As I was paying for my purchase at an otherwise modern retail store, I encountered a rather odd scenario on the POS terminal. The text asking me to swipe my card was legible enough. But when I got to the screen where it usually asks you to sign and press OK, none of the text […]

Last weekend, I bought a new pair of dress pants. Before I headed to the register to check out, I asked the sales rep if they were running any specials. It turned out there was a promotion for 40% off anything in the store. So, I went right back to the area where the first […]

For most online retailers, it’s standard practice to include a packing slip in every box they ship. This serves as a checklist for the shipping department to verify that all the right items are in there, and also functions as a receipt for the customer. But what if the buyer doesn’t want a packing slip? […]

Last Saturday, I called the pharmacy to refill a prescription. I waited on hold for about five minutes, which is much longer than usual, and figured that it must have been really busy over there. So, I hung up, took care of some other tasks, and tried again about 15 minutes later. However, the result […]

I’ve been shopping for a new multi-function printer for our office, which will be replacing a flaky older model that we’re glad to be rid of. Typically, this sort of device includes copy, print, scan, and fax features. Oddly, when reading the reviews of various products, I noticed a common issue: the scan-to-email feature seems […]

If you’ve ever filled out a form on a website, you’re probably familiar with those annoying word verification prompts, more formally referred to as a “CAPTCHA”. I don’t even know what that crazy acronym stands for, but like most people, I find the process of trying to decipher and type in a cryptic string of […]

A few days ago, I came across a gadget that I haven’t used in quite some time. I turned it on to see if it still worked, and sure enough, it powered up just fine. Next, I wondered what kind of batteries it required. After removing the bottom cover, I saw a big battery and […]

As part of registering for a particular conference call, I was asked to agree to a brief set of terms and conditions. I had a few concerns with the original language, so I sent over an alternate set of text. The conference organizer said my version was fine, and that was that. Then, during the […]