Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Fri, Mar 27 2009
Lunch hour terminal troubles
We ran out for a few things at the grocery store around noon today and ended up being in checkout at the wrong time. Just as my spouse had swiped his card and was getting ready to sign the little electronic box to pay for the food, every card terminal in the place went down. We were trapped for 30 minutes or so while they fixed the problem and got things moving again.
It was interesting to watch the reaction of customers. Some of us were fairly good-natured about the whole thing, but some folks pulled out cash, which was a type of transaction the registers could still handle. One man wanted to write a check and was told they couldn't really verify his account while the terminals were down. He remained calm, but he kind of whined about his inconvenience and suggested that accepting a check should be at the manager's discretion under such unusual a situation. But the store manager was rather busy trying to get the larger problem taken care of. She would probably not have thought it a good use of her time at that moment to stop and approve checks. When the young woman from the bakery section came around and offered us each a chocolate chip cookie he took his good-naturedly, but his expression didn't say to me that he felt that it made up for his inconvenience.
We live in a time when we're all rather at the mercy of machines some days. And when we finally got our groceries home and built our burritos with chicken and lettuce and fresh cilantro and salsa, we realized how much we take for granted when it comes to technology. I've thought about it off and on all afternoon. No matter what challenges your productivity in any given day, attitude still has a lot to do with how you look back on things at the end of a day. It's been fun remembering today with a smile instead of a whine.
posted at: 17:04 | category: /Food | link to this entry
We ran out for a few things at the grocery store around noon today and ended up being in checkout at the wrong time. Just as my spouse had swiped his card and was getting ready to sign the little electronic box to pay for the food, every card terminal in the place went down. We were trapped for 30 minutes or so while they fixed the problem and got things moving again.
It was interesting to watch the reaction of customers. Some of us were fairly good-natured about the whole thing, but some folks pulled out cash, which was a type of transaction the registers could still handle. One man wanted to write a check and was told they couldn't really verify his account while the terminals were down. He remained calm, but he kind of whined about his inconvenience and suggested that accepting a check should be at the manager's discretion under such unusual a situation. But the store manager was rather busy trying to get the larger problem taken care of. She would probably not have thought it a good use of her time at that moment to stop and approve checks. When the young woman from the bakery section came around and offered us each a chocolate chip cookie he took his good-naturedly, but his expression didn't say to me that he felt that it made up for his inconvenience.
We live in a time when we're all rather at the mercy of machines some days. And when we finally got our groceries home and built our burritos with chicken and lettuce and fresh cilantro and salsa, we realized how much we take for granted when it comes to technology. I've thought about it off and on all afternoon. No matter what challenges your productivity in any given day, attitude still has a lot to do with how you look back on things at the end of a day. It's been fun remembering today with a smile instead of a whine.
posted at: 17:04 | category: /Food | link to this entry
