I forgot about an incident that may give us all pause. A few days ago, I walked down to the local Whole Foods to buy a single item. (I can't afford WF for everything but that's okay since I shy away from anything to do with amazon.com) I picked up my item and got in line. The check-out cashier was a man about my age, probably hired to fi…
I forgot about an incident that may give us all pause. A few days ago, I walked down to the local Whole Foods to buy a single item. (I can't afford WF for everything but that's okay since I shy away from anything to do with amazon.com) I picked up my item and got in line. The check-out cashier was a man about my age, probably hired to fill the many gaps in retail, pleasant but reserved. I asked him after handing him my debit card: "Do people still pay with checks? Does WF even take checks anymore?" (It's been years since I've written a check to any retail establishment and--who knows--they may have been relegated to "past banking practices." We got to talking about checks, a congenial chat between two complete strangers. At the end of which, he looked me in the eye and said: "Thanks so much for talking to me," I thought at the time: "Is this what we've come to, with covid-19 but long before covid--our emphasis on profits and forcing people to surrender their basic decency and friendship to others to make it?" I can remember when people who didn't know each other would strike up conversations in all sorts of settings, to pass the time and learn from each other. Young people don't know this and they don't know that everyone engaged in conversations with strangers. We now live in an age in which congeniality and respect for others has been surrendered to profits and greater income for the few at the expense of what was one of the perks of being an American. "Thanks so much for talking to me" reveals how very much we've lost...and we were well on the way to losing it before covid-19. Now the loss is nearly complete.
Lanae ; That is true. Many times when I spoke with a clerk, there was this feeling that I was breaking a rule. People would look at you like you were rude to have a short conversation, even if they had just walked up and were not waiting at all. In a hurry, I guess! 'time is money'.
I am sorry to say but my recent experience in the grocery store and with reference to casual conversation in the work place is not the only case where chatting and making conversation is frowned upon in the extreme. Most of us have probably seen the current Netflix film, "Don't look up." In the film Dr Randall Mindy (played by Leo DiCaprio) and Kate (played by Jennifer Lawrence) are waiting to be interviewed on tv and announce that the earth is to be destroyed by a huge comet. Sitting opposite Dr M and Kate is a pop-star Riley and a couple of her friends; Riley has recently broken up with her boyfriend D. Cello and that is what the general population is focused on, that and the Trumpy president, Janie (played by Meryl Street). Dr M begins a casual, friendly, neutral conversation with Riley, someone he knows nothing about. She promptly responds: "Why don't you mind your own business, you old f...ck?" This is essentially where we are in social interaction these days, in work contexts and every other context. Makes some of us want to run and hide. (It is also alarming that we seem to have lost a grip of reality and what is really important.) Of course, 'Don't look up' is satire but it's too near reality to be really funny.
I forgot about an incident that may give us all pause. A few days ago, I walked down to the local Whole Foods to buy a single item. (I can't afford WF for everything but that's okay since I shy away from anything to do with amazon.com) I picked up my item and got in line. The check-out cashier was a man about my age, probably hired to fill the many gaps in retail, pleasant but reserved. I asked him after handing him my debit card: "Do people still pay with checks? Does WF even take checks anymore?" (It's been years since I've written a check to any retail establishment and--who knows--they may have been relegated to "past banking practices." We got to talking about checks, a congenial chat between two complete strangers. At the end of which, he looked me in the eye and said: "Thanks so much for talking to me," I thought at the time: "Is this what we've come to, with covid-19 but long before covid--our emphasis on profits and forcing people to surrender their basic decency and friendship to others to make it?" I can remember when people who didn't know each other would strike up conversations in all sorts of settings, to pass the time and learn from each other. Young people don't know this and they don't know that everyone engaged in conversations with strangers. We now live in an age in which congeniality and respect for others has been surrendered to profits and greater income for the few at the expense of what was one of the perks of being an American. "Thanks so much for talking to me" reveals how very much we've lost...and we were well on the way to losing it before covid-19. Now the loss is nearly complete.
Lanae ; That is true. Many times when I spoke with a clerk, there was this feeling that I was breaking a rule. People would look at you like you were rude to have a short conversation, even if they had just walked up and were not waiting at all. In a hurry, I guess! 'time is money'.
I am sorry to say but my recent experience in the grocery store and with reference to casual conversation in the work place is not the only case where chatting and making conversation is frowned upon in the extreme. Most of us have probably seen the current Netflix film, "Don't look up." In the film Dr Randall Mindy (played by Leo DiCaprio) and Kate (played by Jennifer Lawrence) are waiting to be interviewed on tv and announce that the earth is to be destroyed by a huge comet. Sitting opposite Dr M and Kate is a pop-star Riley and a couple of her friends; Riley has recently broken up with her boyfriend D. Cello and that is what the general population is focused on, that and the Trumpy president, Janie (played by Meryl Street). Dr M begins a casual, friendly, neutral conversation with Riley, someone he knows nothing about. She promptly responds: "Why don't you mind your own business, you old f...ck?" This is essentially where we are in social interaction these days, in work contexts and every other context. Makes some of us want to run and hide. (It is also alarming that we seem to have lost a grip of reality and what is really important.) Of course, 'Don't look up' is satire but it's too near reality to be really funny.