Before
lock down I had absolutely no interest in any of this. If I'm honest
I still don't but I've been forced to move with the times.
My local
little Tesco doesn't have any check out operators, operating at all.
They are only using the self service check outs so I had no choice
but to face my fears and do it anyway. In normal times I avoid self
service check outs like the plague. Technology scares me. It's like
venturing into the unknown and I feel like such a failure because I
haven't a clue how it works. I worry that I might press a wrong
button and cause the whole system to crash. Indeed on the very rare
occasions when I've attempted to use a self service check out before
I've failed dismally. I always seem to end up waiting ages for
someone to come and rescue me. Or waiting for someone to check that
I'm over 18 years old because I'm buying alcohol. So I just don't do
it. I'd far rather wait in a queue to be served by a real live
person than attempt to use a self check-out. As one of my older
friends once said, 'I didn't go to university for three years to be a
check out girl.' However as we all now know, it's these supermarket
workers that are keeping the country running. It doesn't matter how
many university degrees one has, it's the minimum wage key workers
that are helping to save lives right now.
Buying
self service petrol is another thing I don't do. I never opt for the
'pay at pump' option. I always go into the shop. I'm not quite sure
what's happening in petrol stations these days because I haven't
filled up my car since 15th March and I'm not even at the
half way mark yet. However having said that, I might always opt to
go into the shop to pay for petrol but my 20 year old niece recently
revealed that she didn't know how to buy petrol by going into the
shop. I don't even think that she realised that that was an option.
Oh and
while we're on the subject of buying stuff; I haven't actually paid
for anything using cash since lock down began. In normal times I
always used to carry cash with me. I used cash if I was out with my
friends because we would have a 'kitty' for our drinks and food. And
I certainly would never have dreamt of paying for anything less than
£10 with a card. I remember once going into Waitrose for some
cheese and the hand basket queue stretched for miles so I decided to
use the self-service check-out. Scanned the cheese and then couldn't
work out where to put the money so had to wait for someone to rescue
me. Only to be told it was card only. Seriously??!! Just for a
lump of cheese.
For the
last 2 months I have used cards for everything. Even when I went
into the newsagent to buy a TV mag which cost 65p I used my card.
Which brings me to the next problem................. How do you keep
track of what you're spending if you don't actually get a paper
receipt? Nobody these days seems to want a receipt and the shop
keepers certainly look at me as if I'm a bit mad if I ask for one but
apart from checking my account on line every 2 mins, I just don't
understand how you know what you've spent if you don't get a receipt.
I asked my 24 year nephew this question and he said he gets alerts
sent to his phone once a week. Hmmmmmm.............. I don't really
understand that. I tend to check my accounts once a week but if I
didn't have a paper receipt to check off against my statement how on
earth could I remember what I'd spent? Especially if I'm using my
card for silly little amounts like a 65p TV magazine.
Anyway,
moving swiftly on to 'video chats' which is another aspect of
technology which I think is very clever but I really don't want to
participate in. Because of lock down I've been forced to join in
with this craze but to be honest I really don't want to. I may feel
differently if I had friends or family in a faraway country or if I'd
just had my first grandchild etc but I'm a 61 year old woman who has
managed to live for 61 years alone OK obv not the whole of my
61 years and I just don't see the obsession that everyone
has with needing to see people while they're having a chat. I hate
it. I do it because my friends seem to think it's a necessity but I
certainly don't initiate the calls and I have absolutely no desire to
learn how to. However, I am now techy enough to answer one of these
calls and participate in it. But I'm hoping that once lock down is
over and all the restrictions are lifted, I'll be able to go back to
having normal phone conversations with friends and be able to meet
them in real life.
Lastly........................
live online videos like classes from my fitness club or music gigs.
I guess this type of technology is what interests me most because I
can just watch it if I want or if I don't then I don't have to.
Having
said that, the first time I attempted to do a live online fitness
class................. all of a sudden all my friends on Facebook
started liking my post and joining in a 'live party' that I had
invited them all too. I have absolutely no idea how I'd done that
but everyone was commenting on the party that I was hosting. But, I
had no idea how I'd even ended up hosting a party. After two mins I
shut down my laptop because I got really scared that I'd somehow set
up a webcab thing and everyone could see me lying on my living room
floor in my Primark leggings and Tshirt. I've been too scared to try
any live on line fitness classes again.
However,
what I do like, is the fact that one of my friends who is in a band
does a live 'sundowners session' from his shed every week. It's fab!
And I'm even techy enough to cast it onto my TV from either my phone
or Ipad using my Google chrome-cast.
I may not
be the most 'techy' person in the world but actually I'm a lot more
techy than some of my friends. At least I've been doing online
banking for years. I have at least three friends who have never,
ever got to grips with the whole online banking thing so now they're
finding it really difficult to check their accounts or work out
what's going on with their money. In normal times they'd make a trip
to the bank every couple of weeks. Until recently I didn't even
realise that people still did that. I honestly cannot remember the
last time I actually physically went into a bank.
So.................
as you can see.................... I am pretty techy after all??!!
See you
all tomorrow.
Toodles.
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