What Is The World Coming To, Part 1

This is an extract from my forthcoming book:

Over the past month I could easily count on the amount of digits I have available on my feet and hands the amount of times I have heard the voices of people in the streets churning out ‘what is the world coming to?’, on one occasion completely oblivious to the heist that was going on 10 metres away in the local Sally Lunn coffee house.

As all digits remain it is however quite shocking to witness the obvious competition between the aforementioned topics and other top subjects including weather and next doors squirrel that appears to be on most people’s lips these days.

To begin to understand, where exactly are these declines in society or conversation today?

Walk into a major fast food chain in the unlikely hope of being able to order a segment of free range chicken in a bun without mayo or greenery hand picked from the local botanical gardens and you are likely to witness staff who are extremely welcoming. With Colgate grins and a pleasant level of confidence their welcoming could be regarded as a brief hope of you deciding to order the mega-skip meal over the bargain bucket.

Although it sounds inconceivable Bath on a sunny afternoon in August can be a somewhat tricky environment to be in. Not only is it usually possible to witness half the population of Britain on such a day but also approximately half of the rest of planet earth thrown into the mix as well. Then of course there are tourists to take into account.

Anyway it was in this great city of hot springs and cooler summers that I found myself walking straight into a KFC and, not being familiar with the menu, let alone being able to read it from the entrance door 50 feet away staff were eager to take the order long before I had the chance to exhale my first breath on fast food soil. But it was pleasant to see smiles on the faces of all staff. I wondered if it was possibly a reflection of training over any form of love for a job that essentially must be as desirable as listening to Labour party leader sound-alike Jenny Faulkener on the National Lottery.

Earlier today I headed straight into a music store that remarkably manages to sell cds and DVD’s substantially less than what they are able to manufacture them for and the young student orientated staff seemed to be under the local witch doctor’s deep zombification spell, not knowing quite what their position is, was or what is supposed to happen when another person approaches from the other side of the wall with a small token of entertainment firmly in their hands.

Not a smile, not a ‘how are you today, sir (or madam)?', ‘Nice out isn’t it?’, not even that. Handing the money over, no ‘thank you’ or even worse none either when the transaction was carried out as you Gestapo 180 heel step out of the store. It makes you wonder how the training routine of one kind of establishment is able to differ so much from another, yet you would think there would be a business conduct hymn sheet especially for public sector or customer relations based companies, apparently not.

Even more to the point you would remain in the slight hope that one small ounce of common courtesy would make an appearance at some stage. It certainly makes you wonder if the original idea of the customer keeping the employee in the workplace is still valid, or not?

Some guy on the local BBC Radio the other week announced this is the age of Facebook which at the time brought a smile to my face. I remember thinking to myself, thank god he didn’t say the age of Twitter.

For those who have not experienced the pleasure of any of these sites, Facebook is the quaint folly of Neptune that resides somewhere between the upper level of Myspace and lower level of Twitter. Even though all 3 both do their best to promote online social networking, sending 5 pints through the wires doesn’t really have the same effect as it would if you went down the local pub. Neither does reporting the state of weather or what to have for dinner to a society that exists behind a screen.

Just like Peter MandelsonPeter Mandelson online social networking just doesn’t work or at the very least not as well as socialising with other people in say a bar or club in town does and computer screens will never be able to replace actual physical interaction.

As Twitter emerged well after the foundation stones of facebook had already been set you begin to appreciate the deterioration in trends, or more to the point the lower levels of conversation that we are being encouraged to take part in. It almost seems competition these days to see who can get their point across using the least words and the changing face of online social networking sites is causing this.

Facebook at least allows comments beyond one sentence, and for the more adventurous hitting the return button doesn’t post your comment for eternity but actually starts a new paragraph. On Twitter you would be hard pushed to conduct a full blown conversation in under 250 status posts. I know that’s not the point of it but then what is the point?

Why is it that people only comment on boring or mundane things placed on these sites and through emails and why are people so quick to pick up on negative things in emails? If this is this what society has become, no wonder we are all being treated by the upper echelons as a numb state.

Another point in question. Someone who is famous or one who has had the misfortune of a leading role in a Kelloggs advert tends to attract a mass of comments without ever following it up and contributing to any part of them, beyond their original thought. This to me is attention seeking and let’s face it they lap it up like a dehydrated cat who has just been presented with a saucer of milk.

It seems that people are more enlightened by the fact that Gordon RamsayGordon Ramsay has made himself an omelette for breakfast, Amy WinehouseAmy Winehouse just blinded herself with her own eyelashes or Rick Parfitt has managed to find another chord structure on his 48 string. How about Jacob Smith who lives down a side street in equatorial Skegness who actually has something really interesting to say about global warming, a pilgrimage to Machu Picchu or the experience of throwing himself out of a Cessna 172 as part of a skydiving charity event over Loch Lomond?

No wonder the government is constantly getting away with things like with the recent expenses scandal and people think because it’s been exposed that’s the end of it, yeah right. They must think they can truly pull the wool over our eyes witnessing our lack of understanding or intelligence.