Friday, August 28, 2015
Thursday, August 27, 2015
When playing games becomes a job
I was going to continue with my social media conversation today, but I've decided to pursue a different topic based upon what my streaming friend Jon decided to do with his stream recently.
Live-streaming and recording game play has become an increasingly popular thing for gamers to do. The most successful people have managed to make the practice of sharing their gaming experiences a full-time, and lucrative, job, but it's a relatively small segment of the population that's been that successful.
For the rest, it's a struggle to find a foothold, even if you manage to become partnered and make a little bit of money. Some are trying to make it a full-time job, others, such as myself, do it strictly as a hobby. Many though have unrealistic expectations of what's going to happen and fail to understand how much work it takes to grow a successful gaming channel.
I wanted to talk about this because Jon recently made a decision to make the chat in his stream subscriber-only, meaning those who aren't subscribed to his stream can watch, but they can't actively participate in the chat. It wasn't an easy decision for him to make, but he laid out his decision in a VOD (video on demand) on his Twitch profile that was well-thought out and helped me understand why he was making his decision.
It's easy for me to be okay with it though. I've been subscribed to his stream since he was partnered last summer and will stay subscribed as long as he continues to stay active with it. Yet I can understand why those who were unable (or unwilling) to subscribe might find this upsetting; Jon's chat is one of my favorite parts of the stream. I've known many of the active members since I started watching him 2 years ago and they've been a tremendous help anytime I've had a computer-related question or issue.
However, it may hurt his audience in the short-term as people are turned off by the notion of not being able to chat unless being subbed. His decision is sound though.
I won't get into too much detail about why he made the decision, but he essentially has a one year time frame to grow the channel or he may have to walk away. For more details, you're going to want to watch this as he lays it out clearly and even gets a little emotional about 30 minutes in, which was very touching and clearly was touching towards the people watching him live.
This post isn't just about that kind of decision. I fully support any streamer that makes a decision that they think is best for their channel. As Jon said, you can still watch the stream at high quality for free, you just can't chat unless you sub. I know other streamers have either made their chat sub-only permanently or have select sub-only streams.
No, this post is about how difficult it really is to operate a stream or gaming channel and grow. A good portion of people who watch have no clue how much work goes into it, how much money these people are investing in this. Some have put thousands of dollars of their own money into PC/recording/editing equipment in exchange for only getting a few hundred follows (or subscribers on YouTube).
The first problem is there are a TON of people trying to record and stream right now. The idea of putting your gameplay up on the internet caught on a few years ago and has exploded recently as the tools to do so have become relatively affordable. Most anyone with a decent PC can download recording software for under $50, a microphone for under $100, and OBS (streaming software) for free and get up and running with YouTube and/or Twitch (or any other streaming service that's available).
Many see the bigger names apparently raking in the money and think that they can do the same. They start streaming/uploading their games and wait for the views/follows/likes/subs to start rolling in. When the success isn't instantaneous, many just stop out of the blue and cease video production. They learn it isn't as simple as recording or streaming some gameplay, that there's actual work involved.
Yes, it takes work to put out high quality videos and streams. You have to have a machine capable of maintaining a good frame rate while recording/streaming, good internet for uploading your content, and some artistic ability to create overlays and such. For YouTube, you need to be able to at the very least do basic editing and be able to create decent thumbnails. For Twitch, the overlay is more important. It also helps to have a web cam, a "bot" to handle advance chat options, and a good set of moderators once you become more popular.
It's a lot of work and it's very time consuming for most, which often leads to people becoming burned out when the growth isn't as fast as they would have hoped.
Let's be honest. If you put hundreds of hours of work into your channel and you weren't seeing any growth, you'd probably become frustrated and wonder why you should even bother to continue going forward. For me, this isn't really an issue. I'm not doing this full-time and have no plans or aspirations of doing it full-time. It's strictly a hobby and nothing else.
But for people like Jon who are trying to make it work full-time, lack of growth can become increasingly frustrating as time goes on. You start to wonder why you're even bothering and the pressure to do better makes the games themselves less fun.
I've seen it with Jon. He doesn't appear to be having as much fun as he did a year ago. The pressure of trying to get his channel to grow has been wearing on him for a while and once you get in a funk, it becomes very difficult to break out of it if things don't turn around quickly. I'll give Jon credit for fighting through it, but it's not easy to do and he seems to be hard on himself, which isn't a bad quality at all.
Most people don't think about playing games as being stressful, they don't think it can burn you out, but in reality, if it's what you're doing to try and earn a living, it becomes a job, and jobs can become stressful no matter how "fun" they might be.
Imagine you HAVE to stream or upload videos 4-5 days a week, every week, and if you don't, you lose your audience. Imagine if you miss a couple of days, people stop watching your content and never come back. Imagine if your audience wants you to play certain games in order to stick around.
It can become pretty stressful very quickly, and that's without the rude viewers who show up simply to harass you until you finally ban them, only to have them sign up under new names and continue the assault. Imagine if people are telling you awful things about your content, or worse, you and/or people you know.
Now, it's not necessarily going to be always be that bad, but it could happen and I've seen a few people give up YouTube/streaming because they couldn't handle the noise. I've seen people burn out because the pressure of keeping up daily content became too much for them to handle, or they actually got sick of playing games and trying to keep them interesting.
I myself, even only doing YouTube on occasion and just starting up with streaming, have grown tired at times of it. I burned out on Minecraft a while back and have struggled to consistently get back into it even with new updates pushing across recently.
My reasons are more due to having a 40 hour work schedule and a two year old I'm often chasing when I'm off work. It leaves me a small window at night to do my recordings/streams, and often I'm just tired and don't have the energy to make content, which sounds absurd since it's not the most strenuous thing in the world.
But trust me, it isn't that easy. You have to be into the game you're playing, be up to recording/streaming it, and if you record it, you have to have the motivation to sit and edit the footage into something interesting. If you're like me, you also have to go through and do noise removal because you have a noisy PC fan, which adds to the process. Then you have to wait for the render to finish up, compress it (if the file is big), and upload it with a description and thumbnail ready-made.
It's time-consuming, and when you don't have a lot of time, it can make you feel a little pressure to go a little faster, which sometimes leads to mistakes.
It's why I am constantly telling people who have no kids and can afford to work on videos full-time to appreciate it and enjoy it as much as you can. That time isn't always there forever and before you know it, you're trying to do as much work in a smaller window of opportunity, which can deter you as well.
I know I've made it sound like a chore, but it's still something that I enjoy doing. I don't have the same time as others, and I certainly don't have the same resources, but I make the most of what I have and when I do record/stream, I try to enjoy it as much as possible.
For example, my third stream was me playing "Goat Simulator." I didn't have many viewers (in fact, I don't think it went above 3 at any point and virtually no one chatted with me), but I enjoyed the hell out of the game regardless and if anyone did watch, they got to see me run around with an NPC glitching into my goat most of the time. I eventually gave the character the name of Jerry and turned it into a game of "what can we do with Jerry next."
My next stream was "Borderlands," which garnered me a few more views (as high as 10), and a new follower and again I enjoyed it despite not garnering a lot of attention.
But it can be frustrating for those who want to see their channel and brand grow and make something of it.
Live streaming and recording your gameplay has become a very popular thing to do over the last couple of years. While some have become successful, many struggle to retain viewers. Here's to hoping if you're considering jumping in you keep your expectations reasonable.
Live-streaming and recording game play has become an increasingly popular thing for gamers to do. The most successful people have managed to make the practice of sharing their gaming experiences a full-time, and lucrative, job, but it's a relatively small segment of the population that's been that successful.
For the rest, it's a struggle to find a foothold, even if you manage to become partnered and make a little bit of money. Some are trying to make it a full-time job, others, such as myself, do it strictly as a hobby. Many though have unrealistic expectations of what's going to happen and fail to understand how much work it takes to grow a successful gaming channel.
I wanted to talk about this because Jon recently made a decision to make the chat in his stream subscriber-only, meaning those who aren't subscribed to his stream can watch, but they can't actively participate in the chat. It wasn't an easy decision for him to make, but he laid out his decision in a VOD (video on demand) on his Twitch profile that was well-thought out and helped me understand why he was making his decision.
It's easy for me to be okay with it though. I've been subscribed to his stream since he was partnered last summer and will stay subscribed as long as he continues to stay active with it. Yet I can understand why those who were unable (or unwilling) to subscribe might find this upsetting; Jon's chat is one of my favorite parts of the stream. I've known many of the active members since I started watching him 2 years ago and they've been a tremendous help anytime I've had a computer-related question or issue.
However, it may hurt his audience in the short-term as people are turned off by the notion of not being able to chat unless being subbed. His decision is sound though.
I won't get into too much detail about why he made the decision, but he essentially has a one year time frame to grow the channel or he may have to walk away. For more details, you're going to want to watch this as he lays it out clearly and even gets a little emotional about 30 minutes in, which was very touching and clearly was touching towards the people watching him live.
This post isn't just about that kind of decision. I fully support any streamer that makes a decision that they think is best for their channel. As Jon said, you can still watch the stream at high quality for free, you just can't chat unless you sub. I know other streamers have either made their chat sub-only permanently or have select sub-only streams.
No, this post is about how difficult it really is to operate a stream or gaming channel and grow. A good portion of people who watch have no clue how much work goes into it, how much money these people are investing in this. Some have put thousands of dollars of their own money into PC/recording/editing equipment in exchange for only getting a few hundred follows (or subscribers on YouTube).
The first problem is there are a TON of people trying to record and stream right now. The idea of putting your gameplay up on the internet caught on a few years ago and has exploded recently as the tools to do so have become relatively affordable. Most anyone with a decent PC can download recording software for under $50, a microphone for under $100, and OBS (streaming software) for free and get up and running with YouTube and/or Twitch (or any other streaming service that's available).
Many see the bigger names apparently raking in the money and think that they can do the same. They start streaming/uploading their games and wait for the views/follows/likes/subs to start rolling in. When the success isn't instantaneous, many just stop out of the blue and cease video production. They learn it isn't as simple as recording or streaming some gameplay, that there's actual work involved.
Yes, it takes work to put out high quality videos and streams. You have to have a machine capable of maintaining a good frame rate while recording/streaming, good internet for uploading your content, and some artistic ability to create overlays and such. For YouTube, you need to be able to at the very least do basic editing and be able to create decent thumbnails. For Twitch, the overlay is more important. It also helps to have a web cam, a "bot" to handle advance chat options, and a good set of moderators once you become more popular.
It's a lot of work and it's very time consuming for most, which often leads to people becoming burned out when the growth isn't as fast as they would have hoped.
Let's be honest. If you put hundreds of hours of work into your channel and you weren't seeing any growth, you'd probably become frustrated and wonder why you should even bother to continue going forward. For me, this isn't really an issue. I'm not doing this full-time and have no plans or aspirations of doing it full-time. It's strictly a hobby and nothing else.
But for people like Jon who are trying to make it work full-time, lack of growth can become increasingly frustrating as time goes on. You start to wonder why you're even bothering and the pressure to do better makes the games themselves less fun.
I've seen it with Jon. He doesn't appear to be having as much fun as he did a year ago. The pressure of trying to get his channel to grow has been wearing on him for a while and once you get in a funk, it becomes very difficult to break out of it if things don't turn around quickly. I'll give Jon credit for fighting through it, but it's not easy to do and he seems to be hard on himself, which isn't a bad quality at all.
Most people don't think about playing games as being stressful, they don't think it can burn you out, but in reality, if it's what you're doing to try and earn a living, it becomes a job, and jobs can become stressful no matter how "fun" they might be.
Imagine you HAVE to stream or upload videos 4-5 days a week, every week, and if you don't, you lose your audience. Imagine if you miss a couple of days, people stop watching your content and never come back. Imagine if your audience wants you to play certain games in order to stick around.
It can become pretty stressful very quickly, and that's without the rude viewers who show up simply to harass you until you finally ban them, only to have them sign up under new names and continue the assault. Imagine if people are telling you awful things about your content, or worse, you and/or people you know.
Now, it's not necessarily going to be always be that bad, but it could happen and I've seen a few people give up YouTube/streaming because they couldn't handle the noise. I've seen people burn out because the pressure of keeping up daily content became too much for them to handle, or they actually got sick of playing games and trying to keep them interesting.
I myself, even only doing YouTube on occasion and just starting up with streaming, have grown tired at times of it. I burned out on Minecraft a while back and have struggled to consistently get back into it even with new updates pushing across recently.
My reasons are more due to having a 40 hour work schedule and a two year old I'm often chasing when I'm off work. It leaves me a small window at night to do my recordings/streams, and often I'm just tired and don't have the energy to make content, which sounds absurd since it's not the most strenuous thing in the world.
But trust me, it isn't that easy. You have to be into the game you're playing, be up to recording/streaming it, and if you record it, you have to have the motivation to sit and edit the footage into something interesting. If you're like me, you also have to go through and do noise removal because you have a noisy PC fan, which adds to the process. Then you have to wait for the render to finish up, compress it (if the file is big), and upload it with a description and thumbnail ready-made.
It's time-consuming, and when you don't have a lot of time, it can make you feel a little pressure to go a little faster, which sometimes leads to mistakes.
It's why I am constantly telling people who have no kids and can afford to work on videos full-time to appreciate it and enjoy it as much as you can. That time isn't always there forever and before you know it, you're trying to do as much work in a smaller window of opportunity, which can deter you as well.
I know I've made it sound like a chore, but it's still something that I enjoy doing. I don't have the same time as others, and I certainly don't have the same resources, but I make the most of what I have and when I do record/stream, I try to enjoy it as much as possible.
For example, my third stream was me playing "Goat Simulator." I didn't have many viewers (in fact, I don't think it went above 3 at any point and virtually no one chatted with me), but I enjoyed the hell out of the game regardless and if anyone did watch, they got to see me run around with an NPC glitching into my goat most of the time. I eventually gave the character the name of Jerry and turned it into a game of "what can we do with Jerry next."
My next stream was "Borderlands," which garnered me a few more views (as high as 10), and a new follower and again I enjoyed it despite not garnering a lot of attention.
But it can be frustrating for those who want to see their channel and brand grow and make something of it.
Live streaming and recording your gameplay has become a very popular thing to do over the last couple of years. While some have become successful, many struggle to retain viewers. Here's to hoping if you're considering jumping in you keep your expectations reasonable.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Danger in the Crosswalk
If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen me posting last Sunday about an incident I had while heading back to my apartment after going on a long walk with my daughter, who was in a stroller.
If you don't, why not? You missed out on quite the story!
For those of you who didn't see what happened, I was crossing route 20 in Painesville at a crosswalk with the crosswalk light indicating I could cross. Without even thinking anything could happen (which was a mistake given what nearly happened minutes earlier at another crossing), I started heading across the street, Kylie in front of me.
Suddenly, I heard a horn honk, looked to my left, and saw a car pretty much right on me. Without really thinking, I slammed my hand onto the hood of the car as it rolled into my knee, which thanks to me lifting myself up slightly, allowed me to roll off the side of the car and onto the pavement. My actions also forced the stroller in front further, thus avoiding injury to Kylie. She ended up facing the sky as the stroller fell back when I landed as I had never let go of the handle.
Almost immediately you could hear people yelling at the driver and one woman was running towards me. I later realized she was a passenger in the Jeep that had honked and multiple people, including an off-duty police officer, had called 911 before I could even get off the street.
I'll admit. I was dazed by what happened, not because I had hit my head or anything, but the shock my system temporarily went into after landing. It took a minute to realize I should check on Kylie, who looked extremely annoyed that she was looking up at the sky as opposed to forward. After looking her over and feeling relief that she wasn't hurt, I checked my knee out (which is still bruised today).
Luckily I only had a couple of scrapes and no pain in the knee (adrenaline is wonderful sometimes), so I didn't need EMS even though they arrived, along with several police officers, very quickly after the accident.
The woman herself appeared to be in shock too. When I walked over to where the police were at, she just said she never saw me. She didn't know why, she just never saw me.
This has been the part of the story that has caused confusion it seems for those that I've discussed this with. Most have said they would've been extremely angry, that they would've been yelling at the woman if they had been hit. Seriously injured or not, they would've been pissed off.
I get that. That's the natural response. That and "how could you NOT see me?"
And honestly, I wanted to be a little mad about it. I wanted to be mad because my daughter was nearly hit. I wanted to feel more outrage to an extent.
But I didn't.
And it's possible that if it happens to anyone who claims they'd be angry, I'm not so sure they'd be as angry as they think. I don't know. They probably don't really know. It's hard to tell how you're going to react because shock and adrenaline do different things to different people.
I've never been an angry outburst type of person when I feel something was done maliciously. In other words, if I feel it was an accident and the person feels bad enough, it's hard to get mad at the person. This woman clearly felt bad, so it was hard to get mad.
Honestly, I've nearly hit people crossing because I didn't see them. You aren't always looking for pedestrians and sometimes your mind is distracted. You've made that turn a hundred times and just don't think someone could be walking through the intersection until you either come close to hitting them or nearly hit them.
Now, if Kylie had been hurt, I might have found some rage. But between not being hurt myself and her not being hurt, I was too occupied with being relieved to be mad in the least.
Plus, I learned a long time ago that negative energy doesn't get you very far, that sometimes it's better to take a look at the big picture. Yes, I was hit by a car, but I wasn't seriously hurt and my daughter was uninjured. Big picture, it could've been a lot worse if the driver of the Jeep didn't honk his horn, or if I had crossed slightly slower than I had been. Kylie most certainly would've been hit in that case and possibly injured.
In the long run, I feel relieved still. So anger is not an option for me right now.
The bigger issue is the problem of crossing the road. There are crosswalks and signs for a reason, yet many drivers ignore pedestrians or act inconvenienced if someone's crossing the street. As I mentioned before, I had nearly been hit a few moments earlier at a different crosswalk.
The difference was the guy driving through saw me clearly crossing and decided to cut me off anyway. I made eye contact with him as he drove by without a care. I yelled some things at him, yet it was pointless. He didn't care. It would've been far different if he had hit me because he KNEW I was crossing and flat-out didn't care.
I can deal with someone having a moment and not seeing me, even with my daughter involved. It happens to all of us. I can't deal with someone who clearly doesn't care and cuts me off because his precious time is far more valuable than the safety of a pedestrian.
Anyhow, after the police ran my social and EMS had me sign off that I was okay, the police informed me that I could go home if I wanted, that they didn't need me for anything else. I thanked them, EMS, and the people who had stopped and showed they cared. This included the couple in the Jeep, the off-duty officer, and a man on a bike who had been yelling out the offending car's license plate number in case the woman fled the scene.
You all showed that unlike the jerk in the previous intersection, you gave a damn and are the type of people I can be proud of. Even the woman who hit me showed some compassion, even if she still was fairly stunned when I went to leave.
The most astounding part of the ordeal came after I was allowed to leave. I once again hit the button to get a signal to cross, but this time, I waited a moment before crossing the street. I didn't think the odds of a third vehicle nearly hitting me were good, but I wasn't taking the chance.
It's a good thing I did so, because the obnoxiously large pick-up truck that was first in line not only went through without allowing me to cross, it peeled out as if the driver intended on getting through before I could even think about it. I heard someone yell "what the hell is wrong with people" and one of the officers called into dispatch to report the license plate of the truck.
I then was able to FINALLY safely cross the street and head back.
Upon getting back to the apartment, I was greeted outside by a neighbor and her fiance, both of whom had driven by at different times and had seen me walking. Her fiance had actually gone by right before the car hit me, so he knew someone had been hit, and apparently when he described me and the stroller, she knew it was me.
I was appreciative again that someone showed concern and talked to both of them for a few moments.
It's just incredible to me what happened Sunday. I'm grateful I wasn't seriously hurt, but what about all the people who are, or worse, killed because someone didn't pay attention?
We're all so distracted these days too. I no longer look at my phone when I'm driving, but I see plenty of people attempting to look at their phones, or worse, text. I've seen people do things from putting on makeup, eating, or looking for something that they *need*. It's cell phones more than anything that cause issues, but sometimes it's just as simple as someone not paying attention.
The moral of the story is, don't expect people to stop for you. I know, that's a horrible thing to have to say, but it's true. Don't assume that just because you have a signal that you can cross, that everyone is going to wait for you. People are impatient and rude in a lot of cases, and you walking in front of them is a nuisance.
Pay attention to what's going on around you. If you think someone isn't going to wait for you to cross, don't tempt fate. People who are conscious of a pedestrian at a crosswalk will wait for you. They won't go and then stop suddenly. They won't start driving at all until you're out of the street.
I had an incident recently just because I wanted to cross a street. Hopefully you don't have the same thing happen to you.
If you don't, why not? You missed out on quite the story!
For those of you who didn't see what happened, I was crossing route 20 in Painesville at a crosswalk with the crosswalk light indicating I could cross. Without even thinking anything could happen (which was a mistake given what nearly happened minutes earlier at another crossing), I started heading across the street, Kylie in front of me.
Suddenly, I heard a horn honk, looked to my left, and saw a car pretty much right on me. Without really thinking, I slammed my hand onto the hood of the car as it rolled into my knee, which thanks to me lifting myself up slightly, allowed me to roll off the side of the car and onto the pavement. My actions also forced the stroller in front further, thus avoiding injury to Kylie. She ended up facing the sky as the stroller fell back when I landed as I had never let go of the handle.
Almost immediately you could hear people yelling at the driver and one woman was running towards me. I later realized she was a passenger in the Jeep that had honked and multiple people, including an off-duty police officer, had called 911 before I could even get off the street.
I'll admit. I was dazed by what happened, not because I had hit my head or anything, but the shock my system temporarily went into after landing. It took a minute to realize I should check on Kylie, who looked extremely annoyed that she was looking up at the sky as opposed to forward. After looking her over and feeling relief that she wasn't hurt, I checked my knee out (which is still bruised today).
Luckily I only had a couple of scrapes and no pain in the knee (adrenaline is wonderful sometimes), so I didn't need EMS even though they arrived, along with several police officers, very quickly after the accident.
The woman herself appeared to be in shock too. When I walked over to where the police were at, she just said she never saw me. She didn't know why, she just never saw me.
This has been the part of the story that has caused confusion it seems for those that I've discussed this with. Most have said they would've been extremely angry, that they would've been yelling at the woman if they had been hit. Seriously injured or not, they would've been pissed off.
I get that. That's the natural response. That and "how could you NOT see me?"
And honestly, I wanted to be a little mad about it. I wanted to be mad because my daughter was nearly hit. I wanted to feel more outrage to an extent.
But I didn't.
And it's possible that if it happens to anyone who claims they'd be angry, I'm not so sure they'd be as angry as they think. I don't know. They probably don't really know. It's hard to tell how you're going to react because shock and adrenaline do different things to different people.
I've never been an angry outburst type of person when I feel something was done maliciously. In other words, if I feel it was an accident and the person feels bad enough, it's hard to get mad at the person. This woman clearly felt bad, so it was hard to get mad.
Honestly, I've nearly hit people crossing because I didn't see them. You aren't always looking for pedestrians and sometimes your mind is distracted. You've made that turn a hundred times and just don't think someone could be walking through the intersection until you either come close to hitting them or nearly hit them.
Now, if Kylie had been hurt, I might have found some rage. But between not being hurt myself and her not being hurt, I was too occupied with being relieved to be mad in the least.
Plus, I learned a long time ago that negative energy doesn't get you very far, that sometimes it's better to take a look at the big picture. Yes, I was hit by a car, but I wasn't seriously hurt and my daughter was uninjured. Big picture, it could've been a lot worse if the driver of the Jeep didn't honk his horn, or if I had crossed slightly slower than I had been. Kylie most certainly would've been hit in that case and possibly injured.
In the long run, I feel relieved still. So anger is not an option for me right now.
The bigger issue is the problem of crossing the road. There are crosswalks and signs for a reason, yet many drivers ignore pedestrians or act inconvenienced if someone's crossing the street. As I mentioned before, I had nearly been hit a few moments earlier at a different crosswalk.
The difference was the guy driving through saw me clearly crossing and decided to cut me off anyway. I made eye contact with him as he drove by without a care. I yelled some things at him, yet it was pointless. He didn't care. It would've been far different if he had hit me because he KNEW I was crossing and flat-out didn't care.
I can deal with someone having a moment and not seeing me, even with my daughter involved. It happens to all of us. I can't deal with someone who clearly doesn't care and cuts me off because his precious time is far more valuable than the safety of a pedestrian.
Anyhow, after the police ran my social and EMS had me sign off that I was okay, the police informed me that I could go home if I wanted, that they didn't need me for anything else. I thanked them, EMS, and the people who had stopped and showed they cared. This included the couple in the Jeep, the off-duty officer, and a man on a bike who had been yelling out the offending car's license plate number in case the woman fled the scene.
You all showed that unlike the jerk in the previous intersection, you gave a damn and are the type of people I can be proud of. Even the woman who hit me showed some compassion, even if she still was fairly stunned when I went to leave.
The most astounding part of the ordeal came after I was allowed to leave. I once again hit the button to get a signal to cross, but this time, I waited a moment before crossing the street. I didn't think the odds of a third vehicle nearly hitting me were good, but I wasn't taking the chance.
It's a good thing I did so, because the obnoxiously large pick-up truck that was first in line not only went through without allowing me to cross, it peeled out as if the driver intended on getting through before I could even think about it. I heard someone yell "what the hell is wrong with people" and one of the officers called into dispatch to report the license plate of the truck.
I then was able to FINALLY safely cross the street and head back.
Upon getting back to the apartment, I was greeted outside by a neighbor and her fiance, both of whom had driven by at different times and had seen me walking. Her fiance had actually gone by right before the car hit me, so he knew someone had been hit, and apparently when he described me and the stroller, she knew it was me.
I was appreciative again that someone showed concern and talked to both of them for a few moments.
It's just incredible to me what happened Sunday. I'm grateful I wasn't seriously hurt, but what about all the people who are, or worse, killed because someone didn't pay attention?
We're all so distracted these days too. I no longer look at my phone when I'm driving, but I see plenty of people attempting to look at their phones, or worse, text. I've seen people do things from putting on makeup, eating, or looking for something that they *need*. It's cell phones more than anything that cause issues, but sometimes it's just as simple as someone not paying attention.
The moral of the story is, don't expect people to stop for you. I know, that's a horrible thing to have to say, but it's true. Don't assume that just because you have a signal that you can cross, that everyone is going to wait for you. People are impatient and rude in a lot of cases, and you walking in front of them is a nuisance.
Pay attention to what's going on around you. If you think someone isn't going to wait for you to cross, don't tempt fate. People who are conscious of a pedestrian at a crosswalk will wait for you. They won't go and then stop suddenly. They won't start driving at all until you're out of the street.
I had an incident recently just because I wanted to cross a street. Hopefully you don't have the same thing happen to you.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
The Ups and Downs of Social Media :: Part 2 :: The Battle for Popularity
If you missed the previous entry on the precursors to social media, you can read it here.
By the early to mid 2000's, the number of people with access to the internet was growing and the idea of being able to network via the internet was starting to gain traction (note: this is not a fact; just based on my own memories). It wasn't going to be enough to just e-mail, instant message, and visit someone's web site. No, people wanted more and in 2003, the first shift in how the internet was used took place.
Myspace was, by many accounts, the originator of the social media site. Launched in 2003, the site quickly became the most popular social networking site, and at one point even passed Google as the most-visited site in the United States. You could add friends, send messages, view each other's photos, share status updates, and basically anything else they wanted you to know.
For a while, Myspace was THE place to be, but to me, it quickly became a popularity contest. People would request you as a friend just to boost the number of friends they had, but had no real interest in interacting with you, which seemed to defeat the purpose of the site. This didn't deter me from using it for a long while, especially the blog feature, but as time went on, it became clear that Myspace was losing traction.
As recently as a couple months ago, I had checked back in to see what the site was like, and unfortunately, it hasn't improved much. The site was slow, glitchy, and seemed to be overly focused on musicians and other celebrities, making it less of a social media site and more of a gossip site to me.
Looking at the path it's taken since the peak of it's popularity in 2006, the site will likely never ascend back to the levels of Facebook, Twitter, and other sites.
A sobering number is the number employees that Myspace has. In 2009, it had around 1600 employees. 2 years later, that number was down to 200.
What happened?
Well, Facebook decided to open its doors to anyone rather than just college students, developed a cleaner interface than Myspace, and took off.
I was slow to embrace Facebook myself. I had learned to enjoy Myspace and I had met some fun people on there, plus it had allowed me to keep in touch with people I had already known in real life. While the repeated friend requests from people who weren't actually trying to be friends was annoying, it ultimately didn't bother me too much.
However, I had a few people I worked with who had migrated to Facebook and encouraged me to do so. Like anything, it was awkward at first, and I certainly struggled initially to understand what I was doing on there, but I eventually realized that more people I knew were on Facebook, and it had helped me reconnect with several people from high school, which was an unexpected bonus.
I can't remember the exact point in which I completely abandoned Myspace, but it was roughly around 2011 when I stopped logging in regularly and moved strictly on to Facebook. I didn't use any other types of social media for a couple of years, choosing to focus on Facebook if I used anything.
The thing that became increasingly annoying to me was how many different sites seemed to be popping up. I know I've only mentioned the major players so far, but there were others methods, other types of sites that existed for short periods of times.
Some were geared more towards professionals, but many just seemed to be geared towards creating popularity contests. I joined my fair share of smaller sites, but not enthusiastic about them, I typically didn't stick with them for long periods of time. Most people on the sites were flaky and not actually trying to expand social media horizons, and that remains true to an extent to this day.
I haven't mentioned Twitter yet and it's not a mistake. I avoided Twitter for a long, long time, mostly because I didn't see the point in limiting how many characters I could use to get a point across. Why limit myself to 140 when I could use as many as I want on Facebook?
It seemed silly.
Then, in February of 2013, I took the plunge.
I'll admit, my first tweet is underwhelming, but it was the exact reason I joined. I had started my YouTube channel in September of 2012, and I quickly realized integrating it with Twitter could be beneficial (although not NEARLY as much as it could be). I made the decision after a couple of months and more than 2 years later, it's pretty much my preferred method of interacting with others online.
As of today, I've tweeted over 16,000 times, I have over 640 followers, and am following over 600 accounts I'm following. On Facebook, I have roughly 70 friends, but maybe post once or twice a week, and it's usually just pictures of my child. On Twitter, I sometimes post multiple tweets a day, and that doesn't include automated tweets that come from my YouTube channel and/or Twitch channel.
Twitter has proven to be an exceptional method of communicating with people and receiving feedback on virtually anything I say or do. While the number of interactions based on the number of followers is still pretty small, I've been reminded more than once that people are reading what I tweet, even if they aren't always responding.
I've also occasionally dabbled with Instagram, but that's not nearly as often and I've yet to find a good way to integrate it with my channel.
Google+ was an option as well, but I've never felt like that service ever fully realized what it was capable of, especially given Google's ownership of YouTube. The forced integration upset many users, although it didn't bother me all that much. I just never saw Google+ become what it could be, thus it was never really a viable option for me to completely jump in on.
In the end, I use Twitter the most, followed by Facebook, then Instagram in terms of the major social media sites, but the internet is full of smaller scale social sites.
Steam itself acts as a social media platform with it's chat/party system, and other sites such as the Gaming Tribe are trying new and unique ways to bring gamers together. It's not perfect, but it's a good start, and not just because that site is always giving stuff away.
The internet has grown since the early 2000's and social media has become a major staple of people's lives. But is it really all it's cracked up to be sometimes?
Next, social media has brought people together, but it also can bring out the worst in individuals who thrive under anonymity.
By the early to mid 2000's, the number of people with access to the internet was growing and the idea of being able to network via the internet was starting to gain traction (note: this is not a fact; just based on my own memories). It wasn't going to be enough to just e-mail, instant message, and visit someone's web site. No, people wanted more and in 2003, the first shift in how the internet was used took place.
Myspace was, by many accounts, the originator of the social media site. Launched in 2003, the site quickly became the most popular social networking site, and at one point even passed Google as the most-visited site in the United States. You could add friends, send messages, view each other's photos, share status updates, and basically anything else they wanted you to know.
For a while, Myspace was THE place to be, but to me, it quickly became a popularity contest. People would request you as a friend just to boost the number of friends they had, but had no real interest in interacting with you, which seemed to defeat the purpose of the site. This didn't deter me from using it for a long while, especially the blog feature, but as time went on, it became clear that Myspace was losing traction.
As recently as a couple months ago, I had checked back in to see what the site was like, and unfortunately, it hasn't improved much. The site was slow, glitchy, and seemed to be overly focused on musicians and other celebrities, making it less of a social media site and more of a gossip site to me.
Looking at the path it's taken since the peak of it's popularity in 2006, the site will likely never ascend back to the levels of Facebook, Twitter, and other sites.
A sobering number is the number employees that Myspace has. In 2009, it had around 1600 employees. 2 years later, that number was down to 200.
What happened?
Well, Facebook decided to open its doors to anyone rather than just college students, developed a cleaner interface than Myspace, and took off.
I was slow to embrace Facebook myself. I had learned to enjoy Myspace and I had met some fun people on there, plus it had allowed me to keep in touch with people I had already known in real life. While the repeated friend requests from people who weren't actually trying to be friends was annoying, it ultimately didn't bother me too much.
However, I had a few people I worked with who had migrated to Facebook and encouraged me to do so. Like anything, it was awkward at first, and I certainly struggled initially to understand what I was doing on there, but I eventually realized that more people I knew were on Facebook, and it had helped me reconnect with several people from high school, which was an unexpected bonus.
I can't remember the exact point in which I completely abandoned Myspace, but it was roughly around 2011 when I stopped logging in regularly and moved strictly on to Facebook. I didn't use any other types of social media for a couple of years, choosing to focus on Facebook if I used anything.
The thing that became increasingly annoying to me was how many different sites seemed to be popping up. I know I've only mentioned the major players so far, but there were others methods, other types of sites that existed for short periods of times.
Some were geared more towards professionals, but many just seemed to be geared towards creating popularity contests. I joined my fair share of smaller sites, but not enthusiastic about them, I typically didn't stick with them for long periods of time. Most people on the sites were flaky and not actually trying to expand social media horizons, and that remains true to an extent to this day.
I haven't mentioned Twitter yet and it's not a mistake. I avoided Twitter for a long, long time, mostly because I didn't see the point in limiting how many characters I could use to get a point across. Why limit myself to 140 when I could use as many as I want on Facebook?
It seemed silly.
Then, in February of 2013, I took the plunge.
I'll admit, my first tweet is underwhelming, but it was the exact reason I joined. I had started my YouTube channel in September of 2012, and I quickly realized integrating it with Twitter could be beneficial (although not NEARLY as much as it could be). I made the decision after a couple of months and more than 2 years later, it's pretty much my preferred method of interacting with others online.
As of today, I've tweeted over 16,000 times, I have over 640 followers, and am following over 600 accounts I'm following. On Facebook, I have roughly 70 friends, but maybe post once or twice a week, and it's usually just pictures of my child. On Twitter, I sometimes post multiple tweets a day, and that doesn't include automated tweets that come from my YouTube channel and/or Twitch channel.
Twitter has proven to be an exceptional method of communicating with people and receiving feedback on virtually anything I say or do. While the number of interactions based on the number of followers is still pretty small, I've been reminded more than once that people are reading what I tweet, even if they aren't always responding.
I've also occasionally dabbled with Instagram, but that's not nearly as often and I've yet to find a good way to integrate it with my channel.
Google+ was an option as well, but I've never felt like that service ever fully realized what it was capable of, especially given Google's ownership of YouTube. The forced integration upset many users, although it didn't bother me all that much. I just never saw Google+ become what it could be, thus it was never really a viable option for me to completely jump in on.
In the end, I use Twitter the most, followed by Facebook, then Instagram in terms of the major social media sites, but the internet is full of smaller scale social sites.
Steam itself acts as a social media platform with it's chat/party system, and other sites such as the Gaming Tribe are trying new and unique ways to bring gamers together. It's not perfect, but it's a good start, and not just because that site is always giving stuff away.
The internet has grown since the early 2000's and social media has become a major staple of people's lives. But is it really all it's cracked up to be sometimes?
Next, social media has brought people together, but it also can bring out the worst in individuals who thrive under anonymity.
Monday, August 24, 2015
Friday, August 21, 2015
Thursday, August 20, 2015
The Ups and Downs of Social Media :: Part 1 :: Infancy
Social media can be a wonderful thing.
It connects you to people you might not otherwise ever speak to.
It introduces you to things that you wouldn't know about otherwise.
It allows a level of interaction that is sometimes easier for people to accept and use. Some people just aren't good at face to face interactions and social media opens up avenues of communication and expression that weren't there before.
Social media can be an awful thing.
It allows people to mercilessly rip you to shreds behind the shroud of a computer/tablet/phone screen anonymously without fear of repercussion.
It helps perpetuate hateful messages that can destroy even the strongest of individuals.
It empowers people to act in ways they wouldn't dare act if the interaction took place outside in the actual world.
When used properly and effectively, social media can propel you to places you could only imagine. Without social media, it's highly doubtful that some of the internet sensations would ever be known. Between Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, and other venues, there are more ways than ever to be heard, seen, and understood.
There are also more ways for you to be exposed in a variety of ways to levels that hurt, sometimes even kill.
It's not all doom and gloom though. I've generally had positive experiences on social media, and typically it's easy to block and/or report someone who's not playing nice. Very little usually comes of it, but the person is no longer annoying me and I feel better about the situation.
Then again, I have a fraction of the following on social media as some. I have just over 600 followers on Twitter, 70 friends on my actual Facebook page, and only 5 likes on my gaming channel's page. My reach is limited at best, so the potential for scornful comments and attacks is slim.
Those with tens of thousands of followers/subscribers/likes will likely deal with far more devious situations, especially if the person/page partakes in giveaways.
More on that at a later point (if I remember).
WORD OF ADVICE - this is going to be a multi-part series. You've been warned!
The internet is a FAR different place today than it was when I first began signing on with America Online in the late 90's. The culture is different, the browsing experience is different, and the internet is a multimedia machine compared to how it operated back when I first was signing on.
Back then, the social experience involved chat rooms, e-mail, and eventually instant messenger services. Of course, much of the conversations were pointless and most chat rooms operated under the A/S/L principle (age/sex/location for those unfamiliar with late 90's/early 2000's lingo). In essence, most teens were looking for the opposite sex and there was no shame in it.
You operated mostly blind back then though. Pictures weren't easy to get on the internet then and even when they did get on there, it took a LONG time for the picture to download (remember, this was before broadband existed). You had to take people for their word on their appearance, and depending on how active your imagination worked determined what "5'2", blonde hair, blue eyes" looked like.
Instant messengers were the precursors to text messaging when you think about it. While not mobile, it allowed you to talk to virtually anyone and get an immediate response (at least as long as they were at their computer). Of course, it became a bit cumbersome if you had multiple conversations going on, but it had advantages over e-mail and didn't take long to become extremely popular.
Even as recently as 5-6 years ago, I had an instant messenger installed on my computer to maintain conversations with people I had met on the internet in various forms. You still have reminders of instant messaging in various web sites and applications, but text messaging and other forms of social media have since replaced instant messengers.
As time went on and internet speeds started to get faster, more entertainment options opened up for people online. I feel that when people started to realize they didn't need AOL to go online, things started to open up more. My mom was one of the early adopters of alternative internet access, going with a company called Exchange Net for a while. It was nice to be able to use a regular web browser and not be "confined" to the AOL model of searching the internet.
It was around this point when I decided to learn HTML. There had been a guy going around the AOL chat rooms offering to build simple web sites for people and I became intensely curious about how he had done it. He was nice enough to show me the code and I ended up spending months learning as much as I could about HTML so I could make my own site.
After we had moved on from AOL, I came across a site called "Geocities." I was interested because it had large storage (at the time, 15mb was fairly substantial) and was free. You just had to pick a "city" that was appropriate for your site and you could use a simple or advanced editor to put your content up. If you want a good laugh, the site is still "available" as it was archived by Oocities. You can find it here.
At one point I had two sites up. I had a fan site for the show Mystery Science Theater 3000 (former cast members now operate Rifftrax), plus my own personal blog, which is mentioned above. It was overly ambitious for me to have one, much less two, sites, but I attempted to do so back then. I quickly realized I was NEVER going to be able to do a proper fan site, so I ditched it after a while and focused on a single site.
It's remarkable to me how much work I initially put into the site, but like most things I do, it trails off after a while and updates become more sporadic. But if you want a 10 year look into my mind from 1997-2007, it's a good place to check out, even if it is cringe-worthy for me personally.
Back then, it was exciting to be able to build my own site and see my work sitting on the internet. It was exciting to create something and see it sitting, waiting for people to see. It was a precursor to my video creation and live-streaming, but on a MUCH smaller scale.
Coming next: why I ended up abandoning the web site and beginnings of social media as we know it today.
It connects you to people you might not otherwise ever speak to.
It introduces you to things that you wouldn't know about otherwise.
It allows a level of interaction that is sometimes easier for people to accept and use. Some people just aren't good at face to face interactions and social media opens up avenues of communication and expression that weren't there before.
Social media can be an awful thing.
It allows people to mercilessly rip you to shreds behind the shroud of a computer/tablet/phone screen anonymously without fear of repercussion.
It helps perpetuate hateful messages that can destroy even the strongest of individuals.
It empowers people to act in ways they wouldn't dare act if the interaction took place outside in the actual world.
When used properly and effectively, social media can propel you to places you could only imagine. Without social media, it's highly doubtful that some of the internet sensations would ever be known. Between Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, and other venues, there are more ways than ever to be heard, seen, and understood.
There are also more ways for you to be exposed in a variety of ways to levels that hurt, sometimes even kill.
It's not all doom and gloom though. I've generally had positive experiences on social media, and typically it's easy to block and/or report someone who's not playing nice. Very little usually comes of it, but the person is no longer annoying me and I feel better about the situation.
Then again, I have a fraction of the following on social media as some. I have just over 600 followers on Twitter, 70 friends on my actual Facebook page, and only 5 likes on my gaming channel's page. My reach is limited at best, so the potential for scornful comments and attacks is slim.
Those with tens of thousands of followers/subscribers/likes will likely deal with far more devious situations, especially if the person/page partakes in giveaways.
More on that at a later point (if I remember).
WORD OF ADVICE - this is going to be a multi-part series. You've been warned!
The internet is a FAR different place today than it was when I first began signing on with America Online in the late 90's. The culture is different, the browsing experience is different, and the internet is a multimedia machine compared to how it operated back when I first was signing on.
Back then, the social experience involved chat rooms, e-mail, and eventually instant messenger services. Of course, much of the conversations were pointless and most chat rooms operated under the A/S/L principle (age/sex/location for those unfamiliar with late 90's/early 2000's lingo). In essence, most teens were looking for the opposite sex and there was no shame in it.
You operated mostly blind back then though. Pictures weren't easy to get on the internet then and even when they did get on there, it took a LONG time for the picture to download (remember, this was before broadband existed). You had to take people for their word on their appearance, and depending on how active your imagination worked determined what "5'2", blonde hair, blue eyes" looked like.
Instant messengers were the precursors to text messaging when you think about it. While not mobile, it allowed you to talk to virtually anyone and get an immediate response (at least as long as they were at their computer). Of course, it became a bit cumbersome if you had multiple conversations going on, but it had advantages over e-mail and didn't take long to become extremely popular.
Even as recently as 5-6 years ago, I had an instant messenger installed on my computer to maintain conversations with people I had met on the internet in various forms. You still have reminders of instant messaging in various web sites and applications, but text messaging and other forms of social media have since replaced instant messengers.
As time went on and internet speeds started to get faster, more entertainment options opened up for people online. I feel that when people started to realize they didn't need AOL to go online, things started to open up more. My mom was one of the early adopters of alternative internet access, going with a company called Exchange Net for a while. It was nice to be able to use a regular web browser and not be "confined" to the AOL model of searching the internet.
It was around this point when I decided to learn HTML. There had been a guy going around the AOL chat rooms offering to build simple web sites for people and I became intensely curious about how he had done it. He was nice enough to show me the code and I ended up spending months learning as much as I could about HTML so I could make my own site.
After we had moved on from AOL, I came across a site called "Geocities." I was interested because it had large storage (at the time, 15mb was fairly substantial) and was free. You just had to pick a "city" that was appropriate for your site and you could use a simple or advanced editor to put your content up. If you want a good laugh, the site is still "available" as it was archived by Oocities. You can find it here.
At one point I had two sites up. I had a fan site for the show Mystery Science Theater 3000 (former cast members now operate Rifftrax), plus my own personal blog, which is mentioned above. It was overly ambitious for me to have one, much less two, sites, but I attempted to do so back then. I quickly realized I was NEVER going to be able to do a proper fan site, so I ditched it after a while and focused on a single site.
It's remarkable to me how much work I initially put into the site, but like most things I do, it trails off after a while and updates become more sporadic. But if you want a 10 year look into my mind from 1997-2007, it's a good place to check out, even if it is cringe-worthy for me personally.
Back then, it was exciting to be able to build my own site and see my work sitting on the internet. It was exciting to create something and see it sitting, waiting for people to see. It was a precursor to my video creation and live-streaming, but on a MUCH smaller scale.
Coming next: why I ended up abandoning the web site and beginnings of social media as we know it today.
Monday, August 10, 2015
How NOT to deliver a package
Before I get started, I want to go on the record and say I've had almost zero issues when it comes to ordering things from Amazon. Everything's come as described and I don't think I've ever had a package arrive late or in bad condition. There isn't some track record of poor service from them, so I'm not liable to cause a stink over things that happen too often.
That all said, I do feel Amazon should be held slightly accountable for the recent order issue that I've been dealing with.
Today is Monday, August 10th. Last week, I ordered a powered USB 3.0 hub and knee brace off of Amazon's web site. The guaranteed delivery date was 8/7/15 by 8pm. Having never had an issue with an order arriving, I didn't think much when I saw the Amazon notification pop up on my phone. I figured it was the app telling me the order had been delivered successfully.
Imagine my surprise when I actually went to clear the notification and realized it said there was a problem with the order. Upon checking in on the order page online, it indicated the carrier reported that the address was insufficient, that it was missing an apartment or suite number. Now, I do live in an apartment, but the street address for the apartment IS the apartment number. For example, if my address was 555 Main St, technically the 555 part is the apartment number, but each apartment has its own street address rather than apartment number.
I know. It's an odd system, but I've NEVER had an issue with someone not being able to deliver a package to me. UPS, USPS, and FedEx have all successfully delivered packages in the past.
I contacted Amazon over this issue and informed "Rose" that the address was indeed correct. I'm going to post the chat transcript, minus the order number and address number. Here is the transcript:
01:13 PM PDT Rose(Amazon): Hello, David. My name is Rose. I'm here to help you today.I am sorry that you haven't received your package due to delivery issues tagged by the carrier.
No worries, I'll be glad to check what happened and see for the best option that I can provide to assist you.
May I have the order number?
01:14 PM PDT David T. Kreal: 103-XXXXXXX-XXXXXXX (NOTE: I removed the actual order number for privacy reasons; if Amazon sees this blog post, they can contact me personally to receive it) I have a feeling it's because the postal carrier didn't understand how my apartment's numbering system works, which is a first since I've ordered dozens of packages from you guys and had them delivered to XXXX XXXXX Dr.
01:16 PM PDT Rose: Thanks for the details and I am sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you.
01:18 PM PDT Rose: No worries, here's the best option that I can do to help.
01:18 PM PDT David T. Kreal: This is the first time this has happened
01:19 PM PDT Rose: Yes, this doesn't usually happen.
01:20 PM PDT Rose: No need to worry, I'll be more than happy to contact the carrier right now to to tell them that the address is correct and request for a redelivery of your package.
How does that sound to you?
01:20 PM PDT David T. Kreal: the XXXX in my address is on my door...and the outside of my building. It's really hard to mess that up.
Yes, they need to be contacted. So that would be acceptable.
01:21 PM PDT Rose: Thank yo.
*Thank you.
No need for you to worry, I'll surely forward that to the carrier for the successful redelivery of your package.
01:22 PM PDT David T. Kreal: Not worried, just annoyed. The one item was important to arrive on time, but that's not your fault.
01:22 PM PDT Rose: Thank you for your understanding.
01:23 PM PDT Rose: There is nothing to worry, I've successfully contacted the carrier and provided them the information you have provided to me that will help for the successful delivery of your package.
Rest assured that we are always here to back you up.
If there is anything else I may assist you with today, please let me know.
01:24 PM PDT David T. Kreal: No, as long as the package arrives as it should, everything should be fine. Thanks for the help.
01:26 PM PDT Rose: You're most welcome.
Thanks for contacting Amazon.com chat support. Take care and have a great day! Please feel free to click the "End Chat" link.
Thank you.
Amazon.com
Now, I've gone ahead and highlighted the key parts to this conversation in regards to Amazon's role in this. As you can see, Rose contacted the carrier and said the package would be redelivered.
Except that it wasn't delivered the next day. And when I dug deeper, I found out that the USPS, which usually handles Amazon deliveries, wasn't involved, that the tracking number I was seeing was for UPS. When I contacted UPS, it seemed that they had NOT been made aware that the address was indeed correct, that the package was sitting in a shipping center in Highland Heights. They did NOT attempt to redeliver it, so either Rose at Amazon did not contact UPS (but rather USPS), or someone at UPS screwed up again.
At this point, I'm still trying to figure out why the package never made it in the first place. The assumption I'm going with is that someone either saw the address and knew it was an apartment complex (thus deciding it needed an extra number), or they actually drove into the complex, saw it was an apartment complex, and didn't even bother to try and see if it could be delivered.
Regardless, there was a serious mess up with this order, and while I know Amazon isn't responsible for what a delivery carrier does, when I'm told that the carrier has been contacted and the package STILL doesn't get delivered, I feel some of the accountability falls on their shoulders if they didn't properly relay information to the correct place.
As it stands, it's now been 3 days and while I may not know until I get home if the package did arrive (and GOD help UPS if it doesn't), I do know this should NEVER have happened in the first place. Someone clearly dropped the ball, and while no one will likely admit who made the mistake (or even if a mistake was made), I do know the way this has been handled has been unsuccessful. As of right now, I have $40 worth of stuff floating around a UPS center that should've been delivered.
The most maddening part of the talk with UPS's customer service was the inability of them to understand the address was correct. Even after the woman stopped asking if it was correct, she would say to me "now that the address has been corrected," which only infuriated me more. It wasn't corrected. It was never wrong. Someone goofed, but I'm the one who has to suffer because of it. Not Amazon. Not UPS.
Me. Well, and Rachel too since her knee brace for YESTERDAY'S Warrior Dash was supposed to be there BEFORE the dash.
Simply put, this is the kind of stuff that can't go on with a carrier service. This lack of urgency cannot be acceptable. I feel as if I'm being punished because of someone else's mistake with the way the situation has been handled to this point. (see my rant on YouTube to see how upset this has made me) I feel ultimately UPS doesn't feel responsibility for this, nor do I think Amazon will feel any either.
In the end, do I feel entitled to something? No, but it would sure be nice if someone did something as a result of this huge inconvenience. I already know that isn't going to happen. What could UPS possibly do to take responsibility for the incredibly mess-up? Probably nothing. What could Amazon do? I mean, there are things they could do, but they probably don't feel this is their problem so why would they do anything for me?
At this point, I can no longer feel assured that a package will be delivered like it's supposed to be, and that's the biggest shame of it all.
I just wish one or both of these companies would show some accountability for this.
Wishful thinking, I know.
That all said, I do feel Amazon should be held slightly accountable for the recent order issue that I've been dealing with.
Today is Monday, August 10th. Last week, I ordered a powered USB 3.0 hub and knee brace off of Amazon's web site. The guaranteed delivery date was 8/7/15 by 8pm. Having never had an issue with an order arriving, I didn't think much when I saw the Amazon notification pop up on my phone. I figured it was the app telling me the order had been delivered successfully.
Imagine my surprise when I actually went to clear the notification and realized it said there was a problem with the order. Upon checking in on the order page online, it indicated the carrier reported that the address was insufficient, that it was missing an apartment or suite number. Now, I do live in an apartment, but the street address for the apartment IS the apartment number. For example, if my address was 555 Main St, technically the 555 part is the apartment number, but each apartment has its own street address rather than apartment number.
I know. It's an odd system, but I've NEVER had an issue with someone not being able to deliver a package to me. UPS, USPS, and FedEx have all successfully delivered packages in the past.
I contacted Amazon over this issue and informed "Rose" that the address was indeed correct. I'm going to post the chat transcript, minus the order number and address number. Here is the transcript:
01:13 PM PDT Rose(Amazon): Hello, David. My name is Rose. I'm here to help you today.I am sorry that you haven't received your package due to delivery issues tagged by the carrier.
No worries, I'll be glad to check what happened and see for the best option that I can provide to assist you.
May I have the order number?
01:14 PM PDT David T. Kreal: 103-XXXXXXX-XXXXXXX (NOTE: I removed the actual order number for privacy reasons; if Amazon sees this blog post, they can contact me personally to receive it) I have a feeling it's because the postal carrier didn't understand how my apartment's numbering system works, which is a first since I've ordered dozens of packages from you guys and had them delivered to XXXX XXXXX Dr.
01:16 PM PDT Rose: Thanks for the details and I am sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you.
01:18 PM PDT Rose: No worries, here's the best option that I can do to help.
01:18 PM PDT David T. Kreal: This is the first time this has happened
01:19 PM PDT Rose: Yes, this doesn't usually happen.
01:20 PM PDT Rose: No need to worry, I'll be more than happy to contact the carrier right now to to tell them that the address is correct and request for a redelivery of your package.
How does that sound to you?
01:20 PM PDT David T. Kreal: the XXXX in my address is on my door...and the outside of my building. It's really hard to mess that up.
Yes, they need to be contacted. So that would be acceptable.
01:21 PM PDT Rose: Thank yo.
*Thank you.
No need for you to worry, I'll surely forward that to the carrier for the successful redelivery of your package.
01:22 PM PDT David T. Kreal: Not worried, just annoyed. The one item was important to arrive on time, but that's not your fault.
01:22 PM PDT Rose: Thank you for your understanding.
01:23 PM PDT Rose: There is nothing to worry, I've successfully contacted the carrier and provided them the information you have provided to me that will help for the successful delivery of your package.
Rest assured that we are always here to back you up.
If there is anything else I may assist you with today, please let me know.
01:24 PM PDT David T. Kreal: No, as long as the package arrives as it should, everything should be fine. Thanks for the help.
01:26 PM PDT Rose: You're most welcome.
Thanks for contacting Amazon.com chat support. Take care and have a great day! Please feel free to click the "End Chat" link.
Thank you.
Amazon.com
Now, I've gone ahead and highlighted the key parts to this conversation in regards to Amazon's role in this. As you can see, Rose contacted the carrier and said the package would be redelivered.
Except that it wasn't delivered the next day. And when I dug deeper, I found out that the USPS, which usually handles Amazon deliveries, wasn't involved, that the tracking number I was seeing was for UPS. When I contacted UPS, it seemed that they had NOT been made aware that the address was indeed correct, that the package was sitting in a shipping center in Highland Heights. They did NOT attempt to redeliver it, so either Rose at Amazon did not contact UPS (but rather USPS), or someone at UPS screwed up again.
At this point, I'm still trying to figure out why the package never made it in the first place. The assumption I'm going with is that someone either saw the address and knew it was an apartment complex (thus deciding it needed an extra number), or they actually drove into the complex, saw it was an apartment complex, and didn't even bother to try and see if it could be delivered.
Regardless, there was a serious mess up with this order, and while I know Amazon isn't responsible for what a delivery carrier does, when I'm told that the carrier has been contacted and the package STILL doesn't get delivered, I feel some of the accountability falls on their shoulders if they didn't properly relay information to the correct place.
As it stands, it's now been 3 days and while I may not know until I get home if the package did arrive (and GOD help UPS if it doesn't), I do know this should NEVER have happened in the first place. Someone clearly dropped the ball, and while no one will likely admit who made the mistake (or even if a mistake was made), I do know the way this has been handled has been unsuccessful. As of right now, I have $40 worth of stuff floating around a UPS center that should've been delivered.
The most maddening part of the talk with UPS's customer service was the inability of them to understand the address was correct. Even after the woman stopped asking if it was correct, she would say to me "now that the address has been corrected," which only infuriated me more. It wasn't corrected. It was never wrong. Someone goofed, but I'm the one who has to suffer because of it. Not Amazon. Not UPS.
Me. Well, and Rachel too since her knee brace for YESTERDAY'S Warrior Dash was supposed to be there BEFORE the dash.
Simply put, this is the kind of stuff that can't go on with a carrier service. This lack of urgency cannot be acceptable. I feel as if I'm being punished because of someone else's mistake with the way the situation has been handled to this point. (see my rant on YouTube to see how upset this has made me) I feel ultimately UPS doesn't feel responsibility for this, nor do I think Amazon will feel any either.
In the end, do I feel entitled to something? No, but it would sure be nice if someone did something as a result of this huge inconvenience. I already know that isn't going to happen. What could UPS possibly do to take responsibility for the incredibly mess-up? Probably nothing. What could Amazon do? I mean, there are things they could do, but they probably don't feel this is their problem so why would they do anything for me?
At this point, I can no longer feel assured that a package will be delivered like it's supposed to be, and that's the biggest shame of it all.
I just wish one or both of these companies would show some accountability for this.
Wishful thinking, I know.
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