h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I went to my local Tesco Metro last night to buy a few essentials. They have a couple of people on checkout, plus some of those godawful 'Unidentified item in the bagging area' robots. I refuse to use them.

But last night, I was queuing, and the manager grabbed me.
'Come and use one of these,' he said.
'No.' I replied. 'I hate them.'
'Why?', he asked.
'Because they dimish human contact and engender anomie, plus their sole function is to generate profits for shareholders at the expense of jobs for workers.' I said. No, really - I did! I was in that kind of mood.
'Och, come along!' he insisted. 'I'll do it for you' and he grabbed my basket and started scanning and bagging things. I figured that at least he wasn't saving his employers any labour.

Then at the end, I gave him my card, and he put it in the chip and pin machine.
'There you go!' he said, and walked away.
I stood looking at the machine and waited for it to tell me to enter my PIN. And waited. And waited. Eventually I looked around. The robot's screen, some two feet away, was telling me to press a button to tell it that I'd put a card in it.

I could have lectured the manager on machine paced vs human paced work, or on Alphonse Chapanis's famous work on control/display relationships...but by then I was pissing myself laughing.

Do they diminish human contact and engender anomie more than the production line relationship one has with the people at the tills? I always feel that that brief and meaningless interaction serves to dehumanise both of the people involved in it...

That's funny! The first few times I used one of those, I had "unidentified item in the bagging area" issues. And also forgot to swipe a discount card first. The stores I normally shop at don't have them, but I've been known to use them when running in for just one or two items, and the lines are long.

I did have to press a button to tell the machine what kind of card (credit, debit or WIC ["food stamps"]) I'd inserted, but I'd normally have to swipe my own card at the checkout, anyway, because I use a debit card.

Given most of the human contact one gets at the grocery store around here, the computers are at least less sullen, and I'm not interrupting anyone's private conversation by making them do work. I normally bag my own groceries anyway, because on those rare occasions when there's a store employee doing it, it's the same person who's checking me out, and I'd as soon not hold up the rest of the people in line. And the lines are long, indeed.

Anyway, it sounds like an entertaining experience.

Possibly. But it's an observable difference, I think, between Scots and English cultural norms that chit-chat with checkout staff is permitted. Certainly the wee wifey in Tescos is always one for a blether.

Plus - a few years ago, I realised that I was generally bad at making eye contact. Now I deliberately wait for our eyes to meet before ending any sales transaction.

(That last was in answer to Dogster)

The girls at Sainsbury's in town are almost universally lovely. And as much contact as I get, to be honest.

There's one guy though who is just that bit *too* eager to help.

"Nice to see you! Here's your change! Enjoy your, er... toilet roll."

The Indians at the 3 Telecom call centre always manage to sound lovely, even when reading from their official 'I'm a friendly person' script.

(And they *are* good! Despite the received wisdom about outsourced call centres).

They are pretty good but do tend to struggle when something is a bit out of the ordinary.

Being a call centre monkey myself I always feel the need to be extra specially nice to my fellow mcjob employees. But I have found myself getting occasionally a little frustrated with 3 CS.....

I always hate myself after I've lost patience with a call centre.

rubbish isn't it.

I normally pride myself on being cool to them as well....

I blame Capitalism. It's the alienation that's inherent in the system, innit?

I have some considerable trouble with those machines.

Its because Im clumbsy, forgetful and tall.

As the scanning device is conviniently placed for swiping things if you are at the height of a wheel chair user and Im fairly tall sometimes the items Im buying normally the more expensive ones dont scan properly. Then clumsy sod that I am the items fall into the little bag on the bag dispenser. Sometimes or all the time I cant remember accurately I forget to pluck them out and make a second attempt at scanning.

I would ask a member of staff but clearly the store is short of staff or why else would they have these machines so I leave them to it and go off to enjoy my *purchases*.


one love

Don't computers save so much time? Not.

btw - Blicky...I know spelling isn't your strong point, and I'm *honestly* not mocking...but from now on I'm going to spell 'clumsy' as 'clumbsy'. It's so much more appropriate. Props!

(And I'm shite at rugby. Big deal!)

'It's a damn poor mind that can find but one way to spell a word.' - President Andrew Jackson.

I won't use those automated grocery check outs either. Bleh.

"I blame capitalism"

do you usually use that word in britain? In Spain I can scarcely hear it. You can hear delocalization, globalization,... If you use that word, capitalism, you seem to be a fanatic of Marx.

: is not capitalism the epitome of human worst nature? and for that reason it pervails, and will pervail unless we evolve in terms of humanism? I mean, capitalism fosters selfiness, kills empathy in a lot of ways.
I find it´s somethig hard to fight. I thought that when that trend coming from Seatle, I think, the grundge. At the beginning it was a anticonsumerism movement, but in little time it became an appealing offer in big (capitalist) stores. People , youngster,could buy perfecttly spoiled, deranged jeans or colourful combinations of clothes at the proper price (quite expensive)I´m not sure if you know what I mean. I mean that capitalism absorbs any way of attack and can use it as a benefit in case it can disolve it.
I´m using "it" as an impersonal entity. but:

second chapter:

the capitalism has face, quite a lot, and minds, many of them brilliant. They know very well what to do to get what they want.

enough is enough
I wish I were

I think capitalism is still used here when talking about rampant entreprenureship (I don't have my spell check on this PC so I bet that's not even a word). When it comes to big bidnez I usually think of globalisation.

And I don't use the damn things, either.

" I wish I were" Preview is my friend, preview is my friend...
and not posting under beer effects on friday night should be my friend too, I become too verbose.

>>do you usually use that word in britain? In Spain I can scarcely hear it. You can hear delocalization, globalization,... If you use that word, capitalism, you seem to be a fanatic of Marx.

And that's the problem with a lot of youth politics. There's nothing new in globalisation. People need to read Marx - thet's the best way to understand it. Doesn't make you a Stalinist.

But, yes, I like to tease people with my unreconstructed Marxism.

>> is not capitalism the epitome of human worst nature?

Being philosophical back...Capitalism is nothing personal. It's a blind economic process.