Have you ever seen those "end of the world" movies where the computers crash and pandemonium breaks out and people start raiding stores, etc.? Yesterday I was going through the self-checkout of the local grocery store when the kiosk I was using crashed on me. Suddenly, I noticed that other people had concerned looks on their faces. As I scanned the faces of the cashiers, I realized that their machines had crashed. It was then that the manager called all of the store staff to the front of the building and was giving them frantic instructions. This was going on, of course while the lines were beginning to build with confused customers with huge piles of groceries.
There was an announcement made that they were experiencing a computer issue and it would be fixed momentarily. Well, 10 minutes later it was still not fixed. I overhead one employee tell another that not only had the store's computers gone offline, but the entire chain of grocery stores in the area were experiencing the exact same problem at the exact same time. Needless to say, I had to get back to work, so I left my stuff and walked out.
This experience kind of woke me up to the reality of how much of what we do everyday is relied upon the use of computers. If ever a Y2K situation ever occurred, I think we'd be seeing a major catastrophe. Humans have been too conditioned and dependent on machines for operating in every day life. Kind of scary.
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