It looks like, at long last, corporate restaurants and big retail has discovered Lewiston-Auburn. Over the last few months, some national stores and restaurants have announced their intention to expand to our area. This trend is good as it creates jobs and increases our local shopping choices. However, there is a downside. With more choices, we will also get more aggravation.

Get ready for the onslaught of the new P.C., or “Pushy Commerce.”

I define the new P.C. as a business offering additional products and services after the consumer has made their purchase decision. P.C. can also be when a business offers to put the sale on their company’s credit card before the actual transaction has been made. A few examples illustrate the concept.

A few weeks ago our washing machine malfunctioned. I called the repairman. One of the first things he asked was if I wanted to pay with his company’s credit card. That was the last thing on my mind.

After I pump my gas, I go into the mini-mart to pay. I’m often asked if I want an additional item. This happens even when I already have a cup of coffee or a newspaper on the counter.

When I use the drive-through window to buy some coffee, I am invariably asked if I care for a muffin or donut. I am queried even though I have spent 10-15 seconds looking at the whole menu before deciding on the size and type of coffee I wanted.

When pushed to use a company’s credit card, I once told a clerk “no” with a verbal vengeance that I am sure she didn’t appreciate. Almost simultaneously, two things happened: I felt guilty about using that tone of voice and she apologetically said that her employer forces her to say that.

It doesn’t take a genius to know why I am being talked to as if I hadn’t a clue as to what I really wanted or how I wanted to pay for what I just bought. It’s called marketing. Or more accurately, marketing on steroids. Push the products that need to be cleared out. Hook the consumer onto your credit card in order to entice them to buy more.

So what’s wrong with the new P.C.? It blocks our ability to express our individuality and demeans most of our business-oriented relationships.

When I go up to the counter, both the clerk and I approach each other ready to start a dance that neither one of us wishes to begin. Perhaps the clerk thinks, “O.K., here is what I have to say before I ring the customer up. This is nonsense but I have to do it to keep my job.”

Or maybe the clerk has internalized their training so thoroughly that they just say it rote.

I dread the interaction because I know that I will be verbally set upon once I reach the counter. Since there is nothing I can do about it, I just await the encounter and go through the motions.

Sometimes I want to preempt the approaching commercial assault by telling the clerk, just as I make eye contact with them, “This is all I want and nothing more!” But instead I say nothing and let the confabulation begin. I don’t challenge the clerk because I know it is not their fault.

Business relationships are demeaned because no one is speaking with authenticity. The mindless banter between the clerk and consumer is a complete business-produced fantasy: the clerk is going through the motions and the consumer expects to be “pitched.”

What’s the downside of this charade? It increases the already high level of cynicism in consumers. Frankly, I usually tune out whatever the clerk is saying to me because I know whatever is said is designed exclusively to separate me from as much of my money as quickly as possible.

How is the new P.C. similar to political correctness? They both are widely accepted habitual practices that shape our conversations. While political correctness inhibits what one says out of cultural and racial sensitivity, the new P.C. forces people to say pointless things because of supposed economic necessity. Political Correctness freezes dialogue while Pushy Commerce trivializes verbal exchanges. Either way, authentic communication (or even something approaching it) becomes almost impossible.

I don’t mind the visual pollution of advertisements that are shoved onto checkout counters. I can even deal with a computerized voice attempting to sell me products as I pump my gas. What I find offensive is when I repeatedly have to say “no” to so many people that I don’t even know.

There are many stores that don’t practice P.C. They are to be commended. However, the expansion of retail in our area is bound to increase the general level of P.C. Beware and be prepared.

Karl Trautman has taught political science for more than 20 years. He has been a policy analyst for the Michigan legislature and a research assistant for “Meet The Press.” He chairs the Social Sciences Department at Central Maine Community College and can be reached at [email protected].