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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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I've spoken about this before, although I didn't call it Dark Patterns, I called it "Systematic and Premeditated Incompetence". When I worked for Shaw Cable, and Star Choice Television, (after they were acquired by Shaw Cable) we'd employ any number of "Dirty Techniques" to retain customers. While the company never acknowledged them as such, it was pretty clear what they were up to. At Star Choice, remote customers calling from remote areas on Cell Phones (remote cabins without land line service) were regularly waiting on hold for hours on end. This was 15 years ago, at that time no cell phone could even run an hour. And if by some miracle you, the customer, got through and suggested you wanted to disconnect, well, we weren't "empowered" to do that, we'd have to transfer you, the customer (with another hour or longer holding pattern & circus music specifically designed to encourage you to hang up or go insane) to a special "Saves Team". If you, the customer, at any point hung up or despaired you could be assured that you were still on billing, the company accepted no excuses and took no prisoners...
if you wanted, however, to upgrade or expand your package your call was immediately answered and you were transferred to a priority agent who provided you with swift and prompt service. No upgrading customer ever held for even 2 minutes on a call.
Anyways, apparently the label for this fine behavior is "Dark Patterns", and you can read more about their "tricks" on their website here:
Link: Dark Patterns
Or watch a short youtube video explaining: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxkrdLI6e6M
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Link of the day
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I visited this site a few years ago - it's been that long? It has. And what seemed then to be a couple of minutes in the future and a couple of steps to the left has already come to pass. The premise is less absurd than prescient.
Link: Scarfolk & Wiki on the Same
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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I've linked to this before, but - in light of all the Bigfood / Peter Caine videos I've been watching I thought I'd visit it again. Still LOL funny.
I mean, she's skeptical:
He was seeking advice and suggestions because he said, "I am trying to communicate with Bigfoot and I was wondering how you communicate with dolphins."
I read the email twice and wondered if the writer was joking....
Two weeks later, I received a gift in return. The Sasquatch had chosen a rock for me. A heavy quartz rock, weighing 5 pounds with many little crystal bits within it, gleaming in the light. Along with it came a piece of crumbled paper. On it was the carefully printed words: FOR WATER WOMAN.
Could this be true? I was still doubting the veracity of this.
They should go on a youTube Date, Joan Ocean as the skeptical Dana Scully to Peter Caine's too gullible Fox Mulder...the Truth is out There!
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Link of the day
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A well written and well informed article on the effects of a living minimum wage, as applied in Australia.
In the hospitality industry - front of house wages are largely subsidized by tips, and I for one prefer that model to others - it gives the customer a leeway and ability to contribute to the situation and keeps servers/bartenders actively interested in the quality of service. But for back of house positions, fast food, retail, this makes a lot of sense. And I remember so many customers at the old restaurant would argue against it.
I especially like the quote:
The principle that employees must be paid a "living wage" dates back to a 1907 decision of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, which stated that if an employer was unable to pay a living wage, it was not entitled to operate a business. A living wage was defined in the decision as being sufficient to permit an unskilled worker, a dependent spouse and three dependent children to live in "frugal comfort."
It makes sense. But in Alberta, wow, what a moral panic...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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Many of his points translate well to Canada. Only while in Canada we don't have healthcare costs (not overwhelming, anyways), we do have a much greater cost for real estate. Everywhere. A good read that articulates many of the broken points in our current economy.
Link: http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/poor-millennials/?mobile=1