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Recurring Payments

Sunday, December 11th, 2011

One of the common online services that I find very frustrating is the functionality of many utility providers to set up recurring payments. I would understand it if the functionality was complex, difficult to get right, but recurring payments are pretty straightforward. It’s pretty clear what the right thing to do here is.

When I set up a recurring payment, I want to pay the bill — the bill that until now I used to pay manually (unless this is the first time I’m paying the bill) — automatically. So that I don’t have to worry about it. I don’t want to start paying two months from now, and I don’t want to pay the next month’s bill twice. I just want it to work. Unfortunately, it doesn’t.

I never trust the service when I’m doing setting up recurring payments. Many providers don’t make it clear which payments I set up, starting when, and how they may interact with manual payments. The user interface is always complicated, which doesn’t make sense to me because the expected user experience is very simple. And I don’t buy that setting up a recurring payment should take two cycles (seems like an artifact of how things used to be done — when changes made by mail might take a week to reach the processing center, which could cause a race condition; but even then, again, it’s clear that I simply want to ensure I continue paying the bill and never have to pay twice for the same bill).

Thank you to my friend S.C. for inspiration for this.

Posted in The Daily Badness, technology | No Comments »

Bumper guards

Saturday, December 3rd, 2011

Bumper guards — those rubber sheets people stick out of the trunks of their cars to protect their bumpers from dents — are the surest way to:

Make your car look ugly. I understand their appeal — though I haven’t verified it myself, I am sure they protect somehow from small scratches and dents, but at what aesthetic price! It’s like a bib for your car.
Make other drivers bump into you more. Presumably the existence of a rubber surface will protect both cars so the driver who might otherwise be careful will take a few more liberties getting out of that ridiculously cramped parking spot.

I wonder how many people get them having done the research to figure out how effective they are. In other words, is it just a fad, or is there some merit to the idea? (While I should have checked, the disgust I feel for what they make cars look prevents me from spending much time on them. Maybe except for this post.)

Posted in The Daily Badness, human nature, products | No Comments »

Carry-on Luggage? Think again.

Monday, November 28th, 2011

It’s saddening that flying has become something akin to colonoscopy – a necessary agony. I don’t know enough to have an opinion on whether I blame the airplane companies for this (who, due to the high barrier of entry, have become near-monopolies and thus don’t innovate and worry only about cost-cutting) or the government (which imposes all these rules and fees on the airline companies) or the industry itself (it’s just bound to suck).

The newest annoyance (or maybe the newest for me as previously I haven’t felt the pain) is the airlines’ decision to charge for checked luggage which incentivizes everyone on the flight to carry large carry-ons. Combined with densely packed seats, this means that there is no room for all the carry-ons on the plane so some passengers are forced to check their carry-on in. Which sucks if you have things in your carry-on that can get damaged, if you don’t want to incur additional delay at arrival, hate how the baggage is handled, worry about it being lost or stolen, and so on — I’m sure the list goes on.

The most annoying thing? Somehow airlines didn’t think it fair to randomize the selection of carry-ons so those in later groups always get penalized while those in group 2 almost never do.

Posted in The Daily Badness, changes/cyclical | No Comments »

Turn Off All Electronic Devices

Sunday, November 27th, 2011

Flying gives me all this new material to file under Daily Badness… this Thanksgiving, I was infuriated by a flight attendant who insisted that I “turn off” my Kindle reader while being totally fine with the person next to me listening to music. There are so many things wrong with this, where should I begin.

For one, e-ink screens only consume power when I turn the pages so for the overwhelming majority of time the device is as good as turned off (with the added twist of irony where “turning off” the device would have to be me simply putting it away). The interference such a device might cause is also likely an order of magnitude greater than any interference that a music player may cause. Finally, it’s very likely that the person listening to music wasn’t listening to it on his casette tape player, and the hidden device he used is likely significantly more complex than the Kindle.

Posted in The Daily Badness, comparisons, technology | No Comments »

People not signaling their intention to turn

Monday, November 21st, 2011

Somehow signaling turns has become optional in the U.S. This really bothers me for two very important reasons.

First, I frequently run into drivers stopped at the red light, in the left lane. Only when the light turns green do they magnanimously decide to signal, a fraction of a second before actually turning. This is incredibly frustrating when I’m the sucker stuck behind such a driver, unaware of the driver’s intention to turn left (and thus block the lane for an extended period of time as oncoming traffic passes).

Secondly — and this is more dangerous — this pervasive not signaling has set implicit expectations that other drivers have regarding other vehicles on the road. In some intersections (and there obviously is one right where I work), where most drivers turn left or right and don’t go straight, drivers from the oncoming lane turning left are very likely to assume you are also turning even if you aren’t signaling the turn, and thus fail to give you the right of way. If everyone always signaled, this would not be as common.

A few years ago I spoke to a colleague of mine who said he only signals his intention to change lanes on the highway if he deems it necessary. This is obviously flawed, as many times he can’t be the judge of what is necessary. It just surprises me that people cut corners so much on a motion that you can do without using up an extra hand, simply by moving your finger by half an inch. And if we compromise on that, why not compromise on other laws such as stop signs or driving in the lane?

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No, fraud protection is for your convenience

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011

I hate it when customer service representatives tell me that for my convenience, they don’t accept certain credit cards, or require an ID, or put in place some other, seemingly fraud-protecting, silly rule. I wish they didn’t just lie to me. Tell me truth. The rule is there for your convenience — so you don’t have to deal with the credit card company. The probability that I would be affected by this rule is miniscule: even if somebody stole my credit card number to make a purchase at such a place, I am not responsible for the purchase.

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A painful consequence of my philosophy

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

A big problem with biking in Central Park is everyone else using the circuit, but especially pedestrians and joggers crossing the road, and casual bikers.

Riding defensively (slowing down near any pedestrian and casual biker, assuming that everyone is an idiot and will make a sudden move towards traffic) is simply impractical. It was my initial approach, but very quickly I realized that the resulting stop-go motion takes away from the entire pleasure of biking and defeats the purpose of having a circuit to bike on.

The fact is, you only have about one second to figure out if the person in the danger zone is an idiot (not paying attention), an asshole (having a sense of entitlement to think everyone else will move aside), or just efficient (is well aware of the surrounding and is in control of the path to ensure a collision will not occur). It’s harder than it seems.

In my desire to implement my philosophy of “commonsense right of way” I let the pendulum swing too far. A bruised tail bone and a whimpering jogger on the ground later, I was forced to revisit my approach.

Assume the other person is deaf. That was effectively the case with the aforementioned jogger who had her music blasting on at full volume. Or purchase a really loud bike horn (is there even such a thing?).
Watch out for signs of idiocy — a cyclist moving at 3 mph, swerving left and right, a jogger crossing the road in a direction almost parallel with the flow of traffic, a biker slowing down (they usually do rapid 90 degree turns, having gotten bored with riding their bike), people riding these rented tourist bikes

Posted in The Daily Badness, changes/cyclical, for reflection, funny, human nature | No Comments »

Pedestrians vs Bikes

Friday, August 19th, 2011

Ever since I started biking in Central Park, I’ve been formulating my opinion of pedestrians.

For one–I’m just going to get this off my chest–I am increasingly frustrated by pedestrians who think they are entitled to just cross the street and bikers will slow down for them. I think it has to do with the sense of entitlement mostly because of the mixture of stubbornness and madness displayed on their faces; but also–let’s face it–surely they wouldn’t have done the same for a large ass truck heading their way.

In general, I found myself being less and less patient with pedestrians (I do, however, try to differentiate between those who just don’t pay attention and those who jaywalk to spite me). I used to slow down, later just swerve to avoid them. Now I’m pushing it more and more, engaging in this terrible game of chicken. I think, deeply, nobody wants to be run over by a cyclist (while the cyclist would definitely be injured and the bike damaged, the damage to the pedestrian is greater by simple laws of physics and the pedestrians must–let’s hope–understand that intuitively).

Crosswalks are interesting in Central Park. While they are accompanied by traffic lights, both pedestrians and cyclists seem to ignore them by and large. My take on this is very simple: a crosswalk gives the cyclists the obligation to be more careful (it’s like a flashing amber light for regular traffic). A crosswalk with the walk signal for pedestrians gives the pedestrians right of way, by which I mean a pedestrian should feel to be in control of his or her pace in crossing the intersection in order to cross safely. In other words, a pedestrian should not have to hurry half way through the intersection because otherwise a racing cyclist hits him or her; a pedestrian should be allowed to slow down or speed up. The pedestrian is in control. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean the cyclist needs to stop at the crosswalk. So long as the cyclist ensures he or she is not on a collision course (with adequate buffer to account for a reasonable change in the pedestrian’s behavior), he or she can cycle through the intersection even when the pedestrian has a walk signal.

This rule is symmetric, of course. A cross with the don’t walk signal for pedestrians gives cyclists the right of way. A cyclist should not have to swerve or slow down in order to avoid hitting a pedestrian, but a pedestrian is welcome to cross if he or she is careful not to get in the way of a cyclist, taking into account a reasonable change in the cyclist’s behavior.

I like this rule because it’s unambiguous and efficient (it’s impractical for all cyclists and pedestrians alike to stop at all such crosswalks). Similarly, it does give the pedestrian a slight edge (cyclists must be careful around crosswalks) which seems fair given the prevalent opinion about relative rights of pedestrians, cyclists, and motor vehicle operators.

Now, if only I got everyone to listen to me and actually behave accordingly…

Posted in The Daily Badness, human nature, reductions, things everyone should do | 1 Comment »

Pardon my reach

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

When a waiter interrupts you drinking water to pour you more water.

I almost didn’t notice the ridiculousness of this situation.

Posted in The Daily Badness, funny | No Comments »

Elevator music (Part II)

Monday, May 16th, 2011

I think there are lots of ideas that seem good at a time (and perhaps are boosted by plenty of research) that become overimplement and thus abused, causing a reverse reaction. Two examples I was recently reminded of…

Elevator music. What was probably initially intended as a great measure to let the awkward time that total strangere spend in a claustrophobically small elevator pass more quickly, has become something I have a cynical reaction to (or one of disgust, more often). Worse, now not only elevators, but airplanes use it to, I guess, let the time pass better as I await take-off. While there may have been a study that shows that forgettable, mild music with no sharp tones, beats, minor chords or off-key notes is calming, its abuse defeats the purpose because it now becomes part of our collective subconsciousness.

Another example is the “no signal” screen that most projectors use is a pure blue screen. I heard somewhere that blue was chosen because it was relatively calming (curiously, the Windows crash screen is also a blue screen).

Of course, the blue projector screen may have been used for purposes different than psychological ones. Perhaps it was because blue is the primary color with the lowest luminance (a particular intensity of blue is three times less luminous than red, and six times less luminous than green) to ensure the bulb doesn’t burn out too easily. Of course, then my theory wouldn’t work — the abuse of blue screen doesn’t make it any more luminous — but if that was the only reason, I can think of a number of better screen-saving measures (for example, a less intense blue or a checkerboard pattern that would be impossible to mistake for blackness or an actual signal). So in a way, I hope I am right…

By the way — at first I didn’t even remember I already wrote about elevator music. I guess it truly is subconscious, after all.

Posted in The Daily Badness, human nature, products, technology | No Comments »