I tend to be wary about memes being shared on Facebook and Twitter. I remember when one of my female cousins, an impassioned Trumpkin, had posted a gun control meme on her Facebook page. I was confused because I was fairly sure that the Second Amendment is a litmus test issue for his Southern conservative base; however, Trump is anything but a principled conservative, and I know he's sometimes paid lip service after high-profile tragedies like school shootings to things like tightening gun registration criteria.
My cousin's father was my Dad's closest older brother who met and later fell in love with my Mom's best friend at my folks' wedding. My cousins friended me on Facebook after my widowed aunt suffered a major stroke and died a few days later; I attended her funeral. So anyway I was confused by the cousin's shared meme but didn't want to confront her over it so I didn't comment directly; however, I noticed a clueless progressive had doubled down on the meme's theme, and let's just say I don't suffer fools gladly. What I didn't know was the commenter was apparently a close family friend, and all 4 cousins promptly attacked and immediately defriended me. So much for blood being thicker than water.
Now I wasn't really that close to my cousins; my Dad had been USAF career enlisted, so we had lived in multiple states (and France) and my uncle's family was in Connecticut, not really close to the Fall River/Providence base of most relatives. But we had met on multiple occasions, and my folks would always manage to visit when we were in New England. There was one annoying difference; my uncle's surname was misspelled in an Anglicized fashion on his birth certificate, and I guess my grandparents never noticed or got it fixed. My uncle never changed it, wore it almost like a badge of honor. But I was not happy when years later I got an invitation to a relative gathering from my (only for that family) female cousin using my uncle's surname.
Now my friends and family (not all siblings have accounts and/or their kids are friended) are probably aware of my libertarian/conservative views from shared posts and/or my blog; very few of those draw any likes (maybe an occasional brother-in-law or Navy buddy depending on the topic). And really I don't get many non-libertarian memes hitting my feed. If and when they do, I don't want to repeat the mistake I made with my cousin's post.
So the following meme was posted by a former UT/Austin coed friend. (She was pursuing her Master's in math education. She shared an office down the hall from the one we graduate math students shared. I had a mad crush on her, but she was already in a relationship with an engineer and eventually married him; they are still happily married and have a number of kids and grandkids. She was the daughter of a UT engineering professor.)
This is part of a group of Luddite themes, all of a nature to pressure employers to hire workers in professions largely obsoleted by automation. I'm trying to remember the specifics of similar themes, but basically the idea is to boycott self-serve options and insist on worker assistance.
Probably the most classic example is when I was driving back to Maryland from a relative's funeral and took an exit off a New Jersey turnpike to gas up. I think over the past 3 decades I've probably pumped my own gas all but maybe a handful of times. There have been a few times I had to go inside because of some convenience store setup to activate the pump, etc. But I literally jumped in my seat, startled when a NJ attendant came by to collect my credit card. Nope, not going to pay extra for someone to pump my gas. (It's factored into the price.) I waited until I was back in Maryland, so NJ lost its share of excise taxes on my purchase. Why New Jersey has this make-work scheme, I don't know. (I don't think there are more than 1 or 2 states doing this nonsense.) It's politically corrupt.
What really got my attention was the Amazon reference and/of course the reference to Walton family shareholders. allegedly saving money at the expense of cashier careers. There are other factors at play, including the customer's own time. I have been behind a "back-to-school" Mom while her cart was being rung up, including every single folded file folder, pencil cups, whatever. The cashier and customer were leisurely conversing, swapping gossip, but scanning was happening at a slow pace. I didn't have anywhere like that amount in my cart. I do have patience (I'm not the kind to complain that X has 17 vs. 15 items in the quick item checkout aisle), but it took forever for her to get rung up.
I wasn't crazy about my friend reposting the meme, but I didn't want her to get upset with me. So here is a transcript of the exchange:
Ronald A Guillemette
Not a fan of lines. I don't need others to scan barcodes for me. The last time I checked, Walmart provided a choice: wait in line or self-checkout. Amazon isn't the way to go for most beverages, frozen/refrigerated foods, bread, produce, etc. (It does offer grocery delivery in some locations.) I won't go to a store that doesn't offer a self-checkout option.
Friend:
That is a great option for you. I totally use self check for drinks and chips. However, many times My cart is filled with $300 worth of groceries for a group of 6 or more and the self check is not a good option. I feel sorry for other families who have to bring their young children in and are trying to check out a huge cart load of stuff. With only 1 real checker to assist, I resent Walmart’s current business model.
