Couple of years ago, the cover of the self checkout machine at home depot was left unlocked. I decided to explore.
It was some kind of Intel box inside, which also had a DVD drive. Pushing the button on the drive caused the tray to come out, but there was no disc in it. Right then, the attendant noticed me, came over and angrily asked what I was doing. He also slammed down the exterior cover, noisily snapping the DVD tray off, which went flying. I told him I wasn’t trained on these machines and was simply trying to find my way around, trying to figure it out.
The apparent level of my technical skills drops incredibly low whenever I’m forced to use one of these machines. The only time I use them is when I’m really in a hurry. Otherwise, I prefer to keep the demand for human employment, my neighbors, as high as I, as a consumer, personally can. I don’t really appreciate these big, boxy stores, such as home depot and safeway, outsourcing their labor needs to me, again, the consumer.
i work as a cashier and im pretty sure i know how to multiply. that might have something to do with my decade long career as a software engineer, but im pretty sure most of my clerking co-workers are better at mental math than i am, so what do i know.
i haven’t investigated our scales enough to know what they run. they are capable of unpacking many different sets of upc codes, and i know they can be programmed by scanning other upcs ( which sounds broken and dangerous to me, and is probably how they all work. )
our registers tho are basically linux with firefox, skinned so you wouldn’t know. unless they crash. which happens, if not daily, then almost so. :\
Yes, you are the very definition of underemployment. You’re not refuting my point, you’re illustrating it. An awesomely skilled cashier is still paid as much as a cashier.
And programming a machine by scanning a UPC? Isn’t this a perfect example of foolproofing? Who needs a skilled engineer when any high school kid can do the job?
but, what you implied was that it doesn’t take math skills to cashier.
$13/hour.
cashiers deal with money all day, everyday. i’m not particularly good with numbers – it’s a kind of dyslexia – and yes, sometimes i have to pull out a calculator to adjust prices for customers, or to reconcile tenders to total my drawer – but, i still need a comfort with math that requires an education. ( not to mention, memorizing every plu under the sun. )
as evidence that it does, the reason that amazon / whole foods is seeking to eliminate cashiering is because: if you have a cashier, you need a reasonably capable person.
if it helps, i think you’re not alone. it’s just standard dunning–kruger that people don’t realize retail requires skill.
as a separate point:
i know this isn’t something you invented, but i do take issue with the term “underemployed” – ie. “not having enough paid work or not doing work that makes full use of a person’s skills and abilities.”
no job will ever make full use of anybody’s skills and abilities; those abilities are as wide ranging as an individual’s personality.
what the term is saying is that the economy isn’t getting enough out of me, when in fact the opposite is true. i’m not getting enough out of the economy.
ie. i’m underpaid.
in part, its because large retailers have kept the wages for the industry low despite inflation by muscling out competition. ( there’s a price expectation set by walmart, kroger, etc. that doesn’t reflect the reality of living wages. )
the other part, of course, is automation. and at some point, there probably are simply not going to be enough jobs, period. let alone jobs that pay a person a viable wage.
i’m in a better boat than most. i have economically valuable skills. i simply choose not to live my life in office drudgery…
the rub is i may have to choose drudgery again; and soon. the news that healthcare subsidies are being eliminated may tip the balance. i will go from having to pay a few dollars a month to a few hundred dollars. which is a significantly sizable portion of my income… if you do the math.
Fake news. The President would sure love to do that, if he actually knew how the ACA works. But he’s sabotaging the markets in other ways, that affect you less personally. The subsidy is safe, for now. Full disclosure: I sell insurance, including ACA, for a living.
