As a baby boomer, I grew up when customer service came with a smile. Uniformed attendants let drivers remain in their cars while they checked engine oil and other fluids, washed windshields, checked tire pressure, and pumped gas—all at no extra charge.
A trip to the grocery store was a pleasant experience, a bagger, usually a young man, packaged your purchases securely and efficiently at the checkout lane and offered to wheel your cart to the parking lot and load the bag in your vehicle.
If a bagger offered to wheel my cart to the parking lot and load my groceries, I would fear he might carjack my hooptie, snack on my food, smoke a joint, and speed away.
For a boomer, grocery shopping today can be as stressful as a dental visit. My neighborhood store rarely has a cashier-assisted lane open, so I must use self-checkout. I will never learn how to weigh produce or use a digital coupon. I usually eschew human interaction, but I prefer a lane with a cashier, so I can relax and focus on my one task, swiping my card to pay for my groceries.
Whenever I use self-checkout, I feel like a grocery store employee and believe I should receive a discount for doing the work myself.
And not to mention the bewildering and dizzying variety of products, for example back in the day there was just the basic chocolate Oreo cookie with crème in the middle. Today there are more than a dozen varieties of Oreo cookies, not to mention other kinds of baked goods that also bear the Oreo brand.
I should really get with the program and have my groceries delivered to my home.
