The Venting Thread

[AmLitHist]

I was floored when I made one of my very infrequent visits to my bank this summer.  I had a check to deposit and wanted to put most of it in my checking, with a little cash back. 

"We can't do that," the teller told me. (I panicked, thinking, crap, was I already overdrawn?  I knew I'd been running low. . . .)

Nope.  "This is a cash-free facility." 

If I want to do anything at all with cash--depositing, withdrawing, putting only part of a check on my account with cash back--I can do it at their on-site ATMs, but not in the actual bank.

(Maybe this is old news to y'all, and it's just filtered out here to the boondocks. Still, it's a PNC branch in the major state U town between here and relatively Big City where I work.)

Anyway, I'm sure I looked like a total goober when they told me there is no cash in my bank--you know, like those goofy burrowing owls that turn their heads upside down and stare. I know I blurted out, "Are you f*&%ing kidding me?"

I guess it's a good thing that I rarely need/have any cash on me--it's my debit card for nearly everything, and checks for a few monthly bills.

[mamselle]

It may be for safety, if they don't keep much cash on hand, they are less likely to be robbed.

I haven't been in a bank for 2 years, just used the teller machines, because, Covid; maybe they also figured it would cut out exposure to pathogens and make fewer people likely to visit, also trimming back potential aerosol exposures.

But it's no fun when someone does something for their own reasons and doesn't tell the other people it might affact.

Like the way Microsoft just played with the formatting of the Office suite setup by reaching through my computer and messing with it electronically.

It's like they think they're being cute, and I'll be impressed, when all it does is make me irritable and feel like looking for less irruptive alternatives.

M.

[ergative]

Like the way Microsoft just played with the formatting of the Office suite setup by reaching through my computer and messing with it electronically.

Oh, my goodness, yes! At first I thought something had gone wrong on my end--like, the component of the program that loads the colored menu bars had broken--and it was about to crash on me.

[mamselle]

There is a way to go in and fix it, or nearly--the better-contrasted grey part of the bar (against which one can actually see the color of the yellow highlighting app) seems to be gone, but I also had the feeling that, I often have to toggle between, say, Word and Ppt, that the colors are essential to keeping that straight.

I did a search and found that if you go to the bottom of the opening screen,

1) First go to 'feedback,' send them a blistering message about nannying, reaching past the user to effect the changes their engineers think are cute, etc.,

then

2) just below that, under "Options," go to "General" (the default), in the center is a "Personalize" section; choose "Colorful" and "Circles and Stripes" and you can get the previous design back.

But WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO DO THIS IF I DIDN'T WANT THE CHANGE TO BEGIN WITH???

Oh, yeah, because.

MSOffice knows better than anybody...

M. 

[Harlow2]

Word has quit working on my old computer. Was directed by our support folks to update to new os, but not enough disk space. There's not much left on the drive to delete.  Trying to figure out if reinstalling will work. Annoying because time of year but I do have another computer that works.

However, that means I have to carry the computer around and I have a back injury just bad enough to be really irritated by carrying extra weight.

Venting here to as an avoidance of the inevitable  as I hate reinstalling stuff from our college site

[downer]

For fairly simple docs, you can put Word files in Google docs and work on them there.

Office 365 sometimes works too.

[Cheerful]

Regarding AmLitHist's and Mamselle's posts about banks and ATMs.  First, I've never heard of a brick-and-mortar bank not providing cash, thanks for this enlightenment, AmLitHist.  That's crazy.  Second, don't ATMs dispense only 20s?  If I want 1s, 5s, and/or 10s, I have to visit bank/credit union.

[saffie]

The ATM I use regularly offers $20 and $5 bills. I don't know if that's just this bank though.

[mamselle]

Mine does 20s plus one duo of tens, or a single ten if that makes up an amount like 30s, 50s, 70s, or 90s.

I saw one machine where you can specify denominations, but I haven't seen any others.

The 20s drive merchants crazy because of all the 'change' (i.e., 1s, 5s, etc.) one has to keep on hand.

M.

[traductio]

Mine does 20s plus one duo of tens, or a single ten if that makes up an amount like 30s, 50s, 70s, or 90s.

I saw one machine where you can specify denominations, but I haven't seen any others.

The 20s drive merchants crazy because of all the 'change' (i.e., 1s, 5s, etc.) one has to keep on hand.

M.

Most of the ATMs from RBC in Canada have begun letting you specify denominations, at least in my neck of the woods. It's really great, since I'm usually getting cash for the farmer's market where 5s are more welcome than 20s.

[marshwiggle]

Mine does 20s plus one duo of tens, or a single ten if that makes up an amount like 30s, 50s, 70s, or 90s.

I saw one machine where you can specify denominations, but I haven't seen any others.

The 20s drive merchants crazy because of all the 'change' (i.e., 1s, 5s, etc.) one has to keep on hand.

M.

Most of the ATMs from RBC in Canada have begun letting you specify denominations, at least in my neck of the woods. It's really great, since I'm usually getting cash for the farmer's market where 5s are more welcome than 20s.

Same for the TD. I think because we have the 5 major banks, instead of oodles of smaller ones in the US, some of our technology is more up-to-date. I remember a few years back when my wife's regional manager from the US came here they went out to eat. When the server brought the credit card machine to the table he had never seen one before.

[mamselle]

Yes, they had those in France long before we did here, and I remember being befuddled by them at first (also embarrassed, the first time, because it was also when the 'puce' (= flea = little microchip thingy) was becoming a requirement.

At the time, US credit cards only did them for the upper echelons of rich-ness, which I, a poor student, did not inhabit.

I draw the line at the cutesy, 'new' US thing of ordering with a table-side computer, though. I insist on a server with whom I can have a personal interaction, ask about the dishes, and put a face to a signature when it comes time to tip.

Those machines will do more servers out of their jobs, and depersonalize dining until it becomes unrecognizably mechanized, de-personalized, and transactional.

I both resent them and will not use them (and France will, I hope and expect, never use them, too).

M.

[smallcleanrat]

But you don't have to go to the bank!  All you have to do is open your bank app and deposit the check electronically by taking a photo of it.  It's laughingly easy.  Even a GenZer could do it!

This leads to another vent!!

I own an Iphone 6 Plus.  It seems that Apple no longer wants to provide the newest/greatest IOS for it.  I have the current version of 12.5.5 (I think).  However, my banking aps, and a few other aps have been noting something like  "your ap is out of date. please update to the newest version".  Then when I try to update, it stops. It tells me that I need IOS 14 or something!  I can not GET IOS 14!

???

I have an iphone 6 Plus and have been using iOS14. I think iOS 15 is the one that stopped supporting the 6 plus...

Maybe if you haven't updated since 12.something it won't let you update to iOS 14 anymore?

[clean]

I have an iphone 6 Plus and have been using iOS14.

Are you sure is it a 6 plus and not a 6S plus?  My wife has a 6S plus and it works.

But, as it is possible that it is my phone, I will make an effort next week (no way I can get to the store before then) to visit Verizon and check

[clean]

Just googled it:

Name and information link   Available for   Release date
iOS 14.2 and iPadOS 14.2   iPhone 6s and later, iPad Air 2 and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation)   05 Nov 2020
iOS 12.4.9   iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, iPad Air, iPad mini 2 and 3, iPod touch (6th generation)   05 Nov 2020