Numeracy

Her: Can I help you?
Me: I'd like a fifth of a pound of the smoked Gruyère.
Her: [blankly] The smoked... the ham?
Me: [points] No, the Gruyère. The cheese.
Her: Oh. Half a pound?
Me: No, a fifth of a pound.
Her: A ... a fift'?
Me: A fifth. Zero point two.
Her: [confused, goes and checks with another deli worker]
Other worker: [distracted by her own task] Like he said. A fifth. Zero point two. [unintelligible] dos.*
Her: [quietly] What, one slice?

[I go and check the weight of a nearby bar of cheddar while she looks for an already-opened block of Gruyère. The cheddar says NET WT 8 OZ; I heft it lightly. That's a third of a pound, I think, so a fifth should be more than half of this. 4.8 ounces. Well over a slice. I set the cheddar down, and wait. Eventually she returns, her quest unsuccessful; she unwraps a new block of Gruyère and begins slicing.]

Her: [eventually, puts one slice on the scale] Like that?
Scale: 0.02
Me: No, zero point two. Ten times that.
Her: ... zero point twenty?
Me: Yes. Zero point two. [gestures at scale] That's zero point zero two.
Her: [muttering unintelligibly, adds cheese]
Scale: 0.09 ... 0.17 ... 0.23 ... 0.21
Her: Is —
Me: Yes, that's close enough.

I swear I'm going to ask for π-tenths of a pound next time. Or maybe just eleven thirty-fifths.

*Almost certainly "cero punto dos", of course. One can't credibly blame the language barrier here.