Filling in for Neil Oliver this week, GB News host Bev Turner delivers a monologue taking a look at the COVID changes that have seemingly become a permanent change.
From remote working to interactions with electronic apps and digital screens instead of people, Turner gives examples of things that changed in the COVID era that never went back to the normal position after the COVID mitigation was ended.
From self-checkout to restaurants using menu apps for the customers to do all the ordering themselves, to plexiglass cubicles, the human connection has been frayed. Mrs. Turner makes some good points that are well worth considering. Will the free market bring back these lost connections, or are they gone forever? WATCH:
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Whenever anyone tries to get me to use a self-checkout, I politely say no thank you and remind the lanyard wearing robot “I have done my part; the rest is up to you if you want to keep my business.” I have never experienced a restaurant where I had to order everything myself; from my perspective that would be akin to sitting in front of a vending machine, and I simply wouldn’t go there. But that’s me.
How do you feel about some of these COVID changes described?
Having worked retail, I have a very different sort of perspective than is common on the Treehouse re: self-checkout. The sheer amount of entitlement and verbal abuse and harassment that retail workers are expected to put up with on a daily basis boggles the mind. In any other scenario, the ‘customer’ would be considered an aggressor and very possibly be arrested. So in the interest of preserving the sanity and humanity of retail workers, I think self-checkout is a fantastic idea.
I also like it because it means that all errors are on me: I don’t have to go over the receipt with a fine-toothed comb afterwards to make sure I wasn’t double-charged by someone overtired and overworked and irritable from being harassed by customers and management all day.
TreeClimber, I have to agree with you on this one. I prefer self checkout, I don’t have to look up codes, ask what is this? and I can pack my reusable bags as I like. However most self check outs here are limited to 10 items. So here I trudge to the regular line. Walmart has two self check out lines no limit but they are always closed. Makes no sense to me. As far as restaurants here in our little space, most have printed menus. At first they had the scan the code thing but being a retirement town I don’t think that went over well. We rarely eat out for a lot of reasons, high prices, lack of really good places to eat, and frankly we cook better than most restaurants here.
I have been ordering some of the meal plans: Hello Fresh and Purple Carrot.
Flavors are excellent and choices are great, and the timing is my choice. It is fun. I wish I would have been able to use these when I was a teen, to round out unfamiliar cooking skills.
I love Indian, Asian and Middle Eastern flavors, and these were not available when I was a kid. From eating in restaurants I didn’t learn the ingredients or techniques or order of operations of exotic dishes.
Really love the boxed weekly meals for fun and pleasure
Cooking rice with minced ginger, or garlic, or scallions… adding sliced almonds and minced dried apricot… yum
I absolutely refuse the self checkout. I don’t need a machine telling me what to do. As i watch those using the scanners more as often frustrated self scanners must wait for human help anyway.
If you must deal with nasties you might be in the wrong neighborhood.
The entire point is to reduce human overhead.
As much as I hate dealing with amazon I am forced to do so as stores simply don’t have the things I need any longer.
Yes, in the good ole days the local stores had everything you could possibly need. Now you have to go to Amazon to find them.
I fear everyone will need to soon re evaluate the difference between needs and wants.
Walmart is notorious for inflating the prices of items when using self checkout. One really has to be aware and watch each individual scan.
I haven’t noticed that, but will certainly pay attention.
Here’s something I can almost guarantee I will encounter when checking out there:
Count the checkers. I will see three or four at most with a considerable wait for the customers.
Count the employees and security hanging around the self checkouts. I will see a dozen.
I’m not convinced it’s all about labor /cost saving.
I was at a Lowe’s store recently and the only registers open were two self-checkouts, but there were THREE employees standing there to help if you had a problem.
Not a good look.
Actually any contractor or auto mechanic could have told these stores this would be the result of this attempt to cut costs. I don’t know any mechanic or contractor who doesn’t need to charge more if the customer “helps”.
I leave the full cart there and walkout. Don’t look back.
So you punish the lowest level of employee for corporate policy? Smooth move.
Like I said. Entitlement.
The Lowe’s in my neck of the woods generally has at least two and usually 3 checkout lanes open in the main store and both open in the garden center in addition to the self checkout lanes.
I just had that situation happen the other day. I told the lady at self check out about the discrepancy, and she told me in barely discernable English, that if I wanted the lower price I had to order it online, that that’s what her bosses told her to tell people.
I’m on a second story, no elevator, arthritic hips, and thought I would sign up for the Walmart delivery service… Save me some aggravation and pain.
6 out of 9 deliveries were a disaster. The delivery person could not speak ANY ENGLISH. So…If he/she got lost, he could not tell me where he was, nor could I give him directions. Wasted more time and effort than it was most.
Called AND wrote WM multiple times, nothing ever got fixed. They didn’t give a crap, so I canceled. And STILL, they didn’t give a crap.
We’re turning into a GD 3rd-world country shi*hole.
Kidding? So you want humans replaced with machines? Nonsense. No self checkouts for me…never ever.
I’ve never had a rude or surly self-checkout terminal.
I missed the part where I – doing for myself instead of expecting someone else to do my work for me – was replaced by a machine.
Self-checkout is also great for fruit and vege.
You can mark it as the cheapest thing on the menu usually, or not even mark it all if you’re clever and get it for free.
And if that happens – Oops! Obviously I don’t know what I’m doing, I’ve never been trained for doing this!!
Or you could just stick items in your pocket and walk out, right? Nothing wrong with a LITTLE theft.
You might want to think twice about that. Aside from being theft, the self checkers that I know actually have video cameras that is either being recorded or watched.
I believe Fred was being sarcastic in response to Julian advocating theft.
Huh?
That’s called theft.
I hope you are joking. Stealing is stealing.
It is not just retail workers that have to deal with ill-mannered and/or foul- mouthed and abusive members of the public, it is a feature of any position where one has to deal with the public.
Most people are reasonable and friendly to deal with, but there are always those with a chip on their shoulder and are angry( who knows why? entitled? but let’s face it, there is a lot to be angry about nowadays) and some take it out on the nearest person they think can’t fight back.
We read of customers having tantrums in even in fast food line-ups/drive throughs. and and getting violent in some circumstances. Life has become to pressured and stressful. No time for courtesy, good manners and kindness.
The depersonalization of major businesses and large store like Walmart. doesn’t help in my opinion.
Perhaps it’s the times we live in. Sometimes the evil all around us in society, seems almost palpable.
Thankfully not everyone is like that. Some still remain serene and considerate, despite the state of the world, and even take the time to chat to strangers in stores and do random acts of kindness.
Sometimes, that elderly man or woman shopping carefully and alone, lives alone and has no one to talk to. This trip to the grocery store might be their only chance to exchange a few friendly words with another human being. Now even the cashiers are disappearing and being replaced by machines. The world they knew is nearly gone Take the time to say a few friendly words with them.
I wish I could give you more than 1 like!!
Another effect of not having God in the culture anymore.
Interesting.
I have not observed that. We have just passed the latest average frost date for my area so the garden centers at ACE, Lowes, Home Depot and local specialty centers are standing room only. The customers end up in long lines waiting to checkout yet manage to be nice to the checkers.
TreeClimber wrote: “Having worked retail, I have a very different sort of perspective than is common on the Treehouse re: self-checkout. The sheer amount of entitlement and verbal abuse and harassment that retail workers are expected to put up with on a daily basis boggles the mind.”
My first job as a teen was in retail. I agree that there are a lot of abusive customers. To this day, I may be the sand in the gears at various businesses, but I am always cheerful and pleasant with the help. If there is a problem, I acknowledge that they don’t set policy and they are just trying to do their jobs, so “let’s get a manager over who can sort it all out, eh?”
I never harass or abuse an employee who doesn’t have the authority or control to deal with any unusual circumstances. Let them know you know they are stuck, but they can be helpful by calling someone over who can get things “unstuck.”
If a manger can’t handle a problem due to corporate policies, then there goes my business and me out the door. But leave the checkers out of it.
I will never do self checkout because why am I doing the work and the prices are not lower? Also be careful what you wish for as one day all jobs will be automated then what?
I always ask, “Where’s my 5% discount for being the checker”?
Blank stares.
The cashiers at my local supermarkets have always been very nice. Hubby and I always make the effort to talk to them, address them by name, etc. I don’t recall having any bad interactions with any of the staff where I shop. I had one lady in Harris Teeter who would always ask me if I wanted a muzzle. I looked at her, smiled and said, “no thanks”. She would smile back and walk away.
I am not a person who like public spectacles so even if a clerk were to be nasty towards me, I would simply put back their merchandize and leave the establishment.
Great points Sundance. I refuse to self checkout or use my phone to scan your damn menu! Just get me a menu. You can burn after I’m gone my feelings will not be hurt. RR
I would self check if the place gave me a discount or paid me a wage. Why should I as a customer have to do the work? These big box stores want you to self check for one reason—you do it for free. They save wages and pocket even more money. Pump your own gas in a snow storm while the attendant sits in the nice warm building waiting for you to bring some money in or use your card in the pump. I worked in gas stations in the 50s when they were called SERVICE stations .Soon you will have to fix the leaky pipe and send the local plumber some money. When I pay for a service I don’t feel I should do the work too!!
A lot of it, maybe most of it, was just an acceleration, a jump to hyperdrive, of uses for tech that were coming anyway. All of it would have happened, but at a much slower pace. The sole exception is probably the working from home. Bosses would not have easily given up the control of having someone at the office, but were forced to adapt to remote working by the covid panic.
The quesiton I am interested in watching unfold is how much of the change remains now. There is an unquantifiable amount of spontaneous collaberation that takes place when people are in a work place togetehr that simply does NOT happen when working remotely. No one sets up a zoom call to ask “tell me what you think of this” when in the office you can just pop your head in a friend’s office on the way to the coffee pot. The collaberative creativity that is lost will result in dumb ideas going to market because there was no one to laugh at them and stop them.
Excellent point. NOTHING can replace HUMAN interaction
EXCELLENT AND TRUE.
The balance is my wife doesn’t have to deal with a nutcase partner who has CNN blasting from his office all day long and his periodic rants about evil republicans. Nor can the backstabbing gossip spend all day flitting about all day spreading discord.
My wife will retire before she will return to the office and a very large % of office workers feel the same way.
I refuse to use those self-checkers and converse with others in line. One finds kindred and conservative spirits there!
When I get to the checkout lady, I tell her I’m here to save her job! You can see the wheels turning in her head for a few seconds to process what I said. I don’t stand in a guy’s line…too slow.
WE are the ones to force society back to how we want to live.
+100 on the guy line!
My group of like-minded friends began gathering together to walk and do coffee together. We were not afraid and discussed the world as it had changed-and how we refused to be part of the crazy. We were already friends for years-but now helped each other get thru the lockdowns with out minds intact. We now realize how important that resource has been for us as we continue.
As a child of the dark ages the moms in the neighborhood got together for morning koffee klatch while us kinders entertained each other.
Now in the brave new world the kinders are warehoused and the enlightened moms go to their wonderful stress free jobs.
You followed the lock downs? why? the government does not have the authority to lock you down. Do what I do…flip the gov the bird and go about my life.
Unless your work place was forced to close, right.
Hopefully people will hold on to and strengthen their morals and service to God regardless of their environment.
And even at staffed checkouts, you have to wade through 3 layers of requests for donations to charities you’ve never heard of, including “rounding up,” before you get the privilege of paying. I always tell them if they agree to give the same amount to my church for its mission activities I will give a bit to their company’s charity I have never heard of. I know. I’m a crank.
Not a crank!
Notice how they never offer to “round down”. That racket is particularly transparent when putting the payment on a credit card.
Tell them “I donate through the IRS.”
I use the same strategy with homeless beggars. They ask for money. I say you empty your pockets and I will empty mine whoever has the least amount of money gets to keep the others money. I have no had cash on me for decades now. Sadly the homeless scum never take me up on the bet.
I so agree.
full confession: I love self-checkout.
I can take my time (that is the main thing); I can check the price to make sure it matches up with what I saw on the shelf; I can check the running total, if I only brought so much money; if something was on sale (or so I thought) and does not show up with the sale price, there is a supermarket person hovering around who can check it. The supermarket people also are very helpful when you ring up what you think is the product, like “sweet potatoes” and nothing comes up because sweet potatoes are called “yams” in the machine. Fine by me.
As far as restaurant ordering is concerned we seem to be behind the times here because we sometimes have 3 people handling our table – the order taker, the order bringer, the table clearer. Fine by me. However, being on the same page as you as far as ordering online or whatever it is called – no thanks. l may want to discuss the food I am ordering for whatever reason. For that you need a person.
One good side effect of the Ronamania has been “curbside pickup”. At grocery stores and restaurants but mostly the big stores like Sam’s & Walmart it’s quite a convenience.
Shopping online avoids weirdos wandering the aisles, kids running around, and impulse buying. Will keep using curbside as long as they keep offering it as a free option.
Me too! I haven’t been inside a grocery store since 2013. It took a few trials before i found the one with the best produce. I really enjoy shopping online, especially if the store has a MODIFY button so I can add or subtract until Pick-up day.
Excellent sign!
Cell phone addiction change everything the fear of china flu why name it COVID with caps more attention on cell phone scanning info caps catch the eye the fear of COVID is much worse then the virus.
Self checkout and ordering ahead of time are great conveniences to me. I work unusual hours at my full time job, I have an elderly parent to look after, and all the usual stuff required to run a household. God knows I can think of a half-dozen things that need doing on the house right now. I have no wife, no partner, no other family to share the load. It’s just me. So if I can save a few minutes with the self checkout or if I can set an appointment to grab a favorite meal from a familiar restaurant later, then I’m happy to have those options.
I believe that most fast food franchises and sit downs will become a variation of made to order vending “machines.” Shortage of labor at any wage, and higher wages for those that are employed will drive that trend. The same goes for personalized service at the big box stores, whether it be groceries, clothing or lumber. I’m OK with this because I am seeing entrepreneurial opportunity for the common man.
Instead of operating a cash register, maybe that individual will set themselves up pumping gas, checking washer fluid, cleaning windshields and changing wiper blades – all as an upsell. I would suggest that if Americans are willing to pay $10 for a fancy cup of coffee they would certainly pay for this. An enterprising individual could make significantly more wage than standing behind that register.
What I see is that people will be given a choice between cost containment for a commodity (increased mechanization and self-service), and professional service at premium for those that place value in that capacity. It’s a win win. I would rather pay the independent hardware shop owner $30 for providing me the one gasket needed to fix my leaky toilet (and explain why that’s the appropriate piece) than to go to Home Depot and pay $30 for a repair kit, of which I’m going to throw away everything but the one gasket I needed.
There once was a time when gas stations had attendants who came to your car to pump your gas, check your washer fluid and oil, clean your windshield, or change a wiper blade.
Then came Jimmy Carter.
Oh, did I forget to mention that gas was also only .25 cents per gallon?
Marc Trail & Auwtsnae, plus we got green stamps and a free glass or dinnerware all for .19-.25 cents a gallon!
Amen.
” pumping gas, checking washer fluid, cleaning windshields and changing wiper blades” Too late homeless losers already offer these services. I aint paying some scumbag to do something I can do.
My son and I were in one of those chain restaurants last week when we encountered a robotic hostess dubbed “Rita.”
The robot only led us to our tables and provided us with menus, but it was obviously designed to also deliver food to the tables.
My 23 year old son described the whole process as very “off-putting.”
The restaurant, which had been known for its southwest decor, had also been redecorated into a cold, modernistic, lifeless, dining room of sterile nothingness.
It felt like an airport cafeteria with a robot.
It was creepy.
Blech.
And you just know the psychopaths in charge have also designed killer robots. Thats why they wanted to vaxx all the armed forces… replace with robot dogs etc
Skynet is coming.
Recently stopped into a McDonald’s in New Mexico. You order and pay at a kiosk and pick your food up at the counter. The help was not helpful. It was supposed to be modern but it was extremely cold and impersonal. I can’t blame the people working there. They have not been trained to greet guests and have not been taught that the customer is what’s generating the paycheck they receive. I worked with the public when I was teenager – people can be rude and abusive.
Politeness, kindness, and a smile costs nothing and you get so much in return.
Once of the most horrific changes that occurred during the Gulag years was the closure of live AA meetings.
As anyone “in the rooms” knows, fellowship with other humans is one of the main foundations of AA- meeting makers make it.
Where I live in suburban NY (and I know it’s true elsewhere) most of our AA meetings are held in church basements or other rooms that they let us use as a community service. After dealing with many of the Catholic pastors for decades, my feeling is that they don’t like alcoholics and addicts all that much.
So when the state told the churches that they had to kick us out- they were very glad to obey the command and close up their facilities. These “priests” had zero compassion for the sick and suffering alcoholics and addicts.
They literally did not care when I went to them and explained how much those meetings meant to us, how many lives were saved by the fellowship. My pleas fell on deaf ears. They were and are the most heartless, soulless inhuman beings that I have ever had to deal with and it shows once again why so many people like me long ago left the Catholic church.
Sad to say the AA meetings were the last thing to come back online. Some of the churches refused to let us back claiming that they needed our rooms for other purposes.
All of the AA meetings in three counties have been disrupted to one extent or another. There are still hundreds of zoom meetings that are trying to replace live meetings which really isn’t possible. Many lives were lost as well as people went back to drinking and drugging. As far as I can tell, things will never get back to what was “normal” back in 2019.
We are rebuilding our fellowship from the ground up in many places.
The ex-wife used to attend CODA (Codependents Anonymous) meetings.
The benefit she gained from those in-person meetings was immense.
Given the lack of security around everything online and the sensitive nature of what is discussed in those meetings, I can’t see how anyone would be comfortable with online meetings.
I suspect that the most compelling factor that kept those churches from allowing the AA meetings back in is lack of government money. There is a flood of money available to the churches to “sponsor” leftist causes like fake refugees. Your cause doesn’t pay in the currency the church values.
My wife is treasurer of our local Alano Club which provides a meeting place for all of the AA type meetings, About 39 per week. Alot of work. When the sh*t hit the fan (scamdemic) they switched to ZOon as a last resort. They have been back to inperson meetings for 6 months now. We know first hand how important the human to human connectivity connection is important. Keep coming back.
I would agree with you. In my case, it was the other members who were terrified of the ‘rona. They tried zoom but as any first grader can tell you, it ain’t like being “in the rooms.” I have not been back to Al Anon and I miss it. If the tenants of Al Anon are not adhered to, it’s easy for good meetings to go bad. The old timers who stick to that really are the glue that keeps a good meeting going.
Maybe I’ll find a new meeting since I’ve moved. I hope so. And regarding the Catholic Church, I understand what you’re saying. Unfortunately, there are a lot of crappy church leaders. They’re human and they fail.
I’m not giving up on Al Anon.
Please, it’s not just Catholic Churches for sure. Contemplate your white supremacy for Lent. Woke-ism. And still wearing masks. Minneapolis. I’d really like to name names, but won’t.
God saved me and deposited me in Al Anon 43 years ago. I attended Al Anon/AA 12 step programs intensely. They changed my life.
I hope and pray it will go back to in-person human everywhere asap. There is no substitute for in-person human. Part of the strength is the energy and support in the room.
There is no emotional transfer on Zoom. (That’s why people go to music concerts instead of listening on a device.)
I know what you mean about Catholic pastors. I am familiar with Catholic pastors back in New York and found them stultifying.
It is much better out West. Where I am there are many Catholic parishes and they differ from each other politically and with their message. Some are far leftist and even into so -called “liberation theology”, others are mainstream, some are conservative and the pastors are true Christian, the kind of Catholic priest you dream of. In my experience, these conservative, wonderful, charismatic priests who are so filled with the Holy Spirit are frequently black and from Africa. The future of the Catholic Church is Africa. Our other great pastor is from the Philipines. I think this says something about us in America. We have been living in a deluded way for years.
Deluded and debauched.
Had two awesome priests. They always seemed at odds with the Bishop. What does that tell you?
The most recent priest was an Irish fellow at a parish that was comprised of lots of military from the base nearby and the rest were very ethnically diverse. I really felt at home there. He allowed the Mass to be said early on Sunday in the Extraordinary form (TLM) which was not popular with the Bishop. We had lots of young families which was very encouraging to see. When I told my pastor I was leaving California, he said “Good luck finding another parish. This one is pretty special.” I said, “I know.”
Some of the most passionate Americans are brand new legal citizens. I believe the same is true of new priests from places like Africa and the Philippines.
Good priests are few and far between. They’re out there – it just takes some time to find them.
Here in Chgo area some of our churches have now allowed our groups to return. Most ,if not all hospital, meetings have completely shut down. Some mtgs are running hybrid-ARGH.. Zoom is no replacement for in-person meetings. No zoom for me these days. ODAT
To be honest here in western PA most people are just back to normal. This is the suburbs of Pittsburgh. People shake hands, no distancing, plastic barriers have been removed in most places now. I can’t think of a business offhand that requires masks. I had forgotten how insane traffic could be on weekends, but it’s pretty much back to normal. Festivals, concerts, parades- other activities both indoor and outdoor are basically normal again.
A few exceptions remain. In this area around 10% of the population are going to wear masks indoors for the rest of their lives. That’s about what I see in grocery stores right now. Knock yourself out, don’t really care as long as I don’t have to… These are probably the same 10% that are still “sheltering”. Outdoor masking still exists but it’s even lower, probably less than 1%.
I eat out a lot and restaurants seem pretty much back to normal around here. They are usually packed and understaffed. I have never had to order my own food, but the other day a robot brought the food to our table, that was interesting. I haven’t noticed an increase in self checkouts, but have preferred to use them for years now if I don’t have a lot in my cart.
Healthcare is the area where things may never get back to normal. Still under vaccine mandates and mask mandates. But my dentist has no mask mandate. 100% back to pre-covid. No covid signage, none of the absurd health checks. None of the staff wear masks. He does when he is working in my mouth, but he did that before covid. I went to a chiropractor and it was the same, no masks in the building. My doctor still requires a mask as does my kids orthodontist.
Probably depends where you live but even here in a fairly blue suburb of Pittsburgh it’s pretty clear covid is mostly over.
Same in Prexcott AZ!
Really??
This is the same in both the Illinois and Missouri sides of metro St. Louis as well.
The St. Louis bi-state area is a mixture of red and blue areas depending on how close an area is the urban center, the demographics of the area, and how close the area is to the nearest college campus.
Both the red and blue areas around here seem to have the same level of mask wearing and compliance to other covid mandates now.
I never carry the cell. Cell: a small room in which a prisoner is locked up! I have a cell, I just do not carry it around with me.
I’m no Luddite either, I like electricity.
My kids are always complaining, they cannot get a hold of me, funny. Their getting a hold of me is a texts, the most impersonal form of communication?
I tell them that I remember not even having a phone in our house when I was a kid nor a TV, because it was broke ( need one of those tubes), my parents could not afford them or my dad was saving money to go see family. I also told them, my mother would sit at the dinning room table and write 8 to 10 letters a week (4 to 5 pages these letters) to keep family and friends informed about what was happening in our side of the family and we would receive numerous letters in the mail, which she would read at the same dinning room table. My family was large Dad (11 kids) Mom (13 kids), lots of Aunts and Uncles. Each of them had a minimum of three kids and some had five or six kids. All would get together all would be visited through the years.
I tell them of my dad and other family members, buying a house just to house my aging grandparents and hiring a lady to take care of them, because he could not stand the idea of them in a nursing home. He would say they were there when we need them. I keep telling them these stories, to show them they are losing something, something very important. Family.
When me and my brothers and sisters and cousins are gone that will be it, gone. Nothing left but texting!
Our nuclear family of 6 insists on Sunday Family Brunch. For most of us, it’s the only time we see or talk with each other, so it is an all day affair, most of the time. Then once a year, EVERY year, we have an ALL Family Bash, which is 60-70 people. We rotate the responsibility for a 3-day extravaganza that has been happening since I started it 12 years ago, the first weekend of August,,from Friday at 5 to Sunday at 5. At first I did it myself, but then marriags and babies made it way expensive and now the Original 6 of us rotate the cost and work. NOBODY misses Family Bash, except me now because this year the fun is rafting the Truckee River, in California, and at 87 I am too chicken for rafting and too old for sitting in the sun to watch. Keeping the Family together has been the major goal of my life. We always sing and dance to the recording; We Are Family! just before departure time, Sunday at 5 P.M.. We do the same at weddings and baby showers. This year in August I get to become a Great Grandmother!
So true and so sad.
The increasingly self service world is ok with me. Most waiters and waitresses ( can I still use that word?) are probably nice people and all but my wife and I have been called “You guys” way too many times now so my expectations for intelligent human interaction at a restaurant dinner are much diminished. I have always preferred establishments where the wait staff was men in their 50’s wearing tuxedos and calling me sir.
So we rarely go out to eat and when we do it shows that it has become hard to find what used to be called “fine dining.” This is more a feature of the ongoing coarsening of America and not so much a COVID effect.
I used to perceive a trip to retail as a financial transaction where value was gained by both parties. Now, I see that I as customer am just an input into the global marketing, inventory, accounting and financial planning systems of the retailer. That’s ok. I’m glad my handing over my purchase, credit, etc. data to them helps them, so long as I get something of value in return. But these days the value I get is lower and lower.
But most of all I really object to ( and no longer visit) the restaurants and retailers lecturing me about medicine which I’m sure I know more about than they do.
Went into a wendy’s several months ago.. looked around.. asked”where is the cashier? I’d like to order.. I was told, you’ll have to use the kiosk to place your order.went to the kiosk,, couldn’t find what I wanted.got one of the employees attention,says I,,, look, I just want a baked potato,and a small chili,,, that’s all. Their response was that I would have to use the kiosk…so,,as politely as I could,, I informed them,,, y’all go f#c+yourselves,,, I’m outta here
Yes. I forgot about our kiosk experiences. Surly service workers, incomprehensible kiosk instructions, the vey idea of paying before getting the product, not to mention the out of service signs all lead to horrible experience. We write those companies off our list.
Ha! I hate the kiosks at fast food places, too. I always fiddle and fudge about with them… tying up a valuable kiosk heh, heh.
Someone always shows up to ‘help’, i.e., free up the kiosk. Then we get to the receipt part. I fiddle and fuss some more, in vain attempts to get a printed receipt until someone shows up to ‘help’ me (free up the @#!&! kiosk). I do whatever it takes to get them to print a receipt for me.
Oh, and always pay in cash. They have to have someone go to a register anyhow to take your money. Just fiddle at the kiosk until someone shows up so you can ask “Where’s the cash option?”
I have been to a couple of fast food places with very smart managers. They have the kiosks, but someone is assigned to hang out and look for people… like me!… who don’t like the kiosks. They take me to the register or call me over, ask “What can we get for you?” take cash or a card, and give me a receipt.
I have been to other locations of the same chains with dumb@$$ managers that attempt to follow the corporate rules. They get the “tie up a kiosk for 10-15 minutes” routine from me. When I have the choice, I go to those locations where I know they have a smart manager and my fast food is fast, and pleasant.
Did I mentioned I’m retired and have time to fuss with all of this?
I put the S-L-O-W into ‘fast food.’ 😉 I’m ‘that guy’ at any place with the order kiosks. And I’m always cheerful and pleasant. Just unwilling to play by their rules.
Nearly EVERY time I’ve used a self checkout , there was a problem / delay.
Item not found.
Wrong price
Machine out of cash / change
I have left FULL carts of items at stores when they fail to provide speedy checkout. They want to make me wait TO GIVE THEM MY MONEY ? — Nope. ( wave at the cameras on your way out )
On a related note — >> CARRY SOME CASH
Credit card machines were down all over the US yesterday for a time. Incredible how many people become helpless when that happens. Are you ready for rolling brown-outs this summer ?
Sparrow Hawk
If they mess with the air conditioning in Arizona, Arizona will turn back to Red over night.
I live in Florida, and I say “from my cold, dead hands!” I don’t know what our AC bill will look like this summer. August and September out highest electric bills.
Well:
I’ll never accept a job I have to drive/commute to an office for ever again; though, I had earned the demand for my talent to work from home well prior to Covid anyway.
The ludicrously insufficient infrastructure of our rotting nation makes commuting an activity that takes years off your life. Also, the gas costs of a daily suburbs to city center commute ate so much in to a paycheck then, now with these commie gas prices you’d have to give everyone almost 50% raises to sustain that model anyway and companies will not do that. Hell, they won’t even keep up with basic inflation.
I could care less about meeting co-workers in person, ever. Most people suck anyway, especially corporate types I have to deal with. No desire to see a prog looney toon as anything more than a voice on a conference call anyway.
I think remote working has been the biggest blessing to the average American corporate worker since the addition of health insurance as part of compensation.
I know many who feel like I do. You want my SME, don’t you dare ask me to go in to an office for anything other than the odd meeting or three per year.
lol.. we have the cheapest model of a pay as you go phone available, this makes it very difficult to use the technology enhanced personal transponders available for anything other than a phone call.. Although we resentfully had to upgrade to the $18.99 models due to phone companies cutting off our access to 3G network, we’ve accepted the challenge and muddled thru.. Never were much for eating out without a special occasion for the expense.. Both of us can cook, quite well I might add, both are tired of the treachery so active in our everyday lives..
I rarely use self-checkout, unless it’s only for a couple of goods. If anything needs to be bagged – THEY CAN DO IT.
In terms of restaurants, some have apps, some don’t – I will go increasingly to those that don’t use apps.
I’ve never used the self check out & don’t plan on it.
I am 100% behind any measure that tends to decrease barriers to personal interactions between me and the likes of Bev Turner, I can tell you that much
I was in a grocery store in the late 90’s that just installed the self checkouts. I got in a line for the real cashier. An ass’t store manager tried to direct me to the self checkout. I asked him if I got a discount for using it. The dude was flustered, stammered for a moment, then said no. I asked him why I would do a job myself when the cost of the cashier and bagger was reflected in the price of the goods. Again the poor sap had no answer. His mind was blown by a simple question that anyone with a semblance of retail business knowledge could think of. But now, living in the rude county of Loudoun in Northern Virginia, I will use self checkouts. Most retailers have so squeezed their labor budgets so tight that there are frequently only one or two cashier staffed lines open in a big box retailer.
It was a couple years ago, I stopped by McDonald’s for lunch and according to an employee, the cash registers were down. So she would help me place my order on a newly installed kiosk. I accused her of training people on the tech so that they’d no longer need cash registers. She accused me of being old and set in my ways. I will never go back. I walked into Taco Bell a while back and their cashiers had been replace as well. I will miss them too.
I go to self checkouts sometimes just so I can bag stuff myself. MN Walmarts are filled with cashiers that have no concept of how to bag groceries. They just spin that carousel and dump stuff in 10 bags where if they took a bit more effort it would only take 5 bags. I think part of this is simply lack of common sense and education of today’s workers.
I refuse to wait in line so self-checkout is perfect for me. I also never step inside a bank, ATM is better. And refuse to step inside a DMV or post office, waste of time.
Your choice Sundance. You can stand in line with two or three items while some senile old man takes 20 minutes to write a check or find his debit card or go to the self checkout and be home by the time the old man pays his bill.
As for Wally World, I rarely shop there simply because they have zero customer service.
Doesn’t mean crap when the borders are wide open, and inviting every disease in the world.
For using the self-checkout I want a 10% discount for doing someone else’s job.
I don’t see that happening anytime soon so I’ll continue to interact with the humans.
She’s a lot cuter than Neil. Just sayin’…
I’ve been a vocal opponent of the covid mandates partly because I’m a staunch believer in personal liberty and don’t believe that the existence of a particular disease or that someone’s interpretation of the “science” can be used as an excuse to infringe upon personal liberty.
I also oppose covid mandates based on the practical fact that the mandates are not helpful and are actually harmful.
I’m sharing the story of an unfortunate coworker of mine to highlight the danger of the covid vaccine.
This coworker was a staunch believer in every covid mandate and took covid deathly seriously. He received the initial covid vaccine as well as every booster.
I like to refer to people like him as covidians due to how they completely believe in the mainstream covid narrative.
I have a strong suspicion, but no proof, that this coworker found a way to game the system and actually get more boosters than the medical establishment is recommending just because he would have viewed that as being extra protected against covid.
He was very proud of being vaccinated against covid. In fact, if one listened carefully, they may have heard him boastfully bragging about being vaccinated through the muffle of the N-95 mask that always clung bitterly to his face as if it were some sort of magical, demon warding amulet.
Like many covidians, he was a pompous jerk and bully who liked to belittle anyone who disagreed with the mainstream covid narrative. He was also extremely liberal and bigoted against Christians.
I started to get a strong sense that this coworker was going to become so overloaded with covid vaccine, that he would eventually die of a vaccine related injury.
When he unexpectedly didn’t show up to work for an entire week, I quietly assumed the worst and that he had likely died due to a vaccine related adverse reaction.
My suspicion was confirmed at the end of the work week when it was announced that this coworker, who was in his 50s, had indeed died of a sudden heart attack.
I’ll probably never have proof that the vaccine caused this heart attack, but it’s likely given the fact that this coworker was otherwise healthy and in shape.
Even though I didn’t like this particular person, as someone who values the sanctity of human life, I still think it’s sad that someone died unnecessarily due to the covid vaccine. Hopefully the story of this unnecessary death will help spread the word on the dangers of the covid vaccine.
There are thousands of such incidents. We have two family members and some friends who have had serious and long lasting health disorders due to this vaccine. Most are in denial. Oh well, the hell with them. I know people with attitudes exactly like your friend. They can be obnoxious and overbearing. That’s who they were before Covid. You can sometimes view them driving around in their car alone wearing a mask with the car windows rolled up. The ignorance and mass psychosis knows no bounds.
It seems that people often forget the power of their dollar when choosing which establishments to patronize.
I still remember which stores and restaurants around me in the Illinois suburbs of St. Louis adhered to Governor Pritzker’s covid mandates and which ones did not and I still choose to patronize the ones that didn’t comply with the mandates.
You can also choose to vote with your dollars over any other issues that you care about. For example, the local college town, Edwardsville, IL, imposed a woke 10 cent fee on all single use paper and plastic shopping bags.
I don’t want to pay for using a single use shopping bag or have to use a reusable bag, so I simply decided to shop in the many nearby towns instead to avoid this fee.
It unfortunately seems that I’m an outlier here and that most people would rather comply with the bag fee than drive a few extra miles to avoid it.
The same often applies with other government mandates, including the covid mandates. People seem to usually choose convenience rather than seeking out stores and restaurants that refuse to participate in the mandates.
Not every change is a bad thing. I work from home now, hopefully permanently. Should have happened 10 years ago.
It’s stupid for tech people to waste four hours a day commuting to do a job that can more efficiently be done at home. For what? So I can interact with idiotic humans in a crappy city like Chicago at my job and to and from? I can interact with idiots at the gym and I have lower expectations for them so it’s less annoying.
I’ve never had to order my own meal so I can’t speak to that, we deal with waiters and waitresses out here.
Self checkout lines – again, fewer stupid people to deal with.
The biggest personal change is that I now read 5 chapters of the Bible each day, 4 from the OT (the Law, History, Poetry, and Prophecy) and 1 from the NT (Gospels, Acts, Epistles or Revelation) which I started doing around the faux inauguration in Jan 2021.
This added to daily prayer for everything I can think of that could scare me to death has subtly but profoundly changed my outlook, increasing my confidence in God’s goodness, that he is present and ‘connected’ and most of all in complete control.
I recommend this to anyone who is despairing or questioning their sanity. It’s a soul saver.
Well now let’s see. First we had the Covid Delta virus. Supposedly deadly, and so at “warp speed” a mRNA based vaccine was developed. This vaccine not only proved useless, but it is now positively known to have caused serious injury and death. Covid, a man made virus, was extremely infectious but NOT as deadly as advertised. The cure was far worse than the disease.
Next we got the Omicron ‘variant’. More vaccines named ‘boosters’ with poor efficacy results at best. Well, the truth is that these vaccines have caused thousands of deaths and injury. But that’s not enough. Lord Fauci said we would need to get a booster vaccination every six months! They’ve since walked that back a little. Too many dead bodies and severe injuries.
Then came the Ukaine war. This knocked the Covid mania and associated medical porn out of first place in the news cycle. It’s now obvious that the constant propaganda surrounding this event was total bullsh**. Russia is going to come out on top even while the US is sending weapons trying to prolong this conflict. As Col Doug Macgregor has so presciently predicted the end result will favor the Russians. The news cycle is now winding down the propaganda surrounding this war. Again, too many dead bodies.
What’s next? Ah ha! We got Monkey Pox coming to the forefront. There are 84 cases confirmed world wide, but the government has been busy buying up “Monkeypox” vaccines. Yes. it’s true. The media is now running with the new narrative. Those who have not already been negatively affected by all the previous lies and outright BS will be lining up for these Monkeypox shots. Is there no end to the outright stupidity?
The collateral damage done by this mass psychosis is tremendous and almost incalculable. It’s ALL self inflicted by fear and hysteria. The article here refers to just a small portion of the damage done.
By the way, stand by for the coming economic catastrophe, which is man made and politically generated. There is no solution to the trillions in worldwide sovereign debt. The ‘New World Order’ is well aware that this is out of control. Very probably a new digital money system will be developed to deal with this untenable problem. The coming systemic economic failure will be blamed on the above events and more of the same is coming our way this year. All of it man made. All of it our own fault.
Instead of a government that serves the people, the people are now servants of the government.
Don’t forget to be first in line to get your Monkeypox vaccine. The politicians, who are concerned with your well being, will insist on it….
I read today that the current m pox outbreak can be traced back to a gay festival in the Canary Islands. Men on men sex. Kinda gives a whole new meaning to having a monkey on your back.
ba da bump ba.
Tip your waiters,
I’ll be here all week.
Excellent post. Yes, I think you are on to something. Are there monkeys on the Canary islands? If so, this entire thing makes sense. Those who survive this disease, and not just the monkeys, will be returning to the US to run for office as Democrats.
Just subscribed, checking if my comments will take.
Welcome Jeff Webb!
For those of you who have been vaccinated and those who really don’t understand the criminal behavior behind this virus and associated vaccines here’s a super informative short video from Dr. David Martin:
https://rumble.com/v153ybt-dr.-david-e-martin-gives-explosive-jaw-dropping-information-in-canadian-zoo.html
The covid changes suck. They were artifically contrived and forced on a largely unsuspecting public by the use of fear and our natural desire to support our government. Now, more of us are beginning to realize the utter corruption that envelopes the “elites”. Not only do they NOT care about us, they exhibit the signs of grave evil. They are doing what they can to take away our historical freedoms. Every move is designed to frustrate our honest desires to enjoy the fruits of our labors, provide for our families and our exercise of religious and moral imperatives. Lucifer doesn’t bother to hide anymore and he is getting away with it. The Western “democracies” have become just as corrupt as the Communist dictatorships. Their full corruption is not fully exposed to many, but those who fear the Lord can see what is happening. There appears to be no end to their rebellion and wickedness. We haven’t hit bottom yet. God help us.
You are 100% correct. Sadly, those who have been victimized, in many cases, are too weak minded and brain washed to believe what’s right in fornt of them. Millions just continually lined up for more ‘boosters’ !! They just keep drinking the Koolaid…..
Do they still expect a tip?
For what?
I’m old enough to remember when they had a price sticker on every item in the grocery store, except fresh stuff. The checkout gal had to enter the price in the register and total it. The bag boy or girl packed your groceries in a paper bag, if you requested, helped you to your car. For the good old days!
My employer is trying to establish a hybrid working model, but so few people are coming into the offices and certainly not every day. They are hoping it will change a bit. Most employees have fully adapted to work from home and they like it. More free time with family, flex-time hours, no commute, cooking instead of eating out, saving on vehicle TCO and fuel. The ability to perform household chores in between work, etc. Many moved to more suitable homes further outside cities or to be closer to family.
Companies locate their offices in order to recruit new young talent. College grads go to the big cities to start a career. That is no longer the new normal. Employers can recruit anyone anywhere with remote work. The company has reduced their real estate footprint (typically, by an entire floor or wing in each major office) and will likely continue to do so. Plans to change leasing and also selling buildings they own and leasing back space. They are performing construction to remodel the buildings to suit cubicle/office hoteling as well as new collaboration spaces and upgrading conference room technology. You book the space with an App, managers book collaboration space and nearby cubicles. You invite the rooms and they connect to Teams / Zoom. People will congregate in office space for collaboration and important meetings otherwise virtual working will continue to be the norm. Our company selected Microsoft 365 and Teams and that is working out very well. Most all of our legacy software is being updated and enabled on private cloud. Contrary to expectations, productivity was not lost, it actually went up 20-30%. But there is a certain amount of attrition and recruting and hiring efforts have increased. Some employees moved with spouses and took new job opportunities, some changed careers, etc. There has been a considerable shift as people adapted or decided on new pathways in life.
Ironically, that “We Work” business model was ahead of its time (perhaps they wouldn’t have been so fraudulent if the market for remote work actually existed). If they started the idea up now and in the next few years, they could scoop up some serious real estate and there would be actual customers for that business model. Large employers are currently pursuing that very same real estate model of many remote small offices instead of a few large centrally located offices.
We have not eaten out a lot since the start of the plandemic, but in the few times we’ve been out this year we have had no muzzles, real wait staff, real menus. If I ever go to a restaurant and that demanded I order thru an app, I am turning around and leaving. I am not into apps.
Self check-out was not a result of Covid! It was alive and well, convenient and quick, long before Covid came to our shores. As I’ve learned to use it, I have really enjoyed it. If you don’t enjoy it, you are of course still welcome to go have a cashier run your purchases across an identical bar code reader. I like doing my own and packing the sacks the way I like them packed.
I have ALWAYS felt, that patronizing a restaurant was a privilege granted to them. It is what they are in business to do, serve and feed……
If they have forgotten (or never learned) the value of providing good service and food…..then they do not deserve my money either.
I can cook as well or better than almost any chef anyway, so it’s really pushing things for them to be so arrogant as to shirk on the “business” that I purchase from them.
Many businesses fall into this category. I do NOT do “self-checkouts” either. They can economize in other ways. There was an article I read some time ago, that the biggest losses are often incurred from their own employees, not customers. But no….they treat the customer as an enemy – they lose me as a customer.