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Struggling in the Internet world

One of the recurrent themes in the Rust is the difficulty we experience in a increasingly Internet reliant world. Over the last few days I have had some stressful occasions caused by Internet service. The first was the printing of some travel documents. In the good old days my travel agent would send by post in a dinky little wallet with itinerary containing all the documents in what is now called a hard copy. Now I was required to print these out myself. I had mixed feelings over this. On one hand my day had hitherto gone well and it seemed sensible to await the competent Polly who would print these out effortlessly as she was born 4 years before the Internet came into existence and knows no other. On the other I felt someone and somewhat out of touch with the Internet world being born 44 years before its appearance globally I should make some effort to come to terms with it and how difficult can it be to print out 5 documents? I wish I opted the first option. Half way through the process my printer ran out of paper as it was printing out some 20 pages of terms and conditions attached to the documents. I refilled the paper tray but for some reason this only resulted in a second print out of the terms and conditions. I switched the machine off. On restart it printed out a third copy of the ts and cs. I now had 50 pages of them. I was also now short of ink as however cheap the printer the money is made at the rapidity one has to replace the ink cartridges. I then after 20 minutes emailed the travel company informing them that they either send me the documents or else I will never use them again.

My second irritation is when telephoning Glyndebourne to make a dinner reservation I was told I can only do this on line. I forgot my password and when I did proceed I was informed I had to choose the menu both for me and my guest there and then. Eventually I discovered one could make a reservation with a deposit of 20% without such selection. Time engaged – 15 minutes.

Yesterday I had lunch with a web designer. I confessed my exasperation to him. He was sympathetic. He said he was in the fortunate position of being able to evaluate when it is the fault of an inadequate website and when his own. More often than not its the former. As side issue a little game I enjoy when having lunch is to second guess what my guest will be wearing and try to emulate them. I imagined a web designer would be informally attired. I duly wore a cashmere fleece and baggy corduroys , more old fogey casual than supercool. My friend arrived in a three piece suit,shirt and tie. Both of us had got it wrong.

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About Robert Tickler

A man of financial substance, Robert has a wide range of interests and opinions to match. More Posts