On a scale of 1 to 5, how silly is
this?
Lori Borgman | Monday, December 08, 2008
There is no humble way to say this, but I suddenly
find myself very popular. Wildly popular. Rock star popular.
I made a purchase at a department store, and the
clerk pulled the receipt out of the cash register and wrote her
name at the bottom. I thought for a moment maybe she wanted to do
coffee. Strange, but we live in strange times.
Then she asked if I would visit the Web site she
had circled at the bottom of the receipt and tell them about my
shopping experience. It would mean a lot to her.
At the big box office supply store, the kid ringing
up my new stapler, circled the Web site at the bottom of the receipt
and asked if I would visit it and fill out a survey. They, too,
wanted to know about my shopping experience.
I hadn’t had this much attention since I walked
through an Applebee’s with toilet paper stuck to my shoe.
I picked up a drill bit at the hardware store
and the cashier there had the same request. The hardware store people
would like me to visit their Web site and tell them about my shopping
experience.
I was clutching a little piece of metal in a little
paper bag. I was in and out of the store in two minutes and it was
not what I would call an experience. Buying shoes is an experience.
Finding the right accessories is an experience. Savoring good chocolate
is an experience; purchasing a drill bit is not.
I picked up a pizza for take-out and the cashier
practically pleaded with me to go to their Web site and tell them
about my pizza experience. I’ll let you know after I eat it, I thought.
He threw in the possibility of winning two medium pizzas to sweeten
the request.
Never have so many people cared about what I think.
All of a sudden, everybody wants to know my every thought. This
must be what the Hollywood elite go through. No wonder they’re cranky.
I stopped in at the post office to buy stamps
and discovered the post office wants my opinion, too. The card store
wants my opinion. So does a big box appliance store and an electronics
store. It’s a virtual epidemic.
Did I like the lighting? Was the staff helpful?
How was the selection of merchandise? Was the pepperoni peppy enough?
Were the stamps stampy enough? How often do I come? Was I there
for business reasons or personal? Do I have any suggestions? Do
I own my home or rent? Do I use powdered detergent or gel?
How would I describe my shopping experience?
My shopping experiences tend to be alike. I leave
the places I shop at with less money than I had when I came in.
A couple of election cycles ago, the big word
was “gravitas.” Did a candidate have gravitas? Gravitas sounds like
an infectious disease, but it actually means someone has a quality
of importance that causes others to give serious consideration to
what that person has to say.
With everyone clamoring for my opinion, I think
I may have acquired gravitas. Now question is: How do I get rid
of it?
