Shopping at a small town grocery store is quite a bit different than shopping at one in a larger town. We moved to Boerne (pop. 6000+) from Houston (pop. 2,000,000+), and had to go through a de-programming period.
In Houston grocery shopping is just one more chore to be done as expeditiously as possible. No time for chit-chat; just get in and out as quick as you can. Here, one is expected to chat. It doesn't matter if you know the checker or any of the other customers, socializing is the norm. Most of the time you all know someone in common, or at least are familiar with the local topic de jour. So, as I said, you chat.
Take today. I was waiting in line with my groceries. Ahead of me was a young mother with a couple of pre-school kids. Also present was the checker and a sacker. The subject of today's conversation was whether or not GPS chips should be implanted in children so they could be tracked if lost or abducted.
The young mother ahead of me was adamant that this should be mandated by the government, implemented by the government, and monitored by the government. Understandable, I guess, given that it looked like she had her hands full keeping track of her young 'uns.
The sacker, who was about my age (middle-aged, if you consider under 60 to be middle-aged) with a ponytail, was equally adamant that the practice should be banned. He made reference to George Orwell's 1984 and Big Brother.
When they both looked expectantly at me, I said I thought it was a good idea, but that it should be up to the parents to decide, and it should be handled through the free market, not the government.
The cashier, a 30-something Hispanic female, pointed at me and said "I agree with him."
I then added that when an individual turns 18 they should have the option to remove or deactivate the chip. The cashier repeated "I agree with him."
After the lady in front of me paid and left, I told the cashier "You and I should be running this country."
She looked at me and said "We'd do a damn sight better than the people in charge now."
Hard to argue with logic like that...
Appropriate.
17 hours ago
3 comments:
Hey Tim, you up for driving over to Bandera saturday and having a few beers with Denny, CD, Me and a few other bloggers? If so post me a message over at our blog. I also sent you an e-mail.
Hope you can come Tim, we would all like to meet you!
I'd love to be there, but we're up at Lake Buchanan for the weekend. I might be able to make it Sunday if it's not too late.
Have fun!
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