Post-Trust Days

Dear you,

Post-D Day tributes, post-Trump criminal conviction, post-trust.  Here we are.  My day began fully post-trust when a scam caller tried to convince me someone had opened a checking account in my name at an institution I do not bank at and this person had also used Zelle to send money to someone named Jennifer.  "Let me connect you to a Zelle Rep to clear this up."  Uh, no.  I said I would just call the bank in question directly and take it from there.  Click.  As expected, big scam.  Such a shame, isn't it?  So very post-trust.  I don't even trust my supermarket, a behemoth chain here in Florida.  The pricing is ridiculous, gouge-worthy indeed.  And they are running a TV ad now that is perplexing and insulting.  Cue music for "Bittersweet Symphony".  

Hear the lovely orchestration?  It is mysterious and lovely.  The ad only uses the music, no lyrics. But for those of us who know the song and its lyrics, this choice seems way off for a store that wants to keep it light, happy, wants to emphasize the shopping pleasure found in its aisles.  Put simply, the lyrics are dark:

'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, that's life

Tryna make ends meet, tryna find somebody then you die

I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down

You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet, yeah

You know I can change, I can change

I can change, I can change

But I'm here in my mold

I am here in my mold

And I'm a million different people

From one day to the next

I can't change my mold

No, no, no, no, no

So, paying attention to the words the music sets up, I guess the grocery company defines me as someone who just tries to make ends meet, buys over-priced foodstuffs, and then dies. I cannot change or resist the mold of shopping normalcy.  If they want my trust, they shouldn't assume I won't recall the lyrics when I hear the music; they shouldn't assume I am that stupid and memory-free.  I am now totally post-trust in terms of this company.

Don't worry, I won't starve.  Walmart just opened a new marketplace store just a few miles down the road.  It is clean, sells upscale products and fresh-fresh produce, and is staffed by chill, not-fake-friendly workers. That I can trust.

Word to those who make us post-trust:  we won't fall for phone scams or TV ads that assume we have no cultural knowledge.

We CAN change our molds enough to survive post-trust and work for a trust renaissance.

Cheers to that!

Love, Joyce