I made it to the grocery store this morning. Nothing eventful happened, other than I noticed the prices have gone up again.

While nothing exciting or particularly interesting happened while I was shopping, I did have a fun little experience at the checkout. I was standing in one of the many long, long lines looking forward to being there for at least 20 or 30 minutes, considering how slowly the cashiers were moving. I don’t really mind. Standing by my basket is easy compared to pushing the thing around.

So I was just standing there watching people, taking sneaky phone photos, and reading the headlines on magazines, when a very sweet looking young, male employee walks up and suggests I use the self-check, which I was standing right beside and which wasn’t being used by anyone. I don’t do self-check. My reason being that with food prices the way they are, the store can pay someone to check my goods through, put them in bags for me, and offer to help me out with them. I didn’t feel like trying to explain to the nice young man why I refuse to use the self-check and didn’t mind standing in a long line, so I just told him that I had never used it.

He offered to help me. I was bored, and I saw an opportunity to play my dumb blond role, so I took it. Without any promoting for me, he checked all my goods through the self-check for me while explaining how it worked, and he put them in bags, and he put them back in my basket for me … and offered to get someone to help me out with them. Yes, playing my Dumb Blond role got me out of the store at least 20 minutes faster, and I still got full service!

In exchange, I taught him the meaning of the word Luddite, which I claimed to be. He was actually bright enough and inquisitive enough to have a conversation with, and so I asked him if he wasn’t concerned that the jobs of unskilled workers are being replaced by machines and electronics more and more often. He replied that he had thought about it, but that there would be other jobs that would be created, and after all, even though he wasn’t standing at a register, he still had a job. I then asked him what would happen to that job when self-check is everywhere and everyone knows how to use them and aren’t afraid of them? Did he think they would still pay him to stand there doing nothing? “I hadn’t thought about that.”

He thanked me for teaching him a new word and for the chat, and my hope for the future of American youth has been restored. He was a bright kid, and I don’t expect he will be standing around teaching people how to use the self-check for long, if he plays his cards right. I think I’ll make sure to chat with him whenever I see him there. Maybe I can teach him some more new words and keep him thinking about things. If he seems interested enough, I might even give him some books to read.

I sure hope that one gets to college. Young people who think and want to learn seem so rare these days.

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