I've never noticed a tired hello from a wage slave from my local butchery, bakery, or vege shop. I know some people who will always go to the same checkout operator if they're on. I think supermarkets just naturally sap the strength of their workers, with crabby hours and changing shifts so that they're never awake. Also you're always stuck on exactly the same job, so you're no longer retail, you're a factory worker. No wonder their minds switch off.

I personally don't like not seeing the faces of whom I'm talking to unless I know the person well enough that I can think of their expressions in my head. Hence my reluctance to have facebook, phones, LJ... etc. Static pictures don't help. Even video phones are off putting - although much better than a normal phone or a email. Of course, I mean this for in depth get to know you conversations, not the "When are we meeting?" ones!

My point with the jobs was, is that we aren't making lives of luxury, all we're doing is giving the smarter people more jobs, and the not so smart or maybe more manual people less jobs. Then these people have no income except the dole. Even getting into factory work these days requires a lot! Retail and the government seem to be the only place where you can go without any skills and upskill. Everywhere else requires you to have magically come up with experience from somewhere else.