Siri knows all

[sofadoc]

My daughter was in my shop the other day, extolling the greatness of Siri.

For those of you who are still technologically challenged, Siri is the pleasant sounding robotic female voice that comes to you through your I-phone. You can ask her anything, and she will give you an answer post haste.

So, I decided to put Siri to a simple test. I had my daughter ask her where the nearest upholstery shop was. Remember, we were standing smack dab in the middle of my shop at the time. And this is NOT a shop that's "off the grid". I don't work discretely out of my garage, or under a shade tree. I have a retail store front, website, and a YP listing. Google and Yahoo can find me in a nanosecond.

Siri had several (all highly incorrect) responses. Even though each time my daughter said the words "Upholstery shop" loud and clear, and very distinctly.

Siri offered to connect me with Met Life Insurance, and the Child Abuse Hotline, but no upholstery shop.

Finally in total frustration, my daughter snapped "WELL DAD! NOBODY UNDER THE AGE OF 50 EVEN KNOWS WHAT AN UPHOLSTERY SHOP IS!!!"

Sometimes, I think she's right about that.

[bobbin]

Nothing is certain!

I was gassing up my ride some mos. ago and 2 ladies pulled up beside me and asked me if I could give them directions to a very posh hotel as they had a "spa day" planned.  Evidently, Siri had left them high and dry, too.  The route was complicated (lots of bridge construction) so I told them to follow me.  When we arrived at the destination they were so grateful... "we'd never have found this place".  I scribbled the directions back to I95 and told them to shut off the GPS.  We all laughed about that. 

[Darren Henry]

TOO FUNNY Dennis!

NOBODY UNDER THE AGE OF 50 EVEN KNOWS WHAT ----

that's only the tip of the iceburg. During the winter two of my co-workers (father/son) keep their sleds at the shop and start most of their rides from there as we are just outside the city, so spent a fair bit of time hanging with 18/19 year olds last winter. The things they take for granted and the "old school" things they have no clue about is mind boggling. Half the time they would be on their smart phone to see if Jason and I were making stuff up or if life really was like that "back then". I'm only 50---but to them it was a history lesson like talking to a cave man. None of them had seen a rotary dial telephone (let alone it's predecessor that had the crank on the side that connected you to the operator) , A 21" colour TV with an all channel antenna was not even acceptible let alone "state of the art"  . Only a few knew what a pay phone looked like ---none had ever used one. Jute box ??? Why take money out of the bank before it closed Friday for the weekend? just use your debit or a ATM,DUH. It goes on and on...

They can text and surf like they have 26 fingers and 9 thumbs----but they can't spell, or put together a coherent sentence let alone a letter, Arithmetic is limited to the number 5 because they have a portable device in the other hand, if it breaks or malfunctions---just upgrade.

I used to think that my paranoia that we are becoming too electronically dependent was a carry over from my service during the cold war when we feared an electromagnet pulse from a nuclear explosion would wipe out all things electronic (cars,tv's,radios,etc...); but that episode in California ??? last summer where the bank computers crashed and people couldn't buy food or gas to get to work etc... keeps me carrying paper money (when i have any LOL) and I still do skull math for the most part. I guess the bugs and I will be okay after the balloon goes up.