BS: Talking to strangers

Subject: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Aug 16 - 08:05 AM

I talk to strangers. Some people don't. People are the building bricks of society while others are small layers of mortar.

From banal to life changing the short conversation is condensed as haiku and sometimes remembered for a life time.
It could be in a grocery line or rarely at a stop light when the weather is fine.
Maybe you talked up or you talked down but the memory of the words shared still grows like a vine. I love those short conversations that leave both smiling as you walk, drive or fly away.
Still they can be a few terse words you never want to hear.
There is an honesty among strangers that can go beyond fear, ascend with joy or extend the wisdom of the ages.

I was at a stop light the other day while npr was on. A guy to our left commented about npr and we had a real wonky defense security council exchange but before the light turned green we knew we were birds of a feather who could flock together. The mood of the nation is still good.

Do you talk to interesting strangers? (other than those here?(




( admin. this is not about trum}

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Charmion
Date: 12 Aug 16 - 08:47 AM

I talk to strangers all the time. People often start up talking to me, but I am just as likely to open the batting. Public transit is the most frequent place (and reason) for a conversation, but the ladies' room at a shopping centre or highway rest stop is a close second.

Normal city life has so many opportunities for a chat. How can one attend a physiotherapy clinic without talking to the other clients? I have a slight but nasty rotator cuff problem at present, and twice a week find myself in a row of fellow sufferers, all young men but me. They think it highly amusing that the "lady of a certain age" plays the guitar, and that hauling a flight case out of the boot of one's car can injure a shoulder badly enough to require six weeks of physio. Grocery shopping -- that's a good one. I am sometimes approached by younger folks who want to know how to cook something, or what to eat with something that is on special, or whether an unfamiliar-looking variant on a normal food is a Good Thing. (Purple broccoli spurred a particularly brisk debate in Loblaw's last week.) Do you drive an old car -- especially one that is not crappy? Expect someone to ask you how old it is, and how you keep it on the road. Do you have a dog? Every day, expect to talk to people about the beast, because hardly anyone will ignore you. I have been known to greet a friendly dog -- "Hello, dog," -- and then, very much as an afterthought, "Hello, human, nice day today."

My husband says I am to talkers as a lightbulb is to moths. I think it is more that I get around on foot and on public transit far more than he does, and I do most of the household hunting and gathering, so I'm more accustomed to sharing space with strangers who are not clients or customers, but just others going about in the world. When somebody looks at me directly, I look back and say Hello. When somebody talks to me, I answer -- just lobbing the ball back over the net. I get a fair few nutters, but also some very interesting acquaintances.

For example, some 15 years ago I met a middle-aged Afghan man at the bus stop one Monday in winter. The next day, he was there again, and the day after that. We started greeting each other, first with a mutual nod, then with "Good morning." I eventually learned that he was attending English classes. I told him that I worked as an editor -- and explained what an editor is. After that, every morning when we met at the bus stop, he had a question about English vocabulary and usage: What is the difference between a hat and a cap? Why are members of the Conservative Party called Tories? Along the way, I learned that English is his fourth or perhaps fifth language, after Pashto, Dari, Urdu, and German -- Hamburg was his family's last stop before Canada on the refugees' Trail of Tears.

If you sit at the front of the bus, the old folks on walkers talk to you. If you sit at the back, the high school kids usually ignore you but eventually somebody wants to know what kind of instrument that is in the case. If it's a guitar, the drunk guy wants you to play a tune. "Hey, honey -- Do you know The Rose?"

I say no, but nicely. No need to add to the world's misery quotient.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: mkebenn
Date: 12 Aug 16 - 08:48 AM

Yea,Donuel, I do. I'm an open and friendly person. ex. The other day while checking out at a local grocer, the cashier ( a woman in her forties) said " I put your buns on top so they wouldn't get squashed", and without thinking, I said " Honey, it's a long time since my buns have been have been squashed. " She laughed goodheartedly. She and I both came away with a smile. I know a lot of people don't even see the people serving them. Their loss. Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Stu
Date: 12 Aug 16 - 09:47 AM

Everyone has a story, and I love chatting to people for that reason. You never know what you're going to hear, and it's worth giving everyone the time of day and you can learn from anyone.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Senoufou
Date: 12 Aug 16 - 10:10 AM

Oh I just love chatting to strangers! I'm interested in what they say, it's usually fascinating. We all need each other don't we? I particularly love talking to elderly people - apart from the fact many are alone in the world and may feel lonely, they have such interesting stories and experiences to relate.

When we go on a day trip down to London, it's very noticeable how people there are 'frozen-faced' and on the defensive. The Tube is terrible for that, like rows of robots staring ahead. If you dare to open a conversation they glare in horror and avert their eyes!!

I had a super little chat with a small boy in the supermarket check-out queue in Norwich last week. He told me all about Pokemon Go! and his Pokemon cards he'd collected. Made me smile.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Mysha
Date: 12 Aug 16 - 12:15 PM

No, usually not. But I do talk with strangers.

Bye,
                                                                  Mysha

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: keberoxu
Date: 12 Aug 16 - 01:16 PM

Must admit to being one of the frozen-faced. Learnt this early and well.

If it's not off-topic, here's a question for you:

Have you noticed what children are like about talking to/with strangers?

They are not all the same by my observation. Some children are dreadfully shy of anyone they don't know. Others are fearless. What have you observed?

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 12 Aug 16 - 02:11 PM

rarely when sober.. too much when cidered up... 🙄

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Mysha
Date: 12 Aug 16 - 03:07 PM

Hi Keberoxu,

I don't think that's as much to do with talking, as with being shy or not. Age seems to be a factor as well, though, or maybe being an older and younger sibling, with the older sibling speaking for both, though I don't know at what age range exactly.

Bye,
                                                                Mysha

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Aug 16 - 03:26 PM

These stories are everything I hoped for.
I opened the gate for the electric meter reader and said hi. He had a sedate look on his face one might associate with the intellectually challenged. He said " I noticed you have a bas relief of the Nine Muses on the corner." What, I said. "yeah the Greek 9 muses of the arts".
I had made a flower border with some bricks and what I considered some generalized decorative figures. " Oh is that what it is", I said.
It is.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Senoufou
Date: 12 Aug 16 - 04:25 PM

People are often surprising Donuel aren't they? I was nattering away recently to a rather frail old lady (a bit like me!) in Tesco's and it turned out she'd been in the RAF all her working life. She'd been here, there and everywhere on various Air Force bases. A very interesting chat!
I was a bit shy as a child, but in the early fifties children were expected to be seen and not heard, and 'putting oneself forward' was frowned upon. Once I went away to Uni however there was no stopping me! All those students from all over the world, I was in my element.

In Africa, the women are rather reluctant to chat to a stranger, but the young folk and the men are very happy to converse. I once spent a day in a small fishing village in Senegal and found out loads about how they fish, the different species, how they prepare their catch and how they salt/smoke it. It was like a living documentary! (Luckily the fishermen all spoke French, as my Wolof leaves a lot to be desired.)

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: CupOfTea
Date: 16 Aug 16 - 07:14 AM

Chatting up strangers is one of the joys of living in a civilized society. I was brought by an extraordinarily social woman, my aunt, who held that one should be able to talk equally to everyone "from the president of the company to the guy who sweeps the floor" - neither deferential or condescending, as we were all "equal in the eyes of the Lord." But then, I was a child of the 50s when talking to strangers was not drilled into my small head as the path to danger, the way it is for today's small children. Child abuse prevention programs stress this sort of thing, and as a teacher, never being alone with a child in a closed room. I'll still talk with small children who cross my path, but I always check to see if nearby guardians aren't alarmed. Sad situation.

I do talk to mail carriers, restaurant waitstaff, store clerks, other audience members, stray musicians, all sorts of folks, in ways that go beyond the necessary interactions. I think the best serious conversation I had was with a stranger on my one trip alone to London in about1985.I was on a bench outside the V&A museum, trying to decide where to go for dinner. I asked the gent sitting on the next bench if he knew of somewhere nearby. He didn't - was on an rare(for him) visit from the Midlands. Asking where I was from got us launched into a fascinating discussion of our relative regional and personal economies, comapring the Midlands to Midwest/Great Lakes rust belt. The differences in things like what sort of appliances a modest apartment mifght have to the differences that would dictate in grocery shopping to where and when hospitality happens... Must have answered and generated questions for near two hours.

I wonder, as we get less civilized, if it will become less of a pleasure to talk to strangers. In recent years, verbal interaction with strangers has often been more in the vein of attacks. Apologizing to a stranger for a blunder I made, I was greeted with obscenities and abusive language. I wonder, if "stranger danger" drilled in from such an early age short circuits some discernment channels for adult contact so that a bonehead traffic move that resulted in no harm should be countered with the kind of venom I wouldn't hurl at anything but a cranky computer.

Joanne in Cleveland, who talks cautiously to strangers

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Senoufou
Date: 16 Aug 16 - 10:25 AM

You sound very similar to me CupOfTea! I've learned so much from chatting to random strangers. And like you, I remember conversations that turned out to be fascinating and informative.

I do think that my being elderly, doddery and fairly clean and tidy gives people confidence to chat, as I'm obviously not a threat to their safety.

One thing that makes me rather sad is to see a row of folk on a public seat, all glued to their iphones and mesmerised by their tiny screens, each one oblivious to his/her neighbour. The Queen could be sitting next to them and they wouldn't notice!

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 Aug 16 - 03:28 PM

I used to talk to the people next to me on airplanes, and had some great conversations. But now we're all cramped together, and the enforced closeness doesn't feel conducive to conversation. I'm wondering how (and why) they made airplane seats narrower. The planes haven't changed in width, and the center aisle isn't wider - but somehow, they managed to make the seats narrower.

But seats on trains are still very comfortable, and I always get into interesting conversations on trains. There was a scruffy-looking young man sitting next to me on the train into Zurich from the airport last month, and he had the biggest damn skateboard I've ever seen. Turns out he had been on vacation at Venice Beach in Los Angeles, and bought the best skateboard he could find. I think he paid $250 for it, and it was a truly impressive skateboard. So, we talked about his life in Switzerland and how it was so easy to get around that he sold his car, and all matter of things. He was a very interesting person to talk with; and we had a very nice half-English, half-German conversation. I asked this scruffy-looking guy what his occupation was. Turns out he's a surgeon, specializing in hand surgery.

And then there was a Kurdish guy I spoke with on the train from Marseilles to Poitiers a few years ago. He was an amazingly good-looking man, and the women I was traveling with were agog; but I suppose nowadays that somebody would suspect he was a terrorist. He didn't speak English very well, so we talked in German. Turns out, he was another physician.

And another young man we met on a train in Switzerland was 23 years old, studying banking in Liechtenstein. He spent all his spare time climbing mountains. He was proud of his profession as a banker, but nature and the mountains were his passion.

Oh, and then there was the 50-yr-old guy who works as a chauffeur in Basel, but we met him on a train in Interlaken. He goes hang-gliding every chance he can get, and he has done this almost every weekend for 25 years.

Conversation certainly adds a wonderful dimension to life, and especially to traveling. Too often, though, I find I don't start talking to a seatmate until my trip is almost over. And then I find out that he or she is a fascinating person, and I regret that I had missed the opportunity to talk.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Senoufou
Date: 16 Aug 16 - 05:27 PM

I'm jealous of you Joe! I speak German but not well enough to converse all that fluently. I totally agree with you; travelling is made a hundred times more interesting when one can chat to people en route. To me, it's part of the holiday pleasure. It's not often that people clam up and refuse to have a natter.
My husband has a good old laugh at me in the supermarket. He does the checkout while I have a sit-down, and when I'm in full flow with some old person like myself, he's grinning at me from afar. He calls me Mrs Yap-Yap!
Some of my most interesting and moving conversations have been with the family or friends of prisoners. During my Prison Visiting years, I've spent hours and hours in many a Visit Waiting Area, and people have told me so many troubles and worries while we sat there. Their lives were in some cases a total nightmare, and I could only sympathise and try to comfort them. It really opened my eyes to the kind of existence some people endure. Parkhurst Prison was one of the worst, since at that time they took in many mentally disturbed inmates, and the families needed to take a ferry to cross to the Isle of Wight, many with small children in tow.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Donuel
Date: 16 Aug 16 - 09:24 PM

Waiting in line while a lady was sending money home via western Union I said to a guy behind me, that's courageous but time consuming.
The conversation drifted to how we were all immigrants. He told me that his family was here because of Hitler. Likewise my father's family that emigrated from Europe before 1930 lived and those who did not, died.
These kind of interactions carry with them an appreciative good bye when one leaves the store.


BTW John McLoughlin is 99 today -WRONG!- he died today.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Aug 16 - 09:42 PM

Chatting up strangers is absolutely one of the joys of civilized life! How boring it is to stand in line, otherwise!

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Aug 16 - 12:26 AM

Prison visiting, Senoufou? I haven't had the courage to do that. I don't know what I'd talk about. I have a friend who runs a jail visiting program, and she does a lot of the visiting herself. Every time she starts telling stories of her experiences, the tears fill my eyes. This is a woman who is dealing with serious breast cancer and has had a lot of hard things in her life, but she keeps going. And she's just the nicest person and a good buddy. I don't know how she does it. Bless her.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Mr Red
Date: 17 Aug 16 - 02:57 AM

I talk to strangers, it depends on the moment.
But I make a point of saying things to kids at Folk Festivals. Especially dances. Usually kiddy type jokes, but it helps to include them in the genre rather than just be dragged along by parents. The Folk World needs the youngsters to feed the other end of the conveyor belt that is "aging". Some of them are so talented it is scary, but they were probably going to be musicians anyway, luckily they are Folkies.
Kiddies do say things to me, at Festivals I am a bit noticeable.
The other day some kids at a bus stop were all intent on their phones, then two asked me if I was, like them, on "Team Valor" (seems to be characterised by red). They were playing Pokemon. Just as a joke I said "No, Team Ducati" before they could suggest Liverpool or Man U.
Educated them on the diversity of life. A bit.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Aug 16 - 04:22 AM

Joe, I visited inmates in 8 UK prisons in total. It wasn't scary or difficult from the point of view of conversation, as the inmate I was assigned to was usually only too glad to chat to someone other than 'cons', with whom he had to be extremely careful. It mainly consisted of listening and also laughing, as each one needed cheering up a bit.
I had several Chapel Visits, where one was allowed into the Prison Chapel (under the supervision of the Chaplain) and the atmosphere was more relaxed. The travelling (I drove all over England in my trusty little Fiesta) was quite arduous. And of course, one had to be searched and go past sniffer dogs etc. But once the inmates came out into the Visit Room, the two hours passed like lightning.
I knew nothing at all about the criminal world, drugs, street violence and so on. So these intense conversations really educated me I can tell you! I was also occasionally asked for advice and did my best to help.
But mostly it was listening and being receptive.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Charmion
Date: 17 Aug 16 - 12:11 PM

What is the point of travelling if you don't talk to the people you meet?

Joe is right about planes and trains. Air travel is so unpleasant these days that many people bear it grimly, knuckling down with a book or very deliberately isolating themselves in blanket and eye-mask. I usually travel with Himself, who likes the aisle seat, so what chatting I do normally happens in the line-up for the toilet, or while wrestling with carry-on luggage.

Trains are so different. We travelled back and forth across Ireland by rail, inevitably meeting all kinds of people. Outbound from Dublin to Galway there was a party of cheerful drunks, including one guy who wanted to tell us all about his fascination with Canadian trains, especially the route through the Rocky Mountains. He talked for at least an hour and half without hardly drawing breath. On the way back, a woman with a small grand-daughter treated me to an hour and a half of intermittent abuse for the offence of moving the little girl away from the luggage rack as I was heaving my suitcase into it. (What would she have done if I had dropped the suitcase on the child? I shudder to think.) As a result, the other passengers worked to drown her out by pointedly conversing with us about every imaginable thing from farming to politics. I learned a great deal on that trip. On the Luas rapid-transit in Dublin, a cheerful young man buttonholed me to find out how he could get a job in Canada. I had to admit that I had no idea, not being in need of a job myself at the time, and to this day I wonder how in blazes he picked me for a Canadian. (No, I was not wearing a Tilley hat, or carrying a rucksack with a maple leaf patch on it.)

An excellent way to talk to strangers in Ireland is to stop in the street and unfold a map. Within seconds, someone will arrive to help.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: gnu
Date: 17 Aug 16 - 01:41 PM

Senoufou. Bless your good work.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Aug 16 - 02:38 PM

Trains are great fun for talking to strangers. Also checkout lines, great for talking to kids in the trolleys/carts.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Aug 16 - 05:04 PM

Thank you gnu. I did enjoy it all very much!

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: The Sandman
Date: 17 Aug 16 - 06:04 PM

I often talk to myself, people say its strange, does that mean i am talking to a stranger.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Neil D
Date: 17 Aug 16 - 11:48 PM

Senoufou, I second what Gnu said. I sense a rare soul.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Kampervan
Date: 18 Aug 16 - 02:17 AM

Whilst I think that the sentiments expressed by Senoufou and the other contributors are great and I'm sure that, by talking to strangers, they are, in general, enriching the lives of everyone involved.

But spare a thought for people like me, I absolutely will not speak first to anyone sat next to me on a train, plane or bus. I used to travel a lot, 10 - 20 flights a week sometimes, and I lived in fear of being spoken to by anyone sitting next to me.

I do not feel comfortable doing it, it embarrasses me, I find it very stressful. I don't dislike my fellow human beings, I just don't want to talk to them. I think that maybe I feel that I am being judged by whoever I'm speaking to.

Am I alone in feeling like this?

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Mr Red
Date: 18 Aug 16 - 04:05 AM

Am I alone in feeling like this?
No and Yes.
If you don't like talking to strangers you are alone a lot.
Then there are many people who are "private".

We, the garrulous, find it strange. Some of us don't mind being an embarrassment. From a personal perspective, once life has dealt you a blow (it's all relative) you either shrink from potential minor blows, or you cock a snook at the fates. Celebrate the lack of shackle that could have ruined your life, as it were.

Let them perceive me a buffoon. I can demonstrate erudition if I detect unconsidered judgement. The Folk world, by and large, is populated with people whose judgement is favourable by default. That is why we like it.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: DMcG
Date: 18 Aug 16 - 08:33 AM

I have mentioned before I have a stammer or stutter. One effect of this is that it extremely difficult to speak first. For example, when I was a Uni there was a girl on a neighbouring course who I spoke to readily but because of some quirk I didn't speak to her the first time I saw her the following term. The consequence was we didn't speak at all for several months - I guess she thought she had offended me in some way so didn't speak either - until she needed some technical help and I was the only one around, so she asked me. After that we could speak freely. Another example: I always used as a teenager to ensure I had the exact change including odd pennies for the bus: that way I didn't have to speak to ask for the fare.

I am somewhat better nowadays, but I still find starting a conversation needs a major mental effort. If the stranger starts it, on the other hand, no problem at all. So do I speak to strangers? Depends on who goes first!

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Senoufou
Date: 18 Aug 16 - 08:38 AM

Kampervan, you have every right to feel disinclined to chat to strangers. I usually start by a brief smile, and if the other person reciprocates, I might make a remark about, say, the weather, just to 'test the water'. You can generally sense if someone doesn't want to talk. People may be feeling sad, worried, down or upset. They may be a quiet soul who prefers to stay in their thoughts. It would be ghastly to yatter on at them uninvited.
'My' prisoners had to send me a Visiting Order by post via the Centre (they couldn't know my home address) if they wished me to come and see them. And they could finish the 2hr visit at any time and go back to their cell (no-one ever did!) The WRVS had a small coffee/tea bar in the Visit Room and one could buy the inmate a cuppa and some sweets.
I was a bit surprised how popular Kit-Kats were, until one lad explained that it was the tinfoil wrapper. They took it back to the cell and heated up heroin on it with a ciggy lighter, then inhaled the fumes with a straw!
I learned such a lot!
Neil D, thank you so much for your comment. It was very kind of you.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Senoufou
Date: 19 Aug 16 - 03:47 AM

Regarding children, it's useful if one has had vast experience of them, as I had as a primary teacher for donkey's years. A few weeks ago, I engaged a dear little girl in conversation while her harassed mum queued up at the till, encumbered by two other little ones, one of whom was screaming his head off. I told the child a special fairy sat underneath the check-out conveyor belt, pedalling like anything to keep it moving. The second child edged forward, and said loudly, "That's not true! It isn't a fairy!" "Oh," I replied, "I must have got that wrong then." He bellowed at me, "It's NOT a fairy, silly, it's an ELF!"
Collapse of stout party!

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: DMcG
Date: 19 Aug 16 - 04:22 AM

I have to agree. Whether we are talking Santa's helpers or shoemakers' assistants, actual workers tend to be elves. Fairies flit in, wave wands and disappear. They are, if you like, the consultants of the eerie world....

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Senoufou
Date: 19 Aug 16 - 04:42 AM

DMcG, I often think of the poor workers at Amazon as very badly-paid drudging elves. I agree, fairies are far more glamorous and sparkly.
Elves need a Union perhaps.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Mrrzy
Date: 19 Aug 16 - 07:58 AM

Talking to yourself may be strange, but it wouldn't be talking to a stranger unless there were someone around who was also strange, but less strange than you. Otherwise, you're talking to strange.

No, wait, that's courting.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Charmion
Date: 19 Aug 16 - 08:38 AM

Like Eliza (Senoufou), I start a conversation with a silent "wanna talk?" signal -- a glance, a smile, a tilt of the head. I bet she, too, is usually watching for such signals from other people; they are quite unmistakable once you get in the habit of looking for them. I don't have her experience and skill with children, but I have had some memorable conversations nevertheless. I usually wait for them to speak first, modern life being what it is.

In 1978, I went to Spain (from Germany) with an army buddy to see the Alhambra. It was September and spectacularly hot. The Alhambra gardens (the most attractive part of the site) are built around large pools. I was sitting on the edge of a pool, resting my heat-struck self, when an English boy about eight years old approached and sat down near me. He looked at the water and said, "Do people put their feet in there to cool off?" I replied that I thought that a good idea. "Are we allowed?" he asked. "I don't know," I said. The poor kid was sweaty and flushed, obviously getting near the end of his rope (as was I), so I said, "I'm going to put my feet in. If anyone complains, I can apologize." So I took off my shoes and socks, rolled up the cuffs of my trousers, turned around on the curbstone and put my feet in the water. The little boy thought about it for a minute or so, and then took off his shoes and socks. "I can apologize, too," he said, and swung his feet over the edge. We had a pleasant conversation about Spanish food until his mother and sister arrived. There was a bit of fuss about wet feet, solved when I offered the dish towel from our picnic basket.

That little boy is well up in his forties now. Geez Louise.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Senoufou
Date: 19 Aug 16 - 09:21 AM

That's so sweet Charmion, I have a mental picture of the two of you chatting away with your feet in the water!
Forties or not, I bet he remembers the occasion too.

Subject: RE: BS: Talking to strangers
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Aug 16 - 04:09 PM

Yes Amazon has its human carpal tunnel employees but it is mostly robotic.

Yesterday I talked to an octogenarian whose house was back in Louisiana under 8 feet of water. His phone had a klaxon bell ringr an he kept informing different callers what was gone and what still stood.