By Stuart Adelberg
Sometimes I wonder who technology is intended to serve. Perhaps this story will explain why.
A few weeks ago my Dad wanted to order takeout from a favorite local restaurant. Dad is capable, in excellent health, and enjoys his independence as he approaches his 90th birthday. Despite this, a concern about takeout is parking and picking up your food without having to walk a distance. The restaurant is on a busy street, and Dad is loathe to double park, fearful of creating a traffic headache for others. I suggested that he call the restaurant and ask if someone might bring the order to his car, noting his age and the parking challenge. The adventure begins.
A recording picks up Dad’s call, indicating that the restaurant no longer answer the phone. To make a reservation, place an order, or communicate you must go to their website. So he did. The only way to communicate there is via email, which isn’t likely to help him tonight. Oh well! Not one to be put off, and getting hungrier by the minute, Dad decided to place the order anyway. He browsed the menu and began. Now the restaurant’s website sent him to another website that handles their takeout, but it wouldn’t let him proceed because he “didn’t have an account.” The adventure continues.
Dad set out to create an account, following the prompts and entering information that seemingly has nothing to do with dinner. Note that Dad was doing this on his cellphone, since this all began with an attempted phone call. The site said it would send a security code to ensure that it was really him. Now the process became dicey as Dad wasn’t sure how to check texts without leaving the website. He figured it out and got the code, which, of course, he struggled to remember by the time he got back to the website. Eventually – success!!! Now, the website wants him to create a password, the bane of my Dad’s existence. The last thing he wants is another password, just to satisfy tonight’s desire for dinner. The adventure has now been going on for more than 30 minutes.
Finally, Dad calls me, exasperated at wasting all this time when he just wants to order dinner. Wanting to be helpful, I offer to place the order that he can then go pick up. I assume the website has a way to order as a “guest” without creating a new account. Foolish me! Fortunately, I discover that I already have an account on this site, so I proceed with the order. Just when I think everything is good, the website tells me that they will send a code to my phone that must be shown to pick up the food. Well this won’t do me any good, since I’m not the one doing the pick-up. So I search for a place to provide a different phone number for the code, emailing Dad to be on the lookout for the text. Neither of these things happened.
At this point my father calls back telling me to forget it! No restaurant is worth an hour’s aggravation, so he is making himself a sandwich before he faints from hunger. He is angry and pledges that not only won’t he do takeout from this restaurant, but he will never go back there even to eat in person. In his mind, dinner to them is nothing more than a transaction and they have obviously lost any concern for their customers!
Technology can be a beautiful thing – unless you happen to be hungry!
