In an age of increased isolation and loneliness, some Americans see skipping self-checkout as a path toward connection.
Ken and Audrey Mattlin live with a family of robots that can play trivia, turn on the TV and act as security. But will all this technology cure loneliness?But by the spring of 2021, slowed down by his declining health, Bob stopped leaving the house as often, and Myers started grocery shopping alone. A few days before Christmas, not long after he fell in the driveway one evening, he died in the hospital. On a trip to the store soon after, Myers slipped Hechler a copy of the eulogy.
“I treasure it,” said Hechler, who last month celebrated her 50th anniversary of working for the company. Although she often feels exhausted, Hechler can’t imagine her life without seeing her customers. She would miss the small jolt she feels while delivering her signature farewell picked up from her grandfather —Sharon Hechler, right, jokes with Myers, her longtime customer, about how few shoppers write checks for their purchases.
Hechler said she would miss the small moments of connection — the customer who gave her a container of pickled beets to add to her salad and the man in his 80s who cried at the register as he told her that, months after losing his wife, his dog had died too. She wrapped her arms around him and said a silent prayer.On a recent Friday, Myers traced her typical route through the store, starting at the meat counter, where the butcher recognized her.
She picked up a package of his favorite chocolate macadamia cookies and, in the frozen section, she stuck her forehead up against the fogged glass, smiling when she spotted the SeaPak brand of shrimp scampi.After grabbing a few more items, she headed toward Hechler’s aisle.“Terrible,” Myers said, explaining that, although she was mostly kidding, she’d been having a hard time nailing down an appointment time with an alarm company.
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