@breadandcircuses I had to use my employer's "convenient" journey booking system yesterday (so that they pay and I don't have to pay then expense it). It took me 35 minutes to go through the process of booking a train and a hotel.

I notably could not book a taxi or a bus for the last leg of the journey.

I could book a flight or a car (I don't drive). Not allowed 1st-class on the train either (I would have paid the difference).

@breadandcircuses
I had the exact thought today when changing to the third train at my trip, struggling to get the correct ticket for that trip, thinking

How easy is was before, with a paper in your hand.

@breadandcircuses

A company so determined to make it that much harder to accept a customer's money is a business obviously not interested in the sale.

I understand that the customer service agent is required to "upsell" these false narratives of ease & convenience.

They're required to repeat the company line.

However, agents face the brunt of customer's rage over the rigmarole.

I pity the Walmart serfs having frustrated customers give up at self-check outs & leaving without buying.

@breadandcircuses

This has been my week. Infuriating.

@breadandcircuses

bay area rapid transit operators just printed me a free round trip ticket

i'm not on the other side of the digital divide and i still failed to get the smartphone tickets to work

everyone knows public transportation is free if you know. it's an opt-in payment system and should be publicly funded forever.

@breadandcircuses

"For improved customer experience, our ticket booking website only works with AI enhanced browsers and requires a full biometric scan of your entire body for security and privacy assurances"

@breadandcircuses I have just now been stuck behind someone in a supermarket queue who insisted on using an app to pay for their shopping.

The app wasn't loading and then there was some other issue as well. It took several minutes of faffing around for them to finally pay, when they could have simply tapped their bank card on the payment machine.

Apparently you get occasional discounts on certain products with the app. I'd sooner pay more for the convenience of not having to use an app. 😆

@breadandcircuses
@briankrebs

Tell me about it. Because guess whose website is fkn unusable on a phone??

(No, Ticketmaster, I do NOT want to install your app.)

@breadandcircuses a whole ton of touristy type places like zoos and aquariums are like this now. :(

Also, a local takeaway-only restaurant has opened recently that consists only of a kitchen with a couple benches outside. You can't order food from them without going to their website and paying online.

@breadandcircuses

Is there anything done in America that's easy ??

@breadandcircuses Japan is the weirdest: you can pay for trains using an IC card which you can refill at ticket machines (but only with cash, no credit cards!)

For the Shinkansen, though, you must still buy the ticket from a machine or from one of 3 JR websites, depending on the line. Only in some cases, you can associate each ticket with an IC card by typing a 13-digit code.

Otherwise, you can also print a QR code which you can then use at a ticket machine to redeem the paper ticket 🙃

@breadandcircuses

Yea, called #DigitalTransformation, one of those foolish things mankind pursues.

"Tech is good, tech is progress. So throw more of it into society". And we do, like there's no tomorrow.

@breadandcircuses yesterday at a store I just wanted to find out if an item was on sale. I'm told "it's all on the app" which I refuse to download. The employee then had to login to their personal app themselves to tell me.

What Fucking hell have we made for ourselves.

@breadandcircuses the best part is this blurb actually leaves out several steps

(create a password that fits these requirements, check your email for the confirmation email, check your spam folder if it didn't show in your inbox)