Rusty Saber: High-tech gadgets unfortunately become part of daily life

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Joe McAdoo is former chairman of the communication department at Drury University.|ret||ret||tab|

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New trends have appeared on the scene that change the way traditional things are done. It probably comes as no surprise to readers that I haven't been quick to embrace some of them. However, in 21st-century America, new trends are hard to ignore. Some I've accepted; others I tolerate, albeit grudgingly.|ret||ret||tab|

When "service"' stations were replaced by trendy pump-it-yourself gas emporiums, I didn't like it one bit. |ret||ret||tab|

They once were called "service" stations because a service attendant came to the car to pump the gas, wash the windshield, check the radiator, oil, battery and air pressure in the tires, and sweep the floor mats. |ret||ret||tab|

As service stations began fading into folklore, I said I would never pump my own gas; however, I've gone along with it. I didn't have a choice. It was that or ride a bicycle. In Springfield traffic? No way!|ret||ret||tab|

To make the gasoline buying experience as impersonal as possible, enter the trend of paying for gas at the pump with a credit card. Occasionally, I do it, but I don't like it. There is something I don't like about sticking a credit card into a gas pump and being handed a receipt. If a human being won't service my car, I want to pay one for the service I perform.|ret||ret||tab|

Likewise, when ATMs first came on the scene, I turned up my nose at the idea of the card poked into a slot of a thingamajig to get cash in return. Early ATMs weren't very reliable, doling out cash only if the machine felt like it. I didn't want anything to do with this thing. I vowed to do my banking with a real bank teller. It took a while, but ATMs have won me over. My initial aversion was based mostly on the reliability factor. ATMs today are easier to operate and more reliable. |ret||ret||tab|

I wrote in a long ago column that the "Temporarily Out of Order'' signs that seemed to constantly adorn ATMs should be replaced by Temporarily in Order." Today, I'm fine with ATMs. I don't often say this about high-tech, trendy gizmos, but I don't know how I got along without them. |ret||ret||tab|

There is nothing new about the trend of drive-up windows at fast food restaurants; they have been around for decades. I don't care how long they have been on the scene, I don't like them. Usually I go inside rather than order from a machine with a vocabulary limited to May I take your order" and "Do you want fries with that"? Nor am I keen on taking my food from an arm extending from a hole in a wall. My philosophy is: Always eat in restaurants and drive in cars and never switch the two. |ret||ret||tab|

A brand new trend I have sworn to ignore with every fiber of my being is automated checkout at supermarkets. I've gone along with some trendy notions of doing business. Well, I'm drawing a line in the sand. I want a flesh-and-blood person to check me out at the supermarket and take my money. As an experiment, I have twice put the automated check-out system to the test; buying only one item. I didn't miss out on human contact because store employees on hand for such emergencies twice had to bail me out. If this trend turns out to be another pump-it-yourself or walk, I could probably master the art of self-checkout of a few items without having to call in the experts. However, I can't visualize shoppers checking themselves out of a supermarket with baskets loaded with enough items to fill a box car. No way! |ret||ret||tab|

The self-service method as it exists today may be short-lived. I understand that some stores have fitted shopping carts with wireless computers containing hand-held bar-code scanners so items can be scanned on the spot. All you have to do is pay the already figured total at the door. This development is so new that I need to think about it before deciding I don't like it. In fact, this and other eye-popping, automated-shopping doodads will be the topic of a future column.|ret||ret||tab|

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