Such a racket.
"As the new year cascades in with pervasive racket my mind drifts back to 1980 and my time working at the flagship Neiman-Marcus store in downtown Dallas at Main & Ervay Streets. Mr. Stanley Marcus was still a constant presence and he led the debate as to whether the store should allow electronic cash registers in store. At the time the cash wrap stations on each floor had a wooden cash drawer with bills and coins inside to make change. Each sale was hand written in a book with a copy to the customer. The concern was that electronic registers would create a distracting "humm" sound in the air plus all those beeping buttons, printing receipts and the cash drawer banging out...so noisy and vulgar. It was a quiet time, but of course modern registers won the day [and soon after UPC codes - which I'll have you know was the death knell for pure perfume] and the racket began. I'm struck today in 2023 not so much by this tale of progress, but more-so an enviable thought that at one time store management was so intensely focused on the best customer experience that a plugged in machine was not progress, but rather an intruder."