I still see people paying with a check at the grocery store sometimes. I have a hard time making sense of how resistant people are to change, even when it is more convenient for them and less annoying to others behind them. But at least the cashier doesn’t have to call the manager for approval.
This reminds me of a fun story. I was at the supermarket just grabbing a couple things for about $30. I go to pay. All the credit card POS (pun intended) systems were down. It was a fiasco. People were bugging out and didn’t know what to do. Lines of people with shopping carts full of groceries and no way to pay. A few people had checkbooks and were able to proceed. I always carry cash and also breezed through. Although, to be fair I usually carry about $100. If I was there with $200+ of groceries I would have been up the creek as well. Also, I pay for everything with credit because it’s easy and I want those reward points. Cash is just a backup.
Thanks for the education. I was 10 years old back in 1990, but about 5,000 miles away from the States. My dad would pay in cash to the guy who pumped the gas for him.
I still see people paying with a check at the grocery store sometimes. I have a hard time making sense of how resistant people are to change, even when it is more convenient for them and less annoying to others behind them. But at least the cashier doesn’t have to call the manager for approval.
My mom had a theory about technology. She said there comes a point in a person's life where they stop adopting new technology. For her mother, she said it was the microwave. For my mother, she said it was VCR. She just couldn't figure it out.
Not sure if I'm there yet but I'm getting close. I refuse to tap my credit card for payment and insist on inserting it into the reader. Maybe that'll be my thing. "Hey Boomer, just tap it!"
My mom had a theory about technology. She said there comes a point in a person's life where they stop adopting new technology. For her mother, she said it was the microwave. For my mother, she said it was VCR. She just couldn't figure it out.
Not sure if I'm there yet but I'm getting close. I refuse to tap my credit card for payment and insist on inserting it into the reader. Maybe that'll be my thing. "Hey Boomer, just tap it!"
Another time we were on Space mountain when It broke down, and had to be evacuated off the catwalk.
You reminded me 😵💫 second time I rode Space Mountain, I evacuated on the catwalk. Tame by modern standards I know, but the opposing visual and inertial cues about what turns we were making were too much for my lower reaches. That day I knew I wouldn’t make pilot training 🙁
I believe they had an 8th dwarf that was in charge of evacuation clean-up.
I believe they had an 8th dwarf that was in charge of evacuation clean-up.
And even better (not to sound like That Guy)... the one G&D (Gas and Dash) I experienced as a gas attendant (and three shoplifting incidents when I worked as a 3rd shift stock boy at the local supermarket) you were not only allowed legally, but encouraged by management, to "engage" the perp... being a big yet fast boy I had some serious fun kicking the shit out of three of those four humans while waiting for the police to arrive (the fourth, a drunk older lady, at the supermarket, kicked the shit out of me while I had her pinned down - bit me seven times and absolutely shanked me in the nuts with a closed fist... I didn't let go of her but man did she leave some physical & psychological scars).
By contrast: my daughter worked PT at a supermarket last year to get some spending coin... she told me repeatedly about shoplifters and what she was instructed to do by management:
"Ask them to please put it back... if they don't and exit the store call the police with the best descriptors you can offer. Under no circumstances are you to engage them in any manner after asking them politely to put the merch back."
I was fυcking gobsmacked at that. World gone soft.
I quit smoking my pipe in 1980. 43 years ago. Then, a 50 gram package of Borkum Riff pipe tobacco was either $1.59, or $1.69. 20 years ago, out of interest, I enquired as to the price of the same 50 gram package of tobacco. $16.00, I was told. My collection has cost me very little since I started spending my tobacco money on it!
I don't want to derail this thread but I just can't help myself on this. I agree that by-and-large society has gone soft. But in this case I would say society has gotten smarter. Encouraging vigilante retail workers to engage in physical altercations with shoplifters is just stupid. Especially female workers who probably have no martial arts training. What if the guy or gal pulls a knife or a gun? Or just kicks your ass? Or what if the worker breaks grannies hip? Or she hits her head and dies? There are a thousand scenarios where this is just totally not worth the risk and cost of whatever the person is shoplifting. Would you want your daughter getting injured or killed trying to save Shop-O-Rama $50 of merchandise?
I think the approach is right. Confront the person so they know they've been caught, then call law enforcement and let them do their job. I've heard a badass Navy SEAL who could kick 99% of the asses on this planet say the same thing. You just never know who your fυcking with. Even people who don't look like much may have been training BJJ for the last 30 years and will just destroy you. Or somebody is having a really bad day and pulls a weapon. A lot of murders are not pre-meditated. Somebody is just having a really bad day and shit goes off the rails. De-escalate, check your ego, and bow out is the smarter move.
