I was originally going to call this post ‘the age of convenience’ but since there was still a little work involved on my part, it got changed in the edit. So welcome to a couple of things I’ve noticed where the changes have definitely been a good thing.
World/society/whatever – more of these good things please.
Did someone complain about the calls?
I finally bought a car on the weekend. I won’t bore you with the details of the smoothness or luxury level of this good thing here (I have a whole other blog for that!) but after pulling the trigger on this Mazda, I suddenly realised I needed insurance. Which set off a series of groans because I hate having to ring people for a quote and much prefer to do things online and at my own pace (especially when hit with a question I don’t have the answer straight away for.)
Also it was a Sunday and no, I don’t want to have multiple conversations about car insurance on a Sunday when I should be taking it easy and relaxing.
Buuuuut, amazingly I found with every car insurance company I took a quote through, every single one of them didn’t immediately demand my mobile phone number to get a quote. In fact with most of them offering up my mobile was optional – as long as they had somewhere to inbox the particulars, I didn’t have to talk to anyone. No inane chatter, no over enthusiastic sales person trying to sell me every optional extra under the sun. How good!
Not only did I have the luxury of comparing different policies and options at my own speed, when I finally found one I liked I set it in motion without having to ring a single person. Good thing? This is a great thing! (Especially since I never put down my actual mobile back in the day having dealt with so many unwanted calls and occasional spam in the past.)
So did I miss a memo again? Was there a shift in communication laws where insurance companies were forced to offer up a ‘Look they really don’t want to talk here’ option? Am I only getting with the times here or is this new to you too? (Let me know below if that’s the case.) Either way, I’m thinking more companies should offer up this ‘no sales on a Sunday service.’ It’s worked well so far!
Yes? No? Getting in early is a good thing.
Okay, this one isn’t new to me but I can still appreciate the service. Australia goes to the polls this weekend to decide on the voice to Parliament, which in my mind seems to have confused the nation greatly (especially the parts that have no idea what’s going on here.) But whichever camp you’re standing in, the fact remains that if you don’t vote a fine shall find its way to you.
And you can wait until Saturday to exercise your democratic right, waiting in line to have your say while politely dodging the party faithfuls and their leaflets explaining how you can swing…or you can go and have your say no which seemed like a no brainer to me.
‘Do you have a reason for voting early?’ is what they’ll ask you if you turn up to a pre-polling station and there’s no follow up to that question whatsoever. No seriously, you could be off to some druidic convention ready to slaughter goats all weekend and have no time to vote then, nobody cares. You answer yes, get your name ticked off, get given a slip of paper and a pencil and off you vote.
Today I waltzed in with a take away coffee in hand and in less than 60 seconds I was out the door again, having helped the volunteer find my name, scrawled down the answer on the paper and popping it in the box on the way out. Were this Saturday, I’d probably still be in line there now (okay no it wouldn’t be that bad – hopefully – but you get my drift.) And this good thing (getting to cast your vote early) is an even better thing when you also had last week to do this too (I just forgot to.)
So now my weekend is clear, my vote is done, democracy has been saved and I’m not throwing how to vote leaflets in the bin straight after.
I like when society makes things easy for me. More of these good things if you please!