Please, Make Them Stop!
What do these places have in common?
Gas Station, Coffee Bean, Weinerschitzel, Jiffy Lube and my Dr. Office?
I’ll tell you what, they all have TV screens.
This week I walked into my favorite coffee shop, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. There wasn’t small talk among customers, no commenting on the Patriots streak of wins (even though they will go down as the unbeaten cheaters) or odd looks at the barista for deciding to color her hair 3 shades of red. No, none of that. Instead, everyone was staring up at a brand-new flat screen TV.
Don’t get me wrong: I love TV. Friday Night Lights anyone? (Please don’t cancel this show!) I need to know if Landry is going to get off the hook for murder or if shy the QB is going to make it with his grandma's live-in caretaker. I need this. But I’m over coming across a TV every time I need to run an errand. This is customer-service?
I've seen TVs at the supermarket, the bank, even at Nordstrom. God forbid I might have to talk to the person next to me, or dare I say, nothing, just stand there and wait my turn. Maybe look out the window or something?
My time is precious, and I choose carefully how to spend it. The choices I feel good about rarely involve staring at a screen that someone else just flipped on. I looked around at my coffee bean buddies and was sad to see very few of them actively resisting. It's as if they were letting their brains be drained without protest, trapped in some freaky episode of X-Files
Just because we have the technology—and a 24/7 knowledge of information—does not mean we have to burn it into every last second of available time.
Gas Station, Coffee Bean, Weinerschitzel, Jiffy Lube and my Dr. Office?
I’ll tell you what, they all have TV screens.
This week I walked into my favorite coffee shop, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. There wasn’t small talk among customers, no commenting on the Patriots streak of wins (even though they will go down as the unbeaten cheaters) or odd looks at the barista for deciding to color her hair 3 shades of red. No, none of that. Instead, everyone was staring up at a brand-new flat screen TV.
Don’t get me wrong: I love TV. Friday Night Lights anyone? (Please don’t cancel this show!) I need to know if Landry is going to get off the hook for murder or if shy the QB is going to make it with his grandma's live-in caretaker. I need this. But I’m over coming across a TV every time I need to run an errand. This is customer-service?
I've seen TVs at the supermarket, the bank, even at Nordstrom. God forbid I might have to talk to the person next to me, or dare I say, nothing, just stand there and wait my turn. Maybe look out the window or something?
My time is precious, and I choose carefully how to spend it. The choices I feel good about rarely involve staring at a screen that someone else just flipped on. I looked around at my coffee bean buddies and was sad to see very few of them actively resisting. It's as if they were letting their brains be drained without protest, trapped in some freaky episode of X-Files
Just because we have the technology—and a 24/7 knowledge of information—does not mean we have to burn it into every last second of available time.
