Grocery Shopping

With all the technological advances we have made, why does it seem that grocery shopping has become more challenging? When I was young, my mother shopped at the local grocery store (not stores, like me). She knew most of the people by name. She took her cart, filled it and proceeded to the check-out lane. There was rarely a line. The clerk would then unload and check-out her items, all the while chatting with my mother. If something didn't have a price on it, there was a human being there who would go and find out what it cost. Then they would put her groceries in the sack and some nice young man would take them out and load them into her car. Once we got home we'd carry them in and put them away. All in all, pretty simple.

Today I went grocery shopping at one of the stores that I routinely visit. I got my cart. Of course it had one wheel that refused to work properly, but I didn't realize it until I was at the very back of the large store. So, I limped along putting groceries in my cart. Once I was finished, I went to stand in a line so long that it made me wonder about this economic downturn we are suppose to be experiencing. Not at this store. When it's my turn, I take all 3000 items out of my cart and place them on the belt. The clerk does not speak and barely looks at me while scanning my 3000 items at slow motion. When one of them does not scan and she can't make it, she looks at me disgustedly and asks if I REALLY want it? DUH! After limping to the car with my bags, I load up and then have to walk a 1/2 mile to find a cart return home for my broken-down cart. Once home I carry the bags in and unload. As I put away all 3000 items I think, maybe we are more technologically advanced but I'd prefer a bit more humanity.