JAVA Mar-2019

A while ago, I was checking out and the cashier
said something like, “Oh! Here’s my favorite
customer.” I think I started blushing, and as
with anything where I am directly called out, I
started feeling embarrassed and that mystery
feeling I closely relate to – guilt.
A few months ago, when the lottery reached an astronomical payout, I bought
some tickets. Because everyone knows the best time to play the lottery is the
time when every other human in the country is playing it too. He was, of course,
my cashier. To bring my odds back to the more realistic zillion-to-one, I bought
ten tickets. And because I knew I was his favorite, I said that if I won, there was
going to be a BIG payout for him.
This time when I went to my car, because I was sure I would win, I really
stressed out thinking about where he fit into my lottery winnings. I have written
before about my extensive and very well laid plans on how I will distribute my
lottery winnings. How much does he get now? I mean, I have always had the
ticket seller in my payout plans, but this is different – I’m his favorite customer.
This certainly means I need to up his portion.
Here’s something else that happens at Fry’s. If you are there at the start of a new
hour, you are in for a dystopian treat via an automated announcement. The Muzak
usually playing suddenly stops, followed by a couple of bing-bong-bing chimes
to get your attention. Then comes the weird announcement that says: “Attention
Fry’s employees. It’s 3 o’clock. Time for the top of the hour conditioning check.”
Conditioning check? That sounds like something from 1984 or Brave New World.
I expected the people stocking shelves to drop what they were doing and start
doing push-ups or line up in rows military inspection style, but the employees didn’t
even seem to notice. I asked one of them what this “conditioning” means, but he just
shrugged his shoulders and carried on crafting a pyramid of canned tomatoes.
I hope my favorite employee knows what to do so he won’t get a demotion.
I worry about him and his job security with all this automation at the grocery
stores. As if it isn’t bad enough that we are supposed to scan and bag our own
groceries – which is really free labor for the store – now they are pushing these
hand-held scanners where you can walk through the store and scan as you are
shopping. No thanks.
On the other hand, using the hand scanner could be the answer to my Fry’s
anxiety. I won’t feel the pressure of potentially letting my guy down if I don’t
interact with him. But then I’d be contributing to phasing out cashier jobs,
and I won’t do that. Also, I can’t be so distracted when I’m shopping. I have to
concentrate on what to buy and which one is cheapest. And, I have to devote
time to thinking about more important things – mainly, how to maintain my status
as favorite customer.