> That same time-traveling video renter might find herself startled by the employee offering to recommend a movie, or by the knot of customers hanging out by the counter, shooting the breeze and discussing film.

What universe is this person from? I must have missed it...

The one where narrators have rose-colored glasses?

The author does make an authentic point about bored/maladjusted clerks messing with customers. I had one fill in what was apparently my nickname in the message-of-the-day on a receipt, a mean slur about my appearance. Of course, that isn't unknown today, when a human processes a transaction which has been flagged. Take a closer look at Youtube video IDs sometime. (My ex and her friends did it to me on a real estate site, on the listing for a childhood home.) /shrug