2jakes
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 9,680
- Location
- Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
I believe if I desire squeaking food I shall stick with fresh cheese curds.You will love the way that it squeaks against your teeth.
The buttered Lefse served with the Lutefisk makes the agony worth while, though.
What the papers want is to stop printing altogether as that would be a monster cost save (if most readers and advertisers more to on-line), but they want to do it gradually so that they can soak as much revenue out of print (and not turn too many older readers off) before print finally goes away.
You'd be surprised how many elderly folk either can't or won't use the Internet for anything. We run into this all the time with our ticketing systems -- 90 year old ladies call up boiling mad because they can't figure out how to buy an opera ticket online and just want to do it over the phone. Although my mother is all over Facebook like grease on a mackerel, she won't buy anything online because somebody told her the Russians will steal her identity if she does. But nevertheless, companies insist on pushing "convenient internet service" because it means they don't have to pay someone to sit by the phone and take orders.
Within the next ten years, traditional "just pick up the phone and order" systems will be completely extinct.
I've worked for a number of places that no longer cut checks. Direct deposit is it for employees. It takes away a primary reason to go to the bank if you don't need to deposit your check...
What I really don't like about online purchasing is the compulsory form filling along with personal details submission. There was a time when you had a product and I had the cash, I thought that your price was reasonable, handed over my money and you gave me your goods, along with some sort of warranty for a period of time to cover reliability. Now, online purchases demand your email address, your home address, all your various phone numbers and just to be sure you don't forget there's a reminder that says: "Fields marked with an asterisk must be answered." It begs the question why? And the answer is, so that we have a record of you and can build up a profile, a copy of which, we will sell to others.
Harvesting personal information has become big business, think about it next time you use a social media site, use a credit card, use a store loyalty card. Cash is king as far as I'm concerned, and hopefully, will be until I pop my mortal coil.
Have you ever noticed how big business and others with a vested interest, have a way of demeaning anyone who won't dance to their tune. People like me are dubbed dinosaurs. They can call me whatever they like, one thing they can't do is send me junk mail and email or pepper my screen with pop up adverts gleaned from my browsing.
This is definitely one of the downsides to our over-reliance on technology. Even something as simple as a localized power outage can throw some businesses into turmoil because they haven't devised a back-up plan for such events. Technology in any form is a useful tool, but when it isn't working...
Have you got chip & pin yet? You might call it by another name. I remember reading that it was being delayed before being rolled out in the US, although that was a while ago. What it means is that the need to tap in your pin number is negated, you simply wave your card near the reader and the machine picks up your details like the scanner that picks up your purchase details from the bar code on them. Don't tell me that is safe, I simply don't believe it. My credit card company were astounded when I refused to accept this new technology, they said that I had no choice. Really? After fifty years with the same company I gave them notice and quit. I had so many calls from them, they assured me that this new technology was safe, but they couldn't answer me when I said that for fifty years they had accepted all my purchases, why change now? They didn't say as much, but I wouldn't mind guessing that the word dinosaur was mentioned.
Although I am of retirement age, I still work, albeit part time. About six weeks into the employment I asked for my paycheck. In the UK we define the advice note that comes with your wages as the paycheck. I had been paid directly into my bank account but had not received an advice note. When I asked for it, the company explained that as they were small in the number of employees, they employed an outside accountancy company to process all wages and salaries. The advice note is sent by email.
"You'll be lucky," I said, I don't have an email address. You wouldn't believe the size of the fuse that blew because of this remark. Nobody knew what to do. I couldn't believe it, after all, contact by email hasn't been around so long that previous practice has been forgotten. When I suggested that the accountancy company emailed the company, who would then print it off for me, it was smiles of relief all round. The hand wringing and what are we going to do just had to be seen to be believed.
Same here, never seen fried herring in glass jars. I lived in Germany and know that fried herring was commonly eaten near the North Sea coast of Germany, but we lived in Bavaria. There you could buy fried herring in tins. The glass jar variety was usually for pickled herring, a gross foodstuff as far as I'm concerned. Never saw much of the stuff here until the influx of Polish people over the past 15 years. Much like Sushi, I've never been tempted to eat the stuff.
It gets worse. A while back I tried to sign up to pay another bill online. (This is the only bill I still write a check for: 1x per month, after I stumble around trying to remember where the checkbook is.) I go through ten minutes of nonsense, then they start asking me questions before I can access the online bill pay system. They want my phone number--I enter it--they say nope, that's wrong. I try the old landline number, cancelled ten years ago, but that's not it. They want a number in Iowegia. . . .
Four hours later (most of it spent on hold) I finally talk with someone who explains that I have to list every address and every phone number my wife and I have had in the past 15 years. I point out that I don't have that information--and haven't had a wife for 20 years! They suggest the easiest solution would be for me to contact my ex and get the information. . . and that it is my own fault for divorcing her.
I pay that bill in person now. In cash. Small bills. Sometimes I take a quart jar full of change. Each time they tell me they aren't set up for payments in person, or to handle cash, and request that I sign up to pay the bill online. Each time, I politely decline.
It gets worse. A while back I tried to sign up to pay another bill online. (This is the only bill I still write a check for: 1x per month, after I stumble around trying to remember where the checkbook is.) I go through ten minutes of nonsense, then they start asking me questions before I can access the online bill pay system. They want my phone number--I enter it--they say nope, that's wrong. I try the old landline number, cancelled ten years ago, but that's not it. They want a number in Iowegia. . . .
Four hours later (most of it spent on hold) I finally talk with someone who explains that I have to list every address and every phone number my wife and I have had in the past 15 years. I point out that I don't have that information--and haven't had a wife for 20 years! They suggest the easiest solution would be for me to contact my ex and get the information. . . and that it is my own fault for divorcing her.
I pay that bill in person now. In cash. Small bills. Sometimes I take a quart jar full of change. Each time they tell me they aren't set up for payments in person, or to handle cash, and request that I sign up to pay the bill online. Each time, I politely decline.
Also the nudity and language on movies
today.....
Always good for the kids to have "arte"-channel with french movies, here.
"arte-channel french movies"
Is that what they call them in
Deutschland ?
arte started as a really good cultural/alternative tv-channel, but sadly went to cultural-entertainment mainstream in the 2000s. But of course, the time of tv-channels is over...
That was my thoughts too. Companies want you to pay online, then make it almost impossible to do so, madness.I am not asking to pry, but your story piqued my curiosity - what company or what type of company was this? While it can sometimes be challenging to sign up, since most companies want you to pay online (as it saves them money), they tend to make sign up reasonably easy or, at least, when you call and tell them you need assistance signing up, they are helpful. What you experienced sounds as if it was the opposite which is a bit surprising.
In the UK we are can pay most bills at The Post Office counter, just like a bank. It's a Godsend for dinosaurs like me. Furthermore, when I was in business with my brother, one of our clients used to pay our invoice in cash. The reason being that his bank used to charge him 78 pence per 100 pounds deposited, it didn't sound much but a lot of his business was retail, small amounts of cash over the counter.When I came to the point that I required
a notepad to remember the current
username & password. I stopped doing
online transactions.
Auto insurance. Why they make such a hassle of it is beyond me; they made a change and started using Transunion to confirm identities of people trying to pay online. I know a couple people who have changed insurers because of this, and I've considered it myself.I am not asking to pry, but your story piqued my curiosity - what company or what type of company was this? While it can sometimes be challenging to sign up, since most companies want you to pay online (as it saves them money), they tend to make sign up reasonably easy or, at least, when you call and tell them you need assistance signing up, they are helpful. What you experienced sounds as if it was the opposite which is a bit surprising.