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> Throughout history, "the marketplace" had been one of the major centers of interpersonal interaction If you shop at Whole Foods, Target, Trader Joe's, Kroger

> Throughout history, "the marketplace" had been one of the major centers of interpersonal interaction If you shop at Whole Foods, Target, Trader Joe's, Kroger, etc. this has never been true for you, unless by social interaction you mean handing your card to the cashier or asking someone a question. Even in my local, family owned grocery store I don't see this "marketplace" attitude. I doubt it exists anywhere outside of small communities nowadays in the US. Most people work 8 hours a day and hang out at home or in bars/coffee shops; we don't really want to hang out in a marketplace. Note that I don't disagree with your overall point... I just don't think this is a good example.

icebraining 9y ago
I'm not in the US, but yeah, the supermarket experience here is not a social event. In fact, cashiers will get annoyed if you start making small talk. My small local corner store is different, but then again they won't be replaced by an app anytime soon, exactly for that reason.
saurik 9y ago
While it might not have been a particularly "deep" interaction, I definitely got to know my favorite checkout person at Whole Foods, knowing what he used to do, keeping each other up to date on new things we were doing, and even following his move from being a checker at Whole Foods to being a manager at another nearby store. I miss the person who used to work at the Staples who always lit up my day when I needed to buy paper.
- themagician 9y ago
  In the future you can just buy a crate for $4.99 that could unlock any one of 10 unique alert sounds that will brighten your day when you checkout! And for $9.99/mo you can subscribe to the feed of your favorite restocker and get daily updates about the food their eating and the cute dog they saw on the way home or how great their butt looks in yoga pants! You can even send them creepy messages up to 10 times a month if you have the premium sub (which is only an extra $2.99).

icebraining 9y ago

I'm not in the US, but yeah, the supermarket experience here is not a social event. In fact, cashiers will get annoyed if you start making small talk. My small local corner store is different, but then again they won't be replaced by an app anytime soon, exactly for that reason.

saurik 9y ago

While it might not have been a particularly "deep" interaction, I definitely got to know my favorite checkout person at Whole Foods, knowing what he used to do, keeping each other up to date on new things we were doing, and even following his move from being a checker at Whole Foods to being a manager at another nearby store. I miss the person who used to work at the Staples who always lit up my day when I needed to buy paper.

themagician 9y ago
In the future you can just buy a crate for $4.99 that could unlock any one of 10 unique alert sounds that will brighten your day when you checkout! And for $9.99/mo you can subscribe to the feed of your favorite restocker and get daily updates about the food their eating and the cute dog they saw on the way home or how great their butt looks in yoga pants! You can even send them creepy messages up to 10 times a month if you have the premium sub (which is only an extra $2.99).