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I keep reading articles about how fast the world is changing. I have to agree. The work world, the online world, the publishing world, the educational world— all my worlds seem to be undergoing major upheavals that the optimists call “creative disruption.” MBA types insist it is a good thing. It is one of the big, current, business buzz phrases.
I figure I can roll with it. Oh, every now and then a spell passes when I am not paying attention and I suddenly notice things are very different and I never even noticed them changing. That is disconcerting for a while, but I like to think I am adaptable.
A few changes I may never adjust to, however. These are basic attitudinal ones. Someone decides that something that matters to me isn’t important anymore. Basic expectations regarding the relationships between people, or between a person and a company she patronizes, are getting disrupted too because of this.
High on my list of these changes are the attitudes about privacy. The disruptionists seem to take the view that privacy is dead, and I should just get used to it. Online privacy is not expected anymore, they say. Besides, if there were stricter online privacy, they could not monetize their cool software by selling data about me to advertisers. Good heavens, we can’t have that, right? The whole internet revolution might grind to a halt.
Also pretty high on the list is a new attitude among businesses. It goes something like this: We are going to push off our work onto you, the customer, so that we can make more money. We are going to use up your time so that we do not have to pay people to provide customer service to those who buy our products.
I regret to say that this also came out of the technology sector, if my memory serves me right. When they got away with it, other companies followed suit. Big tech companies and big internet companies don’t even pretend they offer customer service by having someone in India pretend to help you. You are on your own. You have a problem with that software you bought? Here is the online self-help you can comb through, and the online community of other customers you can consult. Dig deeply enough, spend enough of your time, and you may uncover the patch we made six months after releasing the product to fix the problem you are having. And if all else fails, uninstall, wipe your hard drive, reinstall all of your software, then add ours again. It should not take more than four or five hours if you know what you are doing.
Now, I can fight back, up to a point. I can refuse to be that company’s customer again. But when this is the attitude of all of them, where do I go?
Worse, this “We are saving costs by shifting the work onto our customers” attitude is filtering down to other organizations and to other situations. Like my employer. Like my nonprofit professional associations. (We bought this new software that will make our lives easier. So sorry that it takes you an hour to figure out how to use it and it times out before you are finished inputing all the info we demand, so we don’t have to plug it in ourselves. Try cleaning your cache to see if that helps.)
Like I said, I am adaptable. I just don’t like being my own customer service rep. I don’t like spending a whole day trying to find a solution to a problem with a product I bought, or trying to get some glitchy form or system to work. And I think consumers need to start thinking about how to do a little creative disruption of their own.
Do you have a love/hate relationship with computers, software, social networking sites, or online forms? Or are you pretty much all love or all hate?
Can you roll with the punches of creative disruption? When Facebook or some other online site changes its rules, layout, or system, can you take it in stride or do you tear your hair out?
What is the biggest change you have noticed in everyday life in the last five years?
74 Comments on “When Creative Disruption Bites”
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I love computers, seriously I do. In particular I love my Toshiba Satellite laptop that I got last year. It honestly meets my needs so easily. I will admit though that I do have an eye on when the Sony Vaio laptops come down in price as I will probably get one of those as well so I can have one for fun and games and another for serious stuff. I don’t hate a lot of programs though but one that I can’t stand is the SPSS (Statistical Program for Social Sciences) program that I needed to have for when I was attempting to do the psychology program. I can barely operate Excel and they were wanting me to play with this rubbish? It’s no wonder I failed the statistics component of my psych degree. I did have a brief period of absolute hatred for Windows Media Player 12 but that was resolved when I worked out how to sync the music from my flashdrive to the program and now I am in love. There are a few little glitches with it but then again the course of true love never ran smooth or so they say.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 4:38 am.
I am going to work at being an optimist like you!
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 10:58 am.
Yeah I hate to say it Madeline but I’m not really an optimist. I don’t know if it’s because of the depression or if it is something else but while I do have my Pooh bear moments and Piglet moments, I am more prone to being kinda like Eeyore in nature. It’s just a matter of learning what you can control, controlling what you can and if you can’t control it then let it go because it’s not your problem so why bother? Attempting to control what is someone else’s problem will only cause you untold stress which has pretty bad physiological effects on the human body.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:21 am.
I pretty much hate all that stuff and try to ignore it as best I can. I keep hoping there will always be a company willing to offer decent, understandable service, like Apple. I have found it’s easier to do the online, real time question and answer with software places because I can understand better when I read the instructions rather than listen over the phone.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 8:46 am.
Do you mean the online chat customer service? That has gotten better too. Or maybe just the net has gotten better. Years ago I did one of those and every exchange too ten minutes, as in I would ask my question or describe the problem, and the response came ten minutes later. But like I said, the net speeds were a lot diffrent then.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:00 am.
Yes, the online chat. It’s a lot easier to understand than the foreign accents for me. (I feel so OLD saying that.) But there are times when trying to describe what’s wrong is pretty much impossible in print and verbally, so the online doesn’t help anymore than the phone assistance.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:21 am.
My problem with both is they have some recipe to go through, and want you to go through it even if you already have (Is your computer plugged in? Please check and let me know. . .)
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 12:49 pm.
I love computers, they are fun and they made schoolwork, and regular work much easier. Online forms can be handy (we use an online tax software that is pretty sweet and saves a lot of bother), or evil and annoying (yet another form of info.. all I want is to buy X.. not give you my life story!). Social networking is love/hate, I hate that I’m so hooked, and love being in touch with family in CA when I’m in NY.
I mostly roll with changes, though they may make me grumpy for a time. Example: seriously MS Word you put what where, it was always elsewhere before and now it’s not, and what’s with your help no longer being helpful, it used to be awesome… grrrrrrr!
The biggest change I’ve seen is increased rudeness. I think it’s been coming on for awhile, but I’m slow to notice things so I didn’t really see until more recently. Phones these days allow for it so much (ignoring people around you, driving like a jerk, and the list goes on), but the fact that people choose to behave this way is the much bigger issue, and not the fault of tech, just facilitated by it.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 8:46 am.
The increased rudeness is a stunner. I was thinking the other day that maybe it was the lack of it for a generation r so that was unusual, though. But the lack of civility in many areas of life is hard to get used to. That universities like mine have to have “civility campaigns” is just bizarre.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:02 am.
I can’t really say the tech sector started this. The term “breakage” actually was formulated by appliance retailers to refer to the fact that 80 percent of your time is spent with 20 percent of your customers. Also, the time spent with these 20 percent of customers can be considerably cut by simply putting off the pain, and never fixing the issue. For it is far more expensive to fix the issue, than to lost 2 percent of your customer base.
BTW, your telephone company…really big on breakage.
There are reasons you spend hours on hold, that you never actually get to someone that can help you… voila… breakage.
Being in the tech sector am I happy with this. No. I would much rather fix a problem then let upper management, who has no idea about the creativity of the tech sector, take this decision out of my hands for “my own good.” or to be translated, so that I can show savings thus explain my unexplainable end of year bonus that would buy your house a couple of times over.
I would say in conclusion, that it is not the tech sector per se, but the actual “business gurus” hired at astronomical rates that is driving this.
And don’t get me started on the “sainted” Steve Jobs.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 9:03 am.
Pretty interesting, Pesky!
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 10:32 am.
well, you have convinced me it is deliberate, which I have long suspected. Only I’m not a 20% problem type. But I get the thinking, and it really does boil down to some gurus sitting with a computer spread sheet and concluding that losing my business is cheaper than supporting their product.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:06 am.
“Attitudinal” best word I never remember to use!
You are so right that we should as the customer demand our rights or walk away. I’m filled with self-loathing when I force myself to adapt because I don’t have the time to fight everyone – and I need lots of folks to band together to be heard.
My mom ordered flowers this week from FTD w/ their free delivery offer. Turns out, there’s charge $15 to put the arrangement together! (Imagine if Ford adopted this business model?). She complained loudly then found a local florist who happened to be a friend of the recipient. So she could be assured the flowers were assembled with care. Fight the power, Mom!
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 9:07 am.
Fresh, that’s so funny because I was going to mention how a lot of this is driving me to buy local again — which I should have been doing all along. It USED to be that bigger stores offered more selection and easier purchasing, but now all they have is more selection and I find that it’s not enough. Over rudeness and inattentiveness and big selection, I’ll take limited selection and a smile any day.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 9:36 am.
LOL, I love the “free” delivery but cost to assemble the arrangement. Talk about creative thinking! It takes some nerve to devise that plan. Buying local is the solution—with flowers in particular, they know the buyer will be finding out how well they did too.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:09 am.
Madeline, it’s funny how becoming my own customer service rep has also made me more critical of the product these people sell. If you want loyalty, don’t expect me to be your best employee, because like all valuable assets, I WILL walk out that door when a better offer comes along and the bar is mighty low.
I used to be a big PC person, but now I go straight Mac. It’s more expensive, but my local Mac store is so helpful — I love that. And I love, too, that the products help me more than I help them. When I bought my new computer, I just had to hook it up to the old one and right there, on my kitchen table, it transferred everything. Magic and worth SO MUCH.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 9:38 am.
Karen, I am with you on the MAC switch. I am aways amazed when I use my Mac laptop, and how fast it boots and most everything else.When the desktop pc goes, I will probably pay the premium to get a mac there as well. And I have not even had to go to one of their stores yet with a problem.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:11 am.
Ms Hunter you should go get that Mac. Your essay above reads as if you are in the sad grip of the MicroSoft monopoly.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 1:35 pm.
I just got an iphone 5 and not only did the guy move all my stuff over, put on the screen protector and the case without even being asked, but when he was done he said “Is there anything else I can show you or do for you right now?” It spoils me for every other store.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:24 am.
For me, Madeline, my main beef is with all of the automated robot people that I get when I call a business. “Hello. Your call is important to us. Please listen carefully, as our menu options have changed.” And you must listen to a 10 minute long spiel about this new thing and that new thing, and all you want is a LIVE HUMAN BEING so that you can ask a question and get a response to said question. On the same note is the calls that get sent overseas and I cannot understand the people that I’m talking to, so I cannot get my questions adequately answered. Drives me bananas….
I totally agree about people just being more oblivious to their impact on others. Whether they cut you off in traffic, screech into a parking place you were patiently waiting for, don’t hold elevators or doors open, etc.–they don’t understand why you would possibly be offended or upset, because that wasn’t their intention, they are just going about their day… My son-in-law can be like that–not intentionally rude or thoughtless, but it has that effect nonetheless–letting cabinet doors and drawers slam shut while people are sleeping (because he is a midnight snacker), not completely shutting the pantry door (and it slowly opens up and you can walk into it if you aren’t looking for it), putting clothes in the dryer but not turning it on so you end up with two batches of wet clothes, etc.
Things really are different. I watched a show on PBS about the Pioneers of Television, and this one was on Nighttime Soaps. The differences just from that point are jarring, and that was just in the 80′s with Dallas, Dynasty and Knots Landing. The differences from what was commonplace when Leave it to Beaver and The Andy Griffith Show are ginormous.
Bottom line, as people get more attached to computers, they seem to get more removed from people, which is a shame.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 9:45 am.
Totally agree about people being removed. I’m wondering if the new rudeness is coming from people “talking” so much on computers or texts rather than face to face. It’s kind of scary.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 9:53 am.
I don’t think computers are helping, but I don’t think they’re the cause either. I think the cause is people being more encouraged to look out for number one. Either because they weren’t disciplined as a child, or they were forced to in order to survive as a child. I actually am more polite via computers, not because I dislike being polite in person, but because I have a disability that makes it very hard to read people’s non-verbal cues quickly. Having the non-verbal stuff taken out, and having more time to think about responses takes pressure off and makes it easier to be polite. That said, I’ve had enough practice at learning what others do naturally that I’m usually only obliviously rude when my coping skills shut down due to tiredness or stress.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 10:33 am.
Interesting thought about the computer influence. While most writer/reader forums are civil, much that is out there on the web is very shrill and belligerant in tone. Computers seem to increase “my way is the only way” thinking, maybe because all those sites are asking us for our opinions as if they really matter.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:16 am.
I’ve noticed that where I used to have daily chats with friends on email, we’ve kind of drifted apart as everyone focuses on their social media. I feel more disconnected even though I am technically more connected.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 10:14 am.
Isn’t that odd? I feel the same way. What I find even odder are some situations where it would be easy to have a conversation face to face, and people choose emails instead. Just walk down the hall! I’ll meet you half way, so there is no symbolism or lost face in coming to me (if tht is the thinking or problem). “As disconnected as possible” seems to be some people’s preference now. I wonder if they even realize it.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:19 am.
I love my computer and amon it everyday. What I have found now is over the years it has become very necessary to have in my life. I do all my banking and almost all my shopping for clothes, books etc.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 10:36 am.
There certainly are many ways that computers have improved life. (Although I resist online banking. At some point it will be forced on me, no doubt.)
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:21 am.
I get really aggravated with long wait times when I have to call any business–pharmacy, bank, whoever.
For computers, I’m all Mac, which saves all those headaches. I had to exchange a Mini for a regular iPad the other day (tried it didn’t like it) and the exchange itself took less than 6 minutes. Setting up the new computer took 15, all of that all computer doing its thing, and it was set up exactly like my old one. That’s what I need.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 10:39 am.
As someone eyeing an ipad, what about the mini did you not like?
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:22 am.
I just had an incident where one of my MSN email accounts got deleted. Microsoft’s web page kept bringing me back to the reset password page. I couldn’t change the password because the account had been deleted for some reason. After about 45 minutes wasted trying to find a contact phone (which I never did) I finally found an email. After two days, I got a response telling me I contacted the wrong area and they sent me a link. To where you might ask? To the reset password page. UGH! I never did get my account restored. It’s so frustrating not being able to talk to an actual person. Sorry to rant but this just happened last week.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 10:45 am.
Whoa! It just got deleted out of the blue? No reason? Holy cow. I don’t know what I would do if one of my accounts got deleted. I use my email accounts for storing some communications, and even other things, “in the cloud.”
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:24 am.
I have a love/hate relationship. They’re great when they want to work for you, It’s fantastic for information but I do not like websites ‘improving’ their look. It always seems to make it harder to find where you want to go. People are now obsessed with their phones, iphones, etc. Personal communication has gone by the wayside. Sad to see it go. I am still of the opinion to have face to face conversations without being interrupted by the phone and people having to take it.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:10 am.
There is this strange double thinking at work, I think. It is like one face of business wants to be customer-centric and make life easier, but another face is saying the customer will just plain have to adapt.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:27 am.
I don’t roll with it. I don’t pull my hair out. I just walk away and refuse to play.
My sanity is my primary concern.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:24 am.
I figure in about five years there will be this phenom of lots of people doing that. The media will give us a name and everything. A rebellion has to set in; things are going oo far. My current tactic is that I am not on Facebook in a private capacity, only as my writing personality. I can’t keep up with the privacy issues and fixes there, and FB has nothing I need for my private life.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:30 am.
That’s exactly where I am with FB.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 12:51 pm.
The biggest change in the last 5 years to me is how we have gone from desk top computers to doing all that and much more on a Smart Phone.
As bad as customer service can be, I do notice that the tide turns because a company wants to stand out from all the others by offering something tthe others don’t. Many times it forces companies to follow suit. Competition is stiff for the ever shrinking dollar, so I feel the consumer still has power. You just have to be willing to buy #2 who always tries harder.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 11:49 am.
I have seen companies rise and fall on customer service. Dell is a good example. In its prime, that was its selling point and people paid a premium in order to have that. But it did not survive the cut throat computer pricing that came later, and the day came when you dialed and got “George” in India who was clueless. I think that Apple gets business due to it now, and some of these posts today sure say so.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 12:54 pm.
For the most part, I am fine with computers, the Internet, etc. I play tech support for my dad and a few other people – though he tends to find ways to mess things up that would baffle anyone.
I call the ruler of Facebook Zuckerbeast as I feel the man and his minions are demon-spawn. I am fine when a site changes things – but tell people you are doing it. If you change the rules on how to conduct business on your site, let those businesses know. THAT is what infuriates me to no end. I can’t play by the rules if you don’t tell me what they are.
I think the biggest change is that most people feel more connected yet they talk and interact much less face-to-face. I think it’s sad. I mean I love chatting with distant friends on FB since we can all be talking at once – but if I am in the same city, I would much rather see you in person than online.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 12:19 pm.
I make it a point to get together with the locals, but it really is a concerted effort. It helps that I am not a phone person, so it is either internet or face to face.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 12:56 pm.
I have a Love/Hate relationship with my computer and right now we are in the Hate stange of it. My PC crashed back in December. And it was like my right arm was cut off. I belonge to a lot of chat groups and I missed my daily contact with all my book chat friends. Also my FB page. It is my way of keeping track of family and friends. I mean really, it is the only way I can know what my nieces and nephews are up to. It’s my only contact with them most of the time. With the exception of birthdays and Christmas when I see them in person, I don’t have much physical contact with them. But that daily contact on my computer was like I was cut off completely.
I am lucky I was able to walk to my local library and if I was lucky get on one of theirs for an hour everyday. But an hour is not enough. I have a computer Guru who is going out with me to buy a new computer. I was lucky enough too, that my landlords had a laptop that I can borrow until I get a new one. Time and money have delayed my search, but at least I have this laptop to keep in touch with everyone. It is slow, but then at least I can keep up with all my fav authors and their blogs… sighhhhh
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 12:32 pm.
Oh dear, being without a computer now is hard to imagine so I feel for you. The stop gap measures are not the same, I know. In some ways they are more frustrating than nothing at all. I hope you find one that you like and can get back to normal.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 12:58 pm.
I do have a love hate. I’m a routine person, so if something sets me off of my normal I have a tendency to get frustrated. If this happens with a particular service I tend to walk away and not look back unless I am forced to deal with them. I thought customer service was a thing of the past until I had to deal with a certain web company recently. I stumbled a couple of times with their program, and every time I had to call them the people were nice, easy to understand, and pretty willing to go to various lengths to get the problem resolved. It actually made me feel better to know that there was still one company that did that.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 12:36 pm.
Believe it or not, I have that experience with my ISP which is Comcast. There are some who hate them, but when I call their customer service for internet issues, they are always very good and very informed.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 12:59 pm.
I’ve been walking away. I turned off television for 2 years. I only restarted it as I got a better package deal than trying to do without.
I walked away from Facebook. I don’t tweet. My cellphone has basic apps to check the weather, let me log my calories and listen to music. That’s IT.
I value my privacy, my serenity, and I definitely buy from those who provide service. Lowe’s blew me off after I purchased a black Friday fridge and expected me to pay finances charges for an item they didn’t have, couldn’t deliver, and couldn’t even guess when I might get. So I cancelled that deal, went over to Sears, and had a delightful online chat with a tech who could relate my measurements into the degrees the door would swing open and got me to the PERFECT fridge down to layout, finish, and functionality, all at a huge discount over Lowe’s “sale” pric and cruddy service. Then their guys got the old out and the new in with utmost courtesy and care for my house.
I’m glad to hear all the feedback on the Macs as I’ve made up my mind to walk away from the problematic PCs as soon as I can afford to. I crave service and function, rather than a conduit for non-stop advertisements and struggles when I want to work, not play.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 1:13 pm.
I would love to experiment with walking away from television. I just can’t get the others in the house to do it. When I travel I do without it with no problem. Same with online stuff. It sounds like you found a really great person to help you at Sears.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:28 pm.
I personally try not to get involved in any kind of drama, so I tend to roll with things a little more. Change is hard and can be frustrating, but I try to decide what I can do and what I can’t do.
What really frustrates me is that I find parents making more and more excuses for their children. I’m a parent of a child who has ADHD, some OCD, and probably a bit of an anxiety disorder, I always tell him that he can’t use his ADHD as an excuse and that it’s his responsibility to find something that works for him because if my sister who has ADHD, dyslexia, and auditory processing can and be a VP at a bank, he can. By the end of 5th grade last year, he found something that worked for him, and his homeroom teacher when someone tried to give him credit for it, said that it was my ds who did it himself and that’s where the credit belongs. I see too many parents who will move heaven and earth before their children are responsible for anything. And the excuses I hear. With one friend’s son I’ve no idea how he’s going to learn to function in society because they have built their family life around accomodating his Tourette’s and OCD. I feel for him.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 1:35 pm.
As a college prof, it is not the disabled students who I find have interfering parents not allowing the kids to take responsibility. It is parents of students who are fine in that department. I get all sorts of interesting calls. I once had a girl’s father call from another state to tell me she was sick and would miss a quiz—and she was a few hundred feet away in a dorm, with her own phone of course. When he called back to schedule her make up for her, I told him to tell her to come and see me and we would set it up. Lots of stuff like that happens, and it astonishes me.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:33 pm.
I’ve a friend who’s an English lit professor, and for her it’s a mixture of both. She had a blind student who was capable of doing the work, but didn’t and had his parents intervene all the time. Then, there was the student, who everyone had written off that excelled in her class and is now pursuing a career as a writer. I read part of one of his stories he wrote for my friend’s class – incredible writer.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:53 pm.
I think people are losing some of their ability to interact on a face to face basis.. I see a lot of adults more interested in their ‘smart’ phone and ignoring anything in their immediate area… for example, people staring at a phone as they walk into a water fountain.. We attended a Cleveland symphony concert last week. No one had to be told to shut of their phones, watch alarms, pagers, etc. But when the intermission came… wow! did you see a huge number of people fire up their phones… I sat and wondered about what was so important in their life that they couldn’t disconnect for 2 hours.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:14 pm.
I think for many people it is addictive and takes real effort to break the habit. It is like writers checking their amazon numbers twenty times an hour— a hard habit to break once it forms, even though you know you won’t learn anything useful.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:35 pm.
I am lucky to have a great IT department to work out any computer issues I have. Yesterday, I was on the phone with them for an hour, they resolved my problem and one for my faculty. I am really blessed that if I can my iphone or Kindle Fire to them, they will figure out what the problem may be with them. Otherwise I would be deep trouble. Computer techie person I am not.
As far as customer service, most places have no clue what that is. I use to be a CSR and the #1 thing is to listen! That makes all the difference in the world.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:32 pm.
I have had some very good CSR. There is a method that works really well with me that involves listening. If I am really hopping annoyed, and they just listen, the longer I talk the more over the top I sound to myself,and eventually I turn a bit sheepish for being a PITA.
My son did CS and he said 9 times out of 10 it works.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:38 pm.
I hate that everything is disposable. Even appliances and technology. Remember the avocado green washers and dryers? They lasted my mom over 20 years! I’m on my second set and have only been married for 13 years. The first set didn’t last 10 years. Don’t get me started on computers. I have a perfectly good tower in my basement that is obsolete. No software for it. People (not my mechanically disinclined DH, but mechanically inclined folks) can’t work on cars anymore with one of those computer thingys. Not like back in the day when I had to pop the hood and manually open the carburetor so the car could suck in air and start. FIL retired from General Motors. The average age of machinists–you know, the guys that know how to fix things when they break–is something like 63, and they’re not bringing up a new generation in the trade. It is one of those conundrums that baffles me about society. How we’re all feeling more disenfranchised with our society, but none of us knows really what’s wrong, or not sure how to fix it. Some days, it feels like we’re in the Matrix.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:34 pm.
One wonders what will happen when all those car mechanics retire. It isn’t like the work can be outsourced, and we can harldy do it for ourselves, as you point out. I’m watching my mechanic getting older, and dreading the day. His son works with him, but is not nearly as good at this. And not nearly as responsible.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:41 pm.
You hit on one of my biggest pet peeves, the whole help yourself thing. Drives me nuts! I should NOT have to do all my own trouble-shooting for a product. Nor should products fall apart within a month of the warranty expiration. Nor should it cost me money to exercise my warranty. Grrrr.
The privacy thing doesn’t bother me, though. I was never good about privacy, I’m afraid. *G* I always share WAY too much.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:47 pm.
What you call too much sharing I call lovely, sweet and fun.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 3:49 pm.
I am really frustrated with the “let me help you help yourself, so I dont have to actually help you”! Moved recently, and got my TV service..they came out & hooked up, then when I got a new TV – & called for help to get the “all in one” remote to function… I got 10 min of wait time to get to them, less than 5 min of service; where upon the rep was annoyed it did not work, stated he sent the trouble shooting guide to my email address…”and was that all I needed”??? — serious??? LOL!!!
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 5:25 pm.
I understand your frustration with the help yourself model. My grocery store installed a bunch of lanes for self-checkout. I think it was fun, once, bringing back the days when I like to play grocery store as a little kid and I had fake produce and boxes of cereal. But I don’t bag well, there always seems to be some glitch, and so now I avoid those lines and would rather wait to be helped. I love Trader Joe’s just a little bit more because they actually take my stuff out of my cart for me too.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:52 pm.
I have used those lanes maybe three times. I found that being untrained in checking out *G*, I take longer to do it by myself than to wait and have a “professional” do it. Ha!
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 3:00 pm.
When my grocery store first added those lanes, no one used them. I was walking away from one and the manager asked why I would not try it. I told him I saw it as a way to hire fewer people and people need jobs. The next day there was a sign out saying they could not hire enough people and to apply if you were looking. Even now those lanes are sparingly used for that reason and for yours.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 4:46 pm.
I get so aggravated with automated telephone answering as in Press 1 for …… or Press 2 for….., etc. Then, you also have: Tell me how I can help you today? I didn’t understand you. Then you repeat yourself. Most of the time, I just want to speak to a representative. After repeating that 10 times and getting responses like: You want to speak to an elephant; You want to speak to a monkey, etc., I get to the point that smoke is coming out of my ears and I finally hear, Hold please for a representative. Grrrr!!!
As for Facebook, they have gotten into people’s business politically which I find disgusting. If someone comments anti to Facebook’s obvious political inclination, you will get put in “time out.” It’s become a joke in many ways.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:53 pm.
I always press zero, which is often the direct to a human number. Or I just keep saying, clearly, “customer service representative.” It usually ends the automatic system and sends me to a person right away.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 4:48 pm.
love/hate. I love that my computer makes my life easier. But I really do hate all the tech stuff.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 4:11 pm.
I guess if we hate tech stuff, it is good there is a machine that often makes it easier
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 4:49 pm.
Gadget freak here, so I love computers and such even if I can’t speak megabyte, I know what I like and I know how to make it work for me. I am happy. there are only two social networking sites I spend any time on, here and Facebook. I check my favorite authors sites to keep up on them and that takes care of my socializing.
If something aint broke I don’t want anyone trying to fix it; I only get annoyed and that is not pretty.
The biggest change I have noticed is no one seems to care enough to be polite anywhere at all. The art of proper speaking is nearly extinct and should be put on the endangered species list. The young people today are not expected to excel because someone will come along and pick up the tab for them.
They have no concept of history beyond last week and life stops at the city limits for them. Geography is not taught in schools any more to a degree that the kids could tell you what states surround the one they live in. Children in all the grades are taught by internet. Last night our 15 year old needed to answer questions on To Kill a Mockingbird and he asked for help. I discovered the entire course of questions had been taken offline. The teachers are not even doing their own lesson plans anymore. I could teach my kids the same stuff and save several hundred dollars in school fees, and I would know they showed up for class before I get the “your son or daughter missed one or more classes today” recording. Rant much?
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 4:57 pm.
All of the textbooks I assign come with canned tests. I refuse to use them.They are not written by the authors of the texts, or even by experts in the subject. They get outsourced, and are full of questions on stuff that is not really significant. I can always tell when my son gets a canned test, just from the kinds of questions on it.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 5:49 pm.
We are going to be talking to the local school board about having the kids use notebooks or tablets instead of textbooks.Half the textbooks are out of date or the kids leave them anywhere but with them in class. Since they use so much from online anyway they could just hand in the assignments electronically the way I do with my classes. Some of the schools are using notebooks already, we think they should all be doing it.
Last year our g-son’s algebra class was taught via youtube, he didn’t do well.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 7:21 pm.
I guess my feelings toward the technology movement are love-hate. I have long been a quasi-tech geek because computers have facsinated me since they were first introduced in typewriters (1/2 & 1/2s) years ago. But even tho’ I still enjoy many things about the computer/tablet/smart phone, I am more frequently frustrated with new updates that creep in without warning and then the software doesn’t match up with the updates! I have begun to hate the word “compatibility”! Then there are the wonderful phone menus you have to go through to talk to a live person…and when you get a live person many times you can’t understand a word they’re saying because they are in another country! Doesn’t it make sense to have tech support people available in all of the countries the callers are from? Common sense has gone “out the window” with the rise in technology, which is akin to “throwing the baby out with the bath water.” I feel sorry for the millions of people who get “lost in the shuffle,” which means that technology is many times NOT making our life easier (quite the reverse)!
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 5:04 pm.
I figure people my mom’s age were the last ones to be able to just ignore all of it. I too am love/hate. The frustration gets to me, though. The lack of efficient support does too.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 5:51 pm.
I know it’s been more than five years, but the biggest change I remember is when it took sooooo much time to get thru all the menus when you phone customer service. And the reasoning is “then we can direct you to the person best able to help you”. I call bullshit.
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 5:04 pm.
Oh, it still can take a long time with some companies. See my post above about how I short cut it. What drives me nuts is when my problem is not on the menu of options, and there is no “other” option!
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 5:53 pm.
I have a love and hate relationship with my computer and smartphone. They never seemed to do what they suppose to do when I’m in a rush or just too busy. Aren’t they supposed to help make my life manageable instead of complicated?
Posted on February 1, 2013 at 12:01 am.
Good day, Goddesses!
1. Love the convenience, hate it when I encounter a loss, especially when Honey is not here to recover my lost item.
2. As for creative disruption, one comment: I dislike change!
3. Biggest change: The amount of time, despite the fact that
I am not a computer geek, that I spend online!!
Pat C.
Posted on February 1, 2013 at 1:57 am.