Cup of Tee by

© Getting up and around I decided I might go to town after drinking a cup of tea. Should I go to work for a short time, or go to town and then go to work? At any rate, I should probably get my work shirt gathered up to take with me.

My shirt was dark blue with a yellow-gold star on it. No, I wasn't going to enforce the rules of law and order, but some degree enforce/monitor some rules.

With shirt in hand, I was heading to Walmart to do some shopping. Walmart always had greeters at the door. Many were senior citizens which was a great way to fill needed employee positions.

With the current economy and lack of people wanting to work since Covid, there were few to none senior/greeter type people. Before I walked into Walmart, I put on my blue shirt with the yellow-gold star. I stopped inside the door and said to myself, "Good Morning Sir, I hope your shopping experience will be great today." I then said to myself, "Thank you," as I held the door open for the lady behind me.

I headed back to the automotive section and got my pickup some motor oil and some power steering fluid. In the aisle near the automotive section was a clearance rack. I noticed the rack was full of plastic model cars with a clearance price of $21 each. I told the roaming clerk the clearance price wasn't much of a price reduction considering a robot cut each individual piece of plastic in those boxes. Did the robot go to school and get a degree? Did the assembling robot work in order provide a living for their family? "Sorry," was the employee's answer. "That is the best price we

Tee Hurd

can do." I guess they are still making a profit even at the clearance price and having fewer humans on the assembly line.

Could find much else I wanted in the store, so I was off to the check-out stand. Once getting to the front of the store, I saw NO clerks to check me out. In fact, there were very few stands that could even have a clerk check you out - they were all self check-out. I asked the self check-out attendant, "Is there any clerks to check one out?" "No," she replied. "Self check-out only." I then told her, "I only pay cash and expect someone to process my money personally. Oh... question. Is cash still legal tender for all debts public and private?"

I asked the self check-out assistant lady if she would help process my purchase through the self-checking robot. She did, but some how I didn't think she really wanted to. The little RUQ2 took my money as well as a photo processing me. Don't worry folks, NONE of your privacy is violated, just a direct hot line to China and your local country.

I guess, if I needed to return something, I would have to go back to the same robot and check its memory for me, only to find it is at lunch and doesn't recognize a transaction from me.

As I left with very little human help and my work shirt, I said, "Thank you sir, for shopping at Walmart today." I scanned my sales ticket to make sure I didn't steal anything at check-out. If I did, would I chase myself down in the parking lot and drag myself back in to the check-out robot?

This is my “Cup of Tee” getting my shopping and work done in one p rocess .