking for a particular piece of information. Boss says it’s just that requests are down overall and there’s nothing to worry about. The phone group agrees that’s part of it, but they are wondering if we’re also seeing a smaller percentage of total requestors looking for that data. Since we can’t really know without the numbers, someone runs and pulls them (which they should have done before the meeting, but that’s another story).

Historically, about 25% of requestors have wanted this information. The data for the past 3 months revealed

  • 3,397 requests for kits without that information
  • 13,628 requests for kits with that information

We then have the following conversation:

Me: “Wow, the percentage of requestors is down.”
Boss: “How do you know?”
Me: “Because that percentage is much lower than 25%, it’s more like 20%.”
Boss: “How do you know that?”
Me: “I’m sorry. I’m not sure what you mean.”
Boss: “I mean how do you know the numbers say that. I’m not sure that’s less than 25%.”
Me: “Are you thinking the numbers are wrong? We can double check on that.” (I didn’t say that in a sarcastic way. We’ve had bad numbers before so it’s a legitimate concern.)
Boss: “No. I saw them before and they’re correct. I’m just not sure they add up to less than 25%.”
Me: “Well, if you add them together, the total is just over 17,000 and 20% of that is 3,400. So this has got to be a bit lower.”
Boss: “Do you know that? Do you have a calculator?”
Me: “Err, no. I’ll run and get one.”
Boss: “I think you should do that. We can’t guess about things like this.”

Guess? It’s easy arithmetic to check by hand. But whatever. I get a calculator. We have this conversation:

Me: “Okay, the total requestors is 17,025. 3,397 is 19.95% of that.”
Boss: “It seems requests are lower.”

After the meeting…

Boss: “Don’t ever guess about numbers again. We can get in a lot of trouble that way. We need to be sure of these things.”

Alrighty, this woman lets you know every chance she gets that she has a Harvard MBA. You would think that means she has at least of at least some rudimentary knowlege of arithmetic. Apparently, such is not the case.

I guess I’ll be bringing a calculator with me to all meetings from now on. You know, you can’t be too careful figuring out 20% of 17,025.

2

I worked with a guy like you, he would do all sorts of arithmetic in his head, more complicated stuff than this one example, quick as a wink. I learned to trust his arithmetic, but I wouldn’t have right off, it took a bit of time before I knew he wouldn’t make a mistake in his head. Since I’m surrounded at all times by calculators and spreadsheets, I don’t do much arithmetic in my head anymore.

She doesn’t trust that you won’t make a mistake when you do it in your head, and legitimately can’t make a decision without knowing the data is right. Of course, she of the Harvard MBA should have been able to easily follow what you did, even if she didn’t think to do it herself. That’s the kind of non-mathematic stuff I’d expect from a Yale MBA :dubious:

3

Maybe your boss did what I did the first time through, which was take the 13,628 as the total. For half your post, I was going “what is this person going off about?” It’s reading comprehension issues, not math. :slight_smile:

4

I’m sorry, there’s no excuse. This isn’t some irreproducible act of genius, nor a freakish “lightning calculator” stunt. Taking 20% of 17,000 is as simple as “double it and knock off a zero.” Bang, 3400. Hell, people who are good at mental arithmetic can do this with numbers that are considerably longer and less round. Anyoe who counts past 10 without taking off her shoes should have been able to follow the logic, at least.

“Guess.” Jeez, I’d’ve bitten her head off (of course, I’ve never shown much respect for undeserved authority).

5

You’d think, if these numbers were important, there’d be some kind of calculating device there, neh? For that matter, using a calculator is dicey - it’s easy to press the wrong button and get a rediculous answer. I can just see her saying “20%? Nonsense, the calculator says it’s -210%” while you stutter. Using both is safer in business.

OTOH, the opposite is annoying too. Despite having used to be one once, don’t people who can reliably divide by 13 in their head without muttering “…and add three times…” make you want to punch them? :slight_smile:

6

It’s not exactly 17,000! And it’s not exactly 3,400. You could be off, and then our numbers would be wrong, and then people would think I didn’t earn my MBA and then and then and then and then and then and aaaaaaaaaaaa

 :eek: **>**head asplodey**<** :eek:

Seriously: maybe she’s never had to calculate a tip (or a tip that big) before.

7

This is where you went wrong. You should have handed her the calculator and let her do it. Then, when she came up with the wrong answer (as she undoubtedly would have), you could have given her a quick lesson in button pressing.

8

Unless I’ve read something wrong, 80% of the requests are looking for the information. Of the 17,025 requests, 13,628 of them wanted the information. That’s a heckuva lot more than the 25% historical average.

9

Boss: No, see, I have an MBA.
OP: Oh, I apoligize. I didn’t know. Okay, so we’ll round this up to 17,000. Now, we know that 10% is half of 20%…
Boss: How do you know that?
OP: Know what?
Boss: That 10% is half of 20%. Did you use a calculator?

Oh, sorry. I started off doing a parody of your boss and somehow mine slipped in there.

10

You’re right Frank There’s a big freaky typo in my OP. It should say that

Historically, about 25% of requestors have wanted this information. The data for the past 3 months revealed

  • 3,397 requests for kits with that information
  • 13,628 requests for kits without that information

Sheesh that’s embarassing. Basic atrithmetic I can do. Basic proofreading however… (That’ll teach me to start a thread after having a “settle down” glass of wine.)

I’m in no way an arithmetic whiz. That’s why it was so surprising that she couldn’t see that a number just under 3400 was in no way more than 20% of a number just over 17,000.

This Years Model it was clear in the meeting if not in my OP. My apologies for making it so confusing. No one had any wine before the meeting!

After cooling off overnight, I realize it really wasn’t so much that she couldn’t see the math or that she wanted me to confirm my calculations. It’s those comments about me “guessing.” If she had said “I would rather you use a caculator and not do the numbers in your head,” I’d have been a bit amused rather than annoyed. To say I “guessed” makes it sound like I was just careless or something. That’s not at all the case. I’ve worked for her for 6 years and she knows I am never careless on the job.