Let’s say that you run an online service that is primarily used by other businesses. As part of the service, you send email reminders to your business customers when their immediate attention is required for a specific issue. Sometimes, you have no control over when these messages are sent, since issues can arise at any […]

A few days ago, I needed to look up an old support case that we had logged with a vendor. Their website keeps a record of all the historical cases, and it was easy to locate the right one. But when I opened up the page for that case, only the most recent set of […]

To make sending holiday packages a little bit easier (and avoid the dreaded post office), I decided to open an account with one of the national shipping companies. This process involved the following steps: – Create an online services login – Create a shipping account – Add payment info to the shipping account Sounds simple […]

While sending a package with a well-known delivery service, I came across a comparison table that described various add-on services that they offer. The table looked simple enough: there was one column for the name of the service, and another column labeled “Fee?”. I would have expected the second column to have a checkmark, “X”, […]

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 […]