General Chat

Does anyone else get unreasonably (?) frustrated with the following:

Being asked for ID ( passport or driving licence neither of which I currently have ) when trying to transfer a relatively small amount of money from a bank account I've had about 40 years, to another bank, but I can "do it online".

"Romance scammers" who post randomly on genealogy posts on FB and are clearly not who they say they are.

Companies etc who assume everyone has a mobile phone with apps.

and it's raining lol moan over.

I have a very basic mobile and am happy with it I don't need or want anything more than to text and very rarely phone someone.
I'm with you on having to prove who I am before I can vote or purchase something expensive, a while ago I had some cash to pay into my account and needed to prove who I am. Grr.

In order of annoyance

1. Everyone has a mobile :-P Don’t get me started on eveyone is online and has a mobile.
2. ID not had too much problem
3. Don’t use FB

ZZzzz I do have a very basic mobile, but only use it if I'm out and need to phone home or for a taxi.

I'll have to renew my passport as soon as I can, taking into account the strike, but in the meantime have asked for a postal vote for the May local election.

namelessone, probably best never to start using FB , but it is useful for me for staying in touch with relatives. I mostly post photos of the cats and the garden.

Joan that list would be enough to send some people some people into swift decline :-) I must admit I wouldn't like to be without the tumble drier now or the downstairs toilet.

I have a tumble drier but haven't used it for 4 years.

I recently had to do a bank transfer and I was asked if I knew the person and why was I giving money to them .
Yes , a builder who had done work for us.
Did he ask for the money, errr well he sent an invoice
. Had the person asked for the money by phone or email as scammers work that way.
Are you sure you want to transfer the money.?. Yes I want to pay for the work that has been done.
So the work has been done? Yes!!!
Ok I need you to answer some questions for security.
Really ok, go ahead.

I know they are doing their job but do they need to speak to me as if I am stupid.

So yes I do get annoyed and frustrated at times ( could you tell lol )

.I won't start about mobiles and ID.

Ginnie

We have a "modern" flip cell phone ............ ie, purchased in the last 5 years, so it can be used for talking, messaging, taking photos or video, but doesn't accept apps or for paying for parking, etc. We only use it for safety ...... when OH goes walking on summer evenings, or when we are on trips, otherwise it sits in its "home" in the kitchen. I do keep it charged, if I remember.

We have a washer, but have never had a drier, there is an area in the basement where we can hang clothes to dry.

We have an iron and ironing board, but they are hardly ever used.

I've got used to having to have photo ID, answer security questions, etc ........ plus of course vaccination record during the last couple of years.

My passport is now out of date, but I have a provincial photo ID card that is good for ID within Canada., as well as a provincial medical card that has my photo and can also be used in Canada. I have never had a driving license.

I have 2 credit cards, no longer have store credit cards as most of them have changed to using "their name" bank cards (eg xxxxxx MasterCard). I have a debit card but use it only for accessing my accounts online. I have a laptop but hardly ever use it

We have 2 full bathrooms, have had since we renovated this house back in 1977. It was a blessing when we had a teenage daughter!! One is en-suite formed from the original bathroom and the other is down the hall way. House is all on one floor, with a basement.

As there are now only 2 of us, we each have our own bathroom except when visitors come ;-)

Very frustrating JustGinnie, I don't mind security questions but when it comes to having to justify why I am sending my own money from one secure place to another with a pin number and card and the document with my name and address on, I did get a bit narky ( not with the staff).

Sylvia I wouldn't object to having a photo id card myself, but don't think they would have taken that as proof anyway. You can now apply for one in order to be able to vote if you don't have a passport or driving licence, but that annoys me too as I've voted in every election since I was 18, and I know that for older people who don't have the mobility to get a photo done it is not easy, and may well discourage some other groups from voting at all , which imho was the reason for the new law being introduced. :-|

Our bank has a small branch in the village and the cashier knows most of the regular customers. When I had to transfer a large sum of money to a builder, the cashier said "I'm very sorry, Mrs W... but I have to ask you these questions". I said I didn't mind and she cut it as short as she could. :-)

I'm guessing that they are being watched so that is why they have to ask you those sorts of questions.

I'm in exactly the same position as you Rose in that I have no passport or driving licence and have the same trouble as you in bank branches. Also have the same issues with everyone assuming we all have smart phones - I don't. Don't use Facebook so that isn't one of my annoyances

It's raining here too :-( :-)

Kath. x

I think I must have looked older even when I was still at school. I was once asked to pay full fare when travelling to the coast with pals - who, by the way, were all in my class and all of us were child-fare age.

Also, when we visited a country pub at 16 the landlady came up to our table to say that I could have a choice of drinks but the rest could only have lemonade.

More recently, when shopping one Tuesday - a day when pensioners get a 10% discount when they showed proof of age at the check-out - driving licence, bus pass etc - I was waved through saying no need to show proof of age.

I am wondering what comes next. :-D

I was well-and-truly dragged into the present-day on Mothers’ Day when daughter put a good number of free coffees at Cos*a onto my phone. First use - I found it eventually, second use - worked, third time - could not find it but the assistant (who knows our little coffee group) offered to find it if I gave him my phone which I did. He found it (for some reason I had moved it from the previously easy place Dtr had placed it) then he suggested he move it to make it easier to use if I was happy about it - so, yes, of course I was; anything for an easy life! He put the square bar-like doofer back to where Dtr had placed it originally.

I always considered myself tech savvy as I used computers from around 1982 at work but technology has come on leaps and bounds since then, particularly with mobile ‘phones since I retired almost twenty years ago. Not working has meant there is no need for me to keep up with changes and I have become complacent about everything (read LAZY). :-D

I don’t do FB, Twitter etc, only GR for chat.

Our local paper ( The West Briton) has an article today saying that Cornish car parks are being asked to stop the new ways of paying. More and more of them are only accepting payment by smart phones using some app or other, which it claims is stopping a lot of older people ( like me) who don't have one and haven't a clue what an app is anyway! I still have my trusty old Nokia which I only have for emergencies anyway and have no wish to have a newer model. My family ( esp the grandchildren ) have despaired of me!

I think I am in the odd one out category because I have embraced the new technology. I have a laptop, iPad and the latest iPhone full of apps which I use regularly. Also a smart tv, dishwasher, tumble dryer etc.

I use the hand scanner to do my shopping at Tesco’s, it makes shopping so much simpler and no, they haven’t got rid of any of the normal checkouts or staff.

I still have. A passport and driving licence, I will make sure to renew my passport even when I give up using it, so I have it for a means of identity.

I have noticed that transferring money from the online bank account has become more difficult recently. I was paying a builder yesterday and because it was someone I hadn’t paid before, I had to go through several layers of security. I don’t mind that because they are only making sure that I am transferring the money to a genuine account, not a scammer, or to some random account because I have mistyped the number.

I o appreciate that some people choose not to have these newfangled things and it makes life difficult, but sadly with all the scamming that goes on these days, the authorities are in a difficult position if they don’t have tight security in place

Linda I have all those things except for a smart phone & smart tv & dishwasher ( no room for that).I also use the hand scanner in one of the supermarkets I use.

I just don’t use my mobile phone much and like the little flip phone that weighs nothing and can fit easily in a pocket.

The problem with technology is that eventually it will overtake your ability to use it, even though you are quite capable of using the system you are used to.

I'm not anti technology as such and anything that stops scammers is good, but I don't see much decline in the scamming , where one door shuts for them they find another way.

With the romance scammer I reported yesterday, even with my limited skills I was able to find the photos he's pinched of a real person but FB won't remove him or any of the others I've reported ( who came on genealogy groups to stalk middle aged ladies, often who have mentioned they are widowed).

And then there's AI. Aside from the security concerns awaiting action from the countries that have it, from what I have seen it is going to distort truth even more than it is already.

To be honest I am glad that I won't see too much of this brave new world, but I feel for the young ones that will have to negotiate it, in more ways than one.

Like you, names and Linda, I have all of those things plus a ‘proper computer with a proper keyboard’. At one time I could make telephone calls via my computer but that was before I retired when I updated things. I get Granddaughter’s cast-off when she updates her mobile every couple of years. However, I will admit that when I am coffeeing with pals, I do not answer anyone who calls.

My OH loves gadgets so, as far as I am concerned, we have too many!

I have Netflix, which I do watch, downstairs, courtesy of daughter and upstairs, courtesy of son, along with a couple of other channels - included in their monthly payments as the extra payment was so minor, according to them. When I am in my nineties I may drop out and let them organise everything for me …. Haha.

I stopped online banking just before I retired many years ago after our finance officer told me that, at that particular time, accounts had been hacked, so since then I use phone banking, never having to speak to a real person, and it is simple. But I appreciate it would be hard for anyone with hearing problems.

Judging from my pals, we are not alone names and Linda.

The one pal I find amusing is the one who used to teach computer and technology - she refuses to use a computer now and has a mobile phone for convenience only. She is not acquisitive so does not update it to the latest model either. :-D

I rarely go into grocery stores unless it is an absolute necessity as I hate grocery shopping, unlike a friend who enjoys it!

Everything is delivered and I think it would be a step back to do huge grocery shops now, something which I rarely did even in the 1990s. In fact, it was then that I began to have grocery deliveries, placing my order on Friday lunchtimes and having it delivered on Saturday morning. That particular firm recognised my 1990s password when lockdown came. It was a nice surprise.

I can recall how easy life was for my Mum who used to place her grocery orders and have them delivered - and this was in the 1940s and 50s - so why would I take a step back and go back to the old way of shopping in store with all the hassle that goes with that? Shopping is nowhere high on my enjoyment list!

Each to his own, though, and I have another friend goes for groceries every day rather than do a weekly shop, something that she has done for years.

Edit: Sylvia, my OH and I have separate bathrooms too - plus a downstairs loo. We would not like to share now - which, if we have overnight visitors, we would have to do. The OH of my bestie has said he is not having any more visitors to stay as they want to keep their own bathrooms - we have not yet declared ‘no more visitors’. :-D

JoyL ....... we've also actually become "no visitors overnight".

We only have 2 bedrooms, and we now mostly sleep separately (his rolling over across the bed and my "snoring"), so "no room at the inn" as the 2nd bedroom is kept ready for one of US!


As far as "toys" are concerned, I just see no point in having anything more modern than my little flip phone. I know what it was like for OH being constantly phoned when he was head of department back in the late '90s, I'm only glad that cell phones (your mobiles) didn't exist then, at least for ordinary mortals.

I like to go out without getting calls, and only carry the cell when we are on holiday, on the trains or in Nova Scotia. I do set it up to get updates from the train company when we are travelling, but that only works for that particular trip, then it is deleted from the system. In fact, only 2 people have the number of the cell phone, my daughter and a friend in Ontario. As they don't use it very often, I know that almost every call can be ignored as "spam".

We refused a "smart" thermostat some years ago ...... we're mostly in the house so why need anything other than the manual one? To me, it seemed just lazy to use a remote to change the heating instead of walking less than 10 steps (usually) to do it. Besides which, the energy required to get up and walk, even those few steps, is good for me ;-)

Still, daughter does call us "dinosaurs", but it's what we want not what she or anyone thinks we should have that matters ................. I get so tired of all the ads that we SHOULD have this new model of iPhone, that smart house update, etc etc.

To me, it's getting like the ads for gifts to wife/mother/girlfriend at whatever time of year including Mother's Day .............. buy this diamond ring, that gold necklace, that new car, etc etc. Fortunately "she needs this fur coat" has died out in the last 3 or 4 years.

In other words ................ spend, spend, spend.