Posted on 03/12/2014 10:23:22 AM PDT by Red Badger
n Tuesday, President Obama took Air Force One to New York to stop at the Gap in order to flog his case against income inequality. And there, Americans learned he had no idea how to use a credit card machine.
According to the White House press pool, Obama visited Gap because the company recently announced that it would voluntarily increase wages for employees. After telling employees that “the ladies will be impressed by my sense of style,” Obama then picked up a couple of sweaters for his girls, Sasha and Malia.
Upon checking out, however, the problems began. Obama took out his credit card and began handing it to the cashier, who told him that he could swipe his credit card in the automated machine. “Oh, wow,” Obama said, “so you can sign the machine?” He then said he was kidding: “They had these around the last time I shopped.”
The moment was reminiscent of a campaign moment in 1992, when then-President George H.W. Bush signed an electronic pad while grocery shopping. “If some guy came in and spelled George Bush differently, could you catch it?” Bush asked. He was told that fake signatures could be detected. The New York Times reported in typically condescending style (headline: “Bush Encounters the Supermarket, Amazed”):
Then he grabbed a quart of milk, a light bulb and a bag of candy and ran them over an electronic scanner. The look of wonder flickered across his face again as he saw the item and price registered on the cash register screen.
"This is for checking out?" asked Mr. Bush. "I just took a tour through the exhibits here," he told the grocers later. "Amazed by some of the technology."
Marlin Fitzwater, the White House spokesman, assured reporters that he had seen the President in a grocery store. A year or so ago. In Kennebunkport.
Some grocery stores began using electornic scanners as early as 1976, and the devices have been in general use in American supermarkets for a decade.
That story, it turned out, was false.
And, of course, Mitt Romney was excoriated for being amazed by a Wawa touchscreen machine while ordering a meal during the 2012 campaign. He said during a speech:
"I was at Wawas...I went in to order a sandwich. You press a little touchtone keypad, alright? You just touch that and, you know, the sandwich comes up. You touch this, touch this, touch this, go pay the cashier. There’s your sandwich. It’s amazing!”
The media acted as though Romney had never seen a Wawa machine before. That story, too, was false.
LOL! He’d be absolutely flabbergasted by a touch screen computer....................
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But he sure has figured out how to use a teleprompter
Gasoline pumps that automatically shut off when the tank is full!
-PJ
WaWa is a chain of convenience store/gas stations. They have a lunch counter where they will prepare sandwiches to your custom order. But intsead of a person taking your order, they have a touch-screen where you can order the type of bread. which meats and cheeses, condiments, etc... Unless you have one in your area or travel the highways up and down the east coast, you would probably not be aware of the stores and this particular method of service.
I’m shocked Al Gore didn’t tell obama about this feature after inventing the machine.
Take it easy. I wasn't lying, just guilty of a faulty memory. The point is the same: George H.W. Bush took a lot of heat from the media over his reaction to the scanner. They used the incident to try to portray him as out of touch with everyday people.
He’s always the smartest man in the room.........which tells you a whole lot about the people who hang around with him.................
That requires no input on his part.........Looks like someone could hack that damn thing...............
Wawa is a very nice convience store in Eastern Pennsylvania. I loved them when I lived there. You can order deli items like sandwiches on a touch screen, extra mayo, double meat, whatever, instead of telling a clerk who might mess up your order. I loved that.
We can all see Russia now can’t we? ;^)
We always could............
The moment was reminiscent of a campaign moment in 1992, when then-President George H.W. Bush signed an electronic pad while grocery shopping. “If some guy came in and spelled George Bush differently, could you catch it?” Bush asked. He was told that fake signatures could be detected.
His cousin 0dinga is good at that!
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