Those supermarket self-checkouts: I used them all the time. They're quick and efficient, except when they get stuck with an unidentifiable item and you need an actual person to help, and you don't have to talk to anyone. An introvert's dream.
But then I realised that more self checkouts means fewer jobs and, in particular, jobs for people who need to work flexibly for whatever reason. In Waitrose that means it's less scope for the partnership ethos.
And I remembered how, in the dark depths of stress and loneliness and feelings of complete unworthiness that followed the birth of my frst child, the cheery chats with the staff in my local Waitrose in Beckenham pulled me through. I have been grateful to Waitrose ever since. I know the friendly chats can be a lifeline for lonely or isolated people and I'm very happy that they choose checkout staff who are happy to chat, frustrating as it might be for the people behind in the queue.
This afternoon I spotted a customer waiting with a full trolley at an unmanned checkout, her face set in solid expectation that someone would attend to her. The self-checkouts were busy but there was no-one at the conventional stations. I silently reached out to her in solidarity as I passed. Good for you, madam. When I'd finished my shopping, another woman had joined her, stoically forming a queue so I decided to join them both. Moments later a staff member sat down at the checkout as those of us in the queue started to chat, mainly about why it's important to preserve conventional checkouts in the face of efficient, dehumanising technology.
Then we spotted these two gentlemen on a bench by the wall, dipping mini baguettes into their Watirose Club member free coffees à la francaise. Before long we were all chatting away, the three of us in the checkout queue, the checkout staff and the two picnickers. A new little community of six.
Too many people are so involved with what's on their phones or their earphones that they have forgotten how to exchange words with other human beings who cross their path. We are so absorbed by world that we have chosen that we isolate ourselves from everyone else. Ironically, our communications devices serve to isolate us and thus erode our awareness of the rest of humanity around us.
I'm not going as far as to say that this isolating silo mentality was a deliberate strategy on the part of Big Tech, but that's what seems to be happening and it's undermining our understanding and compassion for people who aren't like us. Divide and rule by stealth. Let us resist this. Stand up against it. Form a queue and chat. And have a little picnic in your supermarket.
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