Seriously?  Is this a trick question?  That was my initial response, but the guy behind the deli counter at Wal-Mart was dead serious when he asked me that.

I was getting 3/4 of a pound of corned beef.  So, I asked for it (once he finally acknowledged my existence after standing around waiting for an eternity), and he looked at me and said “how much is that?”  I thought he hadn’t heard the amount I needed; Wal-Mart is a pretty noisy place, after all.  So, I repeated myself.

That’s when the fun started.  “No, I mean, how much is 3/4 of a pound?”  I would have loved to see the look on my own face at this point–who asks that?  And how in the world was I supposed to answer?  So, I’m rummaging around in my brain, trying to find some way to explain a basic fraction to a Wal-Mart employee, and all I could come up with is something like it’s halfway between a 1/2 pound and a pound, but that sounded ridiculous, so I didn’t want to actually say it out loud.

Anyway, he helps me out by letting me know what he’s getting at:  “You know, is it like point five or…?”  OK, at least I see where he’s coming from now.  So after letting him know that 3/4 is .75, I get my corned beef and am on my way.

But, seriously?  Maybe they should give their deli employees a bit more extensive training…I can’t be the only person who has requested a quarter of a pound of something!