So yesterday on my way to the grocery store I'm at a light behind this old lady who is stopped a good 50 ft from the intersection. The light changes, the left turners are going with their little arrows, opposing traffic gets its greeny, but we are stuck on red. The light cycles thru and we've gone nowhere. So I look up and I realize that the old bag is not over the wires in the road that trip the light. Deciding it is dangerous to get out of my car, I politely honk and motion for her to move up, move up you dumb ass old bag! She looks back confused and throws up her hands, but does pull forward a bit...just not enough. So we miss another light. And there are now easily 20 cars backed up behind us. Left with no other alternative, I get out of the car...go up to her window...and gently tap on the glass. "Ma'am, you need to pull you car up over the wires, or the light will never turn green." She looks at me like "WTF?" Like this is new technology to her. As if I installed the damn wires myself to trick old ladies. So I adjust my message, leaving the wires out of it altogether. Again gently tapping on the glass. "Ma'am you need to pull up so the light will turn green." She accepts this logic and starts to pull forward. I walk back to my car and the folks behind me who saw it all go down are flat out laughing their collective asses off. But victory, sweet victory is mine, the light finally turns green! We can all go forth and plunder our respective shopping destinations! But I do wonder what she would have done eventually. Perhaps I should have just waited it out...
old hagSokodeMusashiwaKangaeta.
Did this happen in Ohio?
I can see this old hag stopping and waiting for the light to change.
Did she move up?
mind your manners boyOk, so it is nearly halloween, but anyone over 60 is not necessary a hag, and this is your mother speaking, so please a little respect - at least she wasn't doing her nails while on a cell phone.
ObviouslyWell, obviously she was way behind the wires. . .perhaps she was trying to be safe in her old age.
The thing is. . .and I wonder about this a lot. We (companies that I've worked in) make all kinds of "neat" things to the masses, but we could make something really amazing, but if the people that are expected to use it, don't get it. . . then it really doesn't matter.
Dumb ass old bag!! HA! OhDumb ass old bag!! HA! Oh for the love of god, that's good!
Did she also have the seatbelt-hanging-out-of-the-closed-door deal going on? I love that.
Dice, did you have the Apple Newton in mind? Instead of thinking, Users won't get this, think, Ahead of its time. Incidentally, was the Newton a play on fig newtons because of the apple/fruit imagery or did it relate more to Isaac Newton and the apocryphal apple falling on head story? I think a lot about that.
Technology in GeneralI was referring to technology in general and not just for old people. In the overall scheme of technological baubles, I think the folks participating in this thread are more likely to get it than not get it.
The traffic light incident isn't really a great case of creating technology that people don't get, but nonetheless it got me thinking again about how important it is for people to get things. Now, I don't work in marketing, so I don't really know much about the field, but I think there are indeed things like the Apple Newton that people don't get. But, then it might not be that people didn't not get it, but they needed more in the device to actually need it. So, it took something like the blackberry with wireless and phone communication abilities for people to feel like they need it. Of course, the people that need it are a very small group on the more endowed side of the digital divide. There is that huge group on the other side for which, things like 100USD wind up computers and etc, will just start to give them pieces to complete this puzzle.
Then there's the old lady at the traffic light, to be honest with you, the treatment of elderly in the US is pretty appalling for me coming from a country that at least pretends to take care of their old folks. But, that isn't the point, the damn wire in the road. . .you wouldn't think that it is assuming a lot, but it is, isn't it?
old hagSokodeMusashiwaKangaeta.
did she have a mask on?
I rather she was using a cell phone so that I can honk at her.
for the recordI said "old bag" not "old hag" as my mother accuses me of saying. Yeah, she eventually moved up, but boy there were some moments there when I really wondered if I'd ever get out of there. Dice, I think you are right. In this case, someone was driving extra safe, but by doing so, potentially put themselves in danger from someone say, having road rage. Good thing I am a nice guy, at least in person, not necessarily on the blog. In my book, if the light is being tripped on all sensors except for one, the light should turn green on the other one, especially since not tripping in this case didn't necessarily make the light cycle any shorter. Some redundancy there seems to make sense. I think more than anything it is hard to introduce things to people when it changes everything about the way a certain thing is done. Sure, there is always a better way, but sometimes change is hard...
I missed saying thisin the need to make a speech. . .
But, you did good mr. overban, very good. Out of all the responses that you could have chosen, you used the one that kept everyone happy. And risked your life also.
women driversSokodeMusashiwaKangaeta.
When I see some out of control/normal driving, I know it's done by women.
So I don't get upset. You just have to forgive them. They change lanes without checking, cutting you off, and not triggering the light, as examples. It's not just old persons driving.