It's almost 2am and I can't sleep.

For some reason I can't stop thinking about supermarket checkout scanners.
I don't know why I'm thinking about this, maybe because I feel like I get screwed all the time and I have to watch the readout like a hawk to make sure Safeway or whoever is charging me what they should.

The question that keeps popping into my mind is at what point do you say something if you've been overcharged. Is 30 cents too little to quibble over or do you say something on principal? Is it a buck? Two bucks? If you buy something that's advertised as two for $2.50 and get charged $2.50 each, do you pipe up?

For me, it's a matter of how I'm feeling at the time. Sometimes if I see any error at all, I will say something. Other times, I will let a few cents slide because it's not worth it, especially if there's a long line behind me. Despite, my suspicion is that these markets overcharge on purpose because no one can be bothered to check.

On a slightly different topic, City Market, one of the local chains, has a check out line where you can scan in you own groceries and pay for everything without the help of a cashier. I remember a slightly eerie feeling the first time went and checked out without the aid of a "professional". It's so anti-social. We have pay at the pump. There are computerized car washes. We do can almost everything online, order books, movies, whatever. It's getting to the point where you can go through your entire day without talking to anybody.

I think we are going to breed an entire generation without the basic communication skills that most of us have come to take for granted. Why would you need to communicate when you never see or talk to another human being? And when the supermarket scanners overcharge you, who the fuck are you going to yell at?