slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
Each and every Windows OS after XP.
What's been a backwards step in technology for you?
- Thread starter Nigeyy
- Start date
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- Tags
- technology
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weareHKR
Senior Member
- Location
- North East Coast - UK
Don't believe any of that, I've been working in packaging for about 25 years now around the world, from bottling drinks, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, dressings & sauces, motor products etc etc, I can tell you the equipment now is costly I agree but they're definitely more reliable & 3 or 4 times faster, require less mechanical parts, most places I go to I don't even need any tools, just a laptop! Indeed most places I go don't have maintenance engineers anymore, they dont even have any engineering workshops!
OP
OP
Nigeyy
Legendary Member
- Location
- Massachusetts, USA
Reading the responses gave me a new backwards step in technology: the auto answering service for companies -you, know "if you called about an unanswerable question, please press 1. If you called to get help, please hang up and try again"
Can't say how many times I've called with an incredibly simple question (such as "what does this charge on my bill mean?") and had to go through multiple iterations of pressing buttons to get to a real person who can actually answer the question. I've resorted to pressing zero immediately with this, but it seems some companies have realized they are depriving you of painful torture and don't respond to it.
Yes, I know it was more expensive back in the old days when they used real human beings, but boy, was it easier and less stressful. Further, it's not like service has improved, I mean with all the ludicrous button pressing (often times never getting an option that is pertinent to your question) it's now a lot worse! My personal theory about it is simple: it saves money, and since everyone else is doing it, it doesn't make a difference if the service is now worse. Plus of course all that saved money can go as bonuses to the top execs for running the company, yay!
Also I should add in my alternate reality, I dream about corporate execs having to use the automated phone system to get absolutely anything done, for example wanting reports in a word document ("if you called about a report, press 2. If you want this report in excel format, press 5, if you want it in pdf format, press 9. For all other formats please hang up and try again"). Of course if the corporate types ever did have to do this, I'd predict the end of automated phone systems immediately. It would be fun to see this though!
Can't say how many times I've called with an incredibly simple question (such as "what does this charge on my bill mean?") and had to go through multiple iterations of pressing buttons to get to a real person who can actually answer the question. I've resorted to pressing zero immediately with this, but it seems some companies have realized they are depriving you of painful torture and don't respond to it.
Yes, I know it was more expensive back in the old days when they used real human beings, but boy, was it easier and less stressful. Further, it's not like service has improved, I mean with all the ludicrous button pressing (often times never getting an option that is pertinent to your question) it's now a lot worse! My personal theory about it is simple: it saves money, and since everyone else is doing it, it doesn't make a difference if the service is now worse. Plus of course all that saved money can go as bonuses to the top execs for running the company, yay!
Also I should add in my alternate reality, I dream about corporate execs having to use the automated phone system to get absolutely anything done, for example wanting reports in a word document ("if you called about a report, press 2. If you want this report in excel format, press 5, if you want it in pdf format, press 9. For all other formats please hang up and try again"). Of course if the corporate types ever did have to do this, I'd predict the end of automated phone systems immediately. It would be fun to see this though!
As someone who worked in business telecoms and programmed auto-attendant systems on a regular basis to suit our customers requirements I will add that the reason why a lot of companies wanted to go down that road was often prompted by a lot of nuisance calls from automated diallers or telesales people and an AA can weed them out and save employee time from answering spam calls.
Occasionally you got tiny companies with a handful of employees who wanted to appear bigger than they actually are by having all these "press 1 for accounts, 2 for sales, 3 for aftersales service, etc" options like some huge professional company and in all cases the call was going to the same person
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
The new machines can actually make a pack with a handle, something the original couldnt. Trouble is, in the intervening 20 years, I've yet to see that handle applied to any pack in the uk market. So it has the ability to make something we never use here.
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
If only that were true of the particular machines I'm talking about.
Tbf, punnet heat sealing machines we also use for instance have advanced immensely, beyond belief, for the better and for all the reasons you state. But the citrus packing machines I'm talking about havnt.
Self service checkouts in supermarkets. 
Why pay a human being when you can supply a machine that will cause the customer endless frustration by announcing "unexpected item in bagging tray" or else refuse to register that I've placed a lightweight item in the bagging tray and refuse to accept your coins or slightly less than perfect bank note so that quickly popping into the shop for a loaf takes way longer than it should do and will usually require the intervention of a human anyway
I choose a supermarket that doesn't use these hideous creations.
Why pay a human being when you can supply a machine that will cause the customer endless frustration by announcing "unexpected item in bagging tray" or else refuse to register that I've placed a lightweight item in the bagging tray and refuse to accept your coins or slightly less than perfect bank note so that quickly popping into the shop for a loaf takes way longer than it should do and will usually require the intervention of a human anyway
I choose a supermarket that doesn't use these hideous creations.
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Digital picture frames With wires. Anyone still using one ?
HMS_Dave
Grand Old Lady
I've had a few issues with them. Ive had one charge my debit card twice, the usual "unexpected item" malarky and the yellow sticker jobbies that have a dim printed barcode which a lot of the time doesn't read and then you're left typing an long line of numbers which in the end probably wont work and then you're waiting on an assistant. Despite my woes, i still find myself going to them before i later think, why did i do this?Self service checkouts in supermarkets.
Why pay a human being when you can supply a machine that will cause the customer endless frustration by announcing "unexpected item in bagging tray" or else refuse to register that I've placed a lightweight item in the bagging tray and refuse to accept your coins or slightly less than perfect bank note so that quickly popping into the shop for a loaf takes way longer than it should do and will usually require the intervention of a human anyway
I choose a supermarket that doesn't use these hideous creations.
slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
Smart motorways. You'll die when your stationary car gets crushed by a giant truck.....but hey!.....it's Smart!
weareHKR
Senior Member
- Location
- North East Coast - UK
accountantpete
OAP
Linux Mint Ulyana
I much prefer 19 Tara
I much prefer 19 Tara
Yellow Fang
Legendary Member
- Location
- Reading
Digital telly. Before when I had analogue and I had poor reception, at least I had some sort of picture. If I had a telly with an indoor aërial, I could mess around with the aërial a bit. Now I don't see nothing.
DAB is not only digital radio, it is entirely the wrong kind. Given that it is the only one we have there is no alternative. The original features on receivers included pause and record, now dropped on most models.
classic33
Leg End Member
Is it though?
From 2010
https://lock-picking.wonderhowto.com/how-to/use-tennis-ball-unlock-car-doors-without-key-396347/
Climbing shoe used to "wind down" an electric window, on a transit minibus, without setting the alarm off.
