Technical Hitches


My on-line banking service is currently not available. Or ‘temporarily unavailable’ as they are declaring on their website. The media are having a field day, reporting widespread problems including card refusals. And here was I, a mere three hours ago, joking with the cashier in the shop that I wasn’t expecting my new card to work. Luckily for me it did.

The orange bloggy speech-bubble thingy up there on the top right of the screen, the one that glows when a comment, or a reply to a comment on another blog, is left; the one that becomes a plus symbol when someone new very kindly follows the blog; the one that becomes a star when someone likes the blog; you know, that symbol… that seems to be having technical issues with me. Or me with it. Or you with me / me with you, now, as well. It isn’t glowing all of the time.

Well, I mean every time a reply has been left for a comment I have left on another blog. And when I say every time, I mean most times. Sometimes, it still works. Not every time. It’s all rather complicated. But, I’d like to apologise if I miss a reply to one of my comments that required another comment from me. Sometimes trying to catch up with the posts is a task in itself, especially when I get myself behind, but the comments used to take care of themselves. Now they too, ‘temporarily’ (hopefully), are taking a little longer than usual to process.

Have you noticed the ‘like’ strip has changed as well? The row of Gravatars that grows longer and longer as more and more readers like the post they have just read? It appears to have changed to an expandable box, that doesn’t seem to want to expand every time. Maybe I’m expecting too much.

I expect automatic doors to open at the speed I expect them to open. I find myself staggered and flabbergasted if they open slower than usual, and I have to wait. I find myself even more staggered and flabbergasted if they are actually out of order temporarily, and I have to (gasp!) open the door, physically, myself.

I find myself flustered when I settle down to watch a programme on TV that I’ve set to record through the series-link option, and, in needing to know how the characters got out of the cliff-hanger they found themselves in last week, I find myself, ten minutes in, watching a Russian news programme that has been recorded in it’s place. Not only the wrong programme, but the wrong channel!

I’m irked when part-time traffic lights, introduced to control the flow of heavy traffic at ‘peak’ times, cause more pandemonium when they are switched on, than when they are off.

And I’m discombobulated by modern day technology as it is anyway. Not necessarily modern day technology for that matter. I could never get a Furbie to speak (the ones I came into contact with all wanted to dance and then go to sleep). I could never get to the end of the ‘Snake’ game on the old black and white Nokia mobile phones (other types of games and mobile phones are available) without catching my tail. And I could never get the hang of the phone book option on any mobile phone for that matter either.

The thing is, each and every one of these technical hitches are completely different from all the rest. The only constant between them all is me. So maybe, everything is actually working as it should be, and there is only one technical hitch. Me. There’s a saying that says if a pattern starts to develop then look in the mirror, or something like that.

Whenever I ring any technical helpline, they always imply it’s me.

Technology. When it’s good it’s good. When it’s not, it’s my fault. Sigh.

(Graphics are artist’s impressions. Ethan, the Furbie, is from the people who make Furbies. Ethan… Sleep… Again…)

31 responses to “Technical Hitches”

  1. Visionkeeper avatar
    Visionkeeper

    All is explained T with the fact it is mercury retrograde!!! Anything that can break will break, especially in the world of technology 🙂 The joys of mercury retrograde. One must be patient every month until it ends…..VK

    Like

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      That’s got to be it, VK! There’s a lot of technical breakdowns happy rather too coincidentally, if you ask me!

      Like

  2. Andra Watkins avatar

    You’ll be glad you left Facebook tomorrow, Tom, when they roll out the “new and improved” Timeline…………

    It isn’t that I don’t like technological change. I just want it to improve the experience, not detract from it.

    Like

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      They’ve made the adverts bigger, haven’t they, Andra? That’s what the news reports were saying.
      Everything will soon be one big advert…

      Like

      1. Andra Watkins avatar

        I haven’t been on there since this morning. I am mostly a Google + person these days. No ads and mostly interesting conversation.

        Like

  3. Let's CUT the Crap! avatar

    I love this post! LOVE, okay.
    Your last line sums this post up wonderfully: “Technology. When it’s good it’s good. When it’s not, it’s my fault. Sigh.”
    Ain’t THAT the truth? Sign.

    Like

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      The thing is Tess, they know that we know it.

      Like

  4. speccy avatar

    It’s the job of tech helplines to make you think it’s all your fault… It must be- that happens me too 🙂

    Like

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      It’s never them, Fiona. Always us.

      Like

  5. Jo Bryant avatar

    Nah…it’s not you…

    Like

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      I know that, Jo… and so do you. But try telling the techies that. We are always doing it wrong…

      Like

  6. penpusherpen avatar

    I’m staring into the sad blue eyes of Ethan , t’Furbie…Why?… erm.. .why sad or why am I staring?… Well, he started it!!… anywho… Sir Aquatom, ’tis the way of modern technology, if it goes asunder, it’s all Our fault, ‘cos no-one wants to take responsibility, and if’n they ever did, they’d have their pants sued off… So it’s always technical difficulties ‘cos we’ve overloaded t’system. … Also, it’s not you… it’s me…I touch something, look the wrong way at something at it blows a gasket, or falls apart… (which is why, when a kid, I kept hiding broken stuff under the settee. Very handy settee’s… 😉 ) xPenx

    Like

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      They are indeed, Pen. In fact, my armchair is another gateway into a dimension far, far away. The lens from my glasses ended up down there, as did the stylus from my hand-help computer thingy… neither seen again. I don’t want to investigate too far down into the armchair… I don’t know where I’ll end up!

      Like

  7. prenin avatar

    I have to go get my cash today and there’s a civil service strike due, so I’m hoping I get my cash before the crap hits the fan!!! 😦

    Technology is great when it works – trouble is people foul it up…

    God Bless!

    Prenin.

    Like

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      That’s a strike I haven’t heard of, Prenin… is it a local one?
      And yes. We make technology do things it wasn’t meant to.

      Like

      1. prenin avatar

        From what was said on the TV news it’s a civil service strike, but I’ve heard nothing since…

        God Bless!

        Prenin.

        Like

        1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

          I’ve still heard nothing about it Prenin. Very strange!

          Like

  8. The Laughing Housewife avatar

    It’s not your fault; it’s technology’s – it isn’t as perfect and hassle-free as they promised.

    But how can we live without it?

    😦

    Like

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      It doesn’t get time to become stable, I find, Tilly. It’s always changing… probably to stop us making it do what it wasn’t intended to do in the first place.
      But, even with its quirks, we need it…

      Like

  9. The Hook avatar

    You gotta love technology, right, Tom?

    Like

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      Well, yes. I wouldn’t want to be without it, Hook. Especially since I couldn’t get onto my bank account the other night…

      Like

  10. Elaine - I used to be indecisive avatar

    Whatever ails you regarding technology also ails me. It just needs to see me coming and something goes wrong! 😉

    Like

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      That’s technology for you, Elaine! 😀

      Like

  11. Sue Dreamwalker avatar

    HI Tom I read this, this morning and you haven’t been on your own with the problems, on WP with blips etc… I saw on the TV as I was getting ready for work this morning the problems with Cash cards at a certain bank..etc…
    We rely so much upon Technology and it makes you think just what would happen if everything did crash? and what chaos would ensue….
    Oh and those Furbies I got mine to talk LOL.. 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Like

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      I think, Sue, if everything went belly up, we’d wander around for a day or two not knowing what to do, and then we’d create something else to go wrong!
      Lucky you and your Furbies! Mine said a few words, but not for long… and then fell asleep.

      Like

  12. lameadventures avatar

    I’m with Prenin that technology is great when it works. I also agree with Andra about wanting technological change to improve the experience and not detract from it.

    That said, I was highly annoyed when my subway train pulled into the station this morning and we mush have waiting a five count — that felt more like a 50 count — for the conductor to open the doors. In that case, I blame human error. He was probably sending a text and not paying attention.

    I hope your online banking service problem has been resolved. I’ve been suffering the same pain as you about with my site’s notifications tab. WP has been very glitchy lately. Maybe they’ve been hacked and they’re keeping that on the downlow.

    Like

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      Quite possibly, LA, but they’re also continuously changing things, for improvements, so they may be in the middle of that for the notifications as well!
      I’d read your comment incorrectly the first time, and thought you’d sent the driver was sending a text message. I should read comments a little slower!

      Like

  13. shreejacob avatar

    Gee Tom…you sound so much like me!
    I like the way you wrote about your difficulties with the WP comment orangey thingie…..made it sound as complicated as a relationship! teehee!

    Like

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      It is complicated, Shree! That was the easiest way I could explain it!!!

      Like

  14. europasicewolf avatar

    I’m having trouble with the orange blobby comments thingy too…I click on it when it’s orange and blobby 😉 and it goes grey again…without opening…it LIES!! ALL the time!! However you can access all the comments from the Notifications tab on the drop down menu under the W symbol on the top L hand side of the blog page next to your pic. If you’re on that sort of page and not the blue simplified page type thingy …stupid…confusing…very inexplicable!
    The like button has an annoying habit of claiming to be “loading” I notice too…just that it never loads and you can’t like the post even when you do because the like button just isn’t there! 😀

    Like

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      Yep – I’m having that problem as well!
      I’m a little stinted, time-wise at present (for some reason that defies logic), so I have to reply to my comments through the comments page rather than the posts,as I usually do. I sometimes use the orange blobby thing, but don’t trust it at present.
      I’ve not had a problem with the like button itself… only the like panel.

      Like

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