Gregory's Server|
31 comments
 @lrvick @tphinney @Jennifer I'm sympathetic. My wife has a device that doesn't require an app, but benefits from smartphone integration. At some point, I assume they will require one—and then what? I've boosted your post. Check out KFF Health News https://www.kff.org – they are like ProPublica in writing stories that are often partnered with major news orgs.  @lrvick @tphinney @Jennifer Nothing like a medical provider electing to drop me as a patient, but last week I dropped off 3 boxes at FedEx in Walgreens and couldn't get a receipt because I didn't have a smart phone with me. They were prepaid returns worth several hundred dollars. People are being forced to have a smart phone on their person at all times to do ordinary everyday things. @chiffchaff @rob11563 @lrvick @tphinney @Jennifer The second beast forces all people—important and unimportant, rich and poor, free and slaves—to be marked on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that NO ONE MAY BUY OR SELL unless he has the mark, which is the beast's name or the number of its name.
This calls for wisdom: Let the person who has understanding figure out the number of the beast, because it is the number of a person. Its number is 666. @chiffchaff @rob11563 @lrvick @tphinney @Jennifer I mean, as long as it is a smartphone that you carry with you, the doomsday is not imminent, but once the smartphone is put into your forehead…  @chiffchaff @rob11563 @lrvick @tphinney @Jennifer the burger van is being dumb, why don’t they buy a $20 TracFone for folks who don’t have a smart phone so they can place an order if dudes won’t just go ahead and do it for you?  I would have pressed them to give me a handwritten receipt. Hopefully you wont need it, though. @rob11563 @lrvick @tphinney @Jennifer I would report the Walgreens incident to your Attorney General. Not everyone can afford a smart phone. I'm sure the Attorney General would be interested in a major corporation excluding a vulnerable portion of the population from being able to do business with them.   @Jennifer @adrienne @rob11563 @lrvick @tphinney I agree with Adrienne that you won't know if the AGs office can help if you don't try. There are people who want to assist in these matters if given a chance plus you would be throwing sunlight on the problem instead of letting companies simply get away with poor behavior. You could be pleasantly surprised. I used to be a professional consumer advocate and the wins are worth fighting for. @rob11563 @lrvick @tphinney @Jennifer Dropped 3 returns @ Kohls yesterday. Had printed RMA with product named for each. Good thing, since clerk's first question was "Which RMA goes with which return?" Much harder to find in email on phone, which is why I printed them in the first place. Clerk could not be bothered to read paper cause expecting to scan phone. Something wrong here. 😝   @SmartmanApps @lrvick @tphinney @Jennifer @mapache @m0xee @lrvick @tphinney @Jennifer @mapache That is horrible! What insurance provider is this? I can't believe they don't have a patient portal that you could access from your computer. Or email? Messaging on their website? Maybe an app for PCs in the Windows store? Nada? There really oughta be a law to enable you to fight this kind of discrimination. I hope you are able to sort this out soon.  @ginaintheburg @lrvick @tphinney @Jennifer > Maybe an app for PCs in the Windows store? An app in a closed store for a huge tech giant because you don't want to be tied to two other huge tech giants isn't much of an improvement. @dascandy42 @lrvick @tphinney @Jennifer You got me. But when the alternative is no insurance, eg, sometimes we find we have no choice but to bite the bullet. And that's no disrespect to @lrvick. I know he's far better informed and more sophisticated than I am about such matters. @ginaintheburg @lrvick @tphinney @Jennifer I believe that the root of this was that you should not be tied to any given huge corporation to get basic things like health insurance... so yeah, I do think it's the same point. @dascandy42 @lrvick @tphinney @Jennifer I saw it as a problem of not being given options - which is what I thought @lrvick's main issue was. @dascandy42 @ginaintheburg @lrvick @tphinney @Jennifer The LDN Research Trust has a great little app for tracking symptoms, medications, activity, etc. I think it’s the only app I’ve used that I didn’t get from an App Store, you can only find it on their site  Do note that writing an app costs ~~2 to 5 times as much as writing a web page, so the company spent a lot of extra money to enshittify their service. It's absolutely unconscionable, and probably would be completely prohibited in any developed country outside the United States |
@tphinney @Jennifer Exactly this, and they chose to introduce it months after I became a patient, having known from the outset that I do not have or want a Google or Apple device.
I gave up my smartphone 3 years ago, and am a lot happier being disconnected when I am not at my desk. It would seem some don't consider this a valid lifestyle choice.
This is the first time anyone has refused me services for not having a phone.