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Little things I've noticed decay in my 40 plus years. I noticed credit card machines fail a lot more. Like 5 or 10 years ago credit card machines very rarely f

Little things I've noticed decay in my 40 plus years. I noticed credit card machines fail a lot more. Like 5 or 10 years ago credit card machines very rarely failed. Like you didn't even think about it. Now it's like a 25% chance the credit card machine I'm using will not work properly. This is not a new technology. No one lets you in in traffic anymore. you used to be able to put your blinker on and people would wave you in. Now people are actively hostile and try to stop you from getting over. There's a lot more scammy activity. Things like if you forget your tracking number or if you don't get documentation then that transaction will be gone. Customer service has gotten terrible. You used to be able to call up and relatively quickly speak with someone knowledgeable and competent in many support phone lines but now it's a mostly hopeless endeavor that you wait online for an extremely long time to speak with the super friendly but clueless incompetent person.

lotsofpulp 4y ago
I have used credit cards for 15+ years and I cannot remember a single time the terminal did not work. Worldwide, in at least 10 countries. I might have gotten denied due to the bank suspecting fraudulent use, but never a technical error with the terminal or network. I think it is pretty amazing. I vaguely remember my parents and grandparents discussing or using traveler's cheques (which I never got around to understanding the concept of), but I can go almost anywhere in the world, use my credit card, or use my debit card, and get cash out via a machine at near the spot rate of pretty much any currency and pay no fees.
lotsoweiners 4y ago
I’m probably about the same age as you and my anecdotal evidence is probably the opposite as yours. I use my credit card all the time (I hate cash) and never have had a failure in probably 10 years. I have people wave me or others into their lane all of the time often in an unsafe manner or one that is leading to traffic jams. Customer service is usually pretty terrible but it has been pretty bad for as long as I can remember.
acyou 4y ago
We added tap to pay, which has made things much quicker. My tap to pay was failing, but my card was old, I got it replaced and it works really well for me. I wonder how much internet connectivity is a factor here. Certain vehicle models people do not want to let in front of them. Other people only let you merge when you send the correct messages in a very specific and intricate language communicated using your vehicle. I believe I have mastered this vehicle language and driver psychology, and I personally rarely have an issue merging. I also don't drive a big, new or expensive car, which probably helps. People abusing the customer service model necessitated changes to customer service delivery in some companies. Abuse meaning any call not strictly required, or any longer than is strictly required, or asking for anything which is not reasonable to ask for given the price that is being paid. I'm not presuming that any of the above apply to the above commenter or anyone else specifically, these are sort of general observations about society at large. Further, I think many changes that people see as negative are also the inevitable consequences of the behavior that they also see as normal. For example, if a gigantic disparity in wealth/income is flaunted, people are surprised or upset when others are jealous of that wealth, though it should be an obvious outcome. There are many, many examples of this that could be given.
nerdchum 4y ago
Additional decay: Spam calls. Very rarely used to have spam calls on the 90s now it's daily occurance.
zeroonetwothree 4y ago
> Now it's like a 25% chance the credit card machine I'm using will not work properly. This is not a new technology. I don't know where you live but I use my credit card around 2x a day and I can't actually remember the last time it didn't work. Conversely, I remember in the past having them bring out the manual credit card carbon copy machine when their system was done. I believe the last time I did that was around 2007 so it seems like things have gotten much more reliable since then.
nerdchum 4y ago
Additional decay I've noticed. Airlines have become horrible!

lotsofpulp 4y ago

I have used credit cards for 15+ years and I cannot remember a single time the terminal did not work. Worldwide, in at least 10 countries. I might have gotten denied due to the bank suspecting fraudulent use, but never a technical error with the terminal or network. I think it is pretty amazing. I vaguely remember my parents and grandparents discussing or using traveler's cheques (which I never got around to understanding the concept of), but I can go almost anywhere in the world, use my credit card, or use my debit card, and get cash out via a machine at near the spot rate of pretty much any currency and pay no fees.

lotsoweiners 4y ago

I’m probably about the same age as you and my anecdotal evidence is probably the opposite as yours. I use my credit card all the time (I hate cash) and never have had a failure in probably 10 years. I have people wave me or others into their lane all of the time often in an unsafe manner or one that is leading to traffic jams. Customer service is usually pretty terrible but it has been pretty bad for as long as I can remember.

acyou 4y ago

We added tap to pay, which has made things much quicker. My tap to pay was failing, but my card was old, I got it replaced and it works really well for me. I wonder how much internet connectivity is a factor here. Certain vehicle models people do not want to let in front of them. Other people only let you merge when you send the correct messages in a very specific and intricate language communicated using your vehicle. I believe I have mastered this vehicle language and driver psychology, and I personally rarely have an issue merging. I also don't drive a big, new or expensive car, which probably helps. People abusing the customer service model necessitated changes to customer service delivery in some companies. Abuse meaning any call not strictly required, or any longer than is strictly required, or asking for anything which is not reasonable to ask for given the price that is being paid. I'm not presuming that any of the above apply to the above commenter or anyone else specifically, these are sort of general observations about society at large. Further, I think many changes that people see as negative are also the inevitable consequences of the behavior that they also see as normal. For example, if a gigantic disparity in wealth/income is flaunted, people are surprised or upset when others are jealous of that wealth, though it should be an obvious outcome. There are many, many examples of this that could be given.

nerdchum 4y ago

Additional decay: Spam calls. Very rarely used to have spam calls on the 90s now it's daily occurance.

zeroonetwothree 4y ago

> Now it's like a 25% chance the credit card machine I'm using will not work properly. This is not a new technology. I don't know where you live but I use my credit card around 2x a day and I can't actually remember the last time it didn't work. Conversely, I remember in the past having them bring out the manual credit card carbon copy machine when their system was done. I believe the last time I did that was around 2007 so it seems like things have gotten much more reliable since then.

nerdchum 4y ago

Additional decay I've noticed. Airlines have become horrible!