Okay, it’s not a rant, exactly. It’s more like letting off some steam to keep my blood pressure within limits set by the NP at the cardiologist’s office. Anyhoo, given the day we had yesterday, the decision for dinner was to order delivery from a place we like but from which we’ve never ordered takeout or delivery. It just seemed the convenient way to obtain a halfway healthy meal.
Boy, were we wrong! First, the website was not the easiest I’ve run across recently. It was pretty, but navigating it was only slightly less difficult than learning programming in the 1970s. Those punch cards were a pain in the lower part of your backside to learn and use.
Then, beyond navigating the site, the design was not user-friendly when tweaking your order. Of course, that took second place to setting up an account so you could finally place the order. Yep! There were no guest orders allowed; you had to sign up.
Since I did not want to start completely over in someone else’s system, I battled my way through setting up an account, validating it by email, and checking out. Whew, I was exhausted.
The good news was the delivery service did a great job keeping me informed. The better news was the quick response once I had jumped through all the hoops necessary to place the order. The notice of the delivery being en route came shortly after the order was confirmed. Even better, the order showed up a few minutes later and was delicious.
So my point here? Convenience comes with a price. Sitting on my couch watching NCIS reruns while ordering dinner was convenient. Avoiding driving several miles to pick up the meal was convenient as well. Those conveniences almost outweighed the final inconvenience.
That inconvenience or disappointment was the order itself. The food tasted as good as it did the last time we stood in line to order and eat at the restaurant. However, I ordered with the expectation of leftovers, as I always asked for a to-go container when I dined at the restaurant. That was not the case this time.
These were the smallest portions I’ve encountered in years, anywhere. Also, the lettuce in my wife’s salad included a huge chunk of the core, which was inedible. Had we been in the restaurant, we could have complained, but hey, if we’d gone to the restaurant, we would have been inconvenienced.
Convenience has its price.
© oneoldcop.com 2022
I have worked on a punchcard machine, myself, always hoping the compiler wouldn’t eat the card stack.
Some sites can be difficult to navigate, jumping thru hoops to set up accounts. Good programmers are hard to find.
I also watch a lot of NCIS, too.