Principia Discordia

Principia Discordia => Two vast and trunkless legs of stone => Topic started by: Brother Mythos on May 02, 2018, 01:03:45 AM

Title: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: Brother Mythos on May 02, 2018, 01:03:45 AM
Over the past few months, I've often found myself thinking, "Why is the world like this? It really shouldn't be like this." And, it happened again this afternoon.

Recently, my state allowed supermarkets to sell wine and beer. And, as I usually take my father grocery shopping on Tuesday, my wife asked me to pick up a bottle of a good, inexpensive wine she uses for cooking. 

And so, while my father started his shopping, I found the wine, took it to the counter, and opened my wallet to pay for it. Ignoring my cash in hand, the cashier told me I need to produce a valid photo ID in order to make the purchase.

Now, I am vain enough to think I look good for my age, but, on the other hand, I was born during the Truman Administration! My remaining hair is quite gray, and to describe my neatly trimmed beard and moustache as 'salt and pepper' is outright flattery.

I found myself asking the cashier, who may very well have been born during the previous Roosevelt Administration, "Seriously?"

And, to my surprise, she was dead serious. "We have to do this," she replied, clearly pissed off that I even dared to question her demand.
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: Bruno on May 02, 2018, 06:57:20 AM
Same here. Doesn't it just make you want to get a fake ID that says you're 19, tho?

Actually, 25 might be funnier, now that I think about it.
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: LMNO on May 02, 2018, 12:55:14 PM
From what I understand, it relieves the cashier from the consequences of making a judgement call.  A "no exceptions" rule ensures that they won't get the borderline scenarios wrong.  Sure, it might annoy some people, but when one's liquor license is on the line (plus a lot of fines), it's not gonna change.
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: ReverendJesus on May 02, 2018, 01:22:33 PM
Zero tolerance is ALWAYS a stupid policy.
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: LMNO on May 02, 2018, 01:47:02 PM
You're a store owner that could face a fine of several thousand dollars and a loss of the ability to sell alcohol (that you paid a whole TON of money for), and you're leaving that risk up to a bored cashier?


I, too, like to live dangerously.
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: rong on May 02, 2018, 01:55:43 PM
Quote from: ReverendJesus on May 02, 2018, 01:22:33 PM
Zero tolerance is ALWAYS a stupid policy.
i have zero tolerance for stupid policies
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: trippinprincezz13 on May 02, 2018, 04:23:56 PM
Quote from: LMNO on May 02, 2018, 12:55:14 PM
From what I understand, it relieves the cashier from the consequences of making a judgement call.  A "no exceptions" rule ensures that they won't get the borderline scenarios wrong.  Sure, it might annoy some people, but when one's liquor license is on the line (plus a lot of fines), it's not gonna change.

A grocery store I used to work at in MA had a no exceptions rule like that. I was certainly awkward/embarrassing to have to ask someone that was clearly old enough to buy alcohol several times over for their ID, more so if they didn't have it on them and I had to tell them that I couldn't sell it without first getting my supervisor's approval. But, I wasn't going to risk my job over it, and while in certain cases it may be glaringly obvious said person is old enough, I understand not wanting to leave that sort of judgment call to a cashier when it comes to grayer (no pun intended) areas.
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: Doktor Howl on May 02, 2018, 07:32:10 PM
Quote from: ReverendJesus on May 02, 2018, 01:22:33 PM
Zero tolerance is ALWAYS a stupid policy.

I have a zero methanol tolerance policy at my house.
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: Brother Mythos on May 02, 2018, 10:45:16 PM
I had a previous "Has It Really Come to This?" moment Sunday evening.

At a rare family gathering/dinner, Sean, the husband of my favorite niece, stated that Donald J. Trump was a psychopath.

I immediately disagreed. I told him that based upon my own reading and research, Spanky, as Donald J. Trump is known around my kitchen table, is actually a sociopath. I then found myself explaining that it appears to me the main difference between psychopaths and sociopaths is that psychopaths are much smarter, in that they can fake empathy, whereas sociopaths can not do so.

And with that, the rest of the family jumped in, and the topic de-evolved even further. But, amid all the levity, I could not quite forget we were talking about the current President of the United States.

And so, the thought "Has It Really Come to This?" is beginning to occur to me with alarming frequency.
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: hooplala on May 03, 2018, 05:07:44 AM
Quote from: ReverendJesus on May 02, 2018, 01:22:33 PM
Zero tolerance is ALWAYS a stupid policy.

I see what you did there.
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: Cain on May 04, 2018, 08:38:02 AM
I've not had it that bad, but as a 32 year old man I've been asked to prove I'm over 16 when buying a can of Red Bull to push me through the night shift.  As in, yesterday.

I did have my work ID with me, so I asked them if they knew a lot of 16 year old Senior Houseparents at international boarding schools.  That didn't go down well, but they did (eventually) concede the point.
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: axod on May 04, 2018, 12:17:07 PM
Sometimes, security does not become freedom and responsability.
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: ReverendJesus on May 04, 2018, 01:45:29 PM
Quote from: Cain on May 04, 2018, 08:38:02 AM
to prove I'm over 16 when buying a can of Red Bull

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: Cain on May 04, 2018, 03:38:03 PM
Quote from: ReverendJesus on May 04, 2018, 01:45:29 PM
Quote from: Cain on May 04, 2018, 08:38:02 AM
to prove I'm over 16 when buying a can of Red Bull

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK

New government policy.  Alongside the sugar sin tax, you now have to prove you're a semi-adult in the eyes of the law to get your sugar-caffeine buzz on.
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: rong on May 04, 2018, 04:48:11 PM
You mean it hasn't always been this way?
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: Brother Mythos on May 04, 2018, 05:04:01 PM
Quote from: rong on May 04, 2018, 04:48:11 PM
You mean it hasn't always been this way?

I don't think so.

As a kid, I used to occasionally be sent to the local tavern on Sunday to pick up a couple of quarts, if the clan ran out of beer while sitting on the front porch listening to the ball game on the radio. (We had porches instead of decks, in those days.) And, there were "Blue Laws" in those days. The taverns couldn't even legally open on Sundays. But, on the other hand, I did grow up near The Middle of Nowhere. Many things seemed to make a lot more sense at that time, and in that place.     
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: rong on May 04, 2018, 10:43:14 PM
I wonder what happened
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: Cain on May 05, 2018, 02:46:48 AM
People went MADD
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: rong on May 05, 2018, 03:52:09 AM
you're saying, things were pretty great, but then a couple of dead kids went and fucked it all up
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: Brother Mythos on May 05, 2018, 04:18:00 PM
Quote from: rong on May 04, 2018, 10:43:14 PM
I wonder what happened

I don't know.

But, thinking is hard. Perhaps that's why governments pass laws, and corporations write policies, so humans don't have to do it.
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: Brother Mythos on June 07, 2018, 11:21:45 PM
I had another "Has It Really Come to This?" moment yesterday.

The 'Self Checkout' machine at my nearby Lowe's store thanked me for my military service, for buying a plumbing part.

I don't like machines talking to me at all, yet alone getting personal.
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: Doktor Howl on June 12, 2018, 05:08:00 PM
It's not so much that we've "come to this" as "this is a station which is merely one more stop for the train."

So not that we've arrived, so much as this is just a point in time where the change in degradation is particularly visible.
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: Doktor Howl on June 12, 2018, 05:13:53 PM
Quote from: Brother Mythos on June 07, 2018, 11:21:45 PM
The 'Self Checkout' machine at my nearby Lowe's store thanked me for my military service, for buying a plumbing part.

This is really the best thing I've heard all week. 
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: Pergamos on June 13, 2018, 03:42:24 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on June 12, 2018, 05:08:00 PM
It's not so much that we've "come to this" as "this is a station which is merely one more stop for the train."

So not that we've arrived, so much as this is just a point in time where the change in degradation is particularly visible.

Only the train doesn't stop here, it just speeds up on the way by.
Title: Re: Has It Really Come to This?
Post by: Brother Mythos on June 13, 2018, 04:03:45 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on June 12, 2018, 05:08:00 PM
It's not so much that we've "come to this" as "this is a station which is merely one more stop for the train."

So not that we've arrived, so much as this is just a point in time where the change in degradation is particularly visible.

As much as it would cheer me up to disagree with you, I can't bring myself to do it.

When you're right, you're right.