I haven’t been getting out much. I admit it. I have been getting up at 06:00 to telecommute to London, I have a broken leg, and it is hot. I have been going to the grocery store. Usually around 11:00 in the morning. Like the Tube, the people who have the time to go shopping during business hours are either:
- Unemployed
- Stay-at-home parents.
- Crazy
- Old
- Supermodels (few and far between)
- Cursed
- Enormous
There are not a lot of telecommuters…
There are a lot of people talking on their phones, loudly, as they do their shopping. It must make them feel better when they are buying their “basket of frozen loneliness”(thank you ‘ask a ninja‘).
People are really quick to talk to you about your purchases. I have actually found myself standing in a longer line at the self-checkout to avoid talking to the checkout person. I’m not even buying anything that interesting. But I don’t want to have to politely nod and smile when they ask me “So is that Ben and Jerry’s Cinnamon Bun any good?” Maybe I was in London for too long.
Checkout people talk to you? I can understand “do you have a clubcard” or “would you like cashback”, but actual conversation would be a bit of a shock. On the other hand, at the Belfast Throwdown, one of the guys doing lots of slamming was apparently only there cause somebody had met him at a supermarket.
Clearly Northern Irish people and Americans are weird. :p
Hey Can,
Yeah, it happened again yesterday. They tried to engage me in a discussion regarding a company’s performance in the stock market. Just let me buy my chocolate covered ginger and my Luna bars!