This is the alarm clock I bought to put in the bedside drawer. https://a.co/d/ckznYMN
Yes, it’s sadly true. I’ve known many younger people admit they have no idea how to read an analog clockface.
It’s the same with math- they’ll grab a calculator to find out how much change you are owed for a $39 item you handed them a 50 dollar bill for because they can’t do simple math in their head.
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I’ve witnessed some stuff like that online. Recently, on a different forum, someone posted and was livid because their landlord had returned his and his roommate’s security deposit on a personal check.
He said the landlord was screwing them over “one last time” by giving them a check just to inconvenience them and that on top of it, he put both of their names on it so that they wouldn’t even be able to cash it. 
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At first, for a split second, I read, “Screaming Chupacabras.” Pretty sure I saw one of those in the Sian Ka’an reserve when my wife and I visited Tulum in 2017.
My mom taught me how to count change by adding back the money, add a 1 to make 40 then a 10 to make 50, to make change. That saved me a lot of grief until the machines that made the change for you came along by the late 70’s.
Thing is, I can’t really blame kids that don’t bother to learn to do things they don’t really need to learn to do, like calculate in their head, read an analog clock or write in cursive.
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“Need to learn” is relative, though. There are lots of things we may not feel we need to learn, but might find one day that learning it would have come in handy. Certainly having basic numeracy is something they would benefit from. It’s all well and good to use a calculator, but if you can’t tell that the answer that comes up couldn’t possibly be right, that you must have entered something wrong, hit the plus instead of the multiplication sign, that’s a recipe for problems.
I’ve encountered that before- having a salesperson ring something up wrong. When I pointed out that the few items that I had on the counter couldn’t possibly add up to that, she just pointed to what it said on the cash register, as if that was irrefutable proof, rather than pay any attention to the fact that 4 three dollar items didn’t add up to $40.
And as I’m sure you know, kids have brains like sponges, especially when they are young. It isn’t hard for them to learn new things and they actually enjoy it. It’s only as they get older that they say “That’s stupid, why do I need to learn that?”
I don’t know, but not being able to calculate in your head seems like an invitation to get ripped off. The clocks and the cursive will take care of themselves because of the fascination with retro stuff.
The cursive is already a big thing. I’m in a few fountain pen groups, they’re very populous and all lean very young. And the clocks will probably hit Urban Outfitters any day now. It’s like a museum of retro goods over there. Most of it’s absolutely lovely. But I heard the fools are trying to bring back 8-tracks now. That’s where I put my foot down. Some things don’t deserve a second chance, lol.
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I reckon they needed to
use their mobiles when wanting to know the time and to steel themselves not to access them for anything else. It’s their problem, not yours.
Perhaps one of them could have worn a watch for such ‘emergencies’ . Now that’s a radical idea!!
I have a clock in the main living room of my rental. It’s a plain battery operated “hands” type.
Much easier for guests to see the time at a glance.
I replace the battery yearly so it always shows the correct time.
The microwave is left off when the house is vacant so it wont show correct time unless a guest sets it.
I thought the same thing. However their comment was they purposefully set their phones on do not disturb and had to track them down because they couldn’t remember where they put it.
They are in a new place so that is understandable. I can’t find my phone in my own house sometimes.
Why this resonated with me at all is that my son and daughter, and their and some of my friends, are practicing being “intentional “ with their time. They are managing their electronics and being disciplined with how they invest each hour.
I see a little bit of the pendulum swing from the addiction of phones. So what’s $2 for a clock if it helps with that. That’s all I spent on the IKEA clock.
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I was in a medical research study focused on exercise and cognition, and I pointed out to one of the assessors that while I could draw a clock face that shows 10 minutes after 11, my adult kids probably couldn’t.
I learned later that a person with dementia is likely to not “see” or be able to record and draw a full clock face, they will draw half a clock or leave out some of the numbers or put them all in one quadrant, etc.
I do have a clock in my STR suite. It’s the retirement clock I got from my U.S. federal government agency. It’s so not my style. I pulled off the nameplate, scraped off the adhesive, and voila, free clock that looks nice on a shelf.
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That’s a very good reason for them and I approve it, but they expected the host to solve their time problem.
Sure no harm in having a clock in your Airbnb never the less.
Perhaps, they’ll have to go ‘way back’ and start looking at the sun to access time!
Just joking.
Agreed, it’s definitely a generational thing. When my dad dogsits for us at our own home, I put up the digital clock with huge red numbers on it; for my guests in the rental, I leave it in the nightstand drawer and let them know it’s there if they need it. No one ever has tho!