3 ms·

Nowadays it’s the US at the forefront of actualizing Kafka’s vision of social interaction. One fine example is the phone/cable/newspaper/etc. contracts that yo

by pavlov 4y ago

Nowadays it’s the US at the forefront of actualizing Kafka’s vision of social interaction. One fine example is the phone/cable/newspaper/etc. contracts that you can’t cancel without spending 20+ minutes on the phone with a desperate customer service agent. Buying a car. Doing anything at a bank. Renting an apartment. Moving in and out. Doing your taxes. A lot of the daily life in USA is stuck in a bad 1950s time warp combined with a vicious cycle of MBA optimization to squeeze out every penny from you.

lotsofpulp 4y ago
I cannot relate to any of this. I call 611 and it was trivial to cancel and move my phone (with ATT/T-Mobile/Verizon). Cable was the same calling Comcast, although we only had cable internet. Newspaper, I do not know about, but California laws make it pretty easy. Buying a car, you just email the dealers until you find an agreeable price and it takes about 1 to 2 hours at the dealership to finish title/insurance/loan paperwork. Unless going for business loans or depositing cash, I can do all my bank related stuff on my computer, including mailing checks to anyone and refinancing a house. Renting and moving was trivial, at least as of 5 years ago. You search on Craigslist/apartment company website/Zillow. Email back and forth details, fill out pdf application online, use bank website’s bill pay to mail them a check, and move? Taxes are pretty easy unless you have a business, and even then it is doable yourself. Or hire a CPA. This one definitely could be better like in many other countries, but I can still do my own in a about 3 hours using IRS free fillable forms website. It is definitely easier than things were in the 1990s or 2000s, so I imagine it most certainly is not as bad as it was in the 1950s. I find it quite remarkable just how much of modern life I can do via a handheld device or laptop.

by pavlov 4y ago

lotsofpulp 4y ago

I cannot relate to any of this. I call 611 and it was trivial to cancel and move my phone (with ATT/T-Mobile/Verizon). Cable was the same calling Comcast, although we only had cable internet. Newspaper, I do not know about, but California laws make it pretty easy. Buying a car, you just email the dealers until you find an agreeable price and it takes about 1 to 2 hours at the dealership to finish title/insurance/loan paperwork. Unless going for business loans or depositing cash, I can do all my bank related stuff on my computer, including mailing checks to anyone and refinancing a house. Renting and moving was trivial, at least as of 5 years ago. You search on Craigslist/apartment company website/Zillow. Email back and forth details, fill out pdf application online, use bank website’s bill pay to mail them a check, and move? Taxes are pretty easy unless you have a business, and even then it is doable yourself. Or hire a CPA. This one definitely could be better like in many other countries, but I can still do my own in a about 3 hours using IRS free fillable forms website. It is definitely easier than things were in the 1990s or 2000s, so I imagine it most certainly is not as bad as it was in the 1950s. I find it quite remarkable just how much of modern life I can do via a handheld device or laptop.