To be furious that a cashier at supermarket told me off for DD eating a bite of an apple...

[pavlovthecat]

... which I paid for?

Apparently, it is paid for by weight, so could I not let her do it in future? No please. Nothing else.

She is 23 months old. So charge me the extra f**king half pence then tosser!!!

It came to 21p. She had taken two 23 month old sized bites. Which is why I was buying it in the first place!

I am off to bed, to think of what things in John Lewis I might want...

I am working again tomorrow, so if you can put some more YANBU in, for my tally at a later date, much appreciated.

Try not to kill each other ladies!

I think actually there is resuscitation going on rather than killing.

Have you got her back yet Quattro?

I naïvely (notice my umlaut there? You can cut n Paste if you like) thought that weeners were little pigs. Me and my country bumpkin ways.... tsk

So, I've just been telling Mr Iorek over dinner about how much I was enjoying this thread and after an unpromising start with him quoting Miss Adelaide from Guys and Dolls "you can't squeeze a melon til you get the melon home" he got straight to the heart of the issue which I feel we've all missed.

He expressed his dismay at the way that this incident illustrates the prevailing wisdom that everything must be measured and accounted for down to the most minute and nonsensical detail. People working in supermarkets are given no responsibility and are not trusted to use their own discretion even over tiny issues like this. They are not expected to think, but must simply obey the orders from head office with their erzatz version of human interaction ("would you like any help packing your bags this evening?"). They are not treated like people but like cogs in the commercial machine. It is horrible, dehumanising, and ultimately counterproductive too.

You see the same mentality all over, in the Blairite obsession with targets, league tables etc etc. Wisdom, experience, common sense and compassion all count for nothing because they cannot be measured and entered on a balance sheet.

I think he is right. And that's another YANBU for you, pavlov.

there's no avoiding these weeners, honey.. Though your cardiac care is much appreciated.

But I must sleep. Without sleep I will become unthinking automaton who posts along tramlines, and that would never do .

Night all..

Iorek - your DH and my DH are the same mind .

onebat I'm already having nightmares about your weeners.

It's a David Cronenberg film, no?

Iorek, you and Mr Byrnison are quite right. We have Bentham and his Panopticon to blame. Well, not to blame but..

I am especially in agreement re: the pantomime of 'human interface': "hello, how are you today?"

Really off now.

Yes. Pantomime of 'human interface' is a very good way of putting it (that bit was mine by the way, not Mr Iorek's but it seemed pertinent and I'm sure he would agree).

Onebat, I am delighted to see you revived

Duchesse - I love your one-liners and I am going to look out for them in future. Please try not to disappoint.

Xenia - what was all that killing off the working classes to solve the pension deficit crisis stuff all about, really.

Goodnight all

Bentham, yes. I think now we have a case of 'the Benthamites have taken over the Panopticon'.

(Does that work? No? I'd better go to bed. Where's threadworm to give us an elegant construction when we need it.)

I heart Jeremy Bentham. He once sent a letter to a man he was about to meet for the first time, suggesting that, to avoid overtaxing his limited social confidence, their first meeting should be no more than passing on the stairs, without talking to oneanother.

Two days discussing a square cm of apple. Hahahahaha! Pavlov, it's obviously your fault. Fancy a 23 month old choosing an apple to munch on instead of heading for the crisp aisle. Be ashamed!

Iorek: "Where's threadworm to give us an elegant construction when we need it.)"
Threadworm: "I heart Jeremy Bentham."

If no further evidence were required that we are In Cultural Decline....

though I am understanding your hearting, threadie, given your nerves.

Okay: he would have blamed Tesco, for failing to generate a structure in which the nibbling of unpaid-for apples was of lesser eligibility.

That is very very funny indeed. Now I heart him too. But I wouldn't want an entire society fashioned on his insane principles. Please someone tell me it isn't so.

Lord, onebat, you are right. It is all over.

It isn't so.

It is though isn't it. Imagine how much Bentham would have loved internet chatrooms. If that isn't passing on the stairs I don't know what is.

Absolutely Iorek.

*Cooooeee I'm ba-aack

Oh sorry

everyone's in bed

ssshhhhh

at passing on the stairs. But feel I must point out that internet chatrooms are far more like looking over the top of the cubicle and commenting, unasked.

I heart Jeremy Bentham, purely for his 'do

You can still check out his do at UCL. He looks like Robert Robertson.

He's not unlike Jimmy Savile, another terrifying nutter ostensibly concerned with bringing pleasure to the masses.