[porFavor]

How about studying the most 'human' checkout setup?

Used to be that you could make small talk and feel the hole in your pocket growing bigger while you handed over that old crinkly dollar bill. Now I can hardly get out a perfunctory "Hello, how are you doing?", because I'm too busy trying to figure out whether I need to explicitly choose credit or whether I'm going to need to sign or not given the dollar amount... I'm not suggesting that we go back to the "good old days". I would, however, suggest that we progress in the direction of pathos and our shared humanity rather than toward whatever it is that tickles the fancy of Homo Economicus.

[JoshTriplett]

> How about studying the most 'human' checkout setup?

> Used to be that you could make small talk

If you want to satisfy as many customers as possible, you'd need to handle both: the customers who want a human face, and the "is there a machine I can speak to instead" customers. Not everyone considers human interaction a feature in a transactional setting.

[keithpeter]

Local produce market: open shout on prices - the most fun time to go is between 3pm and 4pm when they are cutting prices (crossing off the old price and writing the new one on the little cardboard placard stuck in the stock display) or putting more produce in the '£1 per bowl' displays to clear stock.

Economics in action. Lots of people. You don't have to engage with the small talk if you don't want to.

[JustUhThought]

Sounds fun :)

I'm in Austin, TX. Looks like you in the UK. I'm going to look into whether there is something like this locally. Thx!

Also, just curious. What are your thoughts on the EU vote coming up?

[keithpeter]

"Also, just curious. What are your thoughts on the EU vote coming up?"

My thoughts?

1) Look at a map centred on 52N02W with a radius of 2000 miles and think about what the future is for an island off the mainland with a population about two and a half times that of Texas.

2) Daniel Kahneman would have a field day over here at the moment! A fair spread of his hypotheses can be seen in action daily.

PS: I was describing Birmingham's central food markets in Digbeth by the way, but other cities have good markets as well - open three or four days a week and selling the same kind of stuff you can get in supermarkets without the packaging. We also have more expensive/artisanal 'farmer's markets' with higher priced produce in middle class areas, typically one Saturday a month.

[TylerE]

Personally, anything that eliminates pointless, meaningless "pleasantries" is a win in my book.

[JustUhThought]

Somehow, I'm thinking such an exchange with you might not be terribly pleasant...

[TylerE]

It's not an exchange. It's verbal noise. Nothing is gained by either side.