Tressie Fomby Upshaw

I have been keeping up with interest, the new way to shop, placing you order on your smart phone, paying for your order with your credit card, designating the time to pick it up and the store employees bring it to your car. That’s a good thing, right? Saves you a lot of time. I also noted that my cousin, Burt Green, had a somewhat pleasant experience when he tried it with only minor glitches. Well and good.

In 1957, I had my first job at McMurrian’s Self Service Food Center in Farmerville. My primary job was to answer the phone, take the customer’s grocery order, fill it, ring it up on the cash register and bag it. When the customer got ready to pick their order up, they drove up in the NO PARKING ZONE in front of the store, honked the car horn and someone carried their groceries to their car. They either paid with cash or charged their order. No credit cards in 1957. As far as substitutions, if we didn’t have an item, I called them back and they chose something else.

Sixty years later and all the technology we have today, the only thing I see different is we have managed to elimanated another contact with a human being. They say it is all about saving time. Well, there is still 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year, 52 weeks in a year and 12 months in a year. We are just not using our time wisely. I have told my children, grandchildren and soon my great grandchildren to always slow down and take time to smell the roses.