I am getting older — oh… wait, we all are getting older. See already I might be confused. I know I didn’t think for one minute that I was the only one getting older, or being confused. Right?
With all the gadgets hitting the market today – is it any wonder that for someone my age it’s not intuitive anymore. I used to think that I could figure things out. Figure anything out. That there was always a simple way to accomplish just about anything, by usually just proceeding one step at a time – in the right direction.
However, I just don’t get it anymore. Do you reach an age where this happens to everyone, or is that the “brain power” needed just doesn’t want to cooperate to figure it out anymore.
In the last few years there have been lots of changes – not only in cell phones but in everything. Now things that are just a year old in some cases are already becoming obsolete. Hey I remember when fax machines were a novelty and we all thought that might eliminate the need for mailing any paperwork again…ever. It was just the 1980’s when microcomputers were just getting into the hands of “regular” people…. and it wasn’t that long ago that almost everything started to become “wireless”.
But for me life isn’t becoming easier or less confusing. Part of that is because I didn’t run to get each new gadget as it appeared on the scene, and I am still not sure of some of the technology. It may save time, but at what risk to you or others.
I am thinking about a woman found dead in her garage some six years after she had passed away. All the money she had was “used” up by the companies who had access to her bank account for payment of her bills. So month after month while she decomposed in the garage, her bank account was paying for things she didn’t need, or want, or could even use. No one came to look for her, no one seemed to care if she lived or died – and it wasn’t till everything she had was used up that they finally checked on that house (after foreclosing on it) and found her dead. I think the whole scenerio was caused by this new technology craze. If she didn’t have “automatic” bill pay – they would have found her so much sooner and her heirs would have had some inheritance, and closure. So while this one “technology” inspired “service” takes some pressure off us humans, it can also leave us dead in our garage while it cleans out our bank account.
And that’s just the beginning of the confusing part for me. If you think about some of the other “advances” in the way things are done, you can see that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. The pressure however is on. The credit card companies want you to have automatic bill pay… so you won’t forget and they won’t have to charge you $39 for being late, and 29.9% interest. But what most people don’t realize is that they can “manipulate” their side of the system, so they make you late, and cause you that problem a few times…. and then make you feel pressured into signing up.
In my case it has happened at least twice. AND their “standard” answer is, “sign up for auto pay”…. and mine, “NO way”. I am signed up for reminders and I don’t get them. I go online and set up a payment and it never happens… it just never happens that the payment actually gets made. Their answer: “Oh there was a computer issue that day”…. or “Oh your session might have timed out before our system took the information”, or “Oh there was a solar flare that day…” etc. I cannot believe for one moment it’s only my account that is subjected to such manipulation.
I remember having an AMEX card and cancelling it after my payment (back in those days it was a check you mailed in) .. took more than 20 days each month to get to them. NO … I never thought it really took that long, I think they just didn’t process the payment, or mark it PAID till it was late. Why? To get the late charges and interest, which many customers still today do not question or request they remove.
After it happened twice, I cancelled the card.
If you know me, and maybe you don’t – I pay on time, in full and I don’t play games. That might be the reason I was and am a target for the credit card companies to hassle. I don’t ever pay to have a card, and I don’t pay interest ever and sometimes I even get benefits.
They don’t want a customer like me — and that confuses me.