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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Batteries.....and Credit Card machines too......

I'll start off by saying that it's 5 AM. And I've been up for an hour. After sleeping for only 4. I've been out of the hospital for over a week following a very unexpected kidney stone removal. But I just can't seem to "get right".......you'd have to see the movie "Life" to understand the "can't get right". Britt and I still say it to each other all the time. By the way, the language in that movie, is abhorrent. Just fair warning....

I have a feeling this post, may actually turn "rant-ish".....because, well....just because.

Two days ago, Carlie had flushed cheeks and told me she was cold. Like any mother, I reach for the thermometer. Pressed the button. It beeped. It illuminated. And it died. *sigh* Thankfully, my neighbor Kristin, had one I could borrow. So I made a mental note to pick up one of those disc-like batteries. Or in all reality, a new thermometer.......I mean, have you ever shopped for a specific disc like battery?

Yesterday, I decided that I was going to step on the scale in our bathroom. Mind you, it has been quite a while since I last did that. It took some time to recover from the shock of my last weigh in. So, bravely, I tapped the corner of the digital scale with my toes. It illuminated. It flashed the word "Lo". It died. *sigh* (perhaps of relief.) Determined to ruin my day, one way or another, I flipped the scale over to look for the battery compartment. Found it. Opened it. What???? Another little disc battery? You have GOT to be kidding me!

OK people, let me make a proposition. Why can't everything run on AA batteries?? Hmmm? Why not? Can we not just streamline the whole battery using world? Yeah, yeah, flash lights and radios would probably need like 24 AAs......but heck, competition would be increased in the battery producing world......surely the price would go down.

But still.......think about how much easier life would be......

.....at Christmastime, you'd just buy a zillion AAs....never having to scan the boxes of every electronic, or toy, to see what kind of battery it needed. You'd just know. And you'd have them. And everyone is happy on Christmas morning, because they don't have to wait until the next day for their toy train to work.

......those times when your child comes down the stairs with a toy he found at the bottom of the toy box, saying "Mom, this doesn't work.". You'd be able to say "Hand it here, let me put some batteries in it." Knowing you had the right size! You'd never again have to unscrew the back of that barking, flipping dog, only to say "I'm sorry baby, this uses C batteries, and I don't have any." (C batteries are the ones that really get me. Items that require those are like the 'Iberian Lynx' of battery using devices.....rare, but still out there).

See? AA batteries=perfect harmony.

I think we can get this "AA battery only" movement started. As soon as someone....who has more than a degree in Marketing......with a career as a SAHM.......figures out that those big batteries are too much of a detriment to our planet. Washington DC will abolish our great grandmothers if someone can convince Congress that Granny is too harmful to the environment!!!

And while I am streamlining technology, making everyone's life easier, and pretty much just solving the world's problems here......I think there should be ONE. UNIVERSAL. credit card machine! How many times have each of us swiped our card the wrong way? Pressed 'no' thinking it was asking if you want cash back, when it really asked 'Is the amount correct?'. To top that.....Now some of them even read "Did your cashier greet you today?" Seriously???? I am all for market research. All for customer feedback. ***See Marketing degree statement above*** But do we really need it on those machines? Don't that already ask enough questions?

Think about these things? I am a product of Generation X. I had never read a manual on any electronic device until I got a BlackBerry (that's a whole 'nother rant). But some of these things drive me crazy!!! Can you imagine dear old Granny figuring those machines out?

Life is complicated enough. Streamlining those things makes sense doesn't it?

Yes.

Perfect sense.

Atleast it does to me.

At 5 AM.

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1 comment:

Unknown said...

AMEN! Batteries will be the death of me as well. Try running out of those coveted "C" batteries in the middle of the night when all you want to do is put your little one in their swing or bouncy seat, so you might could get THIRTY MINUTES of sleep only to find that above mentioned devices sound like Charlie Brown's teacher...