Talks to Watch

VerizonMath Original Recording of Verizon Customer Service C

552K views · Jan 30, 2014 · 27:24 · 0 HN recommenders · 6 mentions · discussed 2015–2025

An original recording of a Verizon customer service call in which the rep fails to understand the difference between cents and dollars, known as Verizon Math.

Why Hacker News points people here: It is posted as a joke whenever threads discuss unit confusion, bad numeracy or customer service failures.

What Hacker News said 6

Jokezintinio3Sep 2015

“Verizon Math [3]”

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Americans generally struggle with mathematics, and not just advanced concepts. The problem is cultural, because it is acceptable to be poor at math, it's viewed as wholly unnecessary. Some examples are A&W's Third Pounder vs McDonald's Quarter Pounder (3 < 4 so quarter pounder is bigger) [1], how long does it take to go 80 miles if you're driving 80 miles per hour [2], and Verizon Math [3]. As for Chinese struggling with math, I can give you firsthand experience at my American University, where the foreign (Chinese and Indian) students are known for rampant cheating, in both the Undergraduate and Graduate levels. We have a serious problem with logic, math, and science. People who are good at the three are ridiculed and alienated rather than celebrated, although it's not a hard rule, just something I've noticed. Reading for pleasure is the exception rather than something normal. We're very anti-intellectual once you get out of the big cities. [1] link [2] link [3] this video

in “The Math I Learned After I Thought Had Already Learned Math” · view on HN
JokejsploitAug 2021

“Reminded me of this classic recording [0] of Verizon Customer Service failing to understand the difference between cents and dollars.”

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Reminded me of this classic recording [0] of Verizon Customer Service failing to understand the difference between cents and dollars. [0] this video

in “The time Pepsi got sued for a $33M fighter jet” · view on HN
JokeforferdetApr 2022

“This reminds me of this hysterically funny customer service call to Verizon”

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This reminds me of this hysterically funny customer service call to Verizon: this video More of the backstory: link

in “Everyone gets numbers wrong, even the New York Times” · view on HN
Joketmp_cond_travApr 2022

“it was definitely worth it. Very funny!”

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Ha, never heard of this before. I had to hunt the audio down (found it at this video ) but it was definitely worth it. Very funny! Thank you!

in “Everyone gets numbers wrong, even the New York Times” · view on HN
JokeftxbroMar 2023

“It's this ancient meme, where a guy records a customer service call with Verizon”

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I was nitpicking about 0.06 dollars versus 0.06 cents. It's this ancient meme, where a guy records a customer service call with Verizon where they have some back-and-forth about whether these are the same or not. this video

in “ChatGPT Outperforms Crowd-Workers for Text-Annotation Tasks” · view on HN
Jokeburnt-resistorOct 2025

“made me immediately think of Verizon math”

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Hearing about decimal feet tape being recorded directly as X'Y" (feet inches format) made me immediately think of Verizon math: this video

in “Oilfield Units: a Measurement System so Cursed it made me Change Careers” · view on HN