AS more supermarket jobs become mechanized (which should be a good thing in the long run as human beings can be freed up to do better things), the people who work for the large supermarket chains foreshadow the change. More and more of them appear to have been trained to act like machines. Social interaction in the store is a scripted experience. A friend wrote to me yesterday:
Shopping has become less human. The insidious music and the robotic employees—in the sense that they have a script: “Did you find everything you need?” [“No. Let me hold up the line so I can fetch the things I forgot.”]
My new favorite is the way they are now trained to answer the phone at Joann Fabric: “Joann Fabrics and Crafts. How may I inspire you?” Nauseating. Whatever happened to the small talk one occasionally participated in at the register, or bantering with shop employees?
While I’m on the subject, the most awful thing (to me) is the way businesses don’t have “customers” anymore, rather “guests.” There was nothing wrong with being a customer, as in bringing one’s custom to a shop. It was a dignified human relationship, that of customer and shopkeeper.
I loathe the way consultants/advisers, whomever, tamper with our beautiful language. It is a form of warfare. (more…)