Yes! I, too, though that was virtually impossible! Yet there I was, in line at Save A Lot on Tuesday, making small talk with a young man in his early 20s. Oh, don't think we sought each other out for witty reparte. He was the checker, and I was the customer. It was purely a business relationship.
I had never seen this young man in there before. I imagine he's new, thus having cashier duty while numerous other employees were stocking assorted shelves. In fact, one of them even warned me not to hurt myself while grabbing two jars of salsa (medium) by leaning through a cart full of chips, and a pallet full of frozen vegetables.
"Don't get hurt, HM!"
"I'm being careful. Of course the one thing I want has to be exactly in the same three feet of space where you're working!"
"Isn't that how it always goes?"
"Seems so!"
She's the mother of one of Genius's old classmates. Usually at the check-out, but she's been there several years. I know that when I worked in a store, it was always a treat to do work away from the register.
Anyhoo... I loaded my salsa, bottle of ketchup, jar of pickles, pack of paper plates, and honey bun onto the conveyor. The young man said,
"How are you today, Ma'am?"
"Oh, pretty good. I only came in for the necessities."
"Well, I hope you got them!"
"Yes." I put my debit card into the chip reader. Waited. Waited. "Seems like this thing worked a lot faster when we used to scan them with the strip."
"Yeah. But the government has to track you!"
REEEEE!!! Did he really just say that???
"Isn't THAT the truth!"
As I was boxing up my items over on the counter under the front window, the Young Guy came over, straightening the boxes under it. There were a LOT of boxes, what with all the stocking. Their truck day used to be on Thursdays, so I was a bit surprised by their activity.
Anyhoo... Young Guy continued the conversation:
"A lot of people don't agree with me."
"I KNOW! My son always says, 'I can't EVEN with you and your conspiracies!' Then he won't talk to me."
"Yeah. Some people have no idea."
Too bad that Young Guy isn't working a job that garners tips. I think he'd do pretty well. My faith in the younger generation was short-lived, though, when I held the door open for another young man over at The Gas Station Chicken Store. He was coming in as I was going out, so I held the door for him.
Not a thanks, not a nod, not a go-to-Not-Heaven. Just strode in like he was entitled to an old lady holding the door for him. Good thing HE doesn't work a job for tips. IF he even works. Out running around a gas station chicken store at 1:30 on a weekday...
Nice to meet a well mannered young checker. I think he might be right about the government tracking, it seems everywhere you go there are people wanting your details and with the chip readers on cards, who knows what information they are getting? They probably know everyone's shopping habits by now and use that to direct advertising towards the appropriate consumers, so they'll hop more and government gets more taxes that way, plus big business knows exactly what will please who. it's like visiting a random website and even though you find nothing there of interest, you may get advertising from there or about the content for months afterwards.
ReplyDeleteP.S. it's probably nothing to do with conspiracies, it's all to do with them getting more of your money.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteI tell Genius (who doesn't want to hear it) that cell phones are the best tracker of all time! Everybody thinks they HAVE to have it, and can't go anywhere without it. Students almost cry if you take it away for having it out in class. Most places I go, I get a thingy that pops up when I come out, asking "How was your visit at XYZ?"
It's definitely geared to marketing, but I also think it's a tracker. A modern-day murderer should leave his cell phone at home! Literary murderers, of course. I'm not out to help criminals by giving advice, but authors are welcome...
That's why my cell phone is a cheap android not a "Smart phone" and all those Google appliances in your homes are also trackers, the ones you have and ask them to play music or turn on your heating, whatever, they're tracking your every move. I'll never have one.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteI'd NEVER put one of those gadgets in my house! Genius has one, because it came FREE with the thermostat thingy he asked for one Christmas, for his apartment. Nothing is free. Obviously it's worth the money for the government to subsidize those snooper thingies like Alexa.