Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Tech burnout

I just signed up for a Paypal account to use for various freelance thingies, and I'm totally burned out with technology for the night.

I didn't know enough of my bank info, so I looked up the phone number of the branch I used to deal with in Toronto, cut and pasted the phone number from the website into the thingy for Skype, and talked on the computer to the bank lady, who gave me the numbers I needed. I emailed them to myself so I wouldn't lose them again. Then I cut those into the Paypal sign-up thingy, including my account numbers that I got directly from my secure internet bank page thingy. Then I emailed the editor I'm going to be writing for and told him the login name for my account, so he can direct-deposit money into my Canadian bank account that I can (get) access (to) from Italian bank machines.

I think all this has upset my stomach.

I remember when you had to actually go to the bank, during opening hours, and take this thing they used to give you, called a "passbook" that had your account transactions written into it. When you wanted money, you took this passbook into your branch, and only your branch, and got money out by talking to the guy at the counter and signing a little bit of paper. If the bank was closed, you had to wait until tomorrow.

When you paid bills, you wrote a thing called a "cheque" and put it in an envelope and into the post box and then subtracted the amount of the cheque from your cheque book. This was called "balancing your chequebook".

But that was in the days when money was a Real thing.

It was also when people watched this big box thing they had called a "TV set". You had to change the channel on the "TV Set," using a kind of dial thingy on the front. You had to get up off the sofa and walk over to the TV set to do this.

It all seemed pretty high tech at the time.



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4 comments:

BillyHW said...

When I get my hands on a time machine, I'll take you back with me, Hilary.

Does 1099 sound good for you?

Hilary Jane Margaret White said...

I think we should go for pre-Conquest. The time of King Alfred would be good.

Anonymous said...

Who will you be writing for?

Fr.Paul McDonald

Hilary Jane Margaret White said...

Remnant.