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Lots of things are stopping me. Like needing a smartphone to read a menu at a restaurant, or replace a lost credit card.

deleted 29d ago
[deleted]
0cf8612b2e1e 29d ago
Or passes to buses, trains, planes, concerts, sports arenas, and possibly soon government identification. There was a recent story about some guy who had been buying season tickets for decades by paper ticket. The stadium shutdown the paper ticketing and left him without an option, except to purchase a smartphone.
- rpcope1 29d ago
  Must be a Europe thing, as RealID pissed enough boomers off here in the States that I doubt anyone would push harder than that, and outside of very stupid ticket apps that occasionally won't let me print, I can't recall the last time a paper ticket and my drivers license didn't work. I also can just walk into a bank branch and raise a stink whenever I need something banking related, I guess all of this feels really contrived.
  - terribleperson 28d ago
    I think they're referring to LA Dodgers fan Errol Segal. Also, plenty of businesses have very few physical offices.
karlgkk 29d ago
> Like needing a smartphone to read a menu at a restaurant, Every restaurant I’ve been to like this has a menu somewhere. > or replace a lost credit card. The phone numbers never stopped working. You just stopped calling
- Telaneo 29d ago
  > The phone numbers never stopped working. You just stopped calling The bank managed to not fix the problem the last 4 times my grandmother called them. Every single problem required an appointment to fix (I suspect they're not even allowed to do anything with any account over phone given how many times this has happened). Yes, her bank is bad and I've told her to switch. But I wouldn't expect any other bank to actually have good customer service.
  - karlgkk 28d ago
    No offense but it sounds like your grandmother has a skill issue.
    - Telaneo 28d ago
      We can't all be good at everything.
    - ninalanyon 28d ago
      Why should the customer of a bank need any skills? Surely the bank is the one that should have the skills.
- terribleperson 28d ago
  I called Capital One to replace a card this month (either there's no online flow or it wasn't available to me). The default flow to verify my identity before they'd replace the card was to send a notification to the android app. My android version is too old. The alternative flow (which took them 20 minutes to figure out) was to send a text message with a link to an online ID verification service. Is it COMPLETELY impossible that you could receive that link on a dumb phone, send it to a PC with a webcam, and then take a selfie photo and an ID photo? No. Is it likely to be an incredible hassle? Dear lord, yes. You can't upload photos, so you'd have to finagle with a webcame to get a shot of your ID on a surface followed by a selfie of yourself. Is it possible that in other similar situations, you'll be required to use an android app instead of a website? Yes, I've had that happen. I think you are grossly underestimating the degree to which smartphones have become absolutely mandatory for many tasks.
inigyou 28d ago
Ask the restaurant staff for a menu. If they don't have one, go to a different restaurant.

deleted 29d ago

[deleted]

0cf8612b2e1e 29d ago

Or passes to buses, trains, planes, concerts, sports arenas, and possibly soon government identification. There was a recent story about some guy who had been buying season tickets for decades by paper ticket. The stadium shutdown the paper ticketing and left him without an option, except to purchase a smartphone.

rpcope1 29d ago
Must be a Europe thing, as RealID pissed enough boomers off here in the States that I doubt anyone would push harder than that, and outside of very stupid ticket apps that occasionally won't let me print, I can't recall the last time a paper ticket and my drivers license didn't work. I also can just walk into a bank branch and raise a stink whenever I need something banking related, I guess all of this feels really contrived.
- terribleperson 28d ago
  I think they're referring to LA Dodgers fan Errol Segal. Also, plenty of businesses have very few physical offices.

karlgkk 29d ago

> Like needing a smartphone to read a menu at a restaurant, Every restaurant I’ve been to like this has a menu somewhere. > or replace a lost credit card. The phone numbers never stopped working. You just stopped calling

Telaneo 29d ago
> The phone numbers never stopped working. You just stopped calling The bank managed to not fix the problem the last 4 times my grandmother called them. Every single problem required an appointment to fix (I suspect they're not even allowed to do anything with any account over phone given how many times this has happened). Yes, her bank is bad and I've told her to switch. But I wouldn't expect any other bank to actually have good customer service.
- karlgkk 28d ago
  No offense but it sounds like your grandmother has a skill issue.
  - Telaneo 28d ago
    We can't all be good at everything.
  - ninalanyon 28d ago
    Why should the customer of a bank need any skills? Surely the bank is the one that should have the skills.
terribleperson 28d ago
I called Capital One to replace a card this month (either there's no online flow or it wasn't available to me). The default flow to verify my identity before they'd replace the card was to send a notification to the android app. My android version is too old. The alternative flow (which took them 20 minutes to figure out) was to send a text message with a link to an online ID verification service. Is it COMPLETELY impossible that you could receive that link on a dumb phone, send it to a PC with a webcam, and then take a selfie photo and an ID photo? No. Is it likely to be an incredible hassle? Dear lord, yes. You can't upload photos, so you'd have to finagle with a webcame to get a shot of your ID on a surface followed by a selfie of yourself. Is it possible that in other similar situations, you'll be required to use an android app instead of a website? Yes, I've had that happen. I think you are grossly underestimating the degree to which smartphones have become absolutely mandatory for many tasks.

inigyou 28d ago

Ask the restaurant staff for a menu. If they don't have one, go to a different restaurant.