Althouse: At the Saturday Night Café...

December 3, 2022

At the Saturday Night Café...

... go ahead and talk about anything.

30 comments:

MadisonMan said...: Why are there People who, at Trader Joe's, do not bag their groceries, but just stand there like a cow while the clerk rings up the food and then bags it? There should be one line just for them.
Talk about gumming up the works!; 12/3/22, 7:02 PM
Lilly, a dog said...: I watched "Jeanne Dielman" today in its entirety. If you think arthouse cinema is too mainstream, then this is the movie for you.
I think I like the scene where she takes her son's shoes to the cobbler better than the scene where she buys a ball of yarn. I'm sure there is some really deep feminist meaning that I'm missing in those scenes.

This movie is a film class assignment, where an evil prof makes you watch it and write a 10-page paper about it. Sight & Sound is having a laugh.; 12/3/22, 7:10 PM
Lurker21 said...: Still watching 1883 and it's still watchable, though there's too much Mary Sue. The narration by the same character is too literary and poetic to be believed.

I also have Top Gun: Maverick, but I don't know if I'll be able to finish. It seems too much like a vanity project for Tom Cruise. I must have seen the first Top Gun movie, but I don't remember much about it. It seemed like it was the kind of movie you could watch and forget or not watch and imbibe so much from the popular culture over 30 years that you would figure that you had watched it. My dim recollection is that it was a sort of remake of An Officer and A Gentleman for cocky a-holes.; 12/3/22, 7:54 PM
Narr said...: MadisonMan, I don't know about Trader Joe's, but in most places I buy food now I carry my own bags with me and try to sack my purchases myself. Most sackers, when they exist, are more earnest than efficient.

On a different note, if it's clear where you are tonight, if you go outside you can probably see Jupiter, then Luna, then straggling Mars. The waxing Moon is very bright.; 12/3/22, 8:11 PM
Gospace said...: So I texted the other leader who gave me the dreaded covid. I was curious if we had the saem symptoms in the same order, Because I keep reading among the covid frightemed how anything can be a covid symptom. Scratchy throat, next up feeling like we were hit by a freight train, followed by uncontrollable shivering, followed by fatigue. One difference- he had diarrhea, I had three painful paroxysms of dry heaving. My wife was certain listening to me that I was losing eveything in my stomach. Nope- nothing came up at all- painful. He's still got congestion and coughing, he doesn't engage in nasal irrigation or gargling with xylitol/erythritol or any other antiviral solutions.

He's under 30. I'm 67.; 12/3/22, 8:18 PM
Paddy O said...: Finally got around to watching the Weird Al biopic. So good. Hilarious and what comedy used to be like when it just embraced the ludicrous and didn't take itself seriously; 12/3/22, 9:01 PM
Paddy O said...: Lilly, what color yarn did she buy?; 12/3/22, 9:02 PM
DINKY DAU 45 said...: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=686700122823808&set=a.202597147900777
my latest line Warnock 51 -47 wins by 56,000 votes. Usually close in Georgia, this is an insult to intelligence going on here. I believe they will call the race Tuesday when it was predicted for Wednesday results. How desperate can people be? C'mon man, a great running back, they're going send him running back to Texas where he lives. I will adjust my final line Monday. Already beat this fella once, Walker makes Louie Gohmert look like a Rhodes Scholar.; 12/3/22, 9:33 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: Headline: "Musk says Twitter personnel may have interfered with Brazil's election to help left wing candidates".; 12/3/22, 10:03 PM
Michael McNeil said...: Exchange on Twitter this morning:

Clay Travis @ClayTravis: There is not one single article about @elonmusk or the @twitter email release last night on @nytimes app this morning.

Elon Musk @elonmusk: That is because the New York Times has become, for all intents and purposes, an unregistered lobbying firm for far left politicians; 12/3/22, 10:19 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: Every Progressive Media outlet now; 12/3/22, 10:21 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: Today I learned: Some materials have a shape memory effect: after deformation, they return to their original shape if heated.; 12/3/22, 10:24 PM
Creola Soul said...: Day two of the Twitter download……crickets from the MSM. As expected. They’re going to hurt themselves trying spin this deal.; 12/3/22, 10:55 PM
Rt41Rebel said...: Picked up a used Torker Boardwalk beach cruiser with full saddle baskets the other day for $65. It's in good riding shape, although the finish could best be described as patina. The baskets new would cost $62. I've been using a Huffy Cranbrook in similar condition for trips around town for the last few years, but still relied on my car for trips to the grocery store for more than a few bags. The only use I now have for an automobile is for trips to RSW to pick up and drop off visitors. I like that.; 12/4/22, 12:55 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Why are there People who, at Trader Joe's, do not bag their groceries, but just stand there like a cow while the clerk rings up the food and then bags it?"

Maybe they have respect for principles of fair labor and don't want to take their job away from them. TJ should hire more people and pay them, not leave it to the customers to fill in where the company has failed to hire enough workers. Some of us feel that we shouldn't barge in and take over a person's job where the employer is overworking them.

Do you expect diners in restaurants to get off their ass and go into the kitchen and pick up their own food when the restaurant is busy and there aren't enough servers?; 12/4/22, 4:35 AM
Brylinski said...: Hey, where's the NYT's story on the Twitter censorship of Hunter Biden's Laptop?; 12/4/22, 4:47 AM
wendybar said...: I bag my own, and go through the self serve because the clerks at the store I go to, aren't very happy working, and I am faster. I don't want to be in a store any longer than I have to. I am in and out. I like that. To each their own. (I live in NJ where I can't even pump my own gas, and I wish I could.); 12/4/22, 4:48 AM
wendybar said...: I've been saying this for years...and he hits Pelosi too!!

Bishop J. Strickland
@Bishopoftyler
Thank you Archbishop Cordileone…Nancy needs to make a decision….is she Catholic or pro-death for the unborn…..San Francisco Archbishop to Pelosi: 'No one can claim to be devout Catholic' and support abortion

https://dailycaller.com/2022/12/03/please-dont-listen-to-this-evil-woman-us-catholic-bishop-warns-hillary-clinton-abortion-comments/; 12/4/22, 5:08 AM
Michael McNeil said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/4/22, 5:43 AM
Howard said...: I will bag my own groceries if necessary. Having done it professionally as a teen, I enjoy recalling the muscle memory of my 16-yo self. One regret is that the new bags will rip when you try to pop them open using the towel snap method. It turns flair and flourish into failed flop.; 12/4/22, 5:59 AM
tim maguire said...: MadisonMan said...Why are there People who, at Trader Joe's, do not bag their groceries, but just stand there like a cow

That stuff pisses me off too. And they wait until they get the final total to go fishing through their purse for their wallet—like they didn’t realize they’d have to pay for it. Complete lack of consideration for the other people in line.; 12/4/22, 5:59 AM
Breezy said...: I used to collect my groceries and bag as I went, using a handheld device that collects and inventories my goods. I also reuse my own bags so I can fill them as much as possible and with like items packed together. It is the most efficient way to go! No unloading of the cart in the end, and a very quick process to pay when ready to exit. Only downside is an occasional 10 piece audit that I have to wait for. Other than that, it’s awesome. That grocery also accommodated the unload-and-bag shopper, of course.

We just moved to a small community in NC, and that is one of a small number of things I miss from MA. It will come, I hope.; 12/4/22, 6:04 AM
Michael McNeil said...: Reposting because of a typo in the link, sorry:

Another fascinating event visible on Twitter over the last couple of days is the availability for free public interaction with a new AI — known as “ChatGPT” at OpenAI.com — whose capabilities are absolutely astounding. (Access is free, but one must initially setup an account at OpenAI and login to do so: here.)

Read this Twitter thread of various people's questions and commands to the AI along with its responses.

Note that reportedly perhaps 10% of ChatGPT's responses are plausible-sounding bullshit (authoritatively referring one to named functions in a software library which don't actually exist, for instance) — but the remaining 90% of its answers (including computer code samples it provides one) are pretty much right-on. It's utterly amazing.; 12/4/22, 6:22 AM
Kevin said...: There is a line for people who like to bag their own groceries.

It’s called self-service checkout..; 12/4/22, 6:41 AM
Kevin said...: That stuff pisses me off too. And they wait until they get the final total to go fishing through their purse for their wallet—like they didn’t realize they’d have to pay for it. Complete lack of consideration for the other people in line.

OK Soup Nazi.; 12/4/22, 6:44 AM
boatbuilder said...: I generally go to the regular checkout if the line isn't too long.

Mainly because the nagging voice-prompts for self-checkout really annoy me, and I don't want to be banned for yelling "PLEASE SHUT THE FUCK UP!!" at the damn thing.; 12/4/22, 8:00 AM
Lilly, a dog said...: @Paddy O
Brown yarn. She's knitting a sweater for her son.; 12/4/22, 9:19 AM
Gospace said...: Ann Althouse said...

Do you expect diners in restaurants to get off their ass and go into the kitchen and pick up their own food when the restaurant is busy and there aren't enough servers?

I've read stories of that happening at Waffle House. Even people going back and doing the cooking. Never seen it.

Aldi's and similar chains don't have baggers and don't have self checkout. Yet people fill their aisles wihout compaining about the lacke of amenities.

The behavior that irks me at any checkout at any store, from Nordstrom's to the corner convenience store? The people who wait until everything is totaled up, made aware of the damages, then they go digging in their pockets or purses for their wallet and fumnle through everything looking for the right card (or more rarely exact chenge...) to pay for it. You know it's coming. You should have the payment out. f you're going to fumbe for exact chane you should have a coin purse, not a scavenger hunt at the bottom of your purse.; 12/4/22, 9:28 AM
Original Mike said...: "TJ should hire more people and pay them,…"

Isn't the issue that nobody can find workers? You can argue they're not paid enough, but how much can you pay a grocery bagger?

All businesses are having the same problem. Why did this happen?; 12/4/22, 11:17 AM
Narr said...: At the Kro, if I'm not using the self-check with its annoying prompts, and go to a regular checkout with my own reusable bags, I'm usually told that I -must- sack my own.

In the smaller outfits (Fresh Market, Sprouts) they don't have self-check, and they're happy to let me sack my own stuff.

Dittoes on the stupidity of many customers--seemingly surprised to be asked to pay, often shuffling through decks of plastic money to find one to use . . .; 12/4/22, 11:33 AM