Our children are losing the ability to think for themselves
By LEE GAREN
My wife and I went shopping over the weekend…one stop was a local supermarket which is part of a well-known chain.
Before I continue with this story let me draw your attention to emails you may have received. Are you familiar with the emails that list dumb comments made by people such as the bank teller who was asked for “all large bills, please” by a customer. She replied, ”I’m sorry, sir. All we have is one size!” Now that I have your mind thinking in the right direction, I will continue with my story.
We were headed for a cashier when my wife said, “Wait right here, I’m going to get something real fast.” She disappeared down an aisle.While I waited, there were two young men about 16-years-old loading a freezer unit that holds bagged ice. I may be giving away too much at this point but no other way to really set this up.
A gentleman about my age walked in the front and made his way through a closed cashier line and as he passed me, one of the young men asked if he could help him.The gentleman, apparently in a jovial mood brought on by a beautiful Saturday, said, ”Yes, where can I find the bagged ice?”
Now, you just can’t make this stuff up, but what happened after that really floored me and that gentleman! The young man, with a bag of ice in his arms, gestured down the aisle to his right and said, “Right back there, sir.” There was a few seconds of silence among all of us standing there until, as an afterthought, the teen said, “uhhhh…..or right here!” The man said “thanks” looked in my direction and rolled his eyes.
As he passed me, the stranger said quietly, “Now that scares me!” I replied, “I know what you mean!”
The lesson here is that you have to learn how to think on your feet and come out with some degree of intelligence when you open your mouth to speak. Brain must be in gear.I can only surmise that perhaps this young man had handled too many bags of ice and his thinking process was a little frozen in time.
But, yes, it was a sad testimonial as to whether this kid pays attention in school or even to his parents. Good thing his boss wasn’t standing where I was positioned.
That was definitely embarrassing for the store the kid was working for. The easy and simple thing would
have been to hold out the bag of ice and say, “Here, you can have this one!”
DUH!
Copyright 2012 Lee Garen
Lee Garen is a former anchor and reporter at CNN Radio.
Short URL: http://reportergary.com/?p=25566
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