Bad Design

Mr. Bill Moggridge discussed good and bad design in this video. And now that I have a fair idea what's bad design, I will tell you one... Smart Money.It's credit card gone masa or bullish. First, it was appealing, considering that banks did not believe you exist with income if you did not have a minimum of Philippine peso 100K held with them (like time deposit). Previously. With Smart Money, all you need was around 120 bucks, P500 for Banco de Oro deposit (as payment - they have long, nasty, winding, a-mazingly tangled lines and if you weren't sure of the line you queued on, then, you better duct tape your mouth before you get to the front line... just to learn you will need to queue to another).

So, now, after filling up the form, you can either get a Smart Money card instantly, or, in my case, buy another for your spouse, or son, or daughter, for additional 120 something bucks, and wait for eternity... Close. Maybe, around 3 months.

The tragedy about the design that befall me is that it was near the end of the month, and end-of-the-month bills are mounting.

So, I had to withdraw money from Smart... Thing is, the brochure and website says you can use your password (placed during signing up process with the customer service rep) to do all, including online and withdrawals, to receive money via the ATM. Otherwise, it was not stated clearly that it should not have been the case.

But you have their smart money hotline to call... And you cannot call with your smart phone if you only have text loads, or less than 30 bucks. You have to load.

Also, you have to load a minimum of 30 bucks in order to activate the smart money feature.

You need to load to call their hotline, yeah, talk about highway robbery through and through.

In my case (this happened July 28, 2013, to be exact, they say they have a recorded conversation, so, this is verifiable), I loaded with P300 card load. To call their hotline. And I was able to connect, but the first thing I asked was if that call was charged because I was using a smart SIM, and the CSR assured me, no, i was not being charged for that call.

But I'll tell you, I called 3 times more (consecutively) to get my money, and the last call, I was cut, because my P300 bucks is consumed!

I called their hotline - in the first place, AFTER I failed to withdraw from their BDO ATM using smart money card. I learned that afternoon that there was a different (remember this) PIN for ATM smart money, and that there is a DEFAULT PIN for all. Imagine this - if I were a hacker, I'd steal all the smart money card of unwitting thifts!

But since I consumed my 3 allowed attempts, my card was BLOCKED!

But don;t worry, the CSR once again assured me. You can send your money to another smart SIM you know of, and they can withdraw it at the nearest smart money center. Seconds after the transfer.

I did just that and the next day, the spouse queued to "claim" the money.

And yes, he was sold ANOTHER smart money card to claim MY money!

The second question I have for them is: what will a family use a lot of smart money cards for?

The only answer I can rationally think of is - the better of which they sell more.

Lousy answer if you want to know the truth.

So, it took three months to wait for that damned DUMB card.

The other tragedy was that - their CSR cannot do anything to alter the situation. But they will not facilitate your request to hasten their process as well. We've just been populated (don;t you like this microsoft word - populated?) by robots and they rule... God bless humanity.

sourgraping instagram

no, i don't have an instagram account... but social media is evil, so, we have to learn to use them wisely... according to design 101 in iversity.

this photo - the property of murad osman in this link

http://instagram.com/p/eXeiDbGs2X/

bragging about his sexy girl and traveling the world, happened to have lost her girl's sexy legs in one of the pics... it is dibs image, I cannot upload! I am soooo jealous! I'd like to hypothesize she is not really his girlfriend but she - a wannabe model and he - a wannabe photographer/photoshop magician.

and I don;t instagram because

1. i am FUBAR - u is for ugly
2. i don;t selfie
3. i eat good food, i don;t shoot them! (ooops, i sometimes like to take photos of them and make others want to drool, i borrowed a camera!)
4. i enjoy life, i don't frame it
5. i don;t have a camera or a device that resembles it
6. i am sarcastic
7. i am fine by me looking at the mirror
8. i dont shop
9. i don;t have money
10. i lied somewhere from one to ten
11. this is disgusting, i lied!
12. i lied and i am not even elected in the Philippines!
13. i must be squidward
14. no, please, i'd rather be Patrick!
15. I wish Daffy Duck loves me!
16.  Daffy DUck is NOT a disney character.
17. ...sigh... i blooped. i downed 2 bottles of san miguel beer, and I blooped!


i feel so bad about the recent earthquake and typhoon Haiyan that I am beginning to believe this

conspiracy video...

yes, the Philippines has got oil! and since the Abu Sayyaf will no longer terrorize the area, the not-so vulgar are creeping in shrouded in nature's mystique. I am so embarrassed for my lack of literary skills I cannot construct a proper figure of speech! I'm outta here!