The slow lane

I took my old mum shopping today, she loves a ride around Morrisons in her wheelchair it’s a chance to get out of the house and engage with other people and we’ll invariably end up chatting with someone – It’s good for the soul  

There was a long queue for the checkout and I was struck that no one was using the self-service tills.  Now, I quite like a bit of a queue, it is good mindfulness training, it teaches me to observe my own impatience and it’s a chance to practice the world-famous “Standing-in-a-queue meditation” and I know when I get to the checkout I can enjoy some human connection, spread a bit of loving kindness and have a bit of a laugh. It’s good for the soul.

It seemed that I wasn’t alone in rejecting the automated tills. Deep down inside us, we know the technocrat’s push to automate all human activity and enslave us to the algorithm offends the soul – It’s anti-human, soul-destroying and it was heartening to see so many choose the queue. 

I was intrigued to read that Jumbo, the Dutch supermarket chain, introduced “slow-lane” checkouts when it discovered some people enjoy chatting while paying for their goods. The added personal touch is helping many people, especially the elderly, deal with loneliness. The move has proven so successful that Jumbo has installed slow checkouts in 200 stores.

Morrisons checkouts are pretty slow anyway – but what a great idea – It’s good for the soul