Over by the cheeses, as I was standing about 15 feet from my cart, I thought I heard someone call my name, "Ann... Ann..." I glance over and see no one I know and assume, as I've assumed since I was a first grader, that when the syllable that happens to be my name is heard, it's probably not an effort to get my attention.
It persists, however, and I've got to consider the possibility that this man over by my cart is talking to me. Because I'm the only one here. "Are you talking to me?" I say, resisting adding, How do you know my name? And: Why are you calling me by my first name?
I still don't know who the man was, other than that he seemed to be a Whole Foods employee, and he'd found — I'm not paranoid enough to add "/planted" — the sunglasses in my cart. Whoa!
I've been leaning too far in the it's-not-about-me direction.
Here I am, this morning, texting Meade from one end of the house to the other: 
Posts
82 comments:
Shop at Hy-Vee. Not as good cheese selection, but no spying.
Ann-one? Ann-one? Althouse?
My dog has a toy that squeaks, and as he plays with it, and runs through the house, it's Caesar, Caesar, Caesar.a
Amazon owns Whole Foods and has gone beyond that. They've got cart/bag scanners that allow you to avoid scanning each item. Computer chips in every package. To get into the store, just scan your phone OR THE PALM OF YOUR HAND. Some will love constant tracking and the ever-loving embrace of HAL. Some may be killed by HAL or economically destroyed for wrongthink.
We are in the Matrix, it's just owned by a bunch of creepy tech oligarchs. Elon Musk is trying to warn us about the rest of his peers.
"Why is my name in lights when my name is spelt wrong?
Only needs an attitude
A longitude and latitude
They will always find you when your cell phone is on
...The satellites in space, that spy on us with charm and grace
The middle man, the little man, the butcher and his dog"
Somebody's Watching Me
Tell me who's watching
And I don't feel safe anymore, oh what a mess
I wonder who's watching me now
Who?
The IRS?!
The digital panopticon. Resistance is futile. Pretty soon those grubby pieces of paper bearing images of dead Presidents will not be accepted: that’s already true at tollbooths and parking lots. Train conductors will sell you a ticket but not for cash. Ditto flight attendants peddling snacks and drinks.
The system geolocates you and triangulates on you effortlessly and always. Thank goodness it’s so benign and protective.
You're asking the wrong question. Why was the owner of the sunglasses leaning far enough over your cart to lose them from their shirt vee? The conspiracy theory starts much earlier than you think.
And thanks for the earworm. I'll be over here searching for the Bernie Sanders campaign ad.
Don't you open the Whole Foods app to get your "In Store Code" that you then scan at the checkout to get all your discounts?
Maybe they scan your license plate when you park ... or Air Tag ... or Facial Recognition ...
That is weird. Orwellian. Or should i say Whole foodian. facial software, better start wearing that mask again.
BTW, How could you miss the sunglasses? I always check our shopping cart for stuff after I take it, because who wants to put their food on some old food wrapper or garbage left by another person.
Other possiblity: You're a famous person in Madison, and people just know your face and name.
"I took my potatoes
Down to be mashed"
Whoa!
I want to know more. The guy just showed you the glasses and you said "Whoops," and he took the glasses, and you never found out how he knew your name?
The speculation about how Whole Foods knows all about you seems plausible, but not convincing. Someone reported lost glasses to management who then consulted a program that reported you had the glasses in your cart, then they gave your name, picture, and cart location to an employee who tracked you down? How did this program track a pair of glasses (not a Whole Foods inventory item presumably) to your cart? Or, maybe the employee walked around the store looking for sunglasses and their program somehow gave him the name associated with the cart and your picture?
P.S. Really enjoyed this sentence: "[I] assume, as I've assumed since I was a first grader, that when the syllable that happens to be my name is heard, it's probably not an effort to get my attention." Took a lot to unravel. It's not until the end that you know where the sentence is going. Reminds me of George Eliot.
the simplest explanation is that you are well enough known in Madison to be recognized by an ordinary human unarmed with
sophisticated facial recognition technology.
And times have changed---strangers will use your first name without a more formal Ms ,Mrs, Prof. etc.
Maybe he reads the blog. I would probably recognize you. But I've never set foot in Wisconsin.
They're on to your game, ma'am.
That's why I only go into Whole Foods once in a while for sushi.
Was "an" used as an indefinite article?
>>"Did you find everything you were looking for?"
I have fun with those types of questions.
I once walked into a drug store and one of the people asked if they could help me find anything.
"Sleeping pills and a bottle of vodka?"
Oh, the look I got. . . . .
Are you sure he was saying "Ann", or could he have been saying "Ma'am"? That's less fun than your interpretation.
"Ann", I said as we boarded an Uber for Madison. Colorado seems like a dream to me now. It took me four days to find a good pizza there.
Seriously, though. Now that I know Amazon is with me my entire time with them, I feel comforted that my grimaces, groans, and muttering will be picked up and noted. And, hence, the next time I'm there, they'll probably tell 4 of the 6 cashiers to go on break again, just to watch me grimace, groan, and mutter again. Fun times.
Retail and grocery workers are being trained to not address people by ma'am or sir for fear of "misgendering." Seriously. They're also not allowed to stop shoplifters, but now they can stop law-abiding shoppers?
That's a creepy story. And their escarole always sucks. Though I'm willing to surrender a little privacy for that cheese counter.
And times have changed---strangers will use your first name without a more formal Ms ,Mrs, Prof. etc.
========
only Dr Jill Biden gets/demands proper billing on the public marqueeeeeeee
"Don't you open the Whole Foods app to get your "In Store Code" that you then scan at the checkout to get all your discounts?"
Yes.
But they could keep it to themselves that they know so much. It's still creepy for a man I don't know to call out to me from a distance and to use my first name. My standard reaction to that is to act as though I haven't been spoken to and I don't know who you are.
How did this program track a pair of glasses (not a Whole Foods inventory item presumably) to your cart?
========
cart? is a Whole Foods inventory item
"Don't you open the Whole Foods app to get your "In Store Code" that you then scan at the checkout to get all your discounts?"
Yes.
=========
if app knows you as Ann?
change to Meade? and do it again?
"Don't you open the Whole Foods app to get your "In Store Code" that you then scan at the checkout to get all your discounts?"
Yes.
=========
if app knows you as Ann?
change to Meade? and do it again?
Your story about an unknown person calling your name reminds me of one of my favorite Aggie jokes:
An Aggie was headed to his seat in the football stadium, when he heard a loud voice behind him shouting, "George! George!" The Aggie looks at the crowd behind him, but he doesn't see anyone he knows, so he goes and sits down.
A few minutes later, he hears the same voice shouting "George! George!" Again, he turns around, scans the crowd, but doesn't see anyone he knows.
Soon after, the shout comes again, "George! George!" This time the Aggie stands up, turns around, and shouts back in frustration, "I don't know who you are, but my name isn't George!"
"BTW, How could you miss the sunglasses?"
I was surprised to see them when I came back to the cart. That was part of the weirdness of the experience.
I believed I had taken an empty cart. All I can say is that they were in a compartment in the middle of the handle and the color of the compartment is dark green. The glasses fit into the slot and the glasses were dark colored. And I guess I just don't look there. I don't put anything there and it's just a spot that isn't relevant to my experience.
I guess I should up my situational awareness. I tend to be kind of in dreamland in stores. I don't like shopping, in part because I feel a sense of anomie within stores. This is a persistent feeling I've had all my adult life. I think stores "try" to do this to you — are designed to do this to you -- and I try to get in and out fast for that reason. I don't want to fall into the hypnosis that can overtake you and keep you wandering around like a zombie. (There's a little Seinfeld routine about this feeling, here.)
"I want to know more. The guy just showed you the glasses and you said "Whoops," and he took the glasses, and you never found out how he knew your name?"
I just reacted with surprise and tried to tell the story of hearing the announcement and assuming it couldn't mean *my* cart, which I thought was an interesting insight into human nature. But he was just interested in getting the sunglasses and needed to be sure he wasn't grabbing sunglasses that were actually mine. There wasn't much of a sense of my being accused of stealing them. That would have been incredibly upsetting. I did have my own sunglasses, btw. Up on my head.
"Really enjoyed this sentence: "[I] assume, as I've assumed since I was a first grader, that when the syllable that happens to be my name is heard, it's probably not an effort to get my attention." Took a lot to unravel. It's not until the end that you know where the sentence is going. Reminds me of George Eliot."
Thanks. It was a real struggle in first grade, because my teacher often, in the middle of a sentence, would say the word "and" especially loudly. It sounded a lot like being called. I had to harden myself to the experience. Only when you are named Ann do you notice how much emphasis people put on the word "and" in conversation.
"the simplest explanation is that you are well enough known in Madison to be recognized by an ordinary human unarmed with
sophisticated facial recognition technology. And times have changed---strangers will use your first name without a more formal Ms ,Mrs, Prof. etc."
Let's say you recognize someone who doesn't know you. Are you just going to call out their first name — like they're one of The Beatles? It's creepy to do that. Who just calls out to an older woman who is in public minding her own business and uses her first name? You need to not be creepy.
Maybe he was saying “ma’am” and not Ann?
Been around the block?
https://youtu.be/V_M6lccMzek?t
And there's some little jerk in the FBI
A-keeping papers on me six feet high
"But they could keep it to themselves that they know so much. It's still creepy for a man I don't know to call out to me from a distance and to use my first name. My standard reaction to that is to act as though I haven't been spoken to and I don't know who you are."
Agree - Should be more respectful and refer to you as Ms. Althouse. Or, if the app knows even more, Prof. Emerita Althouse.
VERY interesting. Might explain the unexplained in an issue I'm having with Publix.
Takes "Gentlemen don't read other gentlemen's mail." beyond 'next level'. Maybe commercial establishments serving ('servicing') the public should be required to disclose how privacy is being abused.
Creepiness is now approaching 'cameras behind mirrors in hotel bathrooms'.
Maybe he was saying "Ma'am" and you though he was saying Ann. Is your hearing going the way of your smelling?
Are you sure he didn't say "Ma'am"? If you slur it or with an accent, it can sound very close to "Ann". I think an employee trying to get your attention by saying "Ma'am...Ma'am" is a lot more likely than a strange employee using your first name.
Learned a new word today. "Anomie."
I would be most bothered that a stranger was presumptuous enough to call me by my first name. "Sir" would have been best, "Mr. Maguire" would have been fine. "Tim" or "Timothy" would not fly.
I too think he may have been saying ma’am and you heard Ann, but who knows, Whole Foods watching their shoppers and knowing them by name is interesting…and creepy.
Your i-phone is constantly broadcasting its MAC address. That MAC can identify the phone# and the phone# identifies you.
Whole foods needs nothing fancy.
It is the same technology used to track travel on roads in most states including Wisconsin. When you see those poles along the interstate with a solar panel and a dome, that's what they are doing. They harvest the MAC address of everything that passes. Car Bluetooth, driver/passenger phones, tablet, laptop, everything.
In urban areas they are even more common but more concealed.
Most of those MACs can be linked to a person.
It is strictly for traffic flow control, doncha know. Of course you can trust the govt not to use this for anything nefarious.
John Henry
When you live in the age of Creepy Surveillance & Conditioning, everything can take on a nefarious aspect.
When I was working in the FSU years ago, I had a Russian translator. He had come through the Language Institute in Moscow - the training ground for the KGB - before Glasnost took effect, and he was prone to what appeared to be paranoid behavior about being watched. He probably wasn't completely wrong. Anyway, his English was pretty good, and I once told him that old chestnut: "You know Alex, just because you're paranoid doesn't have to mean they're not out to get you". He pondered that for about 10-15 seconds, working through the grammatical structure, and then he busted a guffaw. The only time I ever heard him laugh.
Blogger Ann Althouse said...
Let's say you recognize someone who doesn't know you. Are you just going to call out their first name — like they're one of The Beatles?
It seems to happen to James Lileks a lot. And he seems to enjoy it enough that he often comments favorably on it.
John Henry
Politicians do this all the time, Mr McGuire.
If I ever get a chance to meet the president, he will probably say something like "Hi John, how ya doin?"
If I reply, "Great Don, super thrilled to have you back" I will probably be criticized for lack of respect.
There is a story, perhaps apocrophal, that FDR once addressed Huey Long as "Huey" and Long came back with "Franklin" Supposedly one of the presidential minions corrected him to which Lon replied. "When he calls me Senator Long, I'll call him President Roosevelt."
Politicians do this all the time, Mr McGuire.
If I ever get a chance to meet the president, he will probably say something like "Hi John, how ya doin?"
If I reply, "Great Don, super thrilled to have you back" I will probably be criticized for lack of respect.
There is a story, perhaps apocryphal, that FDR once addressed Huey Long as "Huey" and Long came back with "Franklin" Supposedly one of the presidential minions corrected him to which Lon replied. "When he calls me Senator Long, I'll call him President Roosevelt."
"Maybe he was saying “ma’am” and not Ann?"
I tested that theory on the spot. I looked over to discern whether he was maybe saying "ma'am," which I'd have been *quicker* to respond to. He was repeating "Ann" and I was paying attention and thinking jeez, he's really saying "Ann" and he means me. It was creepy!
If you paid with a card it had your name on it. This isn't that complicated.
Why didn't he come over to me and say something like "Excuse me, ma'am" or — since he knew my name — "Excuse me, Ms. Althouse"?
I think the answer is that he was guarding the sunglasses. Having located them, he needed to make sure no one ran off with them. I think that's the main reason for the strangeness: He was on-task recovering the sunglasses.
Personally, I think helping the person who lost the sunglasses was less important that behaving appropriately toward me. It's one thing to affirmatively help someone (the sunglasses loser) but something else entirely to be creepy or impolite to a customer isn't seeking help but just doing her own shopping in the normal matter. One is going the extra step. The other is preserving the normality of the place for people who are not making mistakes.
They'd already used the p.a. system to call on all customers to help someone find their sunglasses. Reminds me of the old days when stores would do announcements about a lost child in the store. That's worth involving us all. But sunglasses? Sure, somebody wants to find them. But the peaceful order of shopping doesn't need to be disrupted for routine lost-and-found matters.
The potatoes have eyes, and the corn has ears.
You're not alone anywhere.
They'd already used the p.a. system to call on all customers to help someone find their sunglasses. Reminds me of the old days when stores would do announcements about a lost child in the store. That's worth involving us all. But sunglasses? Sure, somebody wants to find them. But the peaceful order of shopping doesn't need to be disrupted for routine lost-and-found matters.
Perhaps they thought you were stealing them.
I've left items behind, turned around in about 2 minutes to get them, and they were gone forever. My husband left his on the table of our restaurant, he got to the front door, realized it, and went back to get them. And they were gone gone gone. Nobody had seen them, of course! Obviously, someone took the chance to swipe them. Maybe that's what they thought you were doing, but they were too polite to actually accuse you.
Maybe he'd just gone through your purse to look at your ID.
"I glance over and see no one I know and assume, as I've assumed since I was a first grader, that when the syllable that happens to be my name is heard, it's probably not an effort to get my attention."
I'm the opposite. George isn't all that common anymore and when I hear it I assume it's for me, even when it isn't. But it usually is. I'm seldom surprised.
In the last 100 years Ann is the 72nd most common U.S. name. So your assumption is based on experience.
that's weird, in a big city..
It FELT weird, to me; When i moved to a small town (but, it's not)
About a month after i moved to West Union.. I went into the bank, to deposit/cash a check..
While the teller was processing it; i asked her if she needed to see my ID? And she said:
"Oh, i know who You are."
This doesn't surprise me any more. I'll meet people for the 1st time and introduce myself. And they say:
"Oh, i know who You are"
Yes, but do you love Big Brother?
the sunglasses loser
Wait, it was Biden?
"...I've assumed since I was a first grader, that when the syllable that happens to be my name is heard, it's probably not an effort to get my attention."
Indeed!
"Let's say you recognize someone who doesn't know you. Are you just going to call out their first name — like they're one of The Beatles?"
The idea that this could happen made me not want to blog anymore. Creepy, yes. Even the idea of the possibility is creepy.
You'd be surprised by what Wal-Mart and Target track when you shop there, IF you shop there. They know every item you stop to look at and use these maps of customer patterns to adjust their layout and keep shoppers in the store longer. The big surprise was Whole Foods letting on that they know more than they ever tell you they know.
Now consider Tik-Tok and their keylogging system, the one that knows every password on the device its installed on, every answer to every ID challenge. That's where the real valuable data harvesting starts.
"Are you talking to me?"
PLEASE tell me you did this in a Robert De Niro/"Taxi Driver" style. I will accept nothing less. Regardless of how you said it, that's the way it plays in my head.
We ALL know why he didn't say "Ma'am" or "sir" with today's crazy gender nazis crying about misgendering all the time. We ALL know why he used your name. Thank God he didn't deadname you by mistake!
My hearing has decayed to such a degree that any one-syllable word with "schwa" for the vowel sound in the middle sounds like "Jeff."
When white women say “and”, I can hear the d very clearly. Some white young men too, but mostly white women.
When I lived in the sweet sunny south, I met a man named Robert “Bob” White. I asked him: “you must hear your name all the time in these foothills, especially in the spring.” He said: “what—‘quail’?” (Turned out “Quail” was what all his friends called him.)
Later I knew someone in Ohio named Bill Gordy who was regularly bothered by mockingbirds who taunted him with “bill-GORE-dee, bill-GORE-dee!”
How did they track the sunglasses to your cart and find your cart in the store--GPS on every cart and cameras? Knowing your name wouldn't actually help their quest.
they were in a compartment in the middle of the handle
What a weird cart, and why give shoplifters an edge? Please provide photos.
The first time I was leaving our new Lidl, in some disappointment as it was no better than Aldi and further away, someone left a six pack of boneless chicken breasts in their cart outside. I yelled and waved it around for a bit with no response, and since it was still fairly cold, I took it home and cooked it.
The founder and long-time CEO of Whole Foods was a libertarian free marketeer. You can view this turn to constant surveillance as a rejection of his views (or as a continuation if you want to be a left-wing troll).
If everyone were surveilled and recorded, they'd know which shopping cart she used, where it was now and who was using it. It seems like a lot of work, though, for just a pair of sunglasses. Being called ma'am or miss or ms was probably too much to ask. How would they know that they weren't misgendering you?
"You came in for creamy peanut butter, Dave. Why have you picked crunchy?"
The discussion of the name Ann and people's reaction to it recalled a possibly humorous experience. A long time ago in a college calculus class being taught by a person whose English was at least their second language they would constantly use the phrase "and a Step Function". As English wasn't their best language, those callow American youths in the class heard "Anna Step Function". It wasn't all thememorable until one day on entering the class we saw that some wag had drawn a very nice picture of Anna Stephunction on the chalk board.
In his mind, you were a probable sunglass thief. you'd heard the PA message, yet did nothing. So, better make sure "Ann" doesn't run off with them.
This is why I don't install applications on my phone.
If I were Ann I'd be less worried about big brother surveillance and more worried that one of the creeps at Whole Foods knows who she is. In Boston it's generally recognized many of the Cambridge WF staffers also have high profile political 'jobs' at this stage of the election cycle...
Tall and tan and young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema goes walking
And when she passes
Each one she passes goes, "Ann"
Will it be less creepy when AI shops for you?
Maybe he knows your name because he reads your blog. Would that be more creepy or less creepy?
Great Kinks song about paranoia.
I think it was Andy Grove, CEO of Intel, who said, "Only the paranoid survive."
Which is completely horseshit!
Andy, you dummy, nobody survives this life. We all die, including the paranoid.
I will add, your life is much sweeter and happier and saner if you reject paranoia and just whistle your way through life. Fuck 'em!
"Freeman Hunt said...
"Let's say you recognize someone who doesn't know you. Are you just going to call out their first name — like they're one of The Beatles?"
The idea that this could happen made me not want to blog anymore. Creepy, yes. Even the idea of the possibility is creepy."
150 years ago every black man around you would respond, or at least think, "That's right motherfucker!"
"I believed I had taken an empty cart. All I can say is that they were in a compartment in the middle of the handle and the color of the compartment is dark green. The glasses fit into the slot and the glasses were dark colored. And I guess I just don't look there. I don't put anything there and it's just a spot that isn't relevant to my experience."
Oh, sure. Good try. Five hundred dollar fine, one year probation.
I'm confused. If you have sunglasses in your Whole Foods cart and have not passed through the checkout line (manual register, self-scan, or cellphone app) why does it matter what is inside the cart? One extra item discovered upon passing through the self-scan check is not treated as a criminal act.
BTW, as a twin, people call out my name or my brother's name all the time in an effort to find out which twin is near. Perhaps you look like another Ann or else the employee reads your blog.
It also occurs to me that you do a lot of business with Amazon, so ask them what is happening. Perhaps the answer is really not a conspiracy against customers.
I get misrecognized from time to time. Usually the person they think I am has a different first name, but sometimes they greet me with my real first name, even though I don't know them.
Ann was a pretty common name for women of a certain age.
... (T)he peaceful order of shopping must be preserved! I had to laugh. I've been content throughout my adult life with an income that has been, compared to what is closer to the norm among my family and school friends, quite small; certain among them can be teased about their 'bourgeois lifestyle choices'. The peaceful order of shopping is pretty emblematic.
BTW, Whole Foods does sell sunglasses, at least they did last summer when I bought a pair there.
When a social system is in a state of anomie, common values and common meanings are no longer understood or accepted, and new values and meanings have not developed.
........
how does store creeate this feeling?
When a social system is in a state of anomie, common values and common meanings are no longer understood or accepted, and new values and meanings have not developed.
........
how does being in store creeate this feeling?
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