Time And Cheetos

Have you noticed lately that when you wander through your friendly local supermarket, filled today with just as much new-age technology as food-related products , that sometimes it's the simple things that get missed?

I was there today in need of a couple of necessary ingredients for a fine dinner. I decided to leave my phone at home to charge, since I wouldn't be there long. I had to be back by 4, but I had a reasonable amount of time to play with, so no big deal, right? The grocery store is a treasure trove of modern convenience, surely I'll be able to keep tabs on my tight time schedules with ease.

As I collected by needs, I took a moment to take inventory of the technology available to he consumer. Needless to say, it was pretty incredible. Computerized touchscreen registers, machines that can convert change into cash, employment application stations, movie rental vending machines and flat screen televisions playing highlights from Food Network and the Tonight Show. Very impressive.

And not a single one of them had the fucking time on it.

I looked everywhere and couldn't find a single clock. Not even some old dusty analog number from years gone by. Time did not exist in this place. Those fancy flat screens hanging from the roof sensed my agony and decided to mock me by starting a kid friendly segment on how to build your own clock from a paper plate, push pin, and markers flashed over the screen. It was hosted by one of those failed children's show applicants. The kind that talks slow and is all teeth. Downright annoying, you know the sort. And she was as close as I was getting to a clock in this place. Unfortunately, I couldn't count on the damn thing to be able to actually tell me the time!

What the hell is this? Every one of these nifty conveniences are pretty damn complicated pieces of silicon and ingenuity. How hard could it have been to program the code so that some numbers that are tied into the position of the sun can be displayed?

For fuck's sake, the clock is one of the first real pieces of technology we ever developed. A wedge on a table that with some skill and imagination, you could figure out the time of day from. Ingenious. And we only improved from there. From classy brass pocket watches to devices you could wrap around the wrist, to your cell phone being able to not only tell the time, but serve as an alarm clock in a pinch. We've come a long way baby.

And yet, in a store filled with some moderately impressive technology, one cannot count on any of it to tell you the time. And it's not like time has lost it's importance. There are still deadlines out there. One can still be late for shit. As a matter of fact, people count on you to be punctual now more than ever. So the lack of such a basic thing seems, I don't know, odd?

Of course, maybe it's just me. Maybe the world expects me to have everything I need to stay within a timetable. It's certainly possible. iPods, the aforementioned cell phone, hell I could just get up and buy myself a fucking watch. There are ways to solve one's problems in time and space, and they're easy to find, and easier to own.

Still, it's disturbing thing to see how many expensive pieces of crap we have around, that are only capable of doing one thing. Uni-taskers aren't good for anybody, and this place is chock full of them. It's a waste of space and resources, that only makes for a disaster when any one of those damn things inevitably breaks down. What happens then? Well probably we'll just have to go back to the way we did things. You want your change broken into bills? Go to the fucking register. Want a job at this fine establishment? Then make a goddamned resume and hand it to customer service. It's quick, easy, and gives you the added priviledge of talking to a living breathing person instead of just staring at a big dumb box. A box that, at least to these tired and frustrated eyes, can't even tell you what time it is.

In the end, I manged to find out what time it was. And I didn't use any computer or television screen or other form of technology. Instead, I asked a very nice woman at the checkout stand who smiled polietly, and read to me the time from her wristwatch. And in the end, it's probably the best way to do things. Reliance on this kind of sophisticated crap only leads to further isolation from your shipmates on this big globe. Interaction with your peers is not only fun, but it's all part of the experience. In a time when it's easier to spend 5 minutes writing a text message to somebody, instead of calling them an talking to them for 3, we mustn't forget the value of one on one time with the people around us.

And for those who are unwilling to go that far, just remember to wear a watch.