A New Age of Communication

 It seems that we are back to the things that make my blood boil. Communications this time. I have recently had reason to attempt to communicate with different organisations and it hasn't been easy. We are in the 21st century now, when things were supposed to be better. In the 1970's programmes such as Blue Peter (if you are reading this outside of the UK you will not know that reference, sorry) were holding competitions where children would try and predict what life would be like in the future. They came up with flat TV's, mobile phones and cities under the sea. SciFi  authors such as Clarke and Heinlein have written about instantaneous communication. But the reality is different. 

People will blame all this on COVID but, and let's face it, that is complete and utter bollocks. We have become lazy and selfish. Corporations have decided that the customer is not king anymore. They will do anything to save money and make more of that money for their shareholders. This means that call centres are short staffed or outsourced to foreign climes. People would rather converse by text message and email than face to face.

I am looking to buy a motorhome. I have found a nice one and decided to have a look at what the insurance would cost me. All insurance quotes these days are done online via comparison sites so off I go, boot up the laptop and login to my preferred site, the one with the meerkat.

I type in the registration of the van and it tells me it doesn't exist. Bugger! I go to the DVLA website and it does exist, it's taxed and has a current MOT. Check again with the meerkat and a couple of other sites and it still does not exist. So we talk to the current owner and it is insured with, strangely enough, the same company that insures my car. Great, I'll phone them. I look online for a phone number. There isn't one, it all has to be done through the customer portal. Customer portal tells me that the vehicle doesn't exist. I'm sure that you can sense that my frustration level is increasing. Still no phone number but there is an option for an online chat. Online chat eventually promises me a call back from a sales agent which, two days later, I am still waiting for. I guess that they don't want my business.

I decide to perform an online search for customer service phone numbers for vehicle insurance and come up with a few and phone one of the more well-known ones. I get an answer, after a few minutes on hold, from someone with a very thick Asian accent asking me how they can help.

'I would like a quote to insure a motorhome' say I.

'This is the wrong number for home insurance, we only deal with vehicles.'

'Yes, I know, I want to insure a motorhome'

'Home insurance is a different department, I can transfer you now'

I hang up and try another number where the conversation follows a similar path. Both calls are, apparently, recorded for training purposes. Hopefully they will be used to train people whose primary language is not English to understand those whose primary language is. 

Our lives are supposed to be made easier by all the modern methods of communication. The insurance companies use the DVLA database for reference so that method of communication didn't work. The online chat method does not work, probably because we are talking to 'bots. Software designed to mimic a human response and save the company from employing more humans. But that form of communication is a very limited method as, I expect, no company wants to buy the licence for software that would give Alan Turing a run for his money, far too expensive. 
Also, no company wants to pay the rates to employ people in this country who can understand the quirks of the English language. That's not picking on foreigners. A few years ago I was in hospital and the Spanish doctor explained what they were going to do to me. I couldn't understand her so the Phillipno nurse explained it to me. The one person you really want to understand is doctor, or an insurance agent in different circumstances,  but it seems that is not always the case. 

I, eventually, found an insurance quote that was reasonable but the whole process took me 4 hours. And that was relatively quick compared to the process of trying to get my driving licence back. 

I had to surrender my driving licence due to my internal defibrillator activating. I could have it back after 6 months but I had to send a form to my cardiologist for him to tick a box, send it back to me and I would send it to the DVLA. Needless to say the form got lost at the hospital. I had to contact the DVLA for a replacement. Phoning resulted in me being put on hold for half an hour and then getting cut off as there were an unprecedented number of calls. I tried again half an hour later and the same happened. I went online and searched their website for assistance and, again, found a webchat option which pointed me in the direction  of several articles that might help. No they didn't. 6 hours later I found a replacement form.

Is the modern world easier to navigate? no it f#cking isn't!

 What are your feelings about Facebook? Or any social media? 

Are you someone who constantly watches your feed and loves spending time, or wasting it, looking at pictures of other people's dinner?

I used to like it. It was an insight, sort of, into other people's lives. And it still is but it is starting to show another side of people that I really don't like. I am a member of lots of groups on FB. Groups that cover everything from classic science fiction artwork to DIY, to caravaning. These groups were all set up to provide useful information and help to the members, but it seems that they are being taken over by faceless keyboard warriors who like to profess their own opinions and shout down everyone else or just throw insults into the ring. Why is this? It seems to have got worse since the COVID lockdowns. 

Someone posed a question on one of the caravaning groups the other day, asking about something that would, normally, be in the user manual. The poster stated in the post, quite clearly, that they didn't have a manual and most of the responses took that into account and answered the question as best they could. However, one respondee replied with "RTFM". A bit curt, I thought, and proves that the responder hadn't paid attention to, or read, the post. That reflects on the character of the responder not the poster or the group but why respond that way? Can you not read the manual? Can you not download a manual? would have been a more polite way of showing that you hadn't read the post, instead you make yourself look like an idiot.

There are many other instances of people responding just by insulting the poster, 'Moron!' 'Bell£nd!' and worse. Why? Does it make these faceless keyboard warriors feel empowered? 

And then there are the people who force their opinions on you with no opportunity to debate. As far as they are concerned their opinion is fact and yours does not count. there is no consideration of any evidence, scientific or otherwise. It's like those people who tell me they know all about the Freemasons, satanic rituals, goats etc. When I tell them it's all rubbish they respond with 'Well, you would say that, wouldn't you?' or 'You are not high enough in the order to know that'. People are developing closed minds. Or maybe we've always had closed minds and the propensity to hate our fellow man and now we have the means to spread it without having the consequence of someone punching you in the face. The dildo of consequence rarely comes lubricated...

Also, feel free to tell me that you believe in God, whichever incarnation that may be, good for you! But don't tell me I have to believe in the same one. 

 

And as for Twitter, sorry, X... Since a certain space pioneer took over that seems to have gone downhill as well. I now get notifications about women without many clothes on. Rarely happened before Mr Musk so I wonder what has changed. Maybe the dept that dealt with standards was one of those that was decimated in the takeover.

Social media should be a tool for good but it seems that more and more, it is just a platform for the haters, the small-minded, and the petty. It needs to go back to pictures of my dinner and other people's cats in fancy dress. And the odd selfie of some scantily clad young lady with a duck pout. 

TTFN!

Regards

Giant68 😉

Rabbit Holes...

 I have fallen down some rather deep rabbit holes lately. That's what happens when you are bored and have nothing to do. Not well enough to go out for a walk, or work in the garden, or in the house. It's frustrating. So I potter a bit, do what I can until I am knackered, which doesn't take long then I sit down and jump head first into the rabbit hole that is Youtube. 

Obviously, the rabbit hole in this context is from Alice in Wonderland. She falls down the hole and discovers a whole new world. Which is just what YouTube delivers. From music to unboxers. Who knew you could make money from unboxing something on camera?? Maybe that's what I need to get into before the money runs out. 

It usually starts with something innocuous. A band I like, or a podcast. Then I follow a link and end up at another band I've never heard of so I listen to that. Which leads to another, then another and the rabbit hole gets deeper and deeper. 

The latest was a yearning to listen to music that would've been on the radio when I was getting ready for school. Early to mid-70s, my parent's choice of music. Something that we would all be influenced by. My dad's favorites were a bit older than my mum's, he was considerably older than her. But the track he liked was Lynn Anderson's I Beg Your Pardon, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. So I started with that. These things always bring back memories, good and bad.

I ended up looking through videos of bluegrass music. Yeah, I know, weird direction for this rabbit hole. But I quite enjoyed it. There's a band called Southern Raised that were pretty good. That led to the Dead South and then it started to get really weird. At some point, you have to watch the Ukelele Orchestra Of Great  Britain...

https://youtu.be/JYCrBlt9BtU?si=KGkfPl5SttSRyPk8

https://youtu.be/T0lwr_jcGZQ?si=RYCvpl-u6BWaXRMa

These all lead to Spotify playlists of some really weird stuff. I have a great playlist of 70's cheese that consists of artists such as David Soul, Leo Sayer, Gilbert O'Sullivan and many others. I bet that whatever music you are into, be it punk, heavy metal or classical there is some guilty pleasure that you will listen to every now and then. 😉

Having been originally trained as an engineer I have subscribed to a couple of channels run by amateur engineers. They are quite good although they probably label me as a geek or nerd. Which is probably true. But check out Big Clive anyway.

Then comes food. I have enjoyed food all my life, not just because it nourishes me but because of the vast range of flavours and textures. So then I subscribed to the Food Review Club. They travel the country checking out fast food restaurants. They did one near me in Southampton not so long ago. Apparently, the deli sandwich was pretty good. They've started doing more upmarket establishments as well now. 

And then there is the funny stuff. Turdtowns is a tongue-in-cheek look at some pretty shitty places. In fact, the guy who does this one finds crap in every town. It seems nowhere is fit to live according to him. 

Sometimes you do start to wonder what drugs some of these people are taking. But if you put enough stuff on the platform and enough people subscribe then you can make some decent money. Maybe that's what I need to do. But I think I need to get a lot weirder before I can do that.

Till next time...

Regards

Giant68 😁

I think that photo of me is pretty old now. I must sort out another one.