Those damn whippersnappers

 Yesterday I was at Kmart in our town.  I'm not a frequent shopper of kmart, because the one by us,  never seems to have enough registers open & I find that annoying & it's in need of a big time make over so I don't find that much pleasure in the shopping experience,  but I do like that they support the March of Dimes so there is that and I NEEDED a glass pyrex lasagna dish for dinner.  We used to have two of them but they seemed to have disappeared.  I wonder if I broke them & forgot about it or left them at someone's house.... either way I couldn't find one to save my life... ok well to at least save dinner.  SO I just went to the closest place to us which was Kmart.  I go in & immediately head towards the kitchen ware aisle in the back of the store.  I was able to find what I needed pretty quickly.. so that was a plus.  I start heading up to the front of the store where the registers are located & ofcourse there are like 6 customers in each line & only 2 lines OPEN.  UGH! I will say in their defense they did make an announcement that all "register trained" associates come to the front to ring people up.  After a few moments several employees start coming up front.  In the meantime though,  I see this very elderly man wearing a "WW II Veteran" hat standing in the line I'm not in, he's at the end of the line...  about 5 or 6 people back with one item.  a belt.  that was on clearance. (this has NO relevance to the story I just notice cause I'm cheap & therefore notice clearance stickers..lol)   So I say to him... "you can go in front of me" after all he's a senior citizen & most probably a veteran. Then it dawn's on me.... does no one else notice him?  I guess it's wrong for me to assume that they did.... but it did make me think.   No one seems to pay attention to anyone else or anything else around them anymore.   Anyway... it made me kind of sad.  So as I see this worker coming to the front I say to him...."are you going to open a register?"  "yes" so I say.... "can you help this gentleman here first"  "yeah ok"  The veteran guy thanks me & I say, "no problem...thank you" He smiles.  It turns out that the older veteran gentlemen, me & another woman follow the worker into a newly opened line.  The one woman that was behind me says..."maybe you should work here"  ha... So I say, " I just feel like he's a veteran & a senior citizen & we should help him out"  She agrees.   Anyway.... the worker actually can't get a "till" to use because there is only one customer service rep to give him one & she's busy. UGH! SO I say, "well can you ring him up at the jewelry counter?"  He ask & he can.  The worker says in a regular voice, to the old man... "I can help you at the jewelry counter" & quickly walks away, I go to another register to wait.  Then I see the veteran guy looking confused at the end of the aisle we were just all in.  So I get out my line & direct him to the jewelry counter.  I guess this not that young but young(er) than me worker didn't care or atleast think enough to walk slower & speak louder to him.   It's something I've noticed since working "retail" after years of being away from it, these kids these days are so self-involved.   I see it all the time, & you know when it dawns on me the most when I actually get that one kid who's polite.  It's so refreshing.  It's so rare.  Maybe we were all like this when we were young,  maybe it's only cause I'm older now that I'm seeing it.  BUT I don't think we were this bad... I think it's all those devices these kids have grown  up on.  I know I sound so old..... "those damn whippersnappers."  But it is true....then again,  there were a lot of people in the lines, not just young people & NO ONE seemed to notice or help this man.   That's the problem... everyone seems oblivious these days.  I notice customers all the time who are on their phones WHILE I'm waiting on them.   Some of the times I think they are talking to me when they are talking to the person on the phone.  It's ridiculous.  It's rude & they don't even seem to notice or care that they are doing it.   I wish we as a society could look up every once in a while. Kind of like that picture of the guy on the boat who missed the "whale" swimming right beside the boat but never noticed it cause he was on his phone.  A once in a lifetime experience that he missed out on. That's what we've become.  It is sad.  Next time when you are out & about,  why not look up & out.... perhaps you'll see something or someone you wouldn't have otherwise.    Just a thought.