Notices by Thor (kodachrome@pnw.zone)

@CloudyMrs Yeah, that crossed my mind, but back in the "olden days" as you call them, people would seize upon such innocuous little comments as a vehicle for a bit of light-hearted banter. You know, socializing. With humans, not with a 6" screen. Nowadays, such socializing is to be avoided at all costs (not just at WM), in almost all spheres it seems, and if you mistakenly attempt it, it's met w/contempt.

@CloudyMrs Also, I seem to have noticed that when one DOES have a superficial human interaction w/a stranger, they don't seem to even fathom irony or sarcasm anymore. I was in a Wally's yesterday buying cold drugs and when checking out the employee had to ask me if I was over 18. Full head of white hair on me. I laughed and asked "is this a trick question?". She seemed actually annoyed that I interacted w/her. Possibly b/c I'm an Undesirable, but I suspect there's more to it.

@CloudyMrs For sure. BUT, doing all this shopping online means you don't have to interact F2F w/real live people, and that's Job number 1. Can you imagine the *horror* of looking directly in some retail employee's eyes, maybe even smiling, while you try your hardest to remember how to do "small talk". The stress! It's my theory that the web, especially combined with cell phones, has bred an entire generation of autistics.