You've probably all seen the things going round Facebook about self checkouts, and in some shops, a shop assistant will stand supervising the use of them. Also sometimes checking the receipts as folk leave the shop.
This tale made me think it over.
I won't use them as I am disabled, however the growing trend for self checkouts might be a good thing for some, for others chatting to the shop assistants might be their only contact with folk from one shopping trip to the next. Back in the past, when I worked on a fruit and veg concession, there was a lady who would come in two or three times a week. My boss asked me why she did that. "Why doesn't she buy more at once? Then she wouldn't have to visit us as much." As I knew the lady from when I had delivered milk, and collected milk money as a teenager , I told my boss that she lived alone. She would visit as much for a chat with us, as to buy her fruit and veg.
So, the rise of self checkouts is isolating the elder generation, the people who live alone, and I can't help thinking that it could be contributing to the rise of dementia.
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