I walked into a call center the other day, a small one, and something amazing hit me.

There is absolutely no high technology present in the calling areas.

Sales reps use paper printouts of customer names, make chicken scratches to note who says yes, no, maybe, call back later, and not in.

No one is served by an auto-dialer.

This is a bare bones operation, and definitely a throwback to the 80's, if not earlier.

Yet it is successful.

Let me repeat that.

It is successful, and instead of putting its extra cash flow into machinery, the company is investing in its people, in the form of training and coaching. The goal is to create better sellers, not faster typists or data entry clerks.

How refreshing. No computer screens, except in the managers' offices.

I've wondered, of late, whether we've become a nation of nonstop screen watchers.

Tonight, at the mall, I picked up a pair of new sunglasses at one of those kiosks that's smack in the middle of the walking area. An early 20s-ish fellow rang-up my order, and I noticed a flat screen with some show running on it. Very thin and about five inches long, it was bolted to his writing area, next to the charge card terminal.

Apparently, when he's working, he's watching TV or some video. People used to carry paperback books to fill the gaps when working at places like this.

Screens are now fixed in front of us at supermarket check out areas. Containing the worst pro

gramming known to humanity, watching these images and babbling heads will make you lose five or ten I.Q. points per shopping trip.

I don't have to tell you about the convergence of TV and cell phones. More screens, more of the time.

Technology doesn't do our selling for us. People do, yet we're suckered into thinking that we need all of these high definition ditties.

Ask yourself if your screens are serving you, or are you serving them?

The answer may surprise you.

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