Two of the drive-throughs that YA and I frequent (especially in the summer) are Taco Bell and Dairy Queen. About eight months ago Taco Bell installed a chat bot to ask people if they are checking in using their Taco Bell app. I do have the app (it occasionally rewards me with a free burrito or fiesta potatoes) so the chat bot has actually been a good reminder to me to have the phone handy so I can give them the check-in code. At that point the system switches over to a live person to take your order.
About four months back, Dairy Queen went to a fully automated ordering system at their drive-through. I bristled at the idea but not enough to boycott my Dilly bars. Since YA and I are creatures of habit at Dairy Queen, it’s pretty simple and we haven’t had any ordering disasters.
Then two weeks ago I was by myself, getting my Dilly bar, and the automated voice had a southern drawl. I kid you not. It threw me for a loop and I spent the next hour or so trying to think back; had I completely missed that before? Then the following week when we were there, it was a male voice with a midwestern accent. I breathed a sigh of relief – I wasn’t going crazy. Then yesterday, it was a woman’s voice, but not the southern woman.
Of course, this leaves me with a bunch of questions. How many automated voice options are there? Who chooses which voice for the day (the manager, the person who opens, corporate office)? Or does the computer randomly pick voices during the course of the day? If a particular voice gets complaints, can they change it at the store level? Are the voices patterned after particular people or just AI-generated? What happens if you don’t want to order from a chat bot? Can you simply repeat “representative” until the computer gives up?
Any chat bots/automated systems driving you crazy? Or that you’ve made peace with?
We went to Columbus because I love the television show “Secrets of the Zoo”. It ran for five seasons beginning in 2018 and spawned “Secrets of the Zoo Tampa”, “Secrets of the Zoo North Carolina” and “Secrets of the Zoo Down Under”. Down Under was resurrected a couple of years ago for an additional season and depending on what you’re willing to believe on the internet, there MAY be a Season 8. I was (am?) addicted to these shows – loved seeing the animals and the folks who cared for them. I’ve definitely seen all the episodes of all the show and most of them more than once.
The original Secrets explored the behind the scenes lives of the animals, the zoo keepers and the zoo vets. They also shared each episode with The Wilds, a safari park and conservation area about 90 minutes from Columbus. It looked as fascinating as the zoo.
When Guinevere passed away, YA and I were suddenly free to travel together – something that hadn’t happened for about 5 years. We decided that going to Columbus to see the Zoo and the Wilds would be perfect.
As is my norm, I immediately got a binder out and made tabs for air, hotel, rental car, cat boarding, zoo, Wilds and miscellaneous.
YA used her work “points” for the rental car, spent some On the Fly cards for the air and got a smokin’ hot rate at a hotel using her Iatan status. Turns out we even got Comfort + seating because she’s got a gazillion Delta miles. I asked her for confirming emails for everything so I could print them out – she begrudgingly did this commenting that it wasn’t necessary since she had all the info on her phone. Even the kitty boarding place sent everything via text and email. But not to be outdone, I dragged the binder with us to Columbus.
Because we were leaving at an ungodly hour from Minneapolis, YA set up Lyft transfers (cheaper than the off-site lots at the airport). Once we got to Columbus, she did all the driving because it would have cost extra every day to add a driver. So I let her choose the car. I didn’t even know what hotel we were going to before we drove up. She had handled that as well, including making sure it was a double/double configuration.
Really the only thing I was in charge of was the Zoo and the Wilds. Even those were handling with QR codes (used our MN Zoo membership to get a discount) and getting emails with links and receipts. Just had to flash my phone at the entrance of both.
Suffice it to say, YA was mostly in charge of everything during the trip and I didn’t open my binder one single time. It felt kind of freeing but sigh… the times they are a changin’.
How has travel changed for you over the years? For the good or for the bad?
It has been a real eye opener moving here from the middle of nowhere on the Northern Plains. The weather here is far more changeable and unpredictable. Pickup trucks are fewer and smaller. Lots more bugs.
Sioux Falls is our “big town ” for shopping. It is only 24 miles away as opposed to Bismarck, our former “big town” that was 100 miles away. Trips to Bismarck were few and far between. Even so, we really don’t want to be running to SF all the time for things we need that we can’t get in Luverne. That means more ordering on-line.
We have been astounded by the speed on-line orders are delivered to us. The other day I ordered some bookends at about 10:00 am. They were delivered by 6:00 pm the same day. Other orders come overnight and are delivered between 5:00 am and 8:00 am. Is this normal? Does this happen elsewhere? I think if folks back in western ND knew this was possible, they would protest the wait times for their deliveries!
I wonder, though, how long deliveries across the country will be quick and speedy. The other day I got an email from a produce company in Oregon I often order celery root and savoy cabbage from. They were offering a $500 bonus to any customer who could recommend a CDL trucker who could deliver their produce. There seems to be a trucker shortage. Hmm. I wonder why?
Do you get orders delivered fast? Tell some delivery stories. Know any truckers?
To say I have a love/hate relationship with my cable company is to overstate half of that equation. After many many years of being disappointed by them (service, price, communications), I pretty much approach any interaction with them with trepidation.
A couple of weeks ago I got an e-mail and then a couple of texts about upgrading my gateway. Since I wasn’t even sure what that was, I ignored the texts. Then a few days later, I got two more texts. These day, I hardly click on any links that are sent to me…. way too many scammers… so last Thursday, I made a quick appointment and headed over to their store. I wanted a straight answer about what this was, was it really necessary and the most important, if there was a cost attached. I wanted a live person to look me in the face to give me the facts and then hand me their business card so I had their name.
Turned about to be fairly easy. Although they’re calling it an upgrade for me, it was clear that they are trying to get everybody on the same platform with the same connections/software so it will be easier/cheaper for them. But since it wasn’t going to cost me anything, I said “OK”. But before he went to get the new modem, he launched into a pitch for getting my mobile phone service. This isn’t the first time I’ve encountered this so I fended him off pretty swiftly. I got the new modem, went home and set it up. It went better than I expected.
Next morning, I had to take the old modem back; I got to the store at 10, their opening time. A different young man waited on me. I told him I wanted a receipt, since I don’t have much faith in their ability to keep track of whether I’ve returned equipment (previous bad experience). He looked me up to get the receipt and then promptly headed down the mobile phone service path. I cut him off and said I wasn’t interested and I had told my salesperson just yesterday that I wasn’t interested in “putting all my eggs in *_____*’s basket”. He kept going so I had to amp up a bit. I said “we’re still paying down our phones (not true) but even if we were not, I STILL wouldn’t give you all my mobile business.” He did stop at that point. Sigh.
In a perfect world, I won’t have to confront the dragon again for about a year but I’m thinking that I’ll wear a namebadge that says “Please don’t ask me about my mobile service.”
Have you had to handle any pushy salesfolks lately?
Yesterday Husband and I successfully closed out a small retirement account he has had for years. The occasion marks a finale in business actions we have been deluged with for the past 14 months.
When I say “we” I really mean “me” since I am the one who has handled the bulk of address changes, registrations, and monetary decisions needed with our retirements and move. I am so sick of dealing on-line and over the phone with faceless beings, automated “helpers”, and pressing the needed number on the phone keypad to get my work done.
For some reason I was dreading this final transaction more than any of the others. I kept putting it off, finding more pressing things to do instead. It left me sleepless, and gave me bad dreams. I think the issue was that Husband had to do the bulk of the work on the phone, and that left me feeling out of control. I really didn’t want the control, but that is the essence of anxiety, I think. I am a master of avoidance.
Yesterday’s transaction went without a hitch. I am so relieved! Now it is just a matter of getting everything to our accountant to do our taxes. All I need to do is mail it, since I collected everything needed. My new task is to find the next thing I need to worry about.
Way too warm for February. But the chickens sure enjoying having some grass and sunshine. The dogs, too. And if we can get rid of some of the ice between the house and shed, maybe Luna will chase the ball over that way instead of standing here watching it go.
I’m thinking I’ll use the tractor loader and try to move some of the piles of snow and gravel from the grass back onto the the road. Although I’m pretty sure we’ll get some more snow this winter. I mean, it’s only February. We just never know anymore.
At the college I had to create a new computer password. The muscle memory has not formed yet and it takes me four tries to log in.
At the local school district, their passwords have to be 15 characters plus all the special stuff. Seems like sometime last summer I couldn’t get logged into email and I kinda forgot about it. I don’t get that much email on that account so it didn’t really matter. Every now and then I’d try to log into a computer and get frustrated and just give up on it. Eventually I got around to trying to get the password reset. I can’t do that from home, it has to be on a district computer. So I tried that, and it still didn’t work. I talked to my boss who had me contact IT. That guy looked me up in the system and said “Huh!”. Hate it when people say that in regard to me… He said I wasn’t in the system and eventually sent me to HR. HR said I wasn’t assigned to a department and therefore, I ceased to exist. Well, I beg to differ! I use to exist. Yep, they knew that, but I don’t anymore. So it was a whole thing to start over and get back in the system. I got a new ID badge complete with a photo of my choosing from my phone, because the lady in HR readily admitted their camera takes lousy photos. So that was nice.
Another guy in the room said he hadn’t seen an ID badge as old as mine in a long time. I was two versions behind. Huh!
A while ago.
So now I’m able to log in, using a password that’s a practically a short sentence. And no way to see it as you type (they’ve had some security issues in the past). I check my email more often and I get a lot more emails too. Be careful what you wish for.
This weekend is the 60th Annual National Farm Machinery show in Louisville KY.
It’s the largest indoor farm show in the world, with over 900 booths on “27 acres of interconnected indoor exhibit space”. Admission is free if you’d like to pop in. Expect to be overwhelmed. Many of the YouTube farmers I watch are there. Of course this has all the newest big shiny equipment on display. Oh, there’s a few older tractors for show, but this is the place to show off the latest and greatest.
I spent a couple hours Friday in a meeting at the local Soil and Water Conservation office meeting with Angela and Jenna. After clearing all the tree’s and reshaping the waterway two years ago, I learned I really should have talked to them first. So last year Angela and I looked at a few areas of the farm and she put together a plan to stop the erosion and repair this gully in the pasture.
Another project in the works
At the top, a small dam would be built, about 4 feet tall and 150 feet long. An upright pipe would be installed at the front with a drainage line running about 50’ downhill. That structure would collect the water funneling into this area, slow it down, and release it over several hours. That in turn, would prevent the erosion happening further downhill. At the bottom, the gully would be filled in, the area re-shaped, and a proper waterway built. There are some springs down there which would be directed into the new waterway once fully seeded and established.
Because our farm is in the Zumbro Valley Watershed area, cost sharing would bring our actual cost down to about 10% of the total. Well that sounds like a plan!
I also asked about a program called RCPP. Regional Conservation Partnership Program. I heard about this program last week at the soil health meeting. I have part of one field edge that has a pretty good slope too it, and every spring I get a small gully along the edge. The edge of a field where a person turns for the next pass, those areas are called headlands. I’ve tried to create a berm to keep the rainwater off the headland rows, but every spring I get a new gully. The RCPP program would do some cost sharing to create a permanent grass area there so rather than working up the ground of the headlands, I’d be turning on the grassy area.
And since the office is having their annual tree and shrub sale, Kelly and I were discussing where we could plant some trees. One thing we thought was to plant a wind break where we put the snow fence. Guess what? Cost sharing for that too! It was a very good meeting!
Check out the spurs on this rooster.
You’ll poke your eye out with those things!
He is one of the roosters who’s kind of a bully to the hens. He’s pretty though. And isn’t that the way? All looks, no class.
Last weekend I got the new shop exhaust fan wired up, and I put a new gasket under one toilet this week (a project I put off for two months because I’d never done it before and I had some concerns.) In the end, I spent more time cleaning off the old wax gasket and cleaning the floor around the toilet than the actual repair took. This weekend I’ll be changing the kitchen faucet spray wand and tubing. This is the fourth one I’ve ordered. The first three were wrong. Now we’re changing the hose as well. Kudo’s to Moen and their lifetime warranty for admitting their mistake and shipping parts to me no charge.
WHAT WAS YOUR CHILDHOOD PHONE NUMBER?
WHAT WAS THE FIRST THING FOR WHICH YOU NEEDED A PASSWORD?
Trail Baboon 