General Chat

Today, I went to get a weekly ticket on the bus - the machine wasn't working.

Got to work, found a computer - it took over 20 minutes to log in, but once in, it was working well.

10:00.we had a seminar. Came back 2 hours later, the system was excruciatingly slow, for everyone. So slow, that at 15:00 we were asked to go home.

On the way to the bus stop, I popped into Smiths to use their sad excuse of a Post Office, to pay my rent. Tried twice - the machine wouldn't accept my card.

Went on down town, popped into my bank - nothing wrong with my card - and I had money to cover the rent - so W. H.Smith's fault.

Went to S**sbury's. Bought some groceries, and, just to try it, I paid by card - it worked there.
Asked for a lottery ticket - 'Sorry, machine's down'.

So much for technology....

Yep computers make our life soooooooo much easier don't they :-D

Technology is only good when it works !! :-D :-D

..but for so much not to work in one day!! :-| :-|

worked better for Apollo 11!! methinks!

New fangled contraptions!

This is why many hospitals still use Fax machines.
When the computer system decides to die, at least they can fax important documents
to where they're needed.
Once the fax machines are removed, I expect it will mean cancelled operations, and a few unnecessary deaths.

There is an American company that we like for the quality of their clothes, especially for boys!

This weekend they had a super sale (50% off) for children, so I ordered several winter items for the grandson. I started to try to pay on Saturday evening ....... 6 times I got to the final step and a notice would appear "the authorization time for your payment card has elapsed. Please re-enter your payment details."

I tried with 2 different cards, same message. :-P

Luckily it is one of the sites that does not empty your "bag" or "cart" of chosen items when you switch off. So I exited the site.

Tried again on Sunday morning .............. 3 times with one of the cards. Got the same message.

So I phoned, and gave the order over the phone ......... and got an even better deal on some of the items ;-)

This morning I had to phone their help line about something else, and then told the lady about the above ......... she had no idea except the site had been "very busy".

I'm about to order some items for myself later today as the sale is still on ............... am wondering what will happen!

Major delays for International passengers yesterday at Sydney Airport as all the Border Force's computers crashed and every incoming and outgoing passenger had to be processed manually and there were no available staff to assist the few officers on duty!

.....and they want to allow driverless, autonomous cars on the road!!!

...and a cashless society !

I was discussing the technology disasters with a neighbour at the bus stop.
She said the rent/council tax machines at the Council Offices (people are no longer available) regularly don't take cards - but you CAN feed cash into the machines.
She stood there, one day, feeding over £500 into one, in £20 notes!!. :-0

Speaking of which, on another thread I posted about going into a small country town post office (no pun intended) to have some passport phots taken.

Came the time to pay I used my debit card and tapped the machine. Didn't work so I had to dredge my PIN from the depths of my mind.

Not accepted! I was about to ask OH to use hers when the staff member said. Don't worry the machine has been doing that all morning and is in fact right now printing your receipt.

Which it did :-S

Crikey, maggie!!

That's crazy!

..and dodgy, Sylvia - what if a 'ne'er do well' had been lurking!

I pay my Council tax online, but not my rent.
I will try in the pseudo post office again, tomorrow - if it doesn't work, emails will be dispatched to the Council Offices (which close before I leave work) and W.H. Smith (who hold a lot of Post Office franchises) - and are useless countrywide..
Yes, I could pay by direct debit/standing order, but sometimes I'm not in work - also I'm a bolshy b*gger. :-D

I have yet to get to grips with some of it.

When we were away with our daughter and family, we realised we had forgotten to record something that was on Sky that we all wanted to see. From more than 100 miles away our son-in-law used his phone to record it from our Sky box. It took him no time at all to do that and it was all there to watch when we returned home.

A new trick that I shall have to learn ..... who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks? :-D

Re cashless society .......

I still have a credit card issued by a bank where I closed all accounts many years ago. It's a card with no annual fee and I have a high limit on it (go figure!!), and I did not have to have OH as a guarantor when I got it back in the late 1970s. So I keep it, and use it, and transfer money to pay the monthly account from the bank I now use.

Two weeks ago I received a letter from the bank that issued the card to tell me that the branch was undergoing major renos to "serve you better".

Yep ......... everything being changed, including the fact that you can no longer take money out or put money in over the counter, or any other way that I could figure out. Everything was being changed to electronic.


So ............... how do you get real money???

When we're travelling, I often get help with a wheelchair. I give the porter $5 or $10 depending on how far s/he's had to push me and what else they've done. I don't have a smart phone, nor do they, so I can't electronically transfer money ...... real cash needed

We tip the crew on the train ......... real cash needed

We leave a daily tip for the cleaning staff in hotel rooms ......... real cash needed

I actually prefer to pay cash for my afternoon coffee than electronically


Am I just a complete dinosaur????

No answer needed :-D :-D