So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[2jakes]

 

[3fingers]

You will love the way that it squeaks against your teeth.

The buttered Lefse served with the Lutefisk makes the agony worth while, though.

I believe if I desire squeaking food I shall stick with fresh cheese curds.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Put some fries under those curds and some hot gravy on top and I'm in.

 

[2jakes]

"Is that fries under those curds & hot gravy I'm smelling?"

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

View attachment 102081 View attachment 102082 View attachment 102083

View attachment 102085

 

[LizzieMaine]

How most of the women I knew growing up earned their living. Free severed finger in every fiftieth can!

 

[2jakes]

"Serve it with a cool brew 90 PROOF and I'm in!"

 

[Edward]

What the papers want is to stop printing altogether as that would be a monster cost save (if most readers and advertisers more to on-line), but they want to do it gradually so that they can soak as much revenue out of print (and not turn too many older readers off) before print finally goes away.

Here in the UK we've already seen the first of the broadsheets to go online only. It's inevitable, now that it's so much the norm to always be close to a screen (phones especially: since 2013, the mobile telephone has overtaken the traditional computer as the most common means of accessing the web), that paper will begin to disappear. for something ephemeral liked a newspaper, I can live with that, even though I prefer 'real' books over e-readers as a more general rule. The environmental implications would be interesting to study, i.e. will the cut to paper being used be of greater benefit than the increased demand for electricity to power our screens.

You'd be surprised how many elderly folk either can't or won't use the Internet for anything. We run into this all the time with our ticketing systems -- 90 year old ladies call up boiling mad because they can't figure out how to buy an opera ticket online and just want to do it over the phone. Although my mother is all over Facebook like grease on a mackerel, she won't buy anything online because somebody told her the Russians will steal her identity if she does. But nevertheless, companies insist on pushing "convenient internet service" because it means they don't have to pay someone to sit by the phone and take orders.

Within the next ten years, traditional "just pick up the phone and order" systems will be completely extinct.

I do think it's a certain generation keeping it alive. Though for some thing they may well find online chat support will still make more sense than the cot of returns. Interestingly, I had occasion before Christmas to deal with a Canadian courier company who turned out to be much easier to get hold of with 'live chat' than either email or phone!

I've worked for a number of places that no longer cut checks. Direct deposit is it for employees. It takes away a primary reason to go to the bank if you don't need to deposit your check...

I could count on one hand the number of times I've been into a bank branch in the last ten years. (Probably why their closing). Even when I last redid my mortgage, it was all done on the telephone, as the bank made no provisions at any branch for it to be done there. I wasn't so fond of that, though if I could have done it on a website....

Cheques.... I don't think I've written a cheque in well over ten years, not since paypal arrived. I receive precisely one each year, from my Aunt, on my birthday.

What I really don't like about online purchasing is the compulsory form filling along with personal details submission. There was a time when you had a product and I had the cash, I thought that your price was reasonable, handed over my money and you gave me your goods, along with some sort of warranty for a period of time to cover reliability. Now, online purchases demand your email address, your home address, all your various phone numbers and just to be sure you don't forget there's a reminder that says: "Fields marked with an asterisk must be answered." It begs the question why? And the answer is, so that we have a record of you and can build up a profile, a copy of which, we will sell to others.
Harvesting personal information has become big business, think about it next time you use a social media site, use a credit card, use a store loyalty card. Cash is king as far as I'm concerned, and hopefully, will be until I pop my mortal coil.
Have you ever noticed how big business and others with a vested interest, have a way of demeaning anyone who won't dance to their tune. People like me are dubbed dinosaurs. They can call me whatever they like, one thing they can't do is send me junk mail and email or pepper my screen with pop up adverts gleaned from my browsing.

A lot of it is very much about big data. In reality, cash is on the way out, and nothing will stop that, but certainly it means we all leave a trail which wasn't the cast thirty or forty years ago when more people used cash.

This is definitely one of the downsides to our over-reliance on technology. Even something as simple as a localized power outage can throw some businesses into turmoil because they haven't devised a back-up plan for such events. Technology in any form is a useful tool, but when it isn't working...

Indeed. IT's funny n the office on the rare occasion the web goes down - we all wander around not knowing what to do. To put the in perspective, I graduated twenty years ago this year. When I was an undergrad, we had email, but only in my postgrad year did we have regular access to the web at all. Some of my lecturers who were more au fait with technology were considered a bit weird. Nowadays, if a lecturer doesn't use powerpoint, the students wet themselves.

Have you got chip & pin yet? You might call it by another name. I remember reading that it was being delayed before being rolled out in the US, although that was a while ago. What it means is that the need to tap in your pin number is negated, you simply wave your card near the reader and the machine picks up your details like the scanner that picks up your purchase details from the bar code on them. Don't tell me that is safe, I simply don't believe it. My credit card company were astounded when I refused to accept this new technology, they said that I had no choice. Really? After fifty years with the same company I gave them notice and quit. I had so many calls from them, they assured me that this new technology was safe, but they couldn't answer me when I said that for fifty years they had accepted all my purchases, why change now? They didn't say as much, but I wouldn't mind guessing that the word dinosaur was mentioned.

Chip and pin is the standard, enter card, give pin number caper we've had for years. The thing you're thinking of is 'Contactless' - and I entirely agree. I was told by my bank originally that I had to have it, until I threatened to go elsewhere. They make it harder to get a card without it. I have to special order it from a branch, and they always ask why, and insist to me that it is secure, but I've noticed the last couple of times that this is more a matter of form, as they've made clear they won't refuse me it. Seems that there are quite a few folks objecting to it now. I know a guy who got charged for a coffee because he stood a bit too close the machine with the card in his wallet; they refunded immediately, but it shows you. All it needs is somebody on the tube in rushhour with a reader set to take the £30 maximum contactless fee from every card it can get in range of. I'm not convinced the random pin requirement every few purchases is protection enough.

The banks, of course, have an interest in this because what costs them money is how quickly chip and pin cards wear out. I have often had to ask for a new one within two years, not the four for which they are valid. Thing is, we're using them so much more now that they do wear out faster; contactless puts less wear and tear on the card, so it lasts longer, so costs the bank less in early replacements. I'd be perfectly happy to play along with this if they would only change the settings so that it required the pin to be entered *every* time, but this wave and off you go? No dice.

Although I am of retirement age, I still work, albeit part time. About six weeks into the employment I asked for my paycheck. In the UK we define the advice note that comes with your wages as the paycheck. I had been paid directly into my bank account but had not received an advice note. When I asked for it, the company explained that as they were small in the number of employees, they employed an outside accountancy company to process all wages and salaries. The advice note is sent by email.
"You'll be lucky," I said, I don't have an email address. You wouldn't believe the size of the fuse that blew because of this remark. Nobody knew what to do. I couldn't believe it, after all, contact by email hasn't been around so long that previous practice has been forgotten. When I suggested that the accountancy company emailed the company, who would then print it off for me, it was smiles of relief all round. The hand wringing and what are we going to do just had to be seen to be believed.

it's interesting how these things go, when they assume people comply with certain norms, or don't keep up with norms. I had a real hassle when I first moved to London and had only a mobile phone number. The number of theatre / show tickets where I had to give them my parents' landline number in Ireland because the form required a landline and otherwise they wouldn't deal with me.....

At the other end of the scale, we've recently had a nightmare trying to get Herself registered with a doctor in London, as they demand proof of address on a bank statement or utility bill (excluding mobile phone bills). All the bills are in my name as I lived in the flat for fifteen years before she moved in. All her bank statements (like most bills - I'm the same) are delivered online, not by print, and she's had to jump through hoops to have them send out one. It's nuts.

 

[Just Jim]

It gets worse. A while back I tried to sign up to pay another bill online. (This is the only bill I still write a check for: 1x per month, after I stumble around trying to remember where the checkbook is.) I go through ten minutes of nonsense, then they start asking me questions before I can access the online bill pay system. They want my phone number--I enter it--they say nope, that's wrong. I try the old landline number, cancelled ten years ago, but that's not it. They want a number in Iowegia. . . .

Four hours later (most of it spent on hold) I finally talk with someone who explains that I have to list every address and every phone number my wife and I have had in the past 15 years. I point out that I don't have that information--and haven't had a wife for 20 years! They suggest the easiest solution would be for me to contact my ex and get the information. . . and that it is my own fault for divorcing her.

I pay that bill in person now. In cash. Small bills. Sometimes I take a quart jar full of change. Each time they tell me they aren't set up for payments in person, or to handle cash, and request that I sign up to pay the bill online. Each time, I politely decline.

 

[PeterGunnLives]

Same here, never seen fried herring in glass jars. I lived in Germany and know that fried herring was commonly eaten near the North Sea coast of Germany, but we lived in Bavaria. There you could buy fried herring in tins. The glass jar variety was usually for pickled herring, a gross foodstuff as far as I'm concerned. Never saw much of the stuff here until the influx of Polish people over the past 15 years. Much like Sushi, I've never been tempted to eat the stuff.

I love sushi. An aspect of life in past decades that isn't known so much these days is physical culture. Certain strength/physique champs of the forties and fifties believed in eating just about everything raw, whether it be meat, fish, eggs, dairy, plants, or whatnot. I try to do this as much as I can, since I base my physical fitness routine on the way things were done sixty years ago, as I try to do with just about everything else in life.

 

[2jakes]

Online

It gets worse. A while back I tried to sign up to pay another bill online. (This is the only bill I still write a check for: 1x per month, after I stumble around trying to remember where the checkbook is.) I go through ten minutes of nonsense, then they start asking me questions before I can access the online bill pay system. They want my phone number--I enter it--they say nope, that's wrong. I try the old landline number, cancelled ten years ago, but that's not it. They want a number in Iowegia. . . .

Four hours later (most of it spent on hold) I finally talk with someone who explains that I have to list every address and every phone number my wife and I have had in the past 15 years. I point out that I don't have that information--and haven't had a wife for 20 years! They suggest the easiest solution would be for me to contact my ex and get the information. . . and that it is my own fault for divorcing her.

I pay that bill in person now. In cash. Small bills. Sometimes I take a quart jar full of change. Each time they tell me they aren't set up for payments in person, or to handle cash, and request that I sign up to pay the bill online. Each time, I politely decline.

Online, online, online!

There was a time when products came
with instructions and in different languages...alas... not anymore!

 

[Fading Fast]

It gets worse. A while back I tried to sign up to pay another bill online. (This is the only bill I still write a check for: 1x per month, after I stumble around trying to remember where the checkbook is.) I go through ten minutes of nonsense, then they start asking me questions before I can access the online bill pay system. They want my phone number--I enter it--they say nope, that's wrong. I try the old landline number, cancelled ten years ago, but that's not it. They want a number in Iowegia. . . .

Four hours later (most of it spent on hold) I finally talk with someone who explains that I have to list every address and every phone number my wife and I have had in the past 15 years. I point out that I don't have that information--and haven't had a wife for 20 years! They suggest the easiest solution would be for me to contact my ex and get the information. . . and that it is my own fault for divorcing her.

I pay that bill in person now. In cash. Small bills. Sometimes I take a quart jar full of change. Each time they tell me they aren't set up for payments in person, or to handle cash, and request that I sign up to pay the bill online. Each time, I politely decline.

I am not asking to pry, but your story piqued my curiosity - what company or what type of company was this? While it can sometimes be challenging to sign up, since most companies want you to pay online (as it saves them money), they tend to make sign up reasonably easy or, at least, when you call and tell them you need assistance signing up, they are helpful. What you experienced sounds as if it was the opposite which is a bit surprising.

 

[2jakes]

Watching TCM 99.9 % of the time.

When I see a movie in color I feel
like Dorothy in the Land of Oz...

"Toto... I have a feeling we're not in
Kansas!"


Also the nudity and language on movies
today.....

"Toto... now I know we're not in Kansas
anymore!"

 

[Trenchfriend]

Also the nudity and language on movies
today.....

Always good for the kids to have "arte"-channel with french movies, here.

 

[2jakes]

Always good for the kids to have "arte"-channel with french movies, here.

"arte-channel french movies"

Is that what they call them in
Deutschland ?

 

[Trenchfriend]

"arte-channel french movies"

Is that what they call them in
Deutschland ?

arte started as a really good cultural/alternative tv-channel, but sadly went to cultural-entertainment mainstream in the 2000s. But of course, the time of tv-channels is over...

 

[HanauMan]

arte started as a really good cultural/alternative tv-channel, but sadly went to cultural-entertainment mainstream in the 2000s. But of course, the time of tv-channels is over...

Used to watch German TV all the time when we lived there: ARD, ZDF, HR, BR and even DDR. It was a good way to learn the German language, especially watching American shows and movies dubbed into German. I was a teenager back then, watched a lot of German music shows like Plattenkuche. Also Disco, hosted by that cool German daddy-o Ilja Richter.

Other than that, it was AFN radio and AFN TV. Those were the days.........

 

[GHT]

I am not asking to pry, but your story piqued my curiosity - what company or what type of company was this? While it can sometimes be challenging to sign up, since most companies want you to pay online (as it saves them money), they tend to make sign up reasonably easy or, at least, when you call and tell them you need assistance signing up, they are helpful. What you experienced sounds as if it was the opposite which is a bit surprising.

That was my thoughts too. Companies want you to pay online, then make it almost impossible to do so, madness.

When I came to the point that I required
a notepad to remember the current
username & password. I stopped doing
online transactions.

In the UK we are can pay most bills at The Post Office counter, just like a bank. It's a Godsend for dinosaurs like me. Furthermore, when I was in business with my brother, one of our clients used to pay our invoice in cash. The reason being that his bank used to charge him 78 pence per 100 pounds deposited, it didn't sound much but a lot of his business was retail, small amounts of cash over the counter.
We too would be charged for a cash deposit so my brother and I paid ourselves in cash. I would then pay all my bills in cash, The Post Office had a small retail shop beside the Post Office counter, they were only too aware of the banks charging for cash deposit, so never questioned me when I paid my bills, sometimes hundreds of pounds, over the counter.

 

[OldStrummer]

Guys who wear hats indoors. Oh, it's okay walking through a grocery store or any place that's deemed public, but if you sit down, you ought to remove your hat.

That is all.

 

[Just Jim]

I am not asking to pry, but your story piqued my curiosity - what company or what type of company was this? While it can sometimes be challenging to sign up, since most companies want you to pay online (as it saves them money), they tend to make sign up reasonably easy or, at least, when you call and tell them you need assistance signing up, they are helpful. What you experienced sounds as if it was the opposite which is a bit surprising.

Auto insurance. Why they make such a hassle of it is beyond me; they made a change and started using Transunion to confirm identities of people trying to pay online. I know a couple people who have changed insurers because of this, and I've considered it myself.