YOUR
SHOPPING CART OR YOUR LIFE!
My
friend Lisa is going to England, so I decided to buy
her some travel gifts. Found a great store with all
kinds of cool stuff, drove on over, got a spot right
in front, walked inside, grabbed a cart, pushed it
down the first aisle, saw something I thought she'd
like, put it in the cart and...BAM! I found myself
and my cart in this little white room. Exxxxxcuuuuse
me? I looked for a door, couldn’t find one, and
got a little panicky. Then suddenly I heard this
deep, spooky voice say, "You must stare at your
cart for at least 10 seconds before we will let you
continue shopping." Trembling a little, I did.
Then the voice said, "OK, you can leave now -
provided you can find your way out." It took a
while but finally I found this tiny button hidden on
the wall and a secret door opened. Man, was I glad
to be out of there! But then, the room let me out in
a different place in the store. Must have taken me 5
minutes to find where I started. Still shaking a
little, I continued down the aisle, calmed down a
bit, turned a corner, saw another way cool gift, put
it in the cart, and WHAMMO!! Back in the white room,
staring at the darned cart. Now Martian mommas
don’t raise no dummies and I did NOT want to hear
that voice again. Stared at the cart for a full 10
seconds and a couple more just to be sure, then
hunted around for the button, got out of the room,
got out of the aisle, got the heck out of that
store.
You
know, programmers and developers must shop
differently than the rest of us. Why else would they
interrupt the Zen of shopping by constantly forcing
us, every time we choose something, to a page with
the itemized contents of our shopping carts? Pick an
item and off you have to go to stare at your cart
again. And again. I mean, is the cart that
important? Not just that, but it can be a real pain
sometimes to figure out how you're supposed to get
back to where you were!
Wouldn't
it be better if, when we choose an item, we get a
quick, simple confirmation? Maybe the sound of
something landing in a cart, maybe a color change on
a graphic, maybe hands clapping. But something that
lets us stay put and do what we want to do - shop.
Sure, I'd like the option to check my cart now and
again, but how hard is it to give me that? What
do you want me to do, buy more stuff or stare at my
cart until I give up and go shop somewhere else? |
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