// satiric hyperbole or just the way it's really gonna be?
2004: "Yes ma'am, this is the new supermarket self-service line, you scan your own purchases and you bag it yourself and you take care of the payment yourself with--no, no ma'am, there's no discount for that..."
2008: "Yes sir, that's right, this is the new feature of the canned food aisle, you can it yourself using these food-mix spigots...there's a short mandatory training program...no sir, there's no discount for that..."
2012: "You don't know why you were summoned here, sir? The court order was emailed to you, it's quite explicit, you haven't been in compliance with the Consumer Economic Responsibility Act of 2010 requiring you to spend 95% of your income beyond basic needs costs for consumer goods. If we don't do our part to stimulate the economy, sir, we're simply not American patriots. Have you bought anything today? I'm going to have to sentence you to three weeks robot-maintenance at the simulated-meat packing plant in..."
2016: "I understand, ma'am, that you have the price marked on the item but you haven't done yor mandatory after-work labor-payment surcharge hours. The work is very easy, it's mostly just assembly line stuff where the automation isn't financially efficient--what? Yes ma'am, if you want to buy this stereo you have to help build it in the factory, paying for it is not enough..."
2020: "Pal, if everyone refused a few pints of blood every week, the bioengineering industry--the mainspringof this country's economy--would grind to a halt and millions of people would be out of work. Now when you finish your supermarket maintenance work, and before you self-service your required-purchase goods, we will need that blood surplus from you as part of your payment for...What? Yes, I assure you, the industry's studies have confirmed that it is completely a surplus, you don't really need it. No, you don't get a discount for that. Now if you'll take over the mopping from the cleaning robot--it's been broken for a week, my customer maintenance-bot repair crew is busy with the anti-shoplifting scanners..." //
sounds like aldous huxley meets milton friedman.
j
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