Tag: technology

Workin’ in a Coal Mine

20 years ago

I wrote a blog post in late spring 2006, titled Workin’ In A Coal Mine, about the NY Small Business Development Center’s move from 41 State Street in downtown Albany to Corporate (frickin’) Woods. But I never seemed to have published it, as it was still in the draft folder. The next paragraph is the wording of one of those damn self-evaluation forms we were supposed to have filled out in the midst of this chaos. 

JOB-RELATED FACTORS: Outline factors affecting the employee’s performance, such as technical and human relations skills, problem-solving and decision-making skills, work commitment, and time management, which need to be strengthened during this performance period.

Early in May 2006, (library dDarrin Conroy and I stood in front of a group of SBDC advisors at the annual conference and told them how much better we at the Research Network would be at responding to their needs. The vacancy caused by Mary Beth Bobish’s departure would be filled by Amelia Birdsall. We were going to send information electronically.

Then we moved to 22 Corporate Woods Blvd.

The whole first week we were without e-mail, largely without phone. I wish I had kept track of the different messages we’ve sent to the advisors. Send requests by RN e-mail. No, we can’t access our own RN e-mail. Oh, now we can. Call our personal numbers. Oh, finally our RN number is working. Voice mail messages with requests sent on May 19 were accessible three or four weeks later. I hope we don’t lose some of our advisors who use our services amid this flurry of constantly changing directions.

Ugh

The technology in other aspects, from LAN access to the availability of copiers and printers, was also suspect. The promise of “white noise” to block conversation was laughable; while it tended to put me to sleep in the afternoon – thus the NEED for music and the headphones – I hear LOTS of talk not directed to me.

So, I’m in this soulless, boring venue. Isolated, too – you’d think so if you walked home, as I did on day two. The techno-foibles were just an added bonus.

I’m hoping our new location will not negatively affect our ability to get interns from SUNY here. And I hope the constant snafus they’ve had to endure do not translate into bad word of mouth.

On the other hand, I thought the survey we put out was useful not only for ascertaining the direction of the Research Network, but also for providing the advisors with a sense that their needs are being considered.

Working In The Coal Mine – Lee Dorsey

ARA: understand a technology

lost address book

Arthur, who I’ve possibly never mentioned in the blog ever, notes:

I missed this when you posted it—it’s a busy time of year!—but I have questions:

If you could understand a technology you currently feel that you don’t, what would it be and why?

There is not a single technology that I’ve ever come across that I knew instinctively how to operate. The cliche that people had VCRs with the clock flashing 12:00 was true until I bought another machine and stumbled into figuring it out, or somebody else did; I can’t remember.

We have a DVD player in which we can play DVDs, but we still don’t have a current means of playing VHS tapes, so some things never change.

If you could create a technological solution for something, what would it be? What problem are you trying to “fix”?

The “fix” for my technological needs has been found. Unfortunately, it was established in the world of fictional television. For instance, I want a transporter like the one on Star Trek so I can spend less time getting there and more time enjoying myself. I’d also do a lot more international travel.

On the sitcom Bewitched, Samantha Stevens could instantly clean the house. I’m up for that, but I can’t wiggle my nose. Alas! (And, BTW, Darrin was a jerk for “forbidding” Sam from using her magic to do mundane tasks. )

Old school

What was your favourite technology that’s now obsolete?

It’s a word-processing product. It may have been WordPerfect. I could tell what italics, bold, etc., were embedded in the document and fix them. If you’ve ever seen any of my blog posts that have big gaps or, conversely, run together, know that I tried to fix them, but I can’t see why they’re off. It’s a mystery to me, and if my WordPress did the same thing as the WordPerfect I used to use, that would be nice. I don’t know if WordPerfect exists anymore and if it could be used in this mode.

If you could transport back in time for 30 minutes, where/when would you go, and why? Or, would you rather leave the past in the past?

I would avoid most opportunities to go back in time because changing one thing would likely affect several others. But two things come to mind that I’d alter. 1) I commented on a couple of people in a manner I don’t understand. I would undo that, and that would likely not have any grand negative consequences.

2) I was in Greenwich Village in the late 1970s or early 1980s, talking to somebody on a pay phone; I left my address book there and never retrieved it. It had addresses I needed, and I’ve always been a bit sad about that. So, if I could go back and remember to pick the phone address book off the phone booth shelf, I would do that, and it would make me surprisingly happy.

The self-checkout register

not the panacea

Self-checkoutThe expanding universe of the self-checkout register shows up more in my Facebook feed than almost any topic. In general, these are not complimentary observations.

Some people complain about the basic philosophical position that machines are replacing humans. Far more, though, are frustrated by the difficulty of the transactions.

Specifically: they don’t work, fail to accept the coupons or register the incorrect prices. I wonder how often the frustration leads to items being unscanned and stolen. Or for abandoned transactions if the lines get too long.

Last month, when I was at my local Price Chopper grocery store, about a half dozen people were in line to go to the four self-checkout registers. Meanwhile, no one was in line behind the customer nearest human-staffed register. Of course, I went there and was done faster than the folks in line.

CVS

Around the same time, I stopped at CVS to get a small bag of chips and a ginger ale. The store had two self-checkout machines, but the only employee in sight was helping a customer in a wheelchair. Machine #1 had an abandoned transaction, so I went to the other one, which got stuck in a loop. Three frustrated patrons stood behind me.

Know that I had 15 minutes to catch a nearby bus when I walked in, but now it’s been ten minutes, and I was ready to throw up my hands and walk out sans the items.

Fortunately, another human employee noticed the backup. I told them the issues for both machines, and they fixed each in turn; I finished my transaction and caught the bus.

CVS has a habit of sending out user email surveys. I filled this one out with much of the details stated here. In response, I received this: “Thank you for your feedback regarding your experience at CVS Pharmacy on November 06, 2022. Providing exceptional customer care is a priority for us. .Sorry you had a problem with the self checkout you should not of had to wait that long to have the problem fixed. we should have respond much quicker”

(No, I’m not going to nitpick about the typos and grammar errors. Or even complain that my transaction was on the 3rd of November; my COMMENT was lodged on the 6th.)

It depends

I’ve made my peace with automated transactions. Frankly, I prefer the ATM at my bank to the tedious line I got into at my wife’s credit union last month, where the teller had to take a check written to my wife from our church for reimbursement so I could DEPOSIT it. Moreover, as I’ve noted, my bank, since COVID, now allows withdrawals of five- and ten-dollar bills. Yay!

Self-service gas is fine. Well, except at the local Shoprite because the discount card that one is supposed to scan before the credit card goes in doesn’t always register the discounted price.

I’ll admit that it took me a couple of minutes to suss out the kiosk system at a local fast-food restaurant. It is probably because I go there rarely; I don’t have or want their app.

So self-service is fine IF it works. It sucketh big-time when it does not. And according to this CNN piece from July 2022. “In the biggest headache for store owners, self-checkout leads to more losses due to error or theft than traditional cashiers.

“’If you had a retail store where 50% of transactions were through self-checkout, losses would be 77% higher’ than average, according to Adrian Beck, an emeritus professor at the University of Leicester in the UK who studies retail losses.

“Customers make honest errors as well as intentionally steal at self-checkout machines.”

The title of the piece says it all: “Nobody likes self-checkout. Here’s why it’s everywhere.”

“Useless skills” in our modern world

InformationTechnologyArthur – yes, that Arthur, the Kiwi Illinoisan, wrote in response to a recent post of mine. Hmm, I’ll have to ask him, though, what got him to remember another post of mine, that one from a decade ago:

 

Apart from people under, say, 30 or so, all computery technological stuff has to be learned—we didn’t grow up with it. Most of us, I think, do best when we can migrate what we know to a new setting.

For example, the reason I can fix my blog when things blow up is because I learned useful stuff when I was young(er) that serves me well now that I’m old(er). For example, I can edit the HTML code in my log because I learned to use coding when I used an olde timey wordprocessing program called Wordstar in the 1980s. I still have to look up how to change or fix code in my blog, but I at least basically understand what I have to do because of that earlier training.

In January 2011, you published a post about “useless skills”. I wonder how those “useless skills” help us in our modern tech world. What ones help you?

My wife has a breadmaker, but she would rather create it the old-fashioned way if only so the bread will fit in the toaster.

Skillz?

I think I have soft skills. I can read a map, so if the GPS is not working, or is taking me the wrong way – it’s happened – I can figure out a way home. In a city with a decent, but unfamiliar, mass transit, I can generally negotiate that too.

When I was working, I had a better-than-average chance of finding the answer if it wasn’t available online. This involved using something called the “telephone” and “calling” to “talk” with people. That said, I think a lot of agencies and other entities do not value their institutional wisdom.

Because I’ve moved over 30 times, and have helped others moved at least twice that, I’m really good at packing our car when we’re going on a trip. My wife has told me this repeatedly.

As bad as I am with names, I’m pretty good with numbers. I can figure out a 15% tip or even 8% sales tax sans calculator. I make change with alacrity, so I’ll give the pizza guy $21 for a $10.95 purchase, knowing that one-dollar bills are precious in retail.

Usually, I remember phone numbers, so if the phone/computer address book isn’t available, I’m still OK. Definitely, I know my wife and daughter’s Social Security numbers.

I can name all of the Presidents of the United States, including their years. So I don’t have to “Google it” to help my daughter with her American history homework. Whether she would LET me help her is quite another matter.

Now, there are a few things I can do in my blog – assuming I’m not using the new editor – by hand. And, as Arthur knows, I can keep score in bowling, even during the apocalypse.

 

 

Happy when I figure it out

download

InformationTechnologyConsidering my general lack of technological expertise, I’m always happy when I figure it out. And by “technological”, I don’t just mean Internet stuff.

I’m the kid who took the front door lock apart in our apartment then couldn’t figure out how to put it back together. Or blew up pottery in the junior high school kiln, and created furniture with first one leg, then three legs, uneven.

Interestingly, I was actually good at taking metal shop in 9th grade because the tools were more precise.

My first cellphone was like the early computers. Start also meant stop. The red button meant to start. Because I was/am a late adapter, the instructions are “Do this just like you did it on your earlier phone.” But I didn’t have an earlier phone.

I have a FitBit-like device. It’s never been used. In fact, where IS that thing?

Workaround

When I first started my blog in 2005, it had no photos. Blogspot/Blogger wanted us to use a product called Picasa to add photos. I could NEVER suss it out. But somehow I stumbled upon a workaround. Whatever I can do technologically is usually by trial and a lot of error. So I’m really impressed with folks such as Arthur who can fix actually his blog.

My little victories cause me oversized pleasure. Back when I was working and had interns, I showed at least two of them how to search for text using Ctrl-F. Those savvy young folks didn’t know that?

My daughter was trying to print a label, but it was coming out with gaps in the text. I downloaded the file, and printed it; it was fine. Of course, she then found a file my wife wanted to be printed but I got the same error, even after downloading. She changed the text color and it worked.

When I was helping to plan my FIL’s funeral, the videos came to me in Dropbox, which I could view but the guy putting the service together could not. The download, then send, worked that time.

I muddle through.

 

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