Why We're Doomed, aka Paying for a Pizza

[Hillcrest]

I try to say to a person taking my order or checking out my groceries that I hope their shift goes by fast. A lot of times they really appreciate that.

As for other things, sometimes you might get someone you think is stupid assisting you but maybe that person has learning disabilities and taking orders at a pizza place is the best job they’re going to get in life.

Or maybe they received absolutely no training ! A clean cut young man was ringing up my groceries and was about to send a $26.00 piece of sword fish down the conveyor belt to be crushed into canned goods and I stopped him and explained to be more careful and push expensive perishables to the side. I also bagged myself and explained to him how its done correctly. (I worked my way through schools in grocery stores - all depts.)
When I was done he thanked me for explaining things and told me they get absolutely no training at that store and no one teaches them anything ... they have to figure it out as they go. He's still there and one of the better employees now.

 

[HeavyLeadBelly]

Or maybe they received absolutely no training ! A clean cut young man was ringing up my groceries and was about to send a $26.00 piece of sword fish down the conveyor belt to be crushed into canned goods and I stopped him and explained to be more careful and push expensive perishables to the side. I also bagged myself and explained to him how its done correctly. (I worked my way through schools in grocery stores - all depts.)
When I was done he thanked me for explaining things and told me they get absolutely no training at that store and no one teaches them anything ... they have to figure it out as they go. He's still there and one of the better employees now.

Exactly. There’s a difference between being ignorant and stupid.

But we’d all be lying to ourselves if we said there weren’t a lot of really dumb idiots out there lol

 

[smudgersmissingleg]

Tonight I ordered a pizza from a nearby pizzeria. The actual ordering went smoothly enough. The problem was paying for it.

When asked for the expiration date on my card I said, "November 2026".

After a pause, the guy taking my order said, "Can you repeat that?"

"November 2026."

Another long pause.

"I'm sorry, can you repeat that again?"

"November 2026"

An even longer pause

"Could you give me the numbers, please?"

We are doomed.

Two things:

1) that doesn't surprise me
2) I now want some pizza

 

[jpmcwjr]

The other thing no one realizes is that idiots are everywhere << Snipped bits out >>

There may be no more than one or two here who don't realize that morons are ubiquitous.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

This belongs here.

George Carlin was an asshole, but he often hit the nail on the head.

 

[sablebrush52]

Wow! I post my little tale, and CODGER MANIA! ensues.

First off, I'm going to give the kid props for having a job.
And, they did a great job with the pizza.

Whether I said "11/26" or "November 2026". doesn't matter. Either way, people get it wrong, or ask me to repeat it. They never seem to have any difficulty with the card number.

It can be difficult to work in fast food with all of the activity and noise, but this wasn't a peak time order, and there wasn't any hubbub in the background

Honestly, fast food workers should get medals (and higher wages) for having to deal with John Q Public, greedy franchisers, and managers who act like cult members.

Having worked in retail for close to a decade, I can attest to the adventures with serving John Q Public, a curious beast indeed, having more asshole than any other species of my acquaintance. And many clients were truly wonderful.

And nothing really changes as one transitions into "loftier" professions, except the pay gets better.
This generation isn't somehow worse than any other, but they may be the most invaded from the omnipresent digital culture of manipulation and mental illness. Fortunately I was spared that that horror.
So I can understand why many of them would prefer to tune out, especially to the rantings of the unselfaware fossils who claim to run "things", and more unfortunately, do run "things".

Anyone who's punched or filled in time cards should have some awareness of 24 hour, or military time. Every studio I have worked for uses it. As for the weakness about using traditional numeric clocks, probably lack of familiarity. Probably not much different amounts of gaps in knowledge between our generation, or the generation before us, or the generation before them, and on and on. Every generation has its geniuses and fools , and every generation seems to elevate the fools.

Also, apropos of nothing, I've always understood Elizabethan English and I get the jokes in Shakespeare's plays as well as those of Marlow. I'll be laughing while other members of the audience maintain a reverent silence, and have had the occasional glance of disapproval when I'm laughing. For those of you unfamiliar with the format, most of them happen in the first 15 minutes of the play, when Willie needed filler while the audience wandered in, said hello, grabbed a flagon of ale, and settled in.

 

[HeavyLeadBelly]

Wow! I post my little tale, and CODGER MANIA! ensues.

First off, I'm going to give the kid props for having a job.
And, they did a great job with the pizza.

Whether I said "11/26" or "November 2026". doesn't matter. Either way, people get it wrong, or ask me to repeat it. They never seem to have any difficulty with the card number.

It can be difficult to work in fast food with all of the activity and noise, but this wasn't a peak time order, and there wasn't any hubbub in the background

Honestly, fast food workers should get medals (and higher wages) for having to deal with John Q Public, greedy franchisers, and managers who act like cult members.

Having worked in retail for close to a decade, I can attest to the adventures with serving John Q Public, a curious beast indeed, having more asshole than any other species of my acquaintance. And many clients were truly wonderful.

And nothing really changes as one transitions into "loftier" professions, except the pay gets better.
This generation isn't somehow worse than any other, but they may be the most invaded from the omnipresent digital culture of manipulation and mental illness. Fortunately I was spared that that horror.
So I can understand why many of them would prefer to tune out, especially to the rantings of the unselfaware fossils who claim to run "things", and more unfortunately, do run "things".

Anyone who's punched or filled in time cards should have some awareness of 24 hour, or military time. Every studio I have worked for uses it. As for the weakness about using traditional numeric clocks, probably lack of familiarity. Probably not much different amounts of gaps in knowledge between our generation, or the generation before us, or the generation before them, and on and on. Every generation has its geniuses and fools , and every generation seems to elevate the fools.

Also, apropos of nothing, I've always understood Elizabethan English and I get the jokes in Shakespeare's plays as well as those of Marlow. I'll be laughing while other members of the audience maintain a reverent silence, and have had the occasional glance of disapproval when I'm laughing. For those of you unfamiliar with the format, most of them happen in the first 15 minutes of the play, when Willie needed filler while the audience wandered in, said hello, grabbed a flagon of ale, and settled in.

Oh I think this whole conversation has been pretty great to be honest. I think that everyone for the most part has shared their experiences in a pretty civil and level headed way and I think we can all agree on is that while the younger generations make us scratch our heads, we still give a damn about them and hope they do well in life

But now I want pizza…

 

[Briar Lee]

Exactly. There’s a difference between being ignorant and stupid.

But we’d all be lying to ourselves if we said there weren’t a lot of really dumb idiots out there lol

Thanks to the efficiency of agriculture, and a really crackerjack public school, and brand new four lane roads leading to Springfield Missouri, Humansville has become a poor rural ghetto today where fat mothers sit on porches and scream at little kids to get out of the way of traffic.

Dollar sized airline whiskey bottles and empty vape cartridges line the gutters.

No wonder the adults feel hopeless and downtrodden, and fair game for every television preacher or charlatan who mills them for money.

But that gleaming four lane leads to Springfield, where if you go to church and attend school and apply all the lessons learned there, then Springfield is much more prosperous today, than back when I was a kid.

In Humansville the Christian Church and the public schools and the public library still gleam and shine as much or more than fifty years ago.

The public school just bought an entire block of old houses using marijuana money to build a new gym.

While every child in the school qualifies for a free breakfast and lunch.

Those kids, will be just fine in time.

 

[VDL_Piper]

Misplaced?! Haha, it is about all I can do… You must understand that I used to be a high school maths teacher when i worked — and the general decline in student numeracy and reading abilities was very evident to me.

I recall a moment about 10 years ago when i wrote instructions for my class on the overhead, and a student asked me to print because they were never taught to write and couldn’t read handwriting. Hence I can only shrug and laugh…

This guy Puff understands the situation and I am sort of content — albeit sort of confused at how we got here, too…

View attachment 337009

I agree with every word, critical thinking will be the most sought after skill and it won’t matter what area of employment they will pay top dollars to young people who can “trouble shoot” a problem.

 

[thomasw]

A lot of kids today don't even bother with driving.

This is a good point... Another is the loss of manual driving skills. I prefer a manual transmission and ordered my Tacoma as such. When I took ownership, the dealer said to me, you have a truck that's millennial-theft proof. There are exceptions but it does seem that most of my children's friends and acquaintances can not make my truck 'go' Recently I took my truck in for a new brakes and the young man couldn't drive it into the working bay...

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

This is a good point... Another is the loss of manual driving skills. I prefer a manual transmission and ordered my Tacoma as such. When I took ownership, the dealer said to me, you have a truck that's millennial-theft proof. There are exceptions but it does seem that most of my children's friends and acquaintances can not make my truck 'go' Recently I took my truck in for a new brakes and the young man couldn't drive it into the working bay...

A mechanic who can't drive a manual shift... That is a dangerous sign of the times.

That beats it all.

Something like that would give anyone a case of codger mania.

 

[lukasstrifeson]

And they'll read that test to you if you can't read it for yourself.

I can't even tell if this is satire anymore. I guess that in of itself is pretty scary.

 

[brian64]

Something like that would give anyone a case of codger mania.

 

[georged]

Don’t worry, with declining birthdates and the populations of the younger generations, the best you might get is being corralled into one big room with a hundred other people with one person attending to you all lol

But seriously, I do get worried about who is going to take care of all the boomers….there just isn’t enough people to do it

Oh, the Western World's oldsters will be taken care of, all right:

 

[crowbait]

Tonight I ordered a pizza from a nearby pizzeria. The actual ordering went smoothly enough. The problem was paying for it.

When asked for the expiration date on my card I said, "November 2026".

After a pause, the guy taking my order said, "Can you repeat that?"

"November 2026."

Another long pause.

"I'm sorry, can you repeat that again?"

"November 2026"

An even longer pause

"Could you give me the numbers, please?"

We are doomed.

Sounds like the employee also enjoyed smoking....

 

[Briar Lee]

I love going to political rallies because it makes me feel young. At sixty six I’m still of the younger generation.

This is JC.



He was a young schoolteacher fifty years ago that used to be up on the walks above my head at the Cattleman Auction and he never disparaged us boys who ran the cattle.

He showed me the difference between a really good Stetson and the kind I could afford then at the Cattleman Western Store, but little waitress I was with looked at his hat and said her father had one just like that, and picked out a straw one for me.

He might not remeber that, but I never forgot.

Every generation is twelve years away from barbarism, except for the public schools.

 

[Peter Turbo]

The total was $9.10... I gave the lady a ten dollar bill and a dime. She gave the dime back and said I had given her too much money.

This happened two days ago.

You better believe we're in trouble.

Some people straight up look at me like I have two heads when I hand them cash.

 

[Egg Shen]

I mean.. You do kinda have to take a test first...

And you definitely have to read all the paperwork when buying a firearm too, but hey, facts are facts

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Many people can't read. They can still sign contracts even if they can't write. They'll put an X instead of a signature.

Personally I'm glad my fellow citizens can drive and purchase firearms even if they can't read... I don't know about the voting though, sometimes I think we have too many people voting.

But they will read you the test at the DMV, and the FFL you're buying the gun from can read you the paperwork.

While kids suck at reading now, that's true... luckily people who are actually illiterate are mostly a thing of the past in America. Those left are usually old people.

My granddad couldn't read well, or maybe at all... He owned an arsenal of guns, drove a Nova, and voted strictly for democrats.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Some people straight up look at me like I have two heads when I hand them cash.

Even worse is when they state they won't take cash, and I am starving and the bakery item looks too good. So I tap my CC and leave muttering.
Now the FBI knows my eating habits in the morning.