A friend’s IT advisor suggested that she change carriers. He blamed the one she had for her problem sending emails from her laptop. This seemingly simple procedure caused an avalanche of issues resulting in wasted hours and frustration. She admitted, ...
A friend’s IT advisor suggested that she change carriers. He blamed the one she had for her problem sending emails from her laptop. This seemingly simple procedure caused an avalanche of issues resulting in wasted hours and frustration.
She admitted, “If I had known how much of a pain it would be to accomplish this, I wouldn’t have done it. My friend and I were at the new carrier’s store from 10:00 am to 1:45 pm.”
To begin with, she had been on her daughter’s phone plan. It took time for her daughter to call that carrier to authorize the company to remove her.
While at the new carrier’s store, she bought a phone that was on deep dish sale. This triggered another set of challenges.
It turned out Bluetooth between the phone and her hearing aid didn’t work. She had to go to the hearing lab for someone to make the connection. This required an appointment.
The same thing happened with her bank. Someone there must connect her phone to her account requiring another in person visit.
She said “I was given a free smartwatch with 14 days to return it. The additional fee will be $10 a month; I will probably return it. Just another piece of technology to frustrate me!”
I asked her if all the trouble was due to the new phone or because she changed carrier. She replied: “Both.”
Have you been surprised by what you thought would be a simple, seamless, speedy transaction that developed into a time-consuming project?
Not all unintended consequences are bad. I know someone who met her soulmate on a flight to Paris. But because the word consequence usually has a negative connotation, side effects from drugs might first come to mind.
The obvious and well publicized consequences of the delay if not deletion of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—SNAP—will be the suffering of those who depend on the support and the adverse fallout on bodegas and supermarkets with standard measly 1 percent profit margins.
But there are other consequences that I didn’t think of. One inspired this post after a conversation with an acquaintance.
She understands the potential desperation of people without the means to feed their kids. She once was on food stamps for herself and her son. She lives in the NYC projects and is afraid to go to the grocery store for fear of getting in the way of looters frantic for food so she placed an order with Instacart. She is also concerned about being held up on her way to work. She takes two buses and a subway starting at 5:30 a.m. when there aren’t many other commuters. She anticipates being held up.
A friend on the west coast who volunteers at a food bank reported that some families are afraid to visit because ICE might be there to harass them.
Fortunately, as a result of this crisis, generosity is a lovely consequence.
Some governors such as Kathy Hochul of New York are stepping up to the emergency. She’s committed $65 million. USA Today reported that “This funding aims to provide 40 million meals to New Yorkers in need, reinforcing the state’s food assistance programs. The funds will support food banks, pantries, and soup kitchens, and will be deployed to assist with staffing shortages and other emergency needs.”
To help fill the gap, citizens are donating both goods and cash to local pantries and food banks. My nephew posted on social media the location of a Dutchess County resource, the Fishkill Food Pantry, 717 Route 9, Fishkill, NY 12524. In Manhattan there’s the St. Francis Breadline, 144 West 32nd Street NY, NY 10001.
What food bank or pantry do you support?
What unintended consequences would you like to mention?
My nephew John gave me my first Snoopy gift, the white mug, countless decades ago..
Snoopy is beloved by his fans worldwide. A friend returned from Japan with gifts that sport his image, telling me there are stores devoted to him there. Another friend, from India, smiles at all things Snoopy. Most of my friends, regardless of age, admit “I love him.”
Algorithms are probably the reason that products featuring Snoopy and the Peanuts gang cropped up one morning this week, on one of my social media feeds. They must hear of my devotion to the pooch from the Snoopy/Peanuts licensing team that surely tracks and reports my thumbs ups because I often acknowledge select vintage and contemporary Peanuts cartoons.
And it’s the brand’s 75th anniversary. Snoopy first appeared two days after the comic strip’s launch according to Google AI.
In addition to soft, plush, huggable Snoopies, here’s a sample of licensed items that popped up:
William Sonoma: Apron, doormat, oven mitts, icing spreaders/spatulas
Pottery Barn: guest towels and slippers
Kohls: Shower curtain and tote bags
Hanna Andersson: PJ pants for adults
Kawaii Pen Shop: all sorts of things from stickers to tote bags
Hallmark: Figures of Snoopy and the gang
Ultra Beauty: Snoopy beauty collection
I think my nephew John gave me my first Snoopy gift decades ago [the white mug, photo at top]. I’ve been the lucky recipient of a range of wonderful Snoopy presents over decades and love and use them all [photos here].
What is it about this darling dog and his friends from Woodstock to Pigpen, Lucy to Charlie Brown, that continues to charm both old and young, here and abroad? Have you identified other products that celebrate this darling dog and his friends making up the Peanuts gang?
I’ve written about commercials that irritate me which is most but none more than the football players touting Haribo gummi candies using whiney, high pitched little children’s voices.
You see a different class of commercial if you subscribe to the cheap seats on Netflix. [Pay more and you don’t see any.] Unlike the ones on cable and network channels, some are clever or charming, inviting viewers to travel to Switzerland or buy sneakers from Coach and very few peddle meds. Even so, I’ve not been tempted to pull out my credit card.
Until recently I can’t remember being enticed to buy something as a result of any commercial.
On the other hand, I look for restaurant recommendations/reviews online and I buy items I’ve read about in editorial columns/product reviews.
So what advert seduced me? The promise of the Swiffer Duster. And I’m thrilled, at first blush.
I’m tired of crawling on the floor to dust chair stretchers and reaching to the tops of framed pictures. I have too many of both. The result, I haven’t cleaned them as often as I should.
Now the Swiffer Duster does its stuff as I whisk it around while chatting on the phone or listening to a podcast. I love multitasking.
It’s brilliant for the manufacturer too because like printer cartridges that you toss once empty, you can’t resuscitate/wash the fluffy part when it’s past its prime. You buy refills.
Have you fallen for a commercial with positive or negative result? Do you do so often? Do you like some commercials but never buy what they sell?
A neighbor called me at work telling me my parent’s apartment had been broken into when they were in Europe. I called the police to come inside with me as I was afraid to enter alone. I’ll never forget the feeling of violation. Sadly, now all Americans know how this feels.
I am similarly shaken and appalled at the cavalier betrayal and destruction of a wall*** of The People’s House. I can’t shake my sadness, nor can I understand the action. I take it personally. ***When I started the post it was a wall. Now it’s worse: It’s the East Wing.
Where are the landmarks people? The Jackie Kennedy equivalents—she helped save the handsome Grand Central Terminal which makes New Yorkers and visitors proud. Did the guardians of our heritage fall for this promise about the pointless ballroom: “It won’t interfere with the current building. It’ll be near it but not touching it.”
I can’t imagine, for example, an extension to the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower or Buckingham Palace or any so-called improvement that involved destroying part of the originals–anything that would impact the iconic silhouettes.
Americans go abroad by the plane and boatload to honor and explore cultural history, artifacts and antiquity yet it appears many have little respect for ours and little appreciation of old things these days–even people [but I digress].
Yet friends with zero interest in antiques are beside themselves at this demolition.
Here are some reasons that amplify the architectural and historic abuse for me.
I remember my excitement after buying my first significant antique, an English gateleg tavern table dated 1690 [photo above]. I envisioned the elbows of 17th century men sharing the top with playing cards and tankards of brew. When I bought it some thought “how can you be so excited about a secondhand table?” and “I hope you didn’t pay much. It’s just old.” Lucky I bought something I loved because brown furniture has no value today. I’d probably have to pay someone to cart it off.
As I tended to the garden at my house, I thought how I needed to take the best care of the property as I could as I’d be only one of its many owners and my responsibility was to do nothing to spoil it. It was just a house on 10 acres in Dutchess County–nothing special in a historic sense.
I’ve previously shared my shock and dismay visiting a significant American city that had bulldozed most of its downtown wiping out any and all architectural charm leaving a measly square block with the older structures. The commercial tenants–a high-end restaurant, elegant flower shop and Starbucks–took advantage of architectural embellishments and sturdy plaster walls to enhance their spaces.
Can you think of a good reason for destroying the profile of the White House with a gargantuan, out of proportion appendage and for demolishing a wing of this precious structure to satisfy a frivolous whim? Should there be punishment for the construction company? Can the People’s House be saved? Are other monuments in need of protection?
