More On High Tech / Low Touch

I worked retail for a couple of months at the customer service desk. When I first started my manager told me "Greet, greet, greet."  So I did.  I tried to engage everyone one coming in the door.  I missed a few which was my bad. (She later told me that just in case I hadn't noticed!). But often I said hello or welcome to someone well engaged in a cell phone conversation. 

I guess I can understand the rudeness walking in the door but it really bothered me much more at the checkout counter.  To carry on a conversation on the phone when trying to check  out is just plain rude. I fear however, we have come to such a thing. A few people would either put the phone person on hold or actually hang up and engage in the checkout process.

I grieve what society is becoming. First we lost the big front porch and the chance it afforded to sit  and shoot the breeze with neighbors and friends. Then we lost clothesline in the backyard where women could chat over the fence while hanging the laundry out to dry.  Then we lost the single telephone with a busy single when the line was tied up.  Does anyone remember party lines? I do. Now we are so engrossed in our cellphone conversations as to ignore the person next to or in front of us. It is a scary thing to depersonalize so much. God created us in His image and as such we are social beings. We need to interact.  Next time you are in a store on the phone, hang up. You just might make the cashier's day.