Here's a first for the blog, I'm going to make a social comment! Bet ya can't wait! ;)
So tonight I'm walking through the biggest SuperStore in Atlantic Canada when I come across some clerkless checkouts. The customer swipes the items.. bags them.. then swipes their debit or credit card and bob's their uncle they're done. There were two ladies at the machines to "introduce" them to the customers. When I stated I wasn't impressed they were shocked.
I don't know how customer service is fairing elsewhere in the world, but here in Atlantic Canada it is in it's death throws. Banks that used to have 6 or 7 clerks now have 1, maybe 2. And it looks like now we're going to get to pack our own groceries as well. When we go to a store here the only attention we get from staff is hard-sells and up-sells.
The poor young women were stunned that I preferred to get good service over self-service. They couldn't fathom why I would want to interact with a human being during my purchase experience.
I'm not sure what my point is here, beyond this - when we devalue human beings it makes it that much harder to spread the Gospel. As we become more and more disposable it will be harder and harder for people to believe God valued us enough to give up His only begotten Son. Don't get me started on the signs and commercials that equate pets with your children....
2 comments:
Kevin, we have been poles apart on Think Christian, but I wanted to check out your blog, and I really appreciate your comment on preferring interaction with human beings to being served by a machine. We are not here on earth to perfect machines that can serve us. We are, among other things, here to perfect our ability to relate to other humans. Sometimes that is more important than what exactly we are doing at the moment. I even found I could enjoy a little Christmas shopping, because I went to small family-owned shops where I could enjoy their work, the way they arranged their space, and of course, a relaxed conversation with three generations. The Holy Spirit does not dwell inside of silicon chips.
Amen! I can see a day when we don't HAVE to interact with anyone in our daily lives... wouldn't the Enemy be happy about that? It's hard enough to build real relationships now. If people can go about their lives all alone what will it take to crack their hard shells then?
Blessings SJ!
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