DO you remember ‘retail therapy’, a time when the experience of shopping was good for your well-being and when the relationship between customer and retailer was one of mutual respect?
The introduction of technology in my local supermarket seems to have radically changed that. No longer a valued customer, as soon as you enter the shop you are confronted by security guards and alarm barriers.
Here the shopper must enter in a manner that can only be described as reminiscent of corralling cattle into a milking parlour. Oddly appropriate, you might think, given the rising cost of the average weekly shop and shameless profits of the retail chains. You are about to be ‘milked’.
Too bad if you’ve neglected to pick up a trolley or basket prior to entering the shopper control zone, or worse still suddenly find yourself in need of making use of the facilities.
To turn back is to trigger alarm and suspicion, literally.
“Oh, I’m just…I’ll be back in a minute.”
“No problem, madam,” is the reply that never comes because you are a problem now.
I don’t work here; I’m not waged; I haven’t signed a contract to exchange labour for cash renumeration. I’m already providing free advertising with my purchased ‘bag for life’ and now I am subject to self-service checkout. Instead of an assistant helping me to purchase my goods of choice in a mutual relationship of exchange and pleasantries, poorly designed AI sullenly waits for a shopper f*** up.
“Place the item in the bagging area.”
Oh, it’s in the bagging area but too light to be detected, you dumb ass robot. The red light is flashing. Someone is coming. Of course, any expression of frustration by the problem purchaser is subject to ‘zero tolerance’.
What happened to the ‘valued customer’ and ‘retail therapy’? From one suspect shopper to another, welcome to the future.
The Shopper
