Shop turns away 9 out of 10 job applicants because they cannot calculate sums

A family-run haberdashers is forced to turn away 90 per cent of job applicants, because they are unable to do simple sums. The Remnant Shop has a company rule that staff must be able to mentally add, subtract, multiply and divide on the spot. In the past, eight out of ten made the grade. Now just one in ten can cut it.

Robert Bamberger, boss of the family firm, which employs 28 people at its branches in Colchester, Essex, and Felixstowe, Suffolk, said: "This dates from when the company began 65 years ago.

"My grandfather Sydney Bamberger could add up a column of 50 figures in old pounds, shillings and pennies – including ha'pennies and farthings – in a matter of seconds. He used to insist that any staff we took on could do the same – and we have carried on that practice."



"Nowadays this means we turn away more than nine in 10 people who come to us for a job who would otherwise be suitable. It is a sorry situation and a poor reflection on the academic qualities of young people these days."

Mr Bamberger said his shops did have calculators, but only allowed them to be used to confirm the staff's mental arithmetic, especially when amazed customers ask: "Can you check that?" Val Crampin, manager of the Felixstowe shop, said: "With our staff mental maths must come first.

"If we did it the other way round, how would they know they had pressed the wrong button? They need to have an idea of the answer."