We just got a small glimpse of how America found itself fat. Jodi went into a store at the airport to buy a small bag of chips – something to put in her stomach to settle it until our in-flight lunch. She went to the counter to pay for her purchase. The cashier entered into what appeared to be a scripted and very annoying routine. “Any soda with that?” he asked.
“No,” she replied.
“How about some candy?” he asked.
“No,” she replied.
“Gum?” he asked.
“No,” she replied.
“How about buying a treat for our troops?” he asked.
“No,” she replied.
In her mind, she was yelling, “I just want to buy these fucking chips!” The up-sell to buying more unnecessary sweets was annoying enough, but tying it to the patriotic guilt trip of “Don’t you want to buy candy to support our troops?” was almost blasphemous.
A small peek at the en-fattening of America: play to the sweet tooth, and when that fails, invoke the troops.
