Old Dog, New Tricks

As time goes by the scale of technology changes, and I edge closer towards Luddism in the overall scheme of things. We don’t do smart phones, and that alone leaves us behind much of the quick and easy (and risky) digital world. Learning new ways of doing things is all the more stressful when you aren’t using the assumed level of technology, and mistakes can cost money.

Today I taught myself to receive an e-transfer, on the computer, as I’ve not had need to do it before. I don’t have need now, but I decided I should understand how it works.

I called the bank customer support to ask about the basics, after having had a look at the online account, and having failed to figure it out completely, approaching it intuitively. I did not want to make a mistake, and send real money off into the ether.

The support person I talked to did an abysmal job. I told her I had never done this, so had never seen the tools working in the process. She tried to explain, persistently assumed I was using a smart phone, and skipped crucial steps and information. Even when I asked her point blank about details, she failed to understand the question. After many attempts at explaining to her what I did not understand, I gave up, and ended the call.

My next attempt was to visit the banking site and attempt to find a video which would visually show me what the screens and options looked like during the process. Although I did not find a video, I did find a written description that illuminated a crucial step that I had not understood, and had been skipped by the customer service person during my telephone call. After that piece fell into place the rest of the process started to make sense, at last!

Having worked in IT, I was truly shocked at the low quality of technical support available from customer support at my bank. It is what it is, thank goodness I finally figured it out for myself!

So I sent an e-transfer, and received an e-transfer. Not willing to trust my first try, only $1.00 was sent, and $1.00 received. Success!

It was a learning process, and in the end I found the process to be really simple to learn, when all the steps and pieces are provided. I always enjoy and appreciate technical support people who are knowledgeable, and have a feel for the job of providing clear and helpful guidance to people who need it.

Dealing with money in unfamiliar ways is something I find stressful, so today definitely had some such moments. But the reward, having led to ultimate success, made learning the process well worth the time and effort.

With Attila home recuperating from his surgery, I have had daily access to our vehicle. I’ve taken advantage of that, and drive daily. I can always find some small errand to give an excuse to jump into the driver’s seat. Because I am repeating daily, the steps of operating the vehicle, the whole process is becoming familiar, causing me no pause. That drive from the hospital in a bad storm on bad roads ended up doing me a world of good, a silver lining.

Attila is recovering well. He is no longer experiencing any pain, although is vision is still quite restricted. In a few months time it is expected his vision will be even better than it was before the surgery, now that the problem has been removed.

The weather since our last big storm has been bland. The landscape still wears the white cloak of the last snow storm, which left us with about a foot and a half of snow. But around the white edges there are ever increasing strips and patches of grey and brown. It is neither terribly cold, nor terribly warm. Some days the sun comes out, and some days it does not.

One day however, Wednesday I think it was, Attila and I sat in the sun on the back porch for several hours. We were bundled up, boots, hats, parkas. The temperature was 5C, and there was an occasional cold gust. We were surrounded by white, deep white snow in the yard, everywhere one looked. But we remained relatively cozy in our chairs, enjoying the fresh air. March does offer some such days, when the gathering strength of the sun creates small enclaves of relief and anticipation.

Worldly

Weather

Updated on Fri, Mar 10, 6:35 PM
-4°C
FEELS LIKE -9
Snow
Wind 16 NE km/h
Humidity 83 %
Visibility 14 km
Sunrise 6:29 AM
Wind gust 24 km/h
Pressure 101.1 kPa
Ceiling 3700 m
Sunset 6:07 PM

Quote

“”The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then – to learn.””

T. H. White
1906 – 1964
from The Once and Future King, pg. 173