So there I am standing behind a guy in line at the grocery store. He appears to be talking out loud to himself, but with a slight turn of his head I see the bluetooth in his ear.
Now it's his turn at the check out and I'm thinking he'll hang up or at least tell the person on the other end of the phone to hold on - nope - didn't happen.
In the meantime, the check out woman, Maria, is asking him if he wants plastic or paper - no response - she looks rather annoyed - can't blame her.
Then she says, "Please swipe your card." Nothing. "Sir, please swipe your card!" Without a glance to Maria or stopping his conversation, he swipes his card. "Sir, please sign." Nothing. "Sir? Oh forget it!" She grabs the pen to draw a line across the payment terminal and activates the sale.
She puts his stuff in a bag of her choice and off he goes. Not once did he acknowledge her, verbally or visually - it was if she didn't exist and it blew me away.
I looked at Maria and she looked at me and then said, "How rude can you get? Is it too much to get a simple, 'Hello. Plastic please. Thank you.' Apparently for him it is!"
And with that I smiled and said, "Hi, Maria. How are you? and I've got my own bags, thank you!" We both laughed and after a few other friendly words I was on my way.
As wonderful as technology can be it absolutely has it's downside. And this is definitely one of them. When we get so caught up in our technology that we've completely disconnected from the human being in front of us, that's a problem. If the technology grid shut down throughout the world the only thing we'd have left to connect with is each other. Face to face. Human to human.
If you're someone who loves your technology all I ask is that you pay attention to where it might interfere with your ability to fully be with the person who's in the room with you in the moment. Afterall, your technology doesn't have feelings, but that human being does.
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