Can people really be this dumb?

A friend of mine pointed me to this file; it is a recording of an ongoing battle between a cell phone user and a certain wireless provider that shall remain nameless (but its name rhymes with “horizon”). Back story follows:

Before making a trip to Canada, the customer had called the company to find out how much they charge for data transfers while out of the country. He was quoted a rate of .002 cents per kB; this seemed so low he asked the CSR to indicate that was the actual price he had been quoted. So he goes to Canada, uses his phone, and upon receiving his bill notes that he has been charged .002 dollars per kB, which worked out to around $72. Based on what he had been quoted initially, he should have been charged more like 72 cents, or $0.72.

So he calls the company, and talks to several people, not one of whom is aware of the difference between .002 cents and .002 dollars. Listen to the recording; it’s about 27 minutes long and will make you want to pull your hair out. I lost some faith in humanity, and it really makes me upset that there are people who have a complete lack of understanding of 4th grade math skillls. As they say, 5 out of 4 people don’t understand fractions, and apparently the proportion who don’t understand decimal places and units is even greater. Sigh.