Tuesday 29 November 2011

The joys of internet shopping

Well, I'm getting along quite nicely (we have a large family - seven children and fourteen grandchildren between us, for starters) and I have hardly left the house for Christmas shopping purposes. But there are pitfalls.

For instance, I have received two identical items which I don't remember ordering at all (I must have pressed the Wrong Button. The Wrong Button lies in wait for people like me). And then there is the knotty problem of the password.

Like most people, I have a main password which I can remember (anyone who knows me, and who has half a brain, could work that one out). And then there are a couple for when you need more letters, which are a bit dodgy. And then there is the one you have to think up which includes numbers as well as letters (I've forgotten that one entirely). Add to all that, I have two big issues (have you noticed that people no longer have problems; they have issues?).

1. Why do I need a password at all to go shopping? I don't have to have one to enter Boots or Tesco's. I don't even need my passport.

2. Why when they send me a new passord, is it something like 8Zsd1Py8Xn? That's not a password. It's a puzzle. Or some kind of esoteric mathematical problem.

Meanwhile, the parcels are arriving thick and fast, and I'm still wondering what to do with the two items I didn't order.

Does anyone want a small, fluorescent vest?

12 comments:

  1. Frances, if your books are as funny as your blogs, I must get hold of one. Are they available to touch and hold or just on the oh so annoying Kindle?

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  2. I wonder how many horse names are used as passwords? I use the name of a horse I knew long ago.
    Return the vests (that always seems like too much effort) or donate.

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  3. Maggie - yes. The Birds, the Bees and Other Secrets is available for all touching and holding purposes on Amazon (or can be ordered from bookshops). Dead Ernest is only available on Kindle. I'd be delighted if you were to buy one!

    English Rider, I did have a horse name as one password, but not any more (I've changed horses since then!). And yes. Isn't sending things back a bore!

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  4. Passwords annoy me too. I thought I'd be clever and create one with letters, numbers and symbols and use it for everything - but some places don't allow symbols and some insist on them. Aaaargh!

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  5. Well, I certainly do not want anyone else to use my name and address for internet shopping, therefore I am glad there are such things as password protecting my personal customer account from abuse... I've had my ebay account cracked years ago, the culprit sat in Romania and was trying to sell stolen goods through my name, and I was lucky to instantly realize what had happened and went to the police, who stopped it but of course could never get hold of The Romanian.
    And now, I'll let you in on a secret: I have a handwritten list of the many passwords I need for the many places on the internet that reqeuest one... if this list (tucked away in a more or less safe place in my flat) ever falls into the wrong hands, I am done for!

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  6. Patsy, you just can't win!

    Librarian, you'd better eat that list at once!

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  7. Ah, no. I'll pass on the vest. I've bought books online but that's about it. I like touchy, feely.

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  8. Love the way your blog makes me smile - thanks Frances. I do know what you mean about those annoying passwords they give - probably having a good laugh at our expense!

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  9. Oh, Yvonne! And it was just your size, too.

    Thanks, Diane. New year resolution - to think of and remember various passswords filling all the odd requirements I might need. Oh, and write at least 500 words a day...

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  10. I guess they'll take the vests back. But a fluorescent vest is a useful present, I suppose, admittedly a bit in the line of William Brown's pen and pencil Christmas sets from his aunties.

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  11. I had to change my email password recently after my email address was hijacked and kept sending random messages to everyone in my address book. I loved that password and had it for years, It was a sad day.

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  12. Jenny I hate sending things back, but guess I'll have to (that, or lose weight and go out in the dark a lot).

    Colette, how sad. Farewell to your password...But at least you can now tell everyone what it was?

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