"What can I buy with two dollars?"

The app wasn't working. Two lifeguards (who were essentially children) stood behind the counter. The first told us to write our names on a paper form while the other read a book. Behind me, I overheard kids trying to buy snacks with two dollars. The floor was wet. Everything smelled like chlorine. Our kids were buzzing because the mushroom waterfall was on this evening. We set our towels and bags down by some lounge chairs, and I noticed the stained glass windows on the pool house. Such an elegant detail for a public pool. It was funded by the Second New Deal during the great depression. The total project was $25,000. The windows are probably worth more than that now.

Why do they insist on making us register with an app? Is management worried about the speed of the check-in process? Is the pool's performance sub-optimum? Are the numbers down?

What's wrong with adding our names to a paper form filled with the names of our neighbors? I counted seven people reading books by the pool. Books!

Technology improves our lives in countless ways, but the pool improves our lives in one way that technology cannot.