There were a few things that stood out to me in the readings, despite the monotony of reading about receipts. I was honestly impressed that people have been recording purchases since ancient Mesopotamia. It proves the importance of something that we, at least I, overlook every single day. Aside from the cuneiforms, I was particularly interested in the recording of purchases around the 1700s. Particularly because of how eccentric they are. If I were handed a receipt that looked like the image in the reading, I would never throw it away. I was also surprised that the cash register was invented in Ohio. As for the receipts we looked over in class, I found many of them to be quite funny. When you compare the simplicity and purpose of the cuneiforms to the modern receipt that has puzzle games on the back, QR codes for fun facts, or lists of coupons that could span feet long, it greatly shows the progression we’ve made as a society. Even though it is very obvious how far we have progressed, technologically, that is, it’s cool how that is represented on something as common as a receipt.
I have never thought about my personal connection with receipts before, so this was a question that I really had to think about. I was collecting receipts for a while, not for the purpose of recording my historic purchases, but rather as a collection of experiences and memories. They’re carefully formatted, typographically impressive, and typically overwhelming slips of paper that allow me to recall a day I could have entirely forgotten about. This isn’t my first time scanning receipts. I was scanning tons of receipts and slips obtained from paying to park, in hopes of finding an interesting texture to lay over my designs. Keeping these, I plan to cover one of my studio’s walls with them. I guess tracking receipts has been something I’ve done for a while, but I had never conceptualized the genuine personal connection I may have with them.
Okay, this is an article based on a weird TikTok ‘trend’ / ‘trending idea’ that I saw a while ago that I always thought was ridiculous. Understandably, it makes sense that the chemicals found on receipt paper are bad for you. Especially knowing how much your skin absorbs the bacteria around you. However, this idea got out of control after a little while, and there were videos of guys refusing to handle receipts, either dropping them on the ground or holding them through their shirts because they didn’t want to lower their testosterone levels. It’s something that I find is a little obsessive, however its randomly made an impression on me as well. Though I’m not obsessed with the testosterone levels and other weird issues, I always think about how people reacted and question if handling receipts actually is bad for you. I was thinking about it when scanning the receipts earlier today!
