you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 15 points 2 days ago (10 children)

it's just such a weird contrast. everyone here loves self-checkout; less wait for buyers, less register work for the people working the store, less downtime for everyone.

but then again the us has baggers and greeters which imo is also dystopian.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 10 child comments
  • [–] 16 points 2 days ago (5 children)

    How are baggers and greeters dystopian? They're basically just floating extra employees getting paid to lighten the workload for everyone

    The fact that we no longer have baggers and greeters feels more dystopian. Because it's not like the work went away, the people remaining just have to spend more time alone while taking on more tasks

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 1 day ago (4 children)

    we've never had them. we went from over-the-counter to small corner shops to larger stores. the only times someone has bagged your groceries here is when you called to let them know you would be coming, or all the products were behind a counter. the last major over-the-counter chain closed here in the 90's. in that light, people hired specifically for talking to you or handling the things you've bought just smells of "bullshit jobs".

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 9 points 1 day ago (3 children)

    They're not bullshit jobs, they're like adornments on buildings. They're not strictly necessary, but they're signs of a thriving society that can afford a little wastefullness to make things more pleasant

    Like greeters were often people who couldn't physically or mentally perform a full job, and baggers aren't just laziness - they move the checkout line faster, as well as give the cashiers someone to talk to when it's slow

    If you've never had it, it's not a marker of anything, but when you watch the removal of all the nice little frills from society, it feels really damn dystopian.

    It feels like all encompassing decay

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 6 points 1 day ago (1 child)

    Like greeters were often people who couldn’t physically or mentally perform a full job

    I really like that you point this out because a thriving society takes care of their vulnerable and disabled populations in this way. A lot of disabled people in the US want to work, but mostly due to disability asset caps along with the actual disability, they can't.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 4 points 1 day ago

    True, people with down's syndrome make great greeters, because they're usually just super happy to be there

    Older folk too, it used to be common for retiree's to take that role just to keep themselves busy

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 3 points 1 day ago

    i thought you were going somewhere else with that, since most adornments on buildings are skeuomorphs: vestigial likenesses to features that were once needed when constructing buildings but no longer serve a purpose.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 4 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    I always go to a register with a cashier when I can. In the grocery store, the self-checkout lines are usually longer (and I have a lot of items), a cashier is usually faster. Also the cashier (or their bagger) knows how to put stuff in the bags better than I do.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment