Life In The Slow Lane

Technology is here to stay no matter how hard I try to fight it. I try to pay cash as much as I can, and I sometimes pay bills on line, but will often go in person to pay a bill. I still listen to my cassette tapes, but I have an iPod too, so you can see my dilemma. I am a combination of loving technology and absolutely hating it. I am stuck in the middle, or as the Bon Jovi song says, “I’m Half Way There.”

Cheque Please

With shopping online becoming more convenient and easy to use, I am finding it increasingly difficult to resist. I love to go to the mall, not just to shop, but also to people watch. Something online shopping companies haven’t mastered yet (but I’m sure they are working on it). Recently I had an indication that I might just be a bit out of step with the way the world is going on this, when I learned that a colleague at work never sets foot in a store and orders all her stuff from that company that rhymes with Glamazon.

Hearing this, I have to admit I got curious and was drawn into looking at all the stuff that you can purchase from Glamazon, and decided to dip my toe into the online shopping world. Rather than open up an account I asked my colleague if she would order something for me, which she happily did.

Little did I know that the biggest challenge in all this would be how to pay her for the order. She said “Easy peasy, just send an e-transfer.” Easy peasy alright, except at that point I wasn’t exactly sure what an e-transfer was and had never done one. I suggested that I could send her some cash in the mail, and she burst out laughing. I took that as being a no, and so I suggested I could mail her a cheque. Well, she started laughing even harder and said “Who writes cheques any more,” and I proudly said “I do.” Fortunately she was happy when she received my cheque in the mail a few days later.

With my colleague’s words about cheques ringing in my ear, shortly thereafter I realized I had run out of cheques, and had to go to the bank and order more. The people at the bank were more than happy to order more cheques for me. I just had to pay the equivalent of an arm, a leg and the price of my car and they would mail them right to my house in about a month…

And to add insult to injury, as I was leaving the bank, I heard the guy behind me whisper to his girlfriend those fateful words I heard from my colleague, “Who writes cheques any more?” I looked at both of them before I left the bank, and proudly said “I do.” But I must admit I am rethinking this whole cheque writing strategy and joining the e-transfer crowd instead.

Lets All Go To The Lobby

I love to go to movies, but with COVID having kept us indoors for the last 2.5 years this has not been an option for a while. I know there is Netflix, Amazon Prime and all that other stuff you can order from the comfort of your own couch, but in my mind, it just can’t replace a night out watching a movie on the big screen while munching on a $10 bag of popcorn and drinking a giant soda. It’s just not the same.

I have to be honest, it feels like I am the only person on the face of the planet who does not have a Netflix account. That realization was brought home to me one day when I was on a conference call with a client and a co-worker. They were talking about all the latest shows on Netflix. They eventually noticed that I was not making any contribution to the conversation and asked if I had seen the show they were talking about. When I told them I didn’t have Netflix, they all laughed so hard I thought they would never stop.

However, I got the last laugh when I told them I saw Bohemian Rhapsody in a movie theatre. Anyone who has seen this movie in the theatre would understand why they stopped laughing. Even if you have the world’s best entertainment system at home, it could never compare with seeing this movie spectacle in a theatre. But I do have to admit the show they were talking about sounded really funny, and I was sorely tempted to get Netflix, but I resisted… sigh…maybe some day.

I don’t know how many times I have been called old school, or had someone compare me to the Flintstones. I am okay with that. I am set in my ways, and don’t much like change (I am close to being a senior citizen after all), but that does not stop me from being curious. Maybe one day I will set up my own Glamazon account, stop writing cheques, and subscribe to Netflix or maybe I will just keep on keeping on with being half way there.

We plan on doing a new post every Monday so stay tuned for our next one entitled “Working 9 To 5.”