They call this progress?
As an official old curmudgeon, I hereby complain about the following:
(1) Company or agency answering messages that feature that same perky/happy voice (what’s she so pleased about?) reciting a long list of possible numbers to press for supposed help. The way it’s arranged, one has to stick with it, listen for a long time, and press a series of numbers in order to finally come to the one people usually want: agent. Or rather AGENT!!, which I often end up screaming over and over while I listen to her natter on.
(2) Self-service grocery checkout lines. I’ve already written about that, but it bears repeating because, as an old curmudgeon, I believe in being boring.
(3) Toilets that are too high and are shaped funny. Those of us who aren’t very tall, or who have bad backs, are in trouble with those things, which one can increasingly find in hotels and motels. Not good. At least I don’t think I’ve ever encountered one of these.
(4) Over-packaging when something comes in the mail.
(5) The fact that contributing to a charity guarantees that said charity will become your new bosom buddy, sending you a solicitation on a weekly basis.
(6) Phone calls or emails asking you to complete a survey after you’ve had a medical or dental appointment. Does anyone think the answers actually lead to better service?
(7) The increasing size and weight of cellphones. I have small hands, and various arm injuries, and holding those things has become more difficult. They still make a few smaller ones, fortunately, but not many.
(8) Chicklet keyboards on laptops. Hate them. Hate Apple. And yes, I had an Apple computer for four long years. Couldn’t wait to get rid of it.
(9) The increasing use of graphic symbols rather than words, to indicate various computer functions. Recognizing graphics is not my forte.
(10) Texting replacing phoning. I realize that a lot of people prefer texting, but I’m not one of them. I like the human voice and the personal contact. Texting is okay for short messgges like, “I’ve arrived at the restaurant.” But people use it for a lot more than that.
I could go on, but I’ll have mercy on you and stop here. But feel free to add your own peeves in the comments.
(2) These are the best things ever.
(10) I’m with you on that. Have you really talked to someone if it’s only texting? I say no but there are some people I know that go weeks or months without actually TALKING to people they consider to be very close to.
One of mine is the virtual chat option for customer service on line. I would rather go through the phone tree from hell and sit on hold for half an hour before interacting with the chat bot.
Griffin:
Absolutely.
I have a propane supplier whose phone people are utterly incompetent. The only way to get them to react is by virtual chat. Not that they’re good that way, but it’s better than the phone.
I have had, from time to time, acquaintances who call me at inconvenient times and talk for half an hour to forty-five minutes. I learned to look at who was calling on my cell phone and not pick up if it was one of those. I’ll call back when I have the requisite time.
I HATE PCs and will only use Apple. I know how it works to the extent that I need to know. Every time I use a PC I do something wrong with the keys or the right click/left click thing.
In regard to (1), the chief offender to me is my local pharmacy, the major difference being that the chipper automated voice is obviously male. It takes several minutes to get through the various options in order to speak to a human pharmacist. I understand that the company wants to weed out calls from people who simply want to know the store hours or whether their prescription is ready for pickup, but still . . . having to listen to the solicitous disembodied voice asking how he can help me every time I have to press a new set of numbers is annoying.
Another irritant that Neo did not list is the godawful music that most companies use when they put you on hold. I know of one that uses low-key classical music (no Berlioz or Stravinsky!), which is much better than the rock or generic elevator music that is usually played. The generic music is usually made worse by a mechanical voice every 20 seconds or so apologizing for the wait, thanking the listener for putting up with it, and promising prompt attention as soon as the next worker in the call center is available.
In spite of the irritation, I always try to be courteous to the human being who eventually takes my call, as I expect they have to field a lot of hostility from people put on hold for a long time. I’ve often wondered how long call center workers last in that kind of job; I couldn’t take it for more than a week or so.
I have had, from time to time, acquaintances who call me at inconvenient times and talk for half an hour to forty-five minutes.
==
That’s because you’re a girl.
“That’s because you’re a girl.” Well, the annoying callers are.
And stay off Neo’s lawn!
Hear, hear madame!
An advantage of old age……forgetting what you were annoyed about : )
cb, never forget, never forgive. All the comments are very good and I agree with everything being said.
Neo, my best friend, My Other Brother, gave me and my real brother and a friend T-Shirt that say
Member of the Curmudgeon Brotherhood.
Overuse of acronyms. It has gotten to the point that there are acronyms for ordinary conversational phrases (yes, I think it is an off-spring of texting), such as OTOH (do you know what that stands for?) and ICYMI (guess at that one!). I am sick of all of them. I refuse to use them myself, with occasional exceptions for such old-line acronyms such as “NASA.”
5. Agree. I sometimes think I’d like to offer to make a donation on the condition that the charity promise to send only a receipt, nothing more, ever. But it would never work.
10. Young people use the term “talk” (eg, “I spend a few hours in the morning talking to my friends”) to mean texting back and forth. Sounds weird to me.
Phone calls or emails asking you to complete a survey after you’ve had a medical or dental appointment.
Particularly when they offer nothing but laudatory or more laudatory or most laudatory selections concerning the services – and no place for your own response in your own words.
(5) You are too modest. I get mail and email from the charity weekly and also from at least 5 partners of that charity!
The increasing number of political emails that land in my mailbox. With some, the unsubscribe link is well hidden. Luckily, my email program has a unsubscribe/report spam button which I use a lot.
On # 1–
It’s “agent” and sometimes it’s been “representative” (and sometimes both) that I sometimes end up screaming at the phone after 15 minutes of torture from trying to pick the right number on a long phone tree, failing and having to go through the whole process again, and sometimes again, all the while having to endure the dreadful and repeating music, sometimes with the added touch of it being scratchy, and stuttering.
I’ve read that one of the ways our military used to torture captured Jihadis was to pipe in “Its A Small World After All” to their cells 24/7, and it seems that we are being subjected to a variant of the same type of treatment.
Could it be that these businesses/organizations actually pick the most annoying music just for their own sadistic pleasure?
If you want to get to a live person more quickly, what I have found that usually works is to go with whatever number leads to their sales department. There is almost always a live person who will pretty quickly pick up the phone at the prospect of getting you to spend more money and, then, ask them to transfer your call to the department you actually want to speak to.
Phone calls or emails asking you to complete a survey after you’ve had a medical or dental appointment. Does anyone think the answers actually lead to better service?
Thank Obamacare for that, as it enacted a policy of regulating insurance reimbursement based on “customer” patient satisfaction. If patient isn’t happy, the medical professional providing care may not get fully compensated. It is great for insurance companies, that have made the whole healthcare experience worse, but sucks for those that actually did their best to treat you.
Self-checkout rocks. Much rather do that than wait in line and possibly be stuck behind a customer or three who has issues. A favorite is the person who pays cash and takes forever to get their wallet out, get the bills out and count them, dig change out of their pocket. Another favorite is landing in the line when the cashiers are changing shifts, or the receipt paper runs out.
Another bothersome thing about customer service calls are foreign representatives whose accents are hard to understand and sometimes English skills that aren’t quite all the way there. They all adopt English names like Linda or Mark.
Where do you folks live where the self-checkout lines don’t feature a wait? Where I live, they certainly often do, and sometimes the person doesn’t know how to use them and has to call for help. So there’s no guarantee it will be faster (especially if you don’t have that many groceries and can use the express aisle instead). Sometimes it’s slower, AND you have to work harder.
(5) “The fact that contributing to a charity guarantees that said charity will become your new bosom buddy, sending you a solicitation on a weekly basis.”
I don’t how many times we’ve given a few bucks to some charity one time, for some specific reason, only to have them spend many times the original donation on postage over subsequent years soliciting more donations.
What neo said. In my area, supermarket self-checkout lines are slow and miserable affairs. In addition, the mechanical bitch-voice that issues instructions to customers grates on my ears, especially when more than one self-checkout lane is running at the same time and you have to listen to the robotic Hillary issuing different commands to different customers.
The other downside of self-checkout from the supermarket’s point of view is that it makes shoplifting much easier. According to one retailer,
Customers have figured out that it is easy to steal in self-checkout. If an attendant catches them with unscanned items, they can always plead ignorance about how to use the system properly. Some popular ploys are:
–Leaving expensive items in the shopping cart, or in the reusable bag on the floor, while scanning cheaper ones;
–Scanning items with the bar code facing up, or covered by your hand;
–The banana trick – putting a $10 a pound package of steak or coffee on the scale, while looking up and entering bananas at 69 cents a pound;
–Scanning an item with one hand while dropping another item into a reusable bag on the floor; and
–Leaving a case of water on the bottom of the shopping cart.
https://www.retailtouchpoints.com/features/executive-viewpoints/how-to-stop-those-self-checkout-thieves
I don’t mind self-checkout, but rarely use it because when I venture out to shop, it’s infrequent thus a mega-shop trip and there just isn’t enough space at the self lane.
Another peeve – the assumption that everything can/will/should be accomplished on one’s phone – example #1 spouse’s new job can only be done using a phone login, which cannot not be done on his phone, which cannot be “modernized” due to disability issues, so he had to buy a special phone and cheap phone plan just for that – example #2 the new employer insurance assumes you will set up access through the phone, which we refuse to do, thus everything insurance-related is an extra hassle.
These kids who have never lived another way will be old someday and a nasty part of me hopes they suffer with all the old-age problems with tiny keys, touch screens, small screens, etc that we are dealing with.
Also, does anyone else here feel as though younger people are getting dumber as time goes by? Or is it me? I especially feel this way when I need some kind of problem-solving help and the designated problem-solvers seem unable to provide any help that actually helps … surely not … ??
I don’t mean [this] site, [as in, thenewneo], but one pet peeve that I have is:
starting about Jan. 2022, ALL of the FREE sites that I like to visit, NOW they all WANT A BUCK, …or they all want you to [get an account, free or otherwise], on their site.
Most of the free art sites that I like, [as in – sites on Tumblr], + the free news +/or social sites that I like, [such as places like- twitter, Reuters, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune,…] NOW they all want you to :
1] pay to see them, or 2] get an account on their site…likely so they can track which news articles [you] like, + then send you ads that match your interests.
I HAVE followed many sites + news sites, for over 10 years. [Yay me].
😉
And now a lot of them, beg or demand…my words, that you pay or sign in to see these sites, that used to be free.
My opinion is: If your site(s) have been free, for 3-10 years or more, then please keep them free, always.
Maybe, to get revenue- create a sister…pay-site for your site, to go with it, with names like: disney+, hbo+, thebestbarbecue+, thebestmusic+, or ideas like that.
[Or at least]- if your free sites are beginning to cost you money, + you need them to make money, please-
put a notice on your request for website-maintenance funds, that says: “I’m sorry guys…I used to do this site for free, but now I can’t. Please send me some cash, so I can keep this fun site running.”
Or some idea like that.
That’s just my pet peeve, for today.
(5) There’s a directory of suck…..donators somewhere. I give to the Salvation Army and Rocky Mountain National Park. That’s it. I get on average, five begging letters per day. You cannot believe how many charities there are. Some want me to put them in my will. 🙂
(10) Texting = the telegraph. Everyone thought the telephone was such a wonderful invention. No need to tap away at those keys anymore. Just talk to the party you’re communicating with. But no, they’d rather tap on the keys. At least you don’t have to learn Morse Code.
One Neo didn’t mention. Dog walkers who let their dogs pee on my front lawn. I try to have a lush, green lawn each summer. Puta fair amount of effort into it. Then I get these brown spots from dog pee. I don’t have the time or energy to keep watch and tell them to stay off my lawn. So, it’s my major complaint. I really am a grumpy old man. 🙁
Hi vanderbetsy,
I’m with you, about too many acronyms.
I thank my lucky stars though, that no one on the web, has given me the message of, “DIAF”, yet!
🙂
[For those who haven’t discovered it, “diaf” means- “die in a fire”].
Tsk. Tsk.
…”Young people these days”. 😀
Today I placed an order online for some seeds at a Californian company website, and when I got to the checkout page, after calculating shipping costs, the company website inquired how much of a tip I would like to add.
And why not? If I conduct some business somewhere where I swipe my card to pay, asking for even more money as I do more of the work has become de rigueur. I find it appalling, as this ‘tipping’ riptide becomes established practice. You want more money, for providing less service? And the service that you still provide is an afterthought, and proffered as if you are doing me a favor?
And phone menus: The only thing that could be worse than being subjected to tinny, disharmonious loops of interminable waiting music, is to be subjected to a continuous loops of advertising messaging, knowing that they have you as a captive, listening for a live human.
Regarding #6: I worked at a hospital for about 25 years. Healthcare organizations pay A LOT of attention to satisfaction surveys. Medicare ties reimbursement to the scores.
}}} Or rather AGENT!!, which I often end up screaming over and over while I listen to her natter on.
I tend to shout “OPERATOR!”, but yes. There are times when you call and you know for a fact their preset options cannot possibly deal with your issue — probably one of the reasons you are calling and not doing it on the web in the first place.
}}} Self-service grocery checkout lines. I’ve already written about that, but it bears repeating because, as an old curmudgeon, I believe in being boring.
This depends very much on the specifics. Walmart it’s usually faster to go with the self-service, and their machines are pretty well done. The southeastern chain Publix is a very very good store, but that’s one thing they got all wrong… Their self-service kiosks did nothing but literally tick me off the first four or five times using them, and I’ve refused to use them ever since.
2) I love self checkout, unless I have a bunch of items, like my weekly grocery trip.
5) It’s not just charities. Political campaigns are even worse. And commercial groups do it as well. I bought my kids tickets to go to the Lego touring exhibition, and I’ve gotten at least two emails a week from them ever since.
7) Totally agree, and I have big hands. If I wanted a tablet with phone capability, I’d buy one. I want something that fits in my pocket. (I’m a guy, and thus don’t have a purse to tote the thing around in.)
Additional:
11) Automakers running more and more of the car’s functions through the single touchscreen. I don’t want to have to burrow 3 menus deep to adjust the A/C, then back again to change the radio station. (I’m also not a fan of the knob type gear selectors and electronic parking brakes.)
And JJ: I suggest a sprinkler on a motion sensor. Especially one of the pulsating types that are noisy (especially startling if you live in areas with rattlesnakes) when they kick on. The noise + getting hit with water should scare the dogs off the lawn.
}}} (9) The increasing use of graphic symbols rather than words, to indicate various computer functions. Recognizing graphics is not my forte.
LOLZ.
Neo, remember back when crosswalks had those signs,
DON’T
WALK
And they’d light the “don’t” for when you shouldn’t walk…?
Then they replaced them with the Pedestrian and Hand symbols, because, “not everyone spoke English”.
Anyone other than me notice how every single solitary xwalk push-button now comes with a page-long explanation — written in English!! — of what those idiot symbols actually mean?
SMH.
}}} Texting replacing phoning.
I think there is a middle ground, and yes, we’ve gone to the far end of it. Hopefully, it will swing back, as so many things often do. The further you get AWAY from humanity, the more likely the next generation will swing back towards abandoning that kind of stuff… if only to be different and make itself distinct from previous generations.
My programmerish complaint: The current window/mouse/keyboard interface has become an overly sensitive minefield.
One stray mouse-click or random keypress can send you god-knows-where and require you to do god-knows-what to get back to where-you-once-knew-you-were.
I feel like I’m doing brain surgery, when I’m trying to something stupid on the computer.
More eye-opening “progress” on the horizon….
“Obama, Bush and Clinton have started an NGO to fly migrants into the US;
“The new NGO is reportedly teaming up with Welcome.US to raise money for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, Ukraine and Nicaragua to be flown into communities across the country. “—
https://justthenews.com/events/obama-bush-and-clinton-start-non-governmental-organization-fly-migrants-across-us
Such a kidder…
“NYC mayor Eric Adams says the ‘migrant crisis’ has destroyed the city;
“Adams has also alleged that the federal government has turned its back on New York City.”—-
https://justthenews.com/government/local/nyc-mayor-eric-adams-says-migrant-crisis-has-destroyed-city
And…we have a glorious “Blazing Saddles” moment at the “Harvard of the West”…
“Stanford Black Law Students Association Takes Itself Hostage, Will Boycott Black Student Recuitment To School Over Dean’s Apology To Judge Duncan”—
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/04/stanford-black-law-students-association-takes-itself-hostage-will-boycott-black-student-recuitment-to-school-over-deans-apology-to-judge-duncan/
Guess they’ll have to change the university’s nickname to “Hollywood of the North”….
Lee Smith on (even for him) a tear…
https://twitter.com/LeeSmithDC
Some tidbits:
“The Morrell Morel scandal…is worse than it looks”—
https://twitter.com/MikeBenzCyber/status/1649902154335789058?cxt=HHwWhICx9ZHR0OUtAAAA
Michael Flynn:
“And [it’s not] just SECSTATE Blinken (who should resign)”—
https://twitter.com/GenFlynn/status/1649726207754219524?cxt=HHwWiMC93dnPgOUtAAAA
Personal hot button: The increasing tendency among websites to -require- and have you -disclose- a mobile phone number so they can verify via SMS. It is simply taken for granted that (a) you have such a device (believe it or not, I currently do not) and (b) that you wish to disclose its number to them. No problem with landline, because that is screened, although I prefer validation through email. I’m not opposed to two-factor, just this implementation.
Partly it’s principle but partly just the overweening and unthinking presumption.
“Stanford Black Law Students Association Takes Itself Hostage, Will Boycott Black Student Recuitment To School Over Dean’s Apology To Judge Duncan”
==
I don’t thing these youths are the sharpest tacks in the box. Mr. Sailer has offered that what the ‘affirmative action’ regime has done most reliably is promote narcissism and megalomania among blacks.
I get not only unsolicited political emails, but the same by text message. Text or email, they all get reported as spam. I have tried unsubscribing, but they never stop. Now I don’t bother.
Phone trees: Fairly often, just entering “0” will get you to a live person.
Kate–Yeah, that “unsubscribe” link that they make in the smallest possible type size and bury somewhere at the bottom of the page is often just a phony, you “unsubscribe” but they still keep sending you crap.
P.S.–More annoying are the devil’s spawn of our cell phone era–fairly frequent spam calls and the text messages about how some mysterious charge for hundreds of dollars for something you haven’t bought has appeared in your account at X store/your account at Y has been frozen/some package you haven’t ordered is held somewhere, and you’d better call this number right way to straighten things out.
remember the time machine from 1960, the tiny scale model that rod taylor used to demonstrate the device to his colleagues who couldn’t believe it,
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/04/erasing_women.html
I hate self checkout lines. And more and more frequently, the places with the self checkout lines have fewer (or no) staffed checkout lines and then the lines get ENORMOUSLY long. And invariably, I wind up at the wrong register: if I wanted to use a card, I get the cash only one, and if I wanted to use cash, I get the card only one.
I think toilets are too low, and I’m not particularly tall. I try to go for the accessible stall because that toilet is usually a bit higher. I want to put one of the higher ones in my house. My home toilet is for children, I swear. My knees are not what the used to be.
I hate Apple. The filing structure is a pain to navigate. Their products are expensive for the sake of being expensive. And their stupid icloud email HAVE to have a “trusted” Apple device. (An elderly relative was talked into a €?©¥|?& icloud email by her @$$#’£& neighbor, who I despise. So now I have to find a “cheap” apple device to get added to it. I can’t get the relative to set up a new email because she already uses the #?©¥|?& icloud address for her pension. I have told her it’s ready to change… I’m pulling my hair out!!!!)
I despise websites that require a phone number JUST TO USE THEM. I will not use manufacturers whose does do for my work related stuff.
I can’t stand Apple.
I despise employers requiring stuff that needs a cell phone. It’s a trap. They SHOULD provide the cell phone if they do that. But once they provide you a cell phone you are tethered to the employer for twenty for hours a day, seven days a week.
I loathe Apple.
I hate touch screens in car. Before touchscreens, you could control the radio, the a/c, etc. WITHOUT TAKING YOUR EYES OFF THE ROAD!! You knew which button over and down or whatever, got you the radio station you wanted, or the a/c, etc. You could navigate your fingers to the right button or knob by feel. Now, you have to LOOK because there is no way to feel what you are doing.
I hate Apple.
What the hell happened to the “Do Not Call” registry? Is EVERYTHING an “exception” now? I put my elderly relative on the Do Not Call registry and her phone rings CONSTANTLY.
Apple can rot in hell!
The phone menus drive me nuts, too. Now I have to take notes when I call some company, just to get though their damned phone menus.
And if I’m going to be on hold for twenty or forty minutes (thanks, Delta!) just let me zone out to the music, no matter how awful it is. Every time they break in to tell me how important my call is, I get my hopes up, thinking they’re FINALLY transferring me to “an agent.” Only to be told to continue to hold. THAT’S what drives me the craziest about being on hold.
Apple… Grrrrrr….
operations is the art of scheduling people for peak times, I’ve never seen it used effectively,
i studied it in graduate school, it involved some seven variables to make it work
Your taxes at work!
“Big Banks, Corporations Getting 90 Percent Of Biden’s Green Energy Credits: Congressional Study”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/big-banks-corporations-getting-90-percent-bidens-green-energy-credits-congressional-study
Enjoy it! Yer in good hands!!—Good ‘n Corrupt, that is!!!
(Should be cross-posted with https://www.thenewneo.com/2023/04/21/the-biden-family-gets-a-pass-so-far-on-its-corruption/… )
File under: Biden Bribes Best!
Can’t figure out why anybody has a problem with self-checkout at grocery stores.
Yea, the first time or two you most likely will need help – I did – but after that, you will find it’s pretty straightforward.
Have to admit, packaging engineers (if that’s what they are called) are geniuses; they can turn paper/cardboard into a type of concrete; breaking open some packages requires power tools.
I believe there is a way around those really annoying company/business automated answering devices. Sometimes if you just hit “0” or # it takes you directly to a real live person.
Of course, if that real person is located in India, the Philippines or has a very strong Asian (as in Chinese) accent, well, good luck.
Why do business automated phone responses often start with “please listen carefully as our voice options have changed?”
After all, there is a very high probability that you have never called them before and you hope that you never have to call them ever again.
You visit a website and they start bombing you with emails.
Opt out? No.
I immediately contact the webmaster and complain. If it doesn’t stop, I find the contacts of the Prez, VP, etc and email-bomb them with the complaint and a guarantee that every time I get a spam-mail, they shall as well.
“We assume those visiting our website will want updates.”
“I assume people emailing me want email responses of equal annoyance.”
Funnily, that gets their personnel to remove me from their database.
I’ll put up with so much, but then I go full ‘tard.
Where do you folks live where the self-checkout lines don’t feature a wait? Where I live, they certainly often do, and sometimes the person doesn’t know how to use them and has to call for help. So there’s no guarantee it will be faster (especially if you don’t have that many groceries and can use the express aisle instead). Sometimes it’s slower, AND you have to work harder.
Neo, is it Stop&Shop? It’s Stop&Shop, right?
Kirk voice:
STOP N SHAAAAAAAAAAAP
/Kirk
Over-packaging is annoying, especially the welded closed plastic clamshells, that can’t be opened with anything less than a tin snips, but not as annoying as underpackaging.
“Biden”—the most corrupt president EVUH—is going on the offensive.
(Which is to be expected: it’s what “he” does…like all good and well-meaning mafiosi worth their salt).
“He”‘s going for Clarence Thomas’s scalp, and that of anyone who DARES defend him…
…well, you know, that INTIMIDATION ‘R US style that saturates the entire administration, such as it is…
(IOW ‘Defy “ME” and you are TOAST!’…Oh and don’t take it personally, because…UNITY!!!)
“Stephen Breyer faces backlash over defense of Clarence Thomas”—
https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/stephen-breyer-faces-backlash-over-defense-clarence-thomas
And so, “The Lynching of Clarence Thomas, Part II”…with another cameo role played by that remarkably talented thespian—YMMV—Joe Biden! And of course, “Joe Biden”, Director.
Still, one of the nice things about self check-out is that, when necessary, you can swear at them with abandon…and they don’t seem to mind.
At least so far.
I suppose that with the huge advances being made in AI, they could always be implemented with some sharp-tongued and/or colorful retorts…or add percentages to inflate your bill or otherwise make your check-out “experience” perfectly miserable (e.g., pull an intentional breakdown after the last item is scanned).
I love self checkouts! I seldom encounter lines. I have been known to choose the Walmart with good self checkouts and paper bags over the one with real bags (plastic), more but slow cashiers, and busy, small quantity only self checkouts. Paper bags are a scourge. They’re a throwback to my childhood before the move to more environmentally friendly plastic. Back then, we bagged our trash in them and carried it to the dump that way. I don’t remember them ripping if you looked at them wrong, so maybe they were better then. They’re ridiculous for carrying up to the second floor. They go straight to recycling. I’m not carrying lunch to work in them, or lining a mall trash can with them. But I digress.
I hate to “listen carefully, as our options have recently changed” on phone trees. Once that message appears, it’s there no matter how long since the “recent” change.
I love texting and email. I got phone-phobic doing tech support. Started having to deal with calls at work again in the past several months and it’s better after 15 years off. Heck, it had been 25 since the worst of it. Mostly I make rather than receive calls, and it’s a tool with less surprise or unknown to it.
The surveys annoy me. I usually forget them immediately.
My wife has the toilet problem. Several years ago, the landlord got a new one for his house, loved it, and got 12 more, one for each rental unit in his buildings. It has good features, but the height and shape are problems for some. It doesn’t flush well and if it clogs it’s almost impossible to plunge. If you’re flushing it 3 times so it has no chance to clog, it’s not saving water (part of the point, he’s obsessed with the water bill being too high).
Accents drive me crazy. A job where you have to be understood means no accent to speak of. Current job uses heavily accented front line help desk people. In one case, I literally understood fewer than half the words she said and pretty much uh-huhed my way through, getting almost enough from context and asking her to repeat herself. They always send an email after, so that helps. It’s a wonder this flies with people, given the complaints I’d deal with about support techs I supervised in the nineties if they had any kind of accent.
Toilets. Apparently, here in CA, new ADA regulations require accommodation for the morbidly obese. I stopped at a restroom in a public park a while back. Those monster stools could fit a damned rhinoceros. A skinny guy could fall in and be lost.
JWM
Me, not bothered by self checkout, I just choose stores that provide normal service.
Let’s see… Safeway? Self checkout. Freddie’s? Home Depot? Self checkout. Lowels’? Self checkout…
Ah, there’s a place without, my local bar! 😉
Occasionally there’s a hiccup at the self checkout, but usually there’s someone running interference to handle it. I prefer them because it’s one less human interaction I have to deal with. I do not like interacting with other people.
Having spent my career using Windows PCs, I loathe them. I loathe Microsoft. I loathe Bill Gates. I hope when his earthly days come to an end, he takes Microsoft with him.
Five years ago I bought my first MacBook and I love it. Yes, it’s battery swelled up and had to be replaced after a couple of years, but the OS (oops, being retired from IT, I can’t help but use acronyms…) is super stable. My Mac still runs fast. Every Windows PC I’ve ever owned or used gets bogged down after a few years. I’ve spent countless hours trying to bring them back up to speed only to have the efforts wiped out by the next OS update. Macs aren’t perfect, but I find them far less frustrating than Windows PCs.
I also switched to iPhones some years ago after getting frustrated with a buggy Samsung. I like how my iPhone integrates with my Mac.
Am I a fanboy? I dunno. I just gave Apple a try and their products work better for me.
Neo, your post brought a lot of “lurkers” out to comment. Well done.
We use self checkout mostly. There are normally lots of them, so you can usually get to one fairly quickly, faster than waiting for 4 or 5 people to check out with a real cashier.
We installed the “Old Folks Toilets”, the ones that are higher. We have knee replacement and they are easier to use. The problem is now Fed Law requires low flush which means more than once.
I hate that it is assumed that you have a smarter than me cell phone. Not everyone does. My cell phone is for me, not for you. I admit I use mine more. Now several years ago when we got to the UK I got a message from A. The “IRS” that I was in deep trouble, then B. From a Porn site. Not sure which was which and was worse.
I hate getting someone that has a cursory knowledge of and speaking ability of English.
I hate that I have to listen to the Spanish stuff too. I bet in Mexico and SA you don’t have to listen to English stuff too.
Someone above really really doesn’t like Apple.
“Listen closely, because our options have changed.” The options haven’t changed. It’s just their way of telling you to listen to the whole list before you push a button. Sometimes the lists are long enough that you have to have them repeated before you can decide, and if you want something out of the ordinary, you are stuck in phone hell, because it’s never one of the options.
Strange thing: around here, there’s always a line for the supermarket automatic checkouts, while those at CVS aren’t often used. Maybe it’s just that people aren’t going that much to CVS anymore. Prices too high. Or maybe it’s a crowd thing. You see people using self-checkouts and you figure they are easy to use. If people avoid them, you wonder if they are too much trouble.
I don’t have a problem with texting rather than phoning. Texting takes a bit of getting used to at first, but I have become telephonephobic. Not knowing who’s calling. Having to respond immediately, rather than being able to form a response. The phone ringing was to me what the telegraph delivery boy ringing the doorbell must have been to my grandparents. Trouble.
I do have a problem with acronyms and abbreviations in articles, though. Sometimes they are never explained. You can, as with foreign words, always look them up on the internet, but those things ought to be made clear so you don’t have to. You can get a frisson (a small thrill) learning what a foreign phrase means. It’s not there when you find out which government agency or law or NGO hides under which abbreviation.
Thank you for posting this. We all have our little grievances and rarely get an opportunity to voice them. Sometimes, when one does, one gets blowback, people saying that one’s petty peeves aren’t important. Maybe not, but everybody needs an opportunity to blow off steam sometimes.
NPR discovered SpaceX this morning! Since the Starship blew up, the environmentalists are upset, and since they are the only people that matter, the rest of us now get to hear about it.
Nit: people like my idiot relatives who pronounce NASA as “Nassau”!
In the early ’80s I was put on hold for some (no longer remember) customer service line. The song was “Holiday in Cambodia” by The Dead Kennedys! It being the early 80’s the wait finished before the song, I mentioned the music to the agent who, after I expained, said he would look into it. In any event he resolved my issue and I never called back. But 40 years later I sitll remember it!
Around 2010 Apple decided it wanted to be a s/w dev laptop. I know b/c as I rode the Caltrain to my s/w dev job with my Apple, the ratio of Apples to PC on the trained went from may 1/10 to 2/3. But by 2017 Apple laptops were too thin (not strong enough to use on tIhe train), way too expensive, way too underported (No USB A for us caveman!), and basically useless. When my 2015 15″ MBP died in 2021, I went back Linux!
While I like the self checkout lines what I don’t like are the ones that don’t take cash. Rite Aid self checkout here are all card only which I find annoying. Maybe it’s just me but I would much rather pay cash for that $2 purchase than use my debit card.
LOVE this essay and, as a New York curmudgeon, the thing I am obsessed with, something that I hate and despise above all others: SCAFFOLDING.
Yes that’s right, freakin’ scaffolding on just about every building in Manhattan. Also known as “sheds” these scaffolds are often in place for decades because of crazy NYC codes and regs.
Besides being unbearably ugly, the scaffolding also supports rats, vermin (human and animal) and thugs.
There is no hope for this, the scaffolds will never be taken down. In fact, there are more every time I go down to the city on business. Ugh.
A big advantage of self check out is their server model. With clerks, the model is one line one clerk. You have to take your chance on that one line. If it gets hung up, you are Screwed. but in self check out it is usually one line multiple servers so if someone gets hung up on one of them, It doesn’t stop the whole line. You just go to the next available server. Makes a big difference
I agree entirely on 1, 5, 6 and 8. But I disagree wholeheartedly on 2 and 10. As an introvert, I appreciate self checkout lines where I don’t have to interact and make pointless banter with the cashier (the grocery I go to most is staffed by insufferably chatty and perky cashiers; avoiding them is most welcome).
As to texting, again as an introvert, I dislike phone conversations. As I write this, it’s 45 minutes past when I said I’d call a good friend of mine. I haven’t talked to her on the phone in over a month (plenty of texting, though) and I’m sure I’ll end up enjoying our call. But it’s still a burden of sorts
“I’ve read that one of the ways our military used to torture captured Jihadis was to pipe in “Its A Small World After All” to their cells 24/7, and it seems that we are being subjected to a variant of the same type of treatment.”
Thanks, thanks a lot…now I’ll have that irritating song on a loop in my head for the rest of the day. 🙂
Ackler,
That is one of the appeals of self checkout for me also. I hate the inane cashier small talk (especially the commentary on my purchases) that often occur.
One other problem is that since I hate texting and that is so prevalent these days I tend to lose track of people if they don’t reach out to me first.
I feel you on 4 and 5. I’ve finally learned to effectively use self-checkout, so I rarely have a problem where it misreads something or doesn’t detect my item in the bagging area and an attendant has to come over.
Snow on Pine: The inability to actually unsubscribe from things annoys me, too! You can technically block the sender, but I don’t get why it sometimes just doesn’t work to unsubscribe.
On the charity mailers:
My mom gave to a few like St Jude, Shriner’s and an Indian school which of course led to her receiving mailings from a dozen or more other charities she had never given money to.
When she died I went to the post office to get her mail sent to my address and I specifically asked if all these charity things would come to me and I was assured that would not happen because that kind of mail doesn’t transfer over. Well, gradually I started getting all the charity mailers in her name at my address (where she never lived) and apparently it will never end. I get between 5-10 of these things a week in her name now over 18 months after she died.
And I can’t tell them to stop delivering all mail in her name because I still occasionally get something somewhat important in her name so on it goes.
#5 It is even worse. They will sell your contact to multiple other charities. My wife contributes to several, and every day we get a stack of mail begging. Begging has become the most active growth industry in America. Two that are really disgusting. Multiple requests from law enforcement organizations. I trust everyione knows that they have excellent retirement, and excellent disability benefits, etc. (One nephew retired on full disability aage 40 from a major police department after a heart attack. At the time he was a training supervisor, not on the street. He then ran marathons.) Still the pleas come. The other is the massive number of charities for service dogs. How many retired dogs can there possibly be?
RE: Pointless banter / small talk with a cashier;
The staff at my local grocery store could pass for zombies. They just look at you, and say nothing at all, and all the while they could be looking right at you. They appear to be under some sort of hypnotic trance.
They must really hate their jobs.
I have nicknamed one of their cashiers Miss Friendly, because she is anything but friendly. Not an hello, no good morning, no have a nice day, no nothing.
As for the self checkout monitors at this grocery store, they must have mastered the ability to be asleep while standing; their eyes are open, but there is no sign of life. When you walk right past them upon leaving their eyeballs do not move. If they were lying down you would think they were dead.
Surely I am not the only person who has a spam email account that I give up readily when I interact with a new business. I clean it out once in a while.
#1 – Before I retired, I had to deal with a large overnight shipping company for sending parts to various customers. I was used to their phone tree so I could usually go straight to the right option. However, one day I needed to do an international shipment with a hazardous good (…a lithium battery if you’re curious). I called the usual phone tree hoping against hope that what I wanted was an option. Of course, it wasn’t. I needed an agent. I went through that list several times trying. I said “Agent” and “operator”, and “person”. I even said “human being”. Then I tried the buttons. I tried #, and *, and 0. All to no avail. Then, without thinking and in my frustration, I yelled out: “Son of a bitch!”…
“Please hold for the next available agent.”
Within a minute or so, I got a very helpful human being and was able to conclude my business.
Then I got to thinking. So I called the phone tree number back and waited till it was well within the tree list, and before I did anything else, I yelled out: “Son of a bitch!”
“Please hold for the next available agent.”
I tried this several times in a row and it worked every time.
Eureka! I had found the key! Then I got to thinking some more. “I wonder if it works elsewhere?” So I called that *other* large shipping company and was promptly imeshed in their phone tree. So halfway through it, without doing anything else, I yelled out: “Son of a bitch!”
“Please hold for the next available agent.”
I’m sure it doesn’t work everywhere, but wherever you are, it might be worth a try.
In principle, I don’t mind self-checkout if I only have a few things…much rather a human checker if I have a lot of stuff…but the quality of these systems varies widely. Some of them are like a science fair project done by a kid who ran out of time and just put something together in a hurry.
Mindless Verbal Taylorism:
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/8034.html
#2 – Like you I don’t like the self checkout lines. It seems like every time I use one something goes wrong. However, I will use one if I only have a few items. Like a commenter above said, they are reducing the number of manned checkouts so the lines in front of them can get prodigious. I loathe waiting a half hour to checkout 5 or 6 items.
#4 – I once received a shipment for the company I worked for. It was a software update that came from Germany. I expected it to be in a padded envelope. Nope.
What I received was a sturdy cardboard box about 2 ft on a side. I opened it.
Inside was a small wooden crate a little bit bigger than a cigar box surrounded by bubble wrap. I needed a metric torx driver to open it, which I did.
Inside was another cardboard box about the size of a book, also surrounded in bubble wrap. I opened that one.
Inside was a padded envelope – also surrounded by bubble wrap. And the padded envelope was padded with a much smaller version of bubble wrap. And inside that?
Was a plastic zip-lock bag containing one – count em – ONE! – SD memory card.
PS: I have the photos as proof.
#8 – I’ve always hated chicklet keyboards. They’re stupid and a show-stopper for me. If I have no choice, I’ll buy another brand. I’d like to know who thought they were a good idea.
I would also like to know who the people are who think dark gray on a solid black background is a good color scheme for the labels on modern day control panels.
#10 – I also *HATE* texting – when it’s used as a replacement for a phone conversation. I hate to say this, but the worst offenders are almost always women and girls. And I know why. You see, women can easily manipulate those tiny, microscopic keypads on the phone screen because they have those dainty little fingers. Men? Oh hell no!
However, there are things that are better done by text rather than voice. If you need to send contact information for example, or if you need to send updates to a group list.
“However, there are things that are better done by text rather than voice.”
This brings up my favorite peeve, the person that has spoken their contact phone number so many times that they rattle it off in rapid fire and never repeat it! When I really want a return call, I repeat and spell my name at slow speed, and do the same with my phone number!
Re: #1: I would like to put in a good word for Lands End (landsend.com), which is the best online clothes site I have ever found. I have had a couple of small issues with them in the past several months (which is in itself very unusual). The first was that a package I had ordered had come from an affiliated supplier. The contents were fine, but the packaging was beginning to fall apart (looked like a plastic trash bag they had folded over and sealed). The second (yesterday) was that one of the 5 items I had ordered was completely wrong, and I was trying to get specifics on how to return it for free (since it was their mistake). In both cases I called their main help number and it was almost immediately answered. Call #1 was answered by a pleasant mature-sounding woman who within 5 minutes had taken my report and seemed grateful for it. Offered to replace the contents, I think, which wasn’t necessary. Call #2 was answered by a younger woman who heard my problem and passed me on to a pleasant older woman who solved it in 2-3 minutes. “Return wrong item free; we are sending the correct item you ordered, no charge.” In both cases I told them that I appreciated their fast human response, and that for decades, for me, they had been doing everything almost exactly right. Sorry to be so lengthy; giving credit where credit is due. Their quality is great, they have continual sales of different kinds (which you can get “preferenced” emails for) and have almost unlimited (family) sizes.
1) Being referred to a Guest in a store. Do you make your guests standing line and pay? How about being respectful and referring to me as Customer.
2) I am told that younger people like text because they can control the conversation. No kidding. If it is more than two lines, just call me. or Don’t. On the other hand, you can include a picture.
3) I bought my garden seeds from several suppliers this winter and every one of them asked ne to fill out a satisfaction survey. Hello, its 10 degrees today.
4) and finally, people who take a picture of the food they ordered and instagram it out. What a hoot.
“}}} Or rather AGENT!!, which I often end up screaming over and over while I listen to her natter on.” I have been known to scream, “HUMAN! HUMAN BEING! HUMAN BEING FOR GOODNESS SAKE!” It didn’t work.
But I haven’t tried Roy’s solution yet. Hmmm . . .
Once I was using “Google Assistant” on my phone — that is, the one you talk to and she talks back. I don’t usually use it, too embarrassing to talk to a robot — but this one time, I did. It wasn’t working. I kept rephrasing my question and getting dumb answers. I got annoyed and said something to my husband about how just wasn’t working — and the robot responded, in a distinctly injured tone, “I’m doing the best I can.”
It startled me so much that I almost apologized, but stopped myself in time. I swear this really happened, though I still can’t quite believe it myself.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/04/nc-state-sen-natasha-marcus-discomfort-women-feel-over-having-men-play-in-womens-sports-is-worth-it/
I don’t how many times we’ve given a few bucks to some charity one time, for some specific reason, only to have them spend many times the original donation on postage over subsequent years soliciting more donations.
Very true of politicians. I don’t like self checkout lines and the markets we patronize in Tucson are quite good about speed. Costco can get hairy but we only go every several weeks.
Just use Linux. It’s superior, AND open source. Want a function? Code it yourself (or look it up on GitHub). Apple runs on top of a distro called Debian (a variant of it, anyway). You can run that OS for free, even.
Distros I recommend for PC users, Linux Mint and the surprisingly popular Ubuntu.
Look at this important discussion between Jordon Peterson and Dr. Scott Jensen– a highly credentialed, award winning physician with a 37 year family medicine practice in Minnesota, who from 2017-to 2020 was a Minnesota State Senator, and who, as Vice Chairman of the Minnesota Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee had access to a wide range of information about COVID.
Dr. Jensen talked about how how, at the beginning of the “Pandemic,” the Minnesota Department of Health passed on instructions from the CDC to doctors to change the long standing policy about how they filled out death certificates, with the effect of inflating COVID death statistics.
I.E. On death certificates there is box for the “primary cause of death” and then there is another box for secondary “contributing conditions,” and doctors where told that–for example–if there was a patient who had, say, a heart attack, an “initiating event” whose coronary artery disease ultimately killed him, and just before he died he had no symptoms of COVID but tested positive for COVID, they were not to list a heart attack as the “primary cause of death” but rather, if they thought that COVID somehow killed him, to put COVID in the “primary cause of death” box.
According to Dr. Jensen, when he objected to this procedure, and spoke publicly about his objections, the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice tried to shut him down, through a punitive and agonizing set of six different “investigations”–spread out over almost two years, and covering at least 18 separate allegations of malpractice (among them “spreading conspiracy theories”) generated by complaints from anonymous people who didn’t even have to have ever met or be treated by the doctor, nor did they even have to be residents of Minnesota or of the U.S.; these complaints could have come in from anywhere in the world.
During this long and deep discussion the point was made that any profession or occupation regulated by some professional board–Doctors, Psychologists, Surgeons, Lawyers, but also contractors, Pub owners, beauticians, mechanics, etc.–could be subjected to the same kind of Kafkaesque treatment.
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YRMajzRKU8
I find most of the things discussed here only mildly annoying. For instance, I avoid self-checkout on general principles but have coped with it when it seemed the best option.
The things that really bring out the curmudgeon in me–and when he is unhappy he is loudly unhappy–are language-related. For instance, what I have only semi-jokingly referred to as the war on transitive verbs. The other day an ATM told me my transaction was processing. I cannot bear this kind of thing and don’t think it has any justification (from an old blog post of mine):
—
This recording will repeat.
When the process is complete, a message displays.
The screen populates with the information.
Dr. Banner transforms into The Hulk.
She dies, then resurrects as a zombie.
If your tax doesn’t calculate…
Is it really so hard, is it REALLY TOO MUCH TROUBLE, to say “will be repeated,” “is displayed”, and so on? I’m not sure exactly what this syndrome signifies but I’m sure it’s something bad.
—
I wonder if it started with whatever that movie or tv robot was that was always saying something “does not compute.”
I also hate both Microsoft and Apple about equally. But switching to Linux is too much trouble and of course (of course!) has its own headaches–for instance, the Mackie mixer I use for audio has no Linux driver. On the other hand, I’m on Windows 10 and Microsoft is badgering me constantly to upgrade to 11. If or when they officially retire 10, that might be enough motivation.
I feel an urge to mention the only software for which I have ever felt a deep, intense, personal hatred: Windows 3 and its repulsive MS-DOS foundation. Don’t get me started….
I love self checkout. At first I decided I wasn’t getting paid to handle the labor, but then I realized that I could pack my bags the exact way I wanted them packed. Heavenly…
For the ‘customer service” phone numbers for largish companies, try gethuman.com. They can supply the phone number to call, and beneath the number there’s instructions on how to get to a human fast. Here’s a sample about Apple:
https://gethuman.Com/phone-number/Apple
Be warned: gethuman will try—hard—to get you to sign up fro their service. But you don’t have to sign up for it.
}}} The increasing number of political emails that land in my mailbox. With some, the unsubscribe link is well hidden. Luckily, my email program has a unsubscribe/report spam button which I use a lot.
OK, this is fairly well resolved by having multiple e-mail addresses.
I have one that is “ME”. It’s my first initial last name @xxx.com. I actually have a couple of them, used to various extents, with one being my primary, but that can change over time. I am currently transitioning from one to another, atm.
Then there is my primary “spam” e-mail account — and yeah, that one is getting used here, as well. I use it for anything where I am forced to provide an e-mail address, even if there is little chance I’ll want to/expect to be getting any useful e-mail (which is NOT spam) from the recipient (sorry, Neo, you count, but don’t count. It was more about blogspot than you.)
That one is the “obloodyhell” account… got a couple of those, too. Then I have “less common” accounts where I don’t want something to be buried by spam, but don’t really feel a need to get regular e-mails from them. That’s another one, entirely. “Igotbupkis” (it’s a reference to an early Frasier episode, “Author, Author”, where Niles or Frasier says “We’ve got less than bupkis. We’ve got what bupkis keeps with the lint in his pants pocket” 😀 ) @ xxx.com
The main point, never give people your main e-mail address. there are lots of free e-mails available — Gmail is obvious, but I prefer to not give Google the business, so I tend to use a separate company — mail.com and mailfence.com are good options. Create an account to use with/for those people/companies that demand a contact point even if you have no interest in being contacted by them. This also allows you to still change a password or actually GET info on those occasions you want to.
I think I had one spam address that had more than 100,000 unread e-mails at one point… it was too much of a pain to even delete them all, so they just kept piling up. 😀
}}} What the hell happened to the “Do Not Call” registry? Is EVERYTHING an “exception” now? I put my elderly relative on the Do Not Call registry and her phone rings CONSTANTLY.
There are a wide array of exceptions to the “DNC” requirements, so that it practically becomes a “sucker list”. I get very few spam calls — and I’m not on the damned thing for a reason. 😀
}}} Personal hot button: The increasing tendency among websites to -require- and have you -disclose- a mobile phone number so they can verify via SMS.
I believe you can make arrangements with a number of companies to get “free” phone numbers.
https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-get-free-phone-number-3426654
I haven’t used any of them, but I’ve been tempted. The point of the above is that you could use those in the same manner as a “spam” e-mail address (see the previous post about those).
}}} I thank my lucky stars though, that no one on the web, has given me the message of, “DIAF”, yet! [For those who haven’t discovered it, “diaf” means- “die in a fire”].
LOLZ. I believe the really mean acronym you’re looking for is “FOAD!”
(“eph off and die!”) 😉 😀
}}} If you’re flushing it 3 times so it has no chance to clog, it’s not saving water (part of the point, he’s obsessed with the water bill being too high).
LOLZ.
Yeah, then there’s the “autoflush” on many public toilets. Which generally goes off about four times instead of once or twice.
1 — when I move around in front of the toilet, cleaning the seat.
2 — once more when I drop trou to sit down. Often AS I SIT DOWN, making me stand back up for a moment, as I’m not really fond of getting toilet water splashed up on my ass… It ain’t no freakin’ bidet. 😀 SMH.
3 — once more the exact instant after I get up, but before I wipe.
4 — finally, after I’ve wiped, because it’s rude to leave the toilet with spent paper in it.
This is simply not efficient use of water. It’s pretty much the exact opposite.
}}} Phone trees: Fairly often, just entering “0” will get you to a live person.
They’re getting wise to this one, Kate.
}}} Toilets. Apparently, here in CA, new ADA regulations require accommodation for the morbidly obese. I stopped at a restroom in a public park a while back. Those monster stools could fit a damned rhinoceros. A skinny guy could fall in and be lost. — JWM
There is a local university handicapped stall that has an actual lifting device. I mean it has a bar attached to a rail up above that you can grab onto and it moves you over the seat.
}}} Am I a fanboy? I dunno. I just gave Apple a try and their products work better for me.
Joe, to each their own. Apple is as close to a fascist company as there is. They are worse than Google or Amazon, for my lights.
If you program for Apple, you do everything *exactly* *one* *way*, the Apple way.
If you create an app for the Apple, you sell it through the Apple store. There is no way to put your app onto an apple device unless that Apple is “jailbroken”, which voids the warranty.
Apple has “NIH syndrome” — it does not matter what it is, Apple will do it differently. The “Wheel mouse” is easily the greatest thing to come from Microsoft. It offered so many advantages, it swiftly took over as the WinPC standard mouse. Finally, after DECADES, Apple gave up their one-button mouse** and kinda-sorta embraced the three button/wheeled mouse. But is there a wheel on Apple mice? Hell no! they’ve got some stupid other mechanism that does the job.
USB is the standard, and has been for more than a decade. Apple pretty much ignores USB, and has its own standard, meaning you have to have converters with you, because most people don’t have an Apple connector. It’s like taking your device to a foreign country and needing a power supply converter. Except almost everywhere is “a foreign country” to Apple.
A brief summary of some of the many reasons I feel the opposite of the way you do about Apple. “To each their own”. 😉
P.S., don’t think I have any love for Microsoft. But Microsoft has a major competitor via Google and Android. Apple kind of does not. And Microsoft is an open system. Apple never has been since the Mac.
=========
** “One button”. Yeah, except to do all those things that the second button did on a WinPC, On the Apple, you had to use the cloverleaf key along with the single button, which pretty much was the same damned thing as having two buttons. SMH :-/
Watt
You’re correct. It doesn’t work. I’ve donated and told the recipient that it was a one-time donation and do not contact me and they waste postage and paper pleading for more.
95 comments!
Apparently neo is not the only curmudgeon who frequents this blog. 🙂
OBloodyHell,
That’s basically the reason I avoid Apple; they are megalomaniacs who make it difficult to use anything but Apple once you have one of their devices. And, because they are so proprietary (and elitist) their stuff is always very expensive.
Most of their stuff is good, and some is very good, but once you go down the Apple road the incompatibility forces you into more and more Apple and greater and greater expense.
That’s why I did not go down the Apple road (there’s a roadapple pun in there somewhere), but I will also add that not being Apple is more fun. It allows more options and creativity for learning and DIY with open source software and hardware.
Apple is a good option for wealthy people who do not want to spend time learning the inner workings of their devices.
Regarding charities:
You all likely know this, but some of the most persistent are the least charitable. There is a federal law that requires all of them to denote what percentage of the money they take in actually goes to the cause or mission they promote (as opposed to administrative fees) and some are as low as 5%.
And most of those administrative fees are internal salaries, and some of those salaries are absurd. Money goes to other perks like lavish offices, travel… It is very sad, but there are a lot of grifters out there enriching themselves using the truly needy as a front.
JJ…”Texting = the telegraph”
See this AT&T ad for the service that would be called TWX, from 1931.
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/61181.html
You could type back and forth, text-messaging style, or send messages to be read later, email-style.
On #1
I cannot stand those A.I. answering voices. Amazon and Verizon are the worse.
telegraph and telephone…apparently, Western Union was initially offered the patent for the telephone, but turned it down–why would someone want to use such a thing when they could have a nice telegraph message to read?
I really like shopping at Market Basket, almost everyone at the two stores I regularly visit is friendly and professional.
Walgreen’s has an amazingly good phone menu, it is easy and fast to renew prescriptions with it, and if there’s a problem you just hit 0 and it immediately connects you to a person.
Until recently, those systems were pretty bad. One of the early ones had a sexy female voice that began “Hi, I’m Wildfire!” Yuck. The phone menu at Comcast was so bad that I actually wrote a letter to the president of the company — I was calling for technical support, and the system made me listen to a Comcast ad before putting me through! Then I ended up in an infinite loop with no way in and no way out (except of course to hang up). That letter led to an amusing result: someone called me from the alleged office of the president, left a phone number on my answering machine (yeah, this was a while ago), and when I returned the call I ended up, once again, in an infinite loop!
I hate plastic packaging like the clamshell. It’s as if they forgot we have to open the thing. I now have a huge pair of kitchen shears for attacking all packages.
(3) toilets that are too high.
Nah, I love these higher toilets. I’m short and have a VERY bad back (severe stenosis, numerous herniated discs) and these toilets are so much easier and less stressful to use.
But I HATE counter-height seating at restaurants. More and more often, if I find myself in a newly decorated restaurant, all of the tables are counter height and the chairs actually are stools. Extremely uncomfortable for a short and partially handicapped person, to be perched atop a stool, often a stool without a suitable rung for stability, with my legs dangling above the floor like I’m back in kindergarten …. and then attempting to make a graceful landing when I am forced to leap from the stool at meal’s end while attempting to keep my balance using my cane. Bah! I usually turn around and walk out if this type seating is the only choice.
(10) sort of.
We have so many ways to connect with others now — phone, text, email, various chat, others, thanks to technology. And yet, some people say they don’t use email, or phone or text. Whatever. Makes me nostalgic for my boyhood days (mid-50’s – mid-60’s), when houses had 1 or 2 or more hardwired phones and a party line. Easier then to reach people and actually speak with each other.
The nearest Market Basket has no self-checkouts. Giving people jobs is good for the community. I don’t mind dealing with cashiers. You can think of sociability and making human contact as muscles that timid people would do well to exercise. I don’t find that people are having long conversations with supermarket cashiers. It can be different at the bank or the library or a boutique or a convenience store, but I’m usually not in a hurry, and when I go to the bank I can always use the ATM.
I had a prepaid hotspot with T-Mobile. Getting customer service was difficult because their system is based on the most common and most profitable services, so I would always get bounced around from agent to agent until I got to the right one. Direct dial numbers for different departments would be a real help, but I suppose that so many people might dial the wrong number that the company finds it more profitable to just rely on the automated system.
Pointless banter / small talk with a cashier;
A cashier at a local grocery store near me in TX wore a sweatshirt with “Christmas in XXX.” As there was an XXX near my New England hometown, I asked her if her Christmas sweatshirt was referring to XXX near where I used to live. Turned out that not only did it refer to XXX near my hometown, but she had married someone from my hometown- so she became an aunt by marriage to a classmate of mine. Until the store closed, I enjoyed chatting with her and sharing news about visits back home.
I miss the banter from the cashier,now that I used self-checkout.
Another bothersome thing about customer service calls are foreign representatives whose accents are hard to understand and sometimes English skills that aren’t quite all the way there.
Yes, Yes, Yes. And more Yes. When I am already teed off at the company and am calling to resolve a problem, a difficult-to-understand accent tees me off even more.
Self-service grocery checkout lines.
Yes they can be irritating- such as taking three times for Wal-mart to accept my credit card or HEB telling me that there is a problem with what is in my bag so I need assistance of HEB “associate” to continue- but I’d rather use them than wait in line.
Re chicklet keyboards: I have always used a PC in preference to a tablet because of the keyboard.
Too high toilets. I recently replaced a toilet with a high-seat toilet. No problem.
Apple is a good option for wealthy people who do not want to spend time learning the inner workings of their devices.
Good point. In the ’90s, the university computer lab I frequented had both Apple and PCs. At the time, Apple broke down more, so I used PC.
Hi OBloodyHell,
“LOLZ. I believe the really mean acronym you’re looking for is “FOAD!”
(“eph off and die!”) ? ?”
Heh, heh! Yeah.
I hadn’t head of, “FOAD”, yet.
I’d like to use that on my friends, but that’s probably a move that I can’t af-foad! 😀 😀
Hoping you’re a cool day. 🙂