http://www.democraticunderground.com/1183561Oh my.
trof (43,366 posts) Sun Mar 10, 2013, 07:47 PM
The store checkput clerk tells me what to do now. A short essay on aging.
I'm 71 (and 1/2) and I've reached the age where the grocery store checkout clerk tells me how to operate the credit card reader.
I've pretty much known how to use them since they came out.
They're all pretty similar, with some small differences.
I don't have a problem with them.
But I've seen old folks, credit card in hand, stare dumbly at them.
You can just hear them thinking "NOW what do I do?"
And the clerk at the cash register will say (nicely) "Wait till you see the blue arrows. Then slide your card through the slot. Make sure the little silver strip is down and inside the slot. Credit or debit?"
"Uh...CREDIT!"
"Thank you. Now, below where it says "Total correct?" press the 'YES' button and when the screen changes use the stylus to sign on the line. Then press 'Done'. Thank you."
Gotta keep the line moving.
I get it.
And yesterday at the* Winn-Dixie I officially became 'old folks'
It shouldn't have been a surprise.
A glance in the mirror already tells me that.
But I didn't really 'feel' like one.
Now I do.
I was standing at the card reader, card in hand, waiting for her to finish toting up the bill when I heard "Wait till you see the blue arrows. Then slide your card through the slot. Make sure the little silver strip is down and inside the slot. Credit or debit?"
I didn't say "HEY LADY, I KNOW what to do.
I didn't say anything.
I'm now 'old folks'.
jeez
CaliforniaPeggy (102,782 posts) Sun Mar 10, 2013, 08:19 PM
1. I hear ya, my dear trof...
Some days, I'm 20 and way ahead of that snotty checkout person...
And some days, I'm not.
You're not old, for crissakes!
Older than me,* but still not old!
*the CalPig primitive's right, but the trof primitive is
only circa six months older than her, and at that age, half a year hardly makes any difference.
Vanity, vanity, vanity.
DavidDvorkin (11,971 posts) Sun Mar 10, 2013, 08:34 PM
2. I would have been a bit huffy
I'm old, too, and the mirror proves it, but there's no reason for the clerk to make such an assumption.
^^^the hard-of-hearing primitive who buys hearing-aids by the case, hoping to find one that'll give him "perfect" hearing. He's pretty anal about it; damn it, he
demands that his hearing be as sharp as it used to be.
By the way, franksolich has had this "problem" since, oh, about the age of three years.
The deafness is invisible, and the absence of ears covered up by long hair, but still, a retail clerk when looking at me can discern something's "off," and becomes immediately helpful, damned near doing the whole thing herself.
I just go with the flow; it doesn't hurt the self-esteem any.
