Simplicity on rails

Filed Under Annoyances

As a techno-geek and software developer, I’m very much in favour of technological advances. Yet sometimes I cannot shake the feeling that things have gotten a tad out of hand.

Consider rail travel in Germany with the Deutsche Bahn. A trip with the train used to involve the following: get on the train, buy the ticket from the conductor, lean back and enjoy the view.

But today, technology has made things so streamlined, integrated and generally buzzword-worthy that the old approach was considered laughably archaic, thus resulting in the much improved method we get to partake in today. First, you open the Deutsche Bahn website, where you search the timetable for the train you intend to travel on. Then, you purchase a ticket by creating a DB account and entering your personal details such as address, DOB and credit card number. Once payment has been confirmed, you are sent an email containing a PDF of your ticket that you have to print out. Once on the train, the conductor uses a high-tech gadget to scan the barcode on your printed ticket, then pulls your credit card through the gadget to confirm your identity. And after this process-optimised, welcome-to-the-future extravaganza, you are finally invited to lean back and enjoy the view.

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McService

Filed Under Annoyances, Journal

Recently, a mate and I sought out a McDonald’s drive-through, as we both had a bit of a hankering for overpriced grease. We ordered two limited-time-only-and-therefore-the-same-price-as-a-small-car Clogger Burgers and a variety of smaller bits and pieces. As we checked the bag to make sure everything we had ordered was actually in there, we noticed that we had only been given one Clogger.

“Excuse me, there only seems to be one Clogger in here, but we ordered (and paid for) two”, I politely said to the lady behind the window. She said nothing for a moment, regarding me with the kind of contempt normally reserved for people who have been caught in a compromising situation with a chicken. “Yeah, there was only one Clogger left in the heat tray” was her gum-chewing response.

After politely insisting on being given our second burger and then waiting a geologically significant length of time, we were wordlessly handed the second burger without so much as a humble “Sorry, here you go”.

But seriously, “There was only one left in the tray”? What kind of mental process precipitates that kind of remark?! Surely only an aggressive brain disease can cause anyone to believe that kind of reasoning is acceptable?

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Without a clue

Filed Under Annoyances

As a collector of soundtracks, I was recently thrilled to find that a very limited edition of the score for the movie “Without a clue” had been released. Within seconds of this discovery, an order had been placed at Amazon.com:

I realise that international shipping can take longer than domestic… but four to eight weeks just for delivery?? I can only assume that, in a bid to avoid air mail costs, the seller has opted to swim across the Atlantic and deliver it to me personally.

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