A Brief Rant.
So explain to me what goes through a person (usually, though not always, a middle age + woman) when they are standing at the check out line, seeing a LOooooong line of their items going through the scanner - invariably more than the suggested 8, 10, or 12 - and then the clerk announces the total, and they get this 'deer in the headlights look'.
Why isn't your wallet ready?
Why don't you have a couple of large bills, or your debit/credit card already in your hand, ready to give to the young lady to pay her?
Why?
Are your surprised that you are suddenly being asked for money in return for the large selection of processed and frozen objects you are going to poison your body with?
Often, I look closely to see if the person in question is barefoot, wearing nothing but a loincloth, and carrying a spear thrower. You never know when someone from a remote hunter/gatherer tribe might stumble into the Dundurn Ave. Fortino's, and decide to grab half a dozen Michelina's.
But invariably, no. They are always reasonably dressed, and for some reason have imponderable amounts of change in their little purses.
The best reason I have ever heard, is that they are "Beige".
Beige is a term that a very bright speaker at a training seminar I went to 20 years ago used to describe people who seem to have no awareness of the world around them - who seem totally oblivious to the fact that there are oh... I don't know ... another 6 BILLION OR SO other people out there who would like to get on with their day. Yes, Beiges are everywhere. They are the ones doing 90 Km/hr in the fast lane. They are the ones who stop halfway through scanning their items at the self serve check out to take a lengthy cell phone call. They are the ones who walk four abreast down the main hall of the shopping mall at the height of the Christmas rush.
They are everywhere out there.
So if you see a beige this holiday shopping season, don't bother screaming at them until you have popped a blood vessel in your eye - it's pointless, they don't get it. And if you are one, don't take offense when I roll my eyes at you and exclaim under my breath: "Beige!"
So explain to me what goes through a person (usually, though not always, a middle age + woman) when they are standing at the check out line, seeing a LOooooong line of their items going through the scanner - invariably more than the suggested 8, 10, or 12 - and then the clerk announces the total, and they get this 'deer in the headlights look'.
Why isn't your wallet ready?
Why don't you have a couple of large bills, or your debit/credit card already in your hand, ready to give to the young lady to pay her?
Why?
Are your surprised that you are suddenly being asked for money in return for the large selection of processed and frozen objects you are going to poison your body with?
Often, I look closely to see if the person in question is barefoot, wearing nothing but a loincloth, and carrying a spear thrower. You never know when someone from a remote hunter/gatherer tribe might stumble into the Dundurn Ave. Fortino's, and decide to grab half a dozen Michelina's.
But invariably, no. They are always reasonably dressed, and for some reason have imponderable amounts of change in their little purses.
The best reason I have ever heard, is that they are "Beige".
Beige is a term that a very bright speaker at a training seminar I went to 20 years ago used to describe people who seem to have no awareness of the world around them - who seem totally oblivious to the fact that there are oh... I don't know ... another 6 BILLION OR SO other people out there who would like to get on with their day. Yes, Beiges are everywhere. They are the ones doing 90 Km/hr in the fast lane. They are the ones who stop halfway through scanning their items at the self serve check out to take a lengthy cell phone call. They are the ones who walk four abreast down the main hall of the shopping mall at the height of the Christmas rush.
They are everywhere out there.
So if you see a beige this holiday shopping season, don't bother screaming at them until you have popped a blood vessel in your eye - it's pointless, they don't get it. And if you are one, don't take offense when I roll my eyes at you and exclaim under my breath: "Beige!"
posted by Jason Allen at 8:52 PM
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