January 20, 2026
At the local box store I visited, the young salesperson from Gujarat showed me a slew of laptops and described their capacities. He was very knowledgeable. In the ensuing conversation, I learned that he is a graduate student in engineering and has been seeking a permanent job while pursuing his studies. I prefer to make informed decisions, so I told him I’ll go home and review the computers he recommended online.
On driving home, I stopped at another box store and had a similar experience with another salesperson, another immigrant, this one from Africa. The computer sales personnel in both box stores were immigrants, to my surprise. Many immigrant students pursue studies in science and engineering and support themselves financially by selling technical products.
He showed me several suitable laptops: lightweight, with a terabyte of storage, lots of RAM, and a fast chip. My preferred model was only available as open box, with a 10% discount. I wanted to check online reviews and asked the salesperson to hold the open-box model overnight.
When I returned the next day to buy the model based on the good reviews, the Christmas sale was still on, but the open box model was unavailable. Instead, they found a new one and, after some discussion, offered me the same 10% discount due to their earlier promise.
While waiting to finalize the sale, I noticed a sign advertising the credit card for this box store. According to the ad, you get a 10% discount on your first purchase. Wow! I decided to get another credit card and filled out the paperwork to receive my additional 10% discount on the computer.
I thought about the process of buying a laptop, driving home. No question that I spent hours talking with numerous salespeople, a time-consuming process. But I learned from the conversations, and, more importantly, I enjoyed them. It was satisfying to speak with people rather than scan websites like Amazon and buy a laptop online.
Although a stretch, this experience contrasts with a recent coffee purchase at McDonald’s, where I just went up to the screen to order, then waited, and picked up the coffee at the counter without speaking to anyone. I found it much more satisfying to purchase merchandise by talking with people. But I understand that businesses may prefer cutting out people-to-people communication to streamline the sales process and speed up business transactions.
The other thought that crossed my mind was whether businesses like to cater to retired people who may have time on their hands to study promotions and sales. They can be selective in their buying habits and are often more demanding customers than younger people with jobs and families.
On reflection, I found talking with people while transacting business was thoroughly satisfying. I wondered whether the trend to simplify business transactions by moving them online would have negative consequences for conversational skills and social interaction (I fail to see the digital world, or what is called social media, as a replacement for face-to-face contact, including Zoom). Remote work is gaining popularity, especially since Covid, and with consumer goods available online, one can stay home and get by without face-to-face interaction with the outside world for months. Would this trend lead to more isolation and loneliness?
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