Things that worked better in the old days

[blondeseaside]

Just been for a drive thru Mcdonalds. In the good old days, the whole menu would be hanging above the car on a metal sign. What do we have now? One big screen that just shows a couple of menu "highlights", so it only showed one wrap, one burger....so yeah, we get that you do burgers and wraps, but which ones? Where is the full menu? There are 16 burger types at Mcdonalds, but only 1 burger was on the screen. There are 4 wrap types, but only the Tikka one was on the screen (so I ordered that). How on earth are you meant to know what you want to order, if they only show a fraction of the menu? I asked Gemini and she said you're meant to look at the menu on your phone now....but I am driving!

First world problem, but it did my head in!

Buying gig tickets! I used to go along to HMV in Norwich, hand over my £15 to see Placebo or whoever I wanted to see and then try not to lose the paper ticket before the gig 😂 I even bought my Reading festival ticket this way. Was so much better than getting in a dreaded online queue and scrapping around for whatever overpriced ticket is left.

Apart from society, coffee chain menus - screens full of absolute shite but cant find an actual coffee on it anywhere.

I also had the McDonalds "menu experience" OP and drove off because I didn't know what the hell to do. I felt so stupid, so at least I know it's not just me! To be honest I think just about everything was better in the good old days, and in some ways more interesting.

On holiday recently - no TUI rep - and we had a huge problem. But hey, you can reach us on the App, they say. Only you can't, because there's a huge time difference and they take 24 hours to reply anyway, and the problem is happening RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

Post. It was quick and relatively well
priced. Things arrived.

Now, 2nd class is a travesty, takes days and days. And 1st is twice the price. For not much better service.

All fucking appliances

I have a food mixer from the 1960s - it would survive the apocalypse

Traditional Bakeries that sold normal crusty cobs and rolls that weren't sourdough and didn't cost £6.00 each

Almost everything worked better to be honest. Before the internet you'd have to write letters, post job applications, that sort of thing so things were not so instant but they did work. In fact the post was more reliable and quicker than it is today.

Before plastic was commonly used there was very little waste. Products came in jars, tins, cardboard, loose or just wrapped in paper. Most people lived off natural products, there were far fewer UPF choices. Public transport was plentiful, cheap and reliable.

Before plastic was commonly used there was very little waste. Products came in jars, tins, cardboard, loose or just wrapped in paper. Most people lived off natural products, there were far fewer UPF choices. Public transport was plentiful, cheap and reliable.

This, and we are all paying the price for 'progress', one way, or another.

Small businesses.

In my local area I can think of about 5 small businesses that are forever putting posts online about how locals need to support them, "use it or lose it", stop giving your hard earned money to the large corporations etc etc

However, they only open when they feel like it. A local boutique that is open on Tuesdays, Thursday and Fridays between 11-3, except during school holidays or if she has a sniffle. Saturday opening times vary weekly depending on her other obligations. You need to look at her Facebook to check that weeks' hours before planning a visit. Is it a business or a hobby?

Bakeries that are only open Fridays and Saturdays. Queued out the door at 11am and sold out at 2pm. "Why don't you make more?!", I cry. It's because then you won't have this "artificial scarcity" or "drop culture" that is driving everyone bammy on IG. Posts aplenty about "be hereat 11am sharp if you want to be part of our latest Kinder Bueno Brownie drop" What?! I'll just go to Greggs and get a muffin, ta.

Telephone help/inquiry lines with a person sitting in an office with assistance available if they didn't have the answer. Worked far bwtter than an offshore call centre or chat bot.

Ditto good quality department stores with almost everything under one roof.

Open ticket offices.

GP surgeries with appointments and receptionists who answered the phone within 5/6 minutes. Ditto GP home visits and out of hours availability. When I was a child in the 60s, you arrived at the GP, took a ticket and queued. There were no appointments. We always got there at 8.45 and were 2nd/3rd in the queue, so out within 20 minutes.

Manners.

Me

Feeling my age today 😅

Parking.
You used cash or card. You got a pieve of paper you put on your dashboard.

Not apps, websites, needing phone data, a different website 5m down the road...

Rental market - you could afford to live if you worked

Definitely GPs, also the bin collections, and the post.

I used to live in a small village with a pub, primary school, grocer, post office, butcher and Drs surgery, and a bus service to the nearest town once an hour. This wasn't in Victorian times either, it was like that until the 1990s.

And you could recycle your glass pop bottles, Not smash a perfectly good bottle at the bottle bank.

Urgh, I had this recently. Drove to a different town that has an Outlet Mall. Went to get my ticket (not sure why I have to pay you, to look in your shops, but that's another thread), anyway, no coin meters, I had to download an App. There were about 10 people in front of me doing the same, it was pouring with rain....honestly wished I had just stayed at home.

Television. Walk over to it, switch it on. Bob's your uncle. The picture appears immediately. Only a handful of channels - press a button, either on the telly itself or on a basic remote.

Yes, everywhere has too much choice now as companies (usually backed by private equity) try to squeeze as much out of consumers as possible. I work in this industry, or adjacent to it, and know exactly who owns what so I know where not to take my money.

The ‘small businesses’ people think they’re helping are often anything but. Definitely worth doing some digging.

Yeah, there's almost too much choice now. I counted the other day, I have to do about 20 clicks just to navigate through to BBC news. And then there are sub sections of different news articles....gah.

And clothes. A corduroy dress from Topshop circa 2006 is one of my most worn items to this day!

Chat Bots.

Not once have they solved my problem.

There was a whole thread about this a few months ago - about how independent shop keepers don't seem to realise how to run a business, and eg having regular opening hours is one of them!

We had a zero waste store in our town which closed a few months ago. I never went to it. Because it was never open when I could go! Well, not completely true, but it opened 9.20 to 2.30 to fit in with school hours and then 9-5 on Saturday so ok I could have gone on a Saturday. But you can't run a business like that! Oh and it wasn't open at all in Mondays.

As for what was better in the old days, I agree about job applications. Paper forms and letters, and two interviews. No stupid online assessments, AI, or assessment days for a job I did as a Saturday job with no experience!

Also customer service before IVRs and chatbots. Phone, someone answers, deals with your query, done.

School admin. When I was at primary school anything parents needed to know was sent home in a letter or we had a printed worksheet to complete for homework.

Now DDs are at primary school I have to download three separate apps.....one to complete and upload homework, one for messages from school and another to book clubs and school dinners. Plus contend with a WhatsApp group for each class. It's absolute madness.

Oh and I forgot the separate app for Maths homework. So that's four!

Customer service enquiries. Used to be an email address or phone.

Now they want us to use a stupid time wasting chat bot service. I don't have time to wait for each flippin reply to be typed back at me....