Tid-Bit Musings

by Elva Patterson Rutters RSSW

With so many experiencing the passing of a loved one recently, Elizabeth Kubler Ross reminds us that (quote) "the reality is you will grieve forever." You will not [get over it] but you will learn to live with it by rebuilding yourself so that you are a new person inside."

The rebuilding of oneself takes time and a conscientious effort to move forward. It is easy to wallow in sorrow but there will be a time when you feel comfortable and motivated to start afresh. You tell yourself to strategize and live life to the fullest. This often involves new friendships. It can also center around not just the physical death of someone, but the loss of a relationship, a career, a home, or even an involvement within a church or charity. All losses shake one to the core. Sometimes when you see the decline of health or in capabilities, there can be a sigh of relief that the suffering has ended. It remains emotionally draining.

This certainly causes one to contemplate what is after death? Your faith may well support you through troubled times. All you can control is the here and now. Even control is the wrong word- all you can do is ride the valleys and hills. Your self- awareness, self-actualization is developing as you motor along this highway of life. There is no speed limit, so allow yourself to progress as you need to do. Accomplishment is in the eyes of yourself. Others may try to determine where and what you should do, but be true to yourself. You are special and worthwhile just because you are you!!!

catch you if you try to sneak an item into the bagging area without scanning it. Silly me for not placing the item in the exact right spot. I got yelled at by a robot. Machine 1, Brandon 0. It didn’t defeat me in some quest to steal groceries; it defeated me in keeping my dignity. I am not a thief. Next, my 11-yearold, who was with me and always likes to help, attempted to begin bagging the first couple of items while I was scanning the rest. Big mistake. This messed with the scale weight, and we needed to get a supervisor’s help clearing the error code. It would appear that she needed to check to be sure that we weren’t stealing the juice boxes that I had, in fact, scanned. Darn, and here I thought I had found the location for the perfect crime. Machine 2, Brandon 0. We accidentally displeased the scale two more times, and the supervisor had to come back each time. She attempted to explain to my 11-year-old that the sensor works just like the ones at traffic lights that switch the signal only when there is a car. Fortunately for fellow road users, my 11-year-old doesn’t drive, so he had no idea what she was talking about. Machine 3, Brandon 0.

By the time we finally got out of that situation, I felt like an absolute crook. Forget the old mantra “the customer is always right”.

In the case of these judgmental, finicky self-checkout machines, the customer is wrong before they even arrive. A few stores I have been to with self-checkouts employ people to stand at the exit and check the receipts of those who have used them. It is hard not to simply blurt out, “I’m sorry, but I don’t work here, so either trust me, or hire cashiers!” In fact, readers may not realize that if you are sure you scanned and paid for every single item in your cart, those items are your property, and no store employee has the authority to prevent you from exiting the store with your property. Life hack – skip the insulting thief-catching checkpoint, and leave with your stuff.

In a world where annoying, distrustful self-checkout machines are sure to soon dominate the retail industry, let us all hope that at the very least, store owners come to realize that the overwhelming majority of people are honest, and that any small thefts that do occur at selfcheckouts should be wellbalanced by the savings on cashier wages. Besides, with the way things are going, it is only a matter of time before we have to stock the shelves, too.

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