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I have been seeing a change in myself. As I get older, I seem to actually become more social. I have been joining more groups and doing activities with others. That still has not changed my aversion to crowds. Nor do I like waiting in lines.
I think partly I just have more opportunities than when I worked. I could not socialize in the workplace and had little time left over after working and commuting long hours.
Although I wouldn't call myself a hermit, I do make efforts to always avoid crowds.
I do all my shopping at early hours during the week. If I'm forced to go to Wal-Mart I wear ear plugs to attenuate the incredible noise. That makes it easier for me to think.
I dress in comfortable clothes and shoes or sandals. I don't care about style. One advantage to getting to old age is that people usually ignore you. That's fine with me.
I don't use self service checkout as a protest. They take jobs.
We need to have a radical shift in society and our economic model before we can go too far with automating everything. I don't like the idea of doing things inefficiently just so people have something to do. Until we come to grips with providing for those who don't work when there aren't enough jobs to go around, we pretty much have to keep doing that though.
I know a few people who function better alone or in a tight-knit small groups. Some of them get diagnosed with anxiety disorders and are medicated so they can function in a workplace. Spending on medicine went up over 8% last year and it wasn't just rising costs of the medications.
Through no fault of my own (I like to think), I'm basically living the life of a hermit at the moment... Honestly, I think some university should be studying me, since they don't allow solitary confinement studies due to their "cruelty"... Maybe they'd even pay me for it???
But, barring that, feel free to ask me any questions you may have.
Nearing retirement I'm hoping to move deep into the woods, hopefully by a lake or river, and forget this madness that's taking over the country. I don't mind exchanging pleasantries with folks but I'm not seeking them out and I really don't want to hear another political 'opinion'; probably the result of too many Iowa caucuses. My wife plans to volunteer at local organizations. I'm tired and want to be retired.
We need to have a radical shift in society and our economic model before we can go too far with automating everything. I don't like the idea of doing things inefficiently just so people have something to do. Until we come to grips with providing for those who don't work when there aren't enough jobs to go around, we pretty much have to keep doing that though.
I know a few people who function better alone or in a tight-knit small groups. Some of them get diagnosed with anxiety disorders and are medicated so they can function in a workplace. Spending on medicine went up over 8% last year and it wasn't just rising costs of the medications.
I have used the self serve checkout at the grocery store and there isn't any chance that is more efficient than a checker. Now if it's canned goods, or a hammer at Home Depot, the experience is fine. The problem with grocery checkout is the produce is a pain in the neck to check. I have to remember to note the code on the item, which is often hard to locate if it's even threre, or more often I am forced to look up each item at checkout. The literally punish you for eating healthy, the hot dogs scan right through. And of course once every three trips I need help as the item won't scan or whatever.
Not liking crowds and not liking people are 2 different things.
Quite so, and this truth is important to the present discussion. Who really likes crowds per se? Mobs of people we don't know streaming out of a stadium after a well attended sports event? Mobs of people we don't know rushing in to get bargains at a Black Friday sales event (or whatever it's called)? I am O.K. with the former (but can't say I "like" it), but choose to avoid the latter.
So if I had a magic wand and could avoid crowds I would do so, but I like people and I feel comfortable in most social gatherings - the exception being perhaps if I hardly know anybody.
I have used the self serve checkout at the grocery store and there isn't any chance that is more efficient than a checker. Now if it's canned goods, or a hammer at Home Depot, the experience is fine. The problem with grocery checkout is the produce is a pain in the neck to check. I have to remember to note the code on the item, which is often hard to locate if it's even threre, or more often I am forced to look up each item at checkout. The literally punish you for eating healthy, the hot dogs scan right through. And of course once every three trips I need help as the item won't scan or whatever.
Fixable problems. The 2 solutions I have heard/read the most about are smart carts that know what all your items are as you add them to your cart and AI scanners that look at a 3D picture of the item and figure out what it is if there isn't a bar code or it doesn't scan. The most common issue I have had with them is when you buy a really small package of something like parsley it doesn't detect that you bagged it. A camera with smarter software could fix that also. Anyway, I think within 5 years we will see some stores with systems that are nearly perfect; it will take much longer to be widespread though.
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