Had kind of an interesting night last night, if you think that waiting in line 5x longer than normal is interesting. The first line was for a burrito, and that wasn't really all that new, it was just kinda sad how overwhelmed the person behind the counter was and knowing that she was going to be dealing with person after person after person for awhile after I had the freedom to leave the building. Everyone in line kept asking, "Why are there so many people in line? What's going on?" And this was kind of different than normal lines (especially New York lines), where the main thing you hear is, "Why is [that person behind the counter] taking [such a very long] time doing [the job s/he was hired to do] and if things don't improve, someone's gonna get a piece of my mind!" This is, as I ahve mentioned before not a matter of New Yorkers being rude, just efficient. In LA, people are generally happier (take a look at the weather map and humidity levels around the country) so there is a lot less blaming of counter folk, at least when you are in line for food. For the most part.

So after that line "experience" (and there's a point to this, really), I went to the local Safeway/Pavilions/Vons store to get some stuff, and by this time it was getting late, 9pm (see above to see why I was there so late) and again, for some reason, the lines were really long. Like, 15-18 people in each line. Amazingly, though they had 13 checkout counters, only 3 were open, and, while my line was in session, the guy tried to "end" the line in the middle of our line! There was some protest, and the guy compromised saying that the person behind me was the last person and that she would have to tell all the new people that the line was over, they had to go to another one...of the two left.

And this was what was kind of interesting: when people would come up behind us (I say "us" because I ended up helping explain the situation, if only because I felt bad for my line partner), we would say, "oh, sorry, the line isn't really accepting new people, it ends with me/her" and almost every single person would nod and smile and stay in line. They straight up were not listening to us at all! Like, they were right in front of us and it's not like we were communicating "long line, huh?" or "how about Bonds, huh?" or even, "do you know what time it is?"--this was valuable line-oriented information, made more valuable as each moment passed--our line was always shorter than the other two, obviously, so when people saw our line, their eyes would light up and they would leap to the end of the line, only to have their hopes dashed across the sharp rocks of reality a few moments later.

But 99% of the time, we had to explain the situation twice, sometimes three times. We told this one guy and he nodded and said, "Really?" and then just stood there. The lady and I exchanged a look and just had to say it again, "no, really, the line is over" and he just nodded, and then we said it again and he was like, "Oh! really! Oh, okay," and then he left. Of course, everyone who heard our message (and comprehended it) was pissed the moment they heard it, some of it inadvertently directed at us messengers, which was mildly unpleasant (but, in the end, entertaining).

Finally--finally, when I was actually checking out (and this line, by the way, was going slowly, we were in line for at least 20 minutes), an old lady came up behind my friend and we both explained (for the last time! we were so stoked!) that the line was closed, etc, and then she just smiled, said, "...so kind..." and then cut in between me and the end-of-the-line lady! When the clerk tried to say something, she just cut him off and explained that she was buying a newspaper and saw no reason why she should have to wait in line to buy "the paper" and was clearly oblivious to the fact that she had cut into a line, etc. She even started getting angry at the clerk for some reason. It was crazy.

Long story short? It just brought to mind that adage that people only hear what they want to hear. Usually, this is just one of those things you hear or say when talking about messaging or advertising or arguments or whatever, but I have never actually seen it happen, physically, in person, in real time, over and over again. People just were so happy to get in the "short" line, that their mind simply was not accepting information that would dispute that happiness. It was really amazing.

So, that's that.

I must admit I am enjoying twitter more than I expected. I have quite a few friends from SF and NY who I follow (and vice versa) and it's fun to throw things out there to see what people respond to. I don't have the twitters going to my phone, but it's fun to get little check in's throughout the day. Such an odd, 21st century only piece of silliness, don't you think? I mean, there just does not seem to be a corresponding form of communication from any part of history. Communication has become so easy, so cheap, so effortless, that we actually have folks who just jump right into what used to be called "too much information". We live in a world of information, constantly shifting pieces of news, emails, websites, events that we can just share anything we want, whenever we want to whomever we want...it's really astounding really. Is it helpful? I'm not sure. Back in the day there were plenty of times when I would find myself talking and talking to just to fill the silence when I was with people and while some found it entertaining, I am sure some had to find it equally irritating. Ollie loves to remind me of the time when I had to remind everyone that it had been a while since I had last talked. There's a correlation here, but it's different. Now all of these bursts of experience are logged and tagged for your amusement at a later date, creating ongoing and pervasive diaries, often for the world to see. One thing is for sure, if any of this exists in a hundred years, our future friends will realize that while people were seemingly really busy, they definitely had a lot of time on their hands and they absolutely felt it was necessary to make sure that everyone else knew about it.

I bet you there will be a new term for the new kind of "Luddite". Now it's not just the refusal to incorporate new technology into one's life, but there are also the people that just don't freaking care to know all the stuff there is to know. Someone who is fine with "just" reading the paper, that kind of thing. Yes, it's related to technology, but perhaps this is a post-technology thing, perhaps a few decades from now, when most of the first world Luddites are dead, a Luddite will be someone who refuses to participate in the constant exchange of information, or at least resistant to the barrage of incoming messages. Not sure. I need to think about it a bit more. There is, of course, the other issue--does the ability to constantly report to people about what you are up to (how interesting you must be to feel the need to share so much about yourself!) provide a false sense of self-importance? Is this an ego thing? Or is completely ego-less? (I'm an open book, here who I am, judge if you like, I don't care.)


Wow, that was windy. Thanks for reading...have a great weekend!

Tags: people, tech