June chitchat

[flatcap]

I can't wait for the 3D version.

/s

[agate]

Is this a roller-coaster ride or what? I just get used to bar codes (sort of ) and along come QR codes.

I was just getting used to cellphones and along came smartphones.

I was just barely living with a TV set, then a color TV set, and along came cable.

I was just accommodating myself to dial-up Internet and along came modems and DSLs. Then, to top it off, along came wifi.

I've heard that this is progress, and that progress is a Good Thing.

[flatcap]

I have to admit I'm falling behind where tech is concerned.

• I have no experience with modern mobile devices of any kind. No smartphones, no tablets, nothing. I did buy an iPhone 4 when they first came out, but I stopped using it — or trying to use it — after just a few days and went running back to a landline. Now, I'm putting off 'upgrading' from a simple-but-functional, $20 flip phone to a smartphone as long as I possibly can.

• I have a Windows 10 computer, and I am reluctant to go to Windows 11 because I'm not sure I am up to making the trip. The fact that a ticket costs nothing doesn't phase me. I am stubbornly, desperately holding on to what I am familiar with.

• I look for analog workarounds wherever I can find them, such choosing computer speakers with actual, physical dials instead of buying a pair with a remote, or worse, a smartphone app. I sit within arms' reach of them, so why do I need fancy, digital controls?

• Similarly, why does one need something like an Alexa or whatever just to run the coffee machine? Whatever happened to brewing coffee on a stovetop? The coffee is just as good, if not better. Changes like that make no sense to me.

Although some of these things are a consequence of my physical limitations such as tremor, a lot of it is what you could call nostalgia. Left to my own devices — pun intened — I'd probably go back to analog everything but, for good or bad, there is no way to get there.

[agate]

Nope, no turning back. We're in the soup now. But I'm another one who clings to simpler, older ways. I cling to my landline phone because cellphones so often don't work in some situations, and that can happen at precisely the time when you most need to make a call and there's no other possible phone in sight.

My son fails to understand why I can't do texting on my phone. Well, not only is it hard to see those little-bitty characters on a phone--it's also tedious to press those little-bitty buttons when your hands are arthritic and you often make mistakes. I keep making mistakes and hesitating while I figure things out and then presto! --the device has cut me out of whatever I was trying to do. You have to be fast to do things on phones.

Fast is exactly what I'm not.

[flatcap]

I understand about texting. I can type and send one character to reply to a text message such as the kind you get to confirm an appointment, but I otherwise can't write one.

I am also worried about the speed thing on a cell phone. If there is one thing I cannot do, it is type very fast, and that is using a full-size keyboard.

That reminds me of those chat boxes they have on certain sites to get help. I always pre-write a message saying something to the effect that I type slowly due to a neurological condition and ask them to please not cut me off and leave the chat. I tell them in no uncertain terms that I will say thank you and goodbye before I leave.

Guess what? They leave the chat so often before I can finish that you probably wouldn't believe it.

Welcome to a modern world, one in which people increasingly have little or no patience with the person on the other end of the line.

[flatcap]

Have you ever bought something on Amazon and returned it? I have never returned anything I purchased anywhere online, so this was my first go at it.

In this case, the shipping box the item was packed in was not damaged, but the item itself was. I elected to return it for replacement, and it took about five seconds for the Amazon system to reply that I didn't have to ship the broken item back, that its replacement would be delivered on such-and-such a date.

Unbelievable. I had no idea it would be so easy, but it was.

Since I figured I was on a roll, I returned another item, this one an expensive, all-cotton sweatshirt. The gathering at the waistband was dead, so the sweatshirt looked like a bag hanging from my shoulders. I laundered it to see if it would shrink back, but it didn't. I requested a refund in this case and, again, I didn't have to send it back. The only difference was, I got a full refund instead of a replacement.

Amazon has its flaws, but I can't complain about the way they handle returns.

Now, I don't plan to make a habit of returning items to Amazon, but it's nice to know that you don't have to worry too much about it. Obviously, some items cannot be returned, such as toe nail clippers or any other case where hygiene is a concern, but overall, things look a lot better than I thought they would when I started out.

[agate]

I have returned a couple of things bought from Amazon and had similar good luck with them. Sometimes I didn't even have to return the item, and other times there was a prompt refund. I really dislike returning things or complaining in general but sometimes it's necessary.

I'd definitely have returned a clothes item with dead elastic!

[flatcap]

I'm not big on complaining or returning things, either. In my case, I think it has to do with conflict avoidance.

[agate]

Yes indeed. Avoiding conflict is a very effective path to more peace and quiet. I can't imagine why I didn't realize that years ago.

And, in the case of merchants, most of them are trying hard to please. If they're doing a good job and clearly not out to fleece you, why complain if you can get along OK with the product as it is?

When it came to the helpers I had for years, I felt the same way. I didn't want to make any trouble for anyone if I could get along. So I never complained about some of the helpers who spent entirely too much time talking instead of working--though I would have if the work absolutely had to be done and just wasn't going to get done because they didn't do it.

And I figured that if I hardly ever complained, then if I did complain, the agency I'd complain to might take me more seriously than they would a chronic complainer. They wouldn't just sigh and think, "Oh, not her again."

[flatcap]

We have the best apartment management that you could possibly imagine here, but we also have our share of chronic complainers.

Not wanting to join the crowd, I have only filed one complaint in my seven years of living here. That was for a small yelping dog left abandoned in its apartment for several hours. After some time, I couldn't take the barking anymore, so I went downstairs and complained at the office. They called the dog owner, and the problem was resolved post haste.

It would take something like that or worse before I complain again. Like you, I don't want the stigma attached to my name.

[Virginia]

I order a lot from Amazon and have gotten different things that didn't work for me for various reasons. I hate to send things back because of taking them to be mailed or whatever you do with Amazon purchases. Consequently, I have never sent a single thing back to them. My brother has bought high end electronic things that have arrived broken or not working and he sends them back. I will have to look into how to return items to Amazon. I have sent a number of things back to other places in the way of clothes.

As for complaining, I agree that it is often hard to do because of the conflict that can come about. There are a number of things that I have not complained about with my maids and then the same mistakes just keep being repeated. I am paying very good money for my maids and I always get out of the way and let them do their work, but I need to start saying something if the work is not done right.

[agate]

Virginia, if I were the person paying for the help, I'd have been more assertive but these people were provided for me at no cost to me and came through an agency, which was reimbursed by the state of WA. I heard that that agency was "hiring people off the street"--not checking any of its employees very carefully, and I believed that because the pay was poor for the work they were doing. I felt I couldn't be very particular under the circumstances.

As for mailing back returned items, I've never had to mail anything back to Amazon but if I had, I'd have tried to get out of paying the postage myself. If I did have to pay the postage, I'd have used the post office's Click-&-Ship program where you prepay the postage while printing out the address label and then arrange for a carrier pickup of the package(s).

I sent my son's birthday present to him today by that method. It has always worked surprisingly well but you do need a working printer. The regular mail carrier came by for the package and even gave me my mail while he was there.

[flatcap]

I just thought of another thing regarding Amazon, and that is the fact that I avoid third-party sellers.

If you read enough product reviews around the site, you will see that it comes up fairly often that the buyer had some inexcusable problem with the third-party seller, often having to do with the buyer receiving an item that was removed from its packaging and/or used before. Pictures sometimes back up these claims.

The one problem I have with such reviews is that they don't speak to the quality or utility of the item in question. All they do is drag down the overall rating for the item when it's the seller they should be leaving negative comments about.

I think you can do that elsewhere on Amazon, but I'm not sure. I only have that impression from clicking on the names of third-party sellers where you can see such comments. Where you enter those, I don't know.

I should also mention the fact that Amazon is rife with third-party sellers hawking counterfeit products. If the price sounds too good to be true, there is a good chance that it is. As I said, I stick with items sold and shipped by Amazon whenever possible. When it isn't, the first thing I do is look at the ratings for the third-party seller.

The next thing I do is look for the product elsewhere. If I can find it at a reputable site, I often get it there. If the market price of the item is significantly higher than a third party's asking price, then I take that as a sign that the Amazon deal is sketchy.

Sometimes, that means I buy the product somewhere other than Amazon. At others, it means I can't afford it, but that usually turns out OK. I am already crowded by my possessions, and it keeps me from hoarding any more of them....

Well, mostly. lol

[agate]

I agree about the need to be careful with the products Amazon is offering. I try to avoid third-party sellers too unless it's a company I already have had experience with but when I do use one, I check the ratings and comments very carefully. Sometimes there's an item that has no ratings and no reviews--I avoid those. They're probably too new to have any feedback on. Maybe they're great but I don't want to take a chance.

I often stick with Amazon just so I won't have to pay a shipping charge. Having Amazon Prime relieves me of shipping costs. When I do go to another place to order something, the shipping costs have been steep.

[flatcap]

I had a Prime subscription for a while but let it go because I couldn't justify the cost. I just don't buy enough stuff on Amazon to make it worthwhile. There might be other offerings on Amazon that would (free movies?), but I doubt those perks would add up to enough to make a difference. (If it were only movies, I already have free access to tens of thousands of them, so I have that base covered.)

What I do instead is try to keep the totals on my Amazon orders at $25 or more (sales tax excluded). That gets me free shipping. Free shipping isn't especially fast, but I am almost never in a hurry to buy something no matter what it is. Only in 'emergencies' do I place an order under that amount. (Not to mention that it's pretty hard to get there unless you're talking about shoelaces or something like that.)

Also, free shipping usually gets the item(s) here much faster than predicted anyway, so there isn't much of a loss compared to 2-day or overnight shipping. This effectively takes away one of the biggest potential benefits that come with a Prime subscription. I'm sure it's worthwhile for some, just not for me.