I DON’T LIKE CHANGE
The Old Rusty Nail
AN
E-JOURNAL FOR OLD PEOPLE
Russell Burton, an Old Person
Unfortunately for me, change has become the norm in most
everything I do and I don’t like it! The
other day I clicked on my Yahoo web site courtesy of att.net and the format had changed.
Then I checked my email and that had changed. And, as I was writing this
essay, I clicked on my monthly bank e-statement and it is much different than last
month’s e-statement. Give me a break.
I have a hard enough time just doing the basics with this
e-stuff and then to have it changed on me several times a year is very
frustrating and it makes me angry. I
remember when change was something which happened only once in a while, like
once every few years. That frequency of
change I could handle for it made me feel like I was being kept up to date –
you know becoming more ‘modern’.
I guess my hatred of change is supported by the adage ‘Can’t
teach old dogs new tricks’. Certainly, I
am an old dog alright still I can learn new tricks but having to learn them
every few weeks is ridiculous. I can
imagine some geeks sitting around in a rubber room chatting about changing
something because there must be change or they will lose their high paying
jobs.
The latest change to my email now involves Twitter and Face
Book. I have heard of these things but I
don’t use them. My son has attempted to
get me on Face Book as he uses it quite frequently and seems to like it for
reasons I do not understand. His mother
and he use it. But, you know if you want
to communicate with someone you email, snail mail (new name for postal mail),
or phone them. Oh yes included in all of
this e-stuff is texting.
Texting is something else I do not do and in fact I have
blocked it from my cell phone. Every now
and then I would get a text message from someone I did not know nor did I want
to know. And, it costed me money! I do not understand the advantage of texting
someone unless it is to commit a type of subterfuge which I have unfortunately
witnessed with my granddaughter. I have
written about this before but it bears repeating.
I was asked by her father, my son, that it would be nice to
take your granddaughter to lunch so you could chat and get to know each other
better. I could not have agreed more
about the latter thoughts for I live several hours away and see them a couple
of times a year. So, with that threatening reminder of what I should do as a
grandfather I did just that and I was looking forward to it.
So we got in the car to go to the restaurant when
immediately she pulled out her I-phone and began to text a message to her boy
friend. Well so much for our conversation as we drove to the restaurant. But, I thought when we got to where we were
going to eat the promised conversation would begin. Wrong, she texted with her phone ‘hidden’
under the table as if I did not know what was happening. I am old but I am not completely stupid about
these e-things.
So back to Twitter and Face Book oh I forgot another one
named Linkedin. Linkedin is another
social network e-thing which I did not know existed until a friend contacted me
using Linkedin. My friend who is of mature age, not really old, was using it
and she wanted to contact me, so why not so I clicked on. I saw her the next day and she told me that
this Linkedin thing was a mistake. Well,
too late I was suddenly bombarded by Linkedin informing me that all these
people some were friends wanting to contact me, of course using their social
network.
I felt used and abused because my privacy was invaded by
some communication network I did not know anything about. I suppose I should have responded to each of
my friends who were so excited about contacting me but I just deleted those
messages. And, all future messages from Linkedin was flagged to be placed in my
spam folder where once a week or so I delete them with a big smile on my face. Oh yes the word ‘folder’ in this e-world
always amuses me. To me the word
‘folder’ is some hard brown paper thing used to hold more paper things on a
subject in a file cabinet.
If someone wants to contact me then give me a phone
call. All of those names which I
recognized have my phone number. Just give a call, I’m usually home or leave a
message on my answering service or try my cell phone. I have a cell phone but I rarely use it. I try to take it with me when I go someplace
but I usually forget it. But, I must
admit the cell phone is a great invention if it is not abused such as talking
on it while driving.
Certainly everyone knows that using these e-things while
driving is a dangerous habit, especially texting. Many times I have been following a car which
is obviously under less than optimum control.
In fact, sometimes I think the driver is drunk! As, I pass cautiously for they are driving
rather slow I always try to look at the driver who is either on a cell phone or
looking down as they are texting.
My son uses the cell phone while he is driving, in fact I
don’t think he can drive if he is not using it. Regarding these practices some states have
them illegal. Even Texas which is just emerging from the Dark
Ages of social norms has cell phone use in School Zones illegal. This law is based on the known facts that
driving is compromised while talking on a cell phone. So, why isn’t it illegal to use a cell phone
all of the time when driving like many states such as California
and New York ? I guess the answer is we don’t want to kill
kids but adults are fair game.
Something else has interested me about a change which
occurred within the last couple of decades.
It is a change but not really for it was around when I was a little kid
in the 1930's. Yes, it was ordering
things via postal mail you know using the Sears Roebuck catalog. In fact there
were two catalogs, the other was Montgomery Wards.
On my, what a God send those catalogs were to my
family. We lived in the northwest corner
of South Dakota
near a little town called Newell. It did
not have any department store so when you wanted something like that you had to
order it from a catalog. I remember
getting my first bicycle through one of these catalogs for Christmas one
year. It was in the late 30’s so I must
have been about 7 years old. The one my folks had ordered cost $15 but they
were out of that model so they sent me a larger fancier one which cost $25 at
the same lower price. My dad had to put wooden blocks on the pedals so I could
reach them.
Suddenly ordering by mail disappeared and we stopped getting
our new annual Sears (someone got rid of Roebuck) or Wards (Montgomery had been dropped) catalogs. Now we are doing the same thing but over the
web and it is a new convenient exciting major retail format! Everybody is
buying stuff over the web!!! Why is the web so different from a printed
catalog? So how things change but in many ways not really.
I close this longer than usual essay with my surprise today
to find a new format for my bank e-statement.
I hate bank e-statements. I know
it is supposed to save paper (‘go green’ is the sign on the bank wall which is
good for the environment), but does it really?
I guess the envelop it was mailed in is not used but the e-statement I
print at home is like the one that was printed by the bank, so where is the big
paper savings? Oh yes, the big ‘green’ saving
for the bank is the cost of postage!
Unaware that I have a new format to conquer with my bank
e-statement I type in the ‘user name’ and my ‘pass word’. Of course what pops us is ‘what is the name
of your best friend?’ So, I type that in and it comes back that the name I used
is incorrect. I am puzzled for I use the
same name for years. But, what irritates
me the most is why have the ‘user name’ and ‘pass word’ if what it really needs
is my best friend’s name?
So, I am puzzled that it did not accept his name. I am confused and angry for I know that is
the correct name. I think of other names
but none make any sense. Once again in
desperation I retype in his name and there is my e-statement! What had happened? Had I somehow missed some case-sensitive
thing? Now there is another irritating
thing some idiot dreamed up and that is this case-sensitive requirement – oh
but not always!!!!!
Now I have my December e-statement in front of me but the
format has changed. What should I do to
simply get my bank statement to appear on my computer screen so I can print it
out and balance my check book? I click on several icons attempting to get my
bank statement to magically appear. Again,
I am frustrated for there are no instructions on using this new format. Finally, I click on the number of the account
and there it is on my computer screen waiting to be printed. I now print it instead of the bank. Wow…
12/14
.
