GENERATING IRRITATION (3 december 2004)
You are in your living room. And suddenly the telephone starts ringing.
"Yes hello, this is the telephone company. There's a call waiting for you. But before we can connect you, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that we have a new kind of subscription available ..."
This doesn't happen only once. No, the next time you are called, you again hear:
"Yes hello, this is the telephone company. We have a call waiting for you. But before we can connect you, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that we have a new kind of subscription available ..."
Wouldn't you get furious?
Still, this is what some software makers do. I bought an electronic map of Amsterdam made by Citydisc.
After using the program for some time, it didn't start any longer in the normal way. No, I first had to wait for an announcement that Citydisc had a newer version of the program. Every time I started the program the message was displayed for about ten seconds. Only then was I able to continue.
Would the morons at Citydisc really think normal people need to be reminded hundreds of times before we realize there is a new version?
Some time ago, when I wanted to look up a street in Amsterdam, I became aware that the map didn't show some areas of Amsterdam that had been built since my program was made. So I thought: let's get in touch with Citydisc and see if they have a more recent map.
And what did I find out? Citydisc have stopped selling city maps. So the stupid sonavabitches have really irritated me for no reason at all.
Can you imagine my thoughts sometimes compulsively return to a certain object?
