Innumeracy in the Deli

Today while I was doing my grocery shopping, I went to the deli counter to get some lunch meat. I asked the kid at the counter for one-third pound of turkey. He started slicing away. The pile was looking kind of big, but no big deal, I figured he probably misheard me  He weighed it: 0.73 lbs. OK, it will get eaten. Next I asked for 1/3 pound of pepperoni. He started slicing again. Since this was just for pizza tonight, I did not want too much, so I stopped him. He asked, "Didn't you ask for 1/3 pound?" I replied that was correct and asked him to weigh it to see how much there was. Weight: 0.27 lbs. I asked for two more slices and said that would be good. I told him he should be aiming for 0.33. He got it right on the nose. I thanked him, and as I was walking away, I heard him ask his colleague what 1/3 of a pound was.