Tonight I went shopping again at Krogers in Ann Arbor. A young woman was at the “scan register”. She also waited until I had put everything on the conveyer belt before she started scanning my groceries. I asked her about that and told her that I had spoken with a fellow cashier of hers, who had told me that he was being told to adhere to the norm of 23 scans per minute. (see yesterdays post)
She admitted this norm and said with a smirk in her eye that it was in the interest of customer when quick scanning was done … She gave me a friendly smile and told me that she will get her Scan-Per-Minute-Average at the end of the shift. I smiled back and told her that her smile was more important than her scanning speed. We understood each other ….
I went to Krogers in Ann Arbor the other night to do some grocery shopping. There were only two cashiers working at the cash registers, or should I say, scan registers. But there were more than ten self-scan registers for those who did not want the “personal” touch. I decided for the personal touch, because I like to talk to people. The gentleman next to the register and scanning device was part of the older generation with a perfectly cut friendly full grey beard. I maneuvered myself in front of my shopping cart and proceded to empty my groceries on the conveyer belt. I noticed that the cashier did not move the conveyer belt. I had to move myself in order to fill up the belt. I thought perhaps he had forgotten me. So I said: “How are you this evening. You can move the conveyer belt if you like”.
He answered very factually that he would start scanning in the groceries when the belt was full. Otherwise his scan rate would not be as high as desired by the management.
I was curious about this comment and asked what the required scan rate is.
Again he responded very factually and said that he had just started with the company and that his scan rate was around 19.3 scans per minute. He wanted to surpass the desired rate of 23 scans per minute and that was why he first started to process my groceries so that he could scan as fast as possible. At the end of each shift he would be able to see an evaluation of his scan rate. If he wasn’t “up to par”, then he might not be able to continue with his job. it did not seem to make any difference, that this procedure was uncomfortable for me. What also is strange, that the same company still pays for the baggers. I am sure the time will come when these bagger jobs get rationalized out of work and the customer must pack his own bags. That is the way it is all over Europe already. Scan for your life. Were these scanners supposed to work for us, or do we have to work for the scanners. It scares me to see kind of development so close … Scan you too!
By Leonard Cohen
From: The Spice-Box of Earth
March 1965
A kite is a victim you are sure of.
You love it because it pulls
gentle enough to call you master,
strong enough to call you fool;
because it lives
like a desperate trained falcon
in the high sweet air,
and you can always haul it down
to tame it in your drawer. Continue reading “A KITE IS A VICTIM – Poem by Leonard Cohen 1965”
A “Genki Kite” made by David MacBryde and Michael Steltzer on the occasion of Barack Obama’s 50th birthday. It is 450 cm wide. Here it is flying in Washington DC in October of 2011.
To be independent of “politically correct” and “commercially useful” has been a wish of mine for a number of years. Assisting Democrats Abroad with their useful work is one thing, but making public comments about the politics of the Democratic Party on the pages of the Democratic Party is just not the way to go. So my blog on the website http://www.demsinberlin.de has always been limited. I have tried to keep myself “out of trouble”. Comments and ideas are not appreciated by the leadership of an organization, when they do not conform with the general direction of that organization. One does not criticize Barack Obama in the middle of the election campaign. One is held to criticise the Republican opponents and those who criticize Barack Obama. So where does one go with the politically “incorrect” criticism. There is no such animal as “falsche Kritik” (“false criticism”). This blog will be a vent for that pressure that has been building up over the past three years.
And running a kite company is wonderful. I have been doing that for the past 28 years. But there are times, when I like to step outside of the commercial aspect of kiting and just return to the beauty and passion of kite flying and kite making. So this blog will also be an attempt to go to that space and work with it as I please.
I ask you to bear with me or even bear against me. An interactive dialog can only be useful!
Michael Steltzer 