Spend Those Dollars

Hi all,

Today will not be such a negative on the Government as more a rant at the money grubbers. I guess as I am out doing my thing I start to notice the little changes that are happening all around me and can't help to make note.

In the food store today I was happily perusing the entire store... Love to food shop, and the time came for the check out. I guess however that this will be a two part rant. As you will see.

Anyhow there I was with my cart full of goodies, I forgot to mention that I had a friend with me and she for some reason did not like the line up... to me two or three ahead of me is fine and more than willing to wait... the store however has the auto do it yourself check out option which she convinced me to try.

Well I have to say I am a technology guy and thought ok Ill give it a whirl... My deepest thoughts about the whole thing is that I am paying top dollar for the food in this place so Ill be damned if I am going to bag it all as well... I want some sort of perk for the premium pricing. But what the hell and onto the auto check out I go..

That will be the last time I ever use one of those useless machines. My god what a nightmare. There we are scanning the stuff, listening to a stupid voice telling me to put it in the bag and of course I had never done this before and did not know that you cant remove any of the bags. I guess it keeps track of the weight as well to ensure you don't chuck something extra in there... So of course when I lifted a bag the machine went haywire and now I am getting embarrassed.

One thing I hate to be is embarrassed. I grabbed all my stuff and put it back into the cart. The lady at the control thingy started nagging me about how the machine is partly ringing in items and I can't just leave like that... Now I have some short little munchkin in a purple bib telling me what I can and cannot do...

Of course however I try to maintain composure and told her nicely where she can put her machine and if she didn't let me go through regular checkout she would be restocking shelves. I chucked my stuff in the cart and off I went. Some time saver that is. What a shitty machine that is a waste of technology. The point I guess I am making is the fact that another job lost to a useless piece of equipment..

Technology is supposed to enhance our life and make it better... not piss you off and increase your stress levels.

However, I was happy and now in the line to pay for my soon to be bagged by someone else groceries. I noticed however that the person in front of me was paying for her groceries and what does she pull out of her purse but the damn Visa.

My god my jaw just about hit the damn floor. Paying for frigging food with a damn credit card. How bad is it when people have to finance their food?

Credit card debt is one of the biggest problems in the budget of many households and it is of course by design. The banks charge you to put money in your account, they charge you to take it out and they charge you when you use the electronic convenience of spending it.

How badly would it damage the economy if we all said screw this and took all our money out of the banking system and just dealt in cash? Actually it would totally destroy the modern economy and force us to find a better way that does not inflict such devastating costs on the average hard working poor guy. In reality just a revamp of the banks and what they charge would suffice. Again however it is the Government that allows this sort of action in the first place. I had to get that dig in.

So I guess my thoughts for today are this...

Should there be massive reforms in the way banks do business?
Is technology implemented long before the consequences of the implementation are considered?

Thanks for listening