The opiate of the masses.

It started last year. One of the stores I'd frequent had installed televisions at every check out isle. Plus a ginormous 50 incher in the produce section. I especially hated those ones in the checkout isles though. It struck me as sort of creepy. A little cattle-ish. Like the store said "hey, lets not work on making our checkers less chatty, or work faster - lets just placate those people so they don't notice we suck".

Then - last week I was at a bank other than my own. Bank of America to be exact. Right above the bank tellers were 5 flat panel TV's mounted on the wall. I don't remember what they were playing. Because - I found that super creepy. It doesn't make me feel comfortable that everyone standing in line at a bank is tuned out on whatever is playing on the television. It is a bank, and frankly - robberies have littered the news almost every week for several months now. I sort of want people paying attention to what is going on.

So today when Mr S. and I went to get some bagels at Noah's, it barely struck me as odd that the guy taking our order seemed to be staring into space. There is a lot going on, I thought. So what the guy seems like a robot taking an order.

When I sat down to wait for my food I saw the television. Hey Mr S! When did Noah's get televisions?

Now, from a general tuning out of the nation - I hate this trend. But, the consumer side of me finds it intriguing. I mean.. if a little "almost out of business" place like Noah's is buying TV's for their stores - the economy can't be that bad. Right?

I have to admit - I would have never predicted that to be a real trend.