Saturday, October 18, 2003
Routines - new and old
I have a fairly regular routine I follow every Saturday morning. There's a few stores I go to and usually one of two restaurants that I stop in for either a muffin or lunch, depending on how late I get there. This Saturday was a little different. I got up early to get my haircut. I use an old-fashioned barbershop called Al's. Just one chair and the haircuts are $7.50. I then had to go clear across town to the post office. I had my mailed held while I was away and they didn't resume delivery when I asked. I then headed out to find a lumberyard a guy at work had mentioned. After navigating several one-way and closed streets and detours, I finally found the place -- closed for a year. As I headed back towards town, I managed to get stopped by the same train at 4 different crossings. I was on my usual prowl for parts for gadgets I was making and found most, but not all of what I needed. I had to revisit a couple of places to get stuff to make-do for the missing hardware.
There was one thing I noticed today that probably reflects pretty badly on the state of human affairs and employment. One of the things I did this morning was to use the ATM to grab some cash. I then went to the gas station (remember when they were service stations and sold car parts and repairs instead of Twinkies), slipped my credit card into the pump and filled up my car. My New Beetle uses premium (remember ethyl?) by the way. On the way back home I bought some groceries and fed my cash into the (what's the opposite of an ATM?) automated checkout counter at the grocery store. That was cash, transportation, and food all without the benefit of human intervention.
OK. Granted a bank teller, grocery clerk and pump jockey weren't the highest paying of jobs, but they were jobs. People raised families on those jobs. You could stop at the local service station and the attendant would check your oil and put air in your tires and sell and change a headlight. You didn't have to worry about identity theft because all those folks probably knew you by sight.
Yes, I know the old days had their problems, but so do the new days. You sometimes have to wonder just how much progress we've actually made.
2fers: BBSpot and Helen
