Montreal, Canada –
Some days, things just seem to work.
Others, it doesn’t matter what you do; they are not going to work.
Today was one of those days.
It started way too early in the morning.
Flying to Montreal.
Our flight departing at seven in the morning.
Everything seemed to be fine, until we got to the airport.
We get there, go to check in, select an available kiosk, and start the process.
And because we’re traveling internationally, it asks for our passports.
I start with my passport, and insert it into the scanner as illustrated.
Nothing.
Its like I wasn’t doing anything.
Finally, the kiosk asked if I was still there.
Yes, I’m still here, sticking my passport in the machine.
Which is ignoring me.
Finally, we get some help, and are told that the kiosk we were using doesn’t read passports.
So the attendant takes our passports and goes to another kiosk.
This one still doesn’t read my passport, but she works some magic and it allows us to continue on.
Only we have to go to the counter to finish up and get my passport checked.
Eventually, everything is taken care of, we get our boarding passes, our luggage checked, and we’re done with this step.
So, we continue on our way, with the usual air travel things.
Until our layover in La Guardia airport.
There, we find that Delta has installed iPads everywhere in their terminals, including in the restaurants.
You can order anything from any of the restaurants or stores and get it delivered to where you’re sitting.
So, we go into one of the restaurants to grab a bite of lunch.
Our options are all high-end steak and seafood places.
I know food prices in airports are high, but this is approaching the ridiculous.
It’s as if Delta has decided that only rich people fly their airline.
Well, we need to eat.
So, we choose a place and are seated at a table for two.
And one of the iPads on the table isn’t working.
So I have to do the ordering for both of us.
This confuses the wait-staff, as they seem to expect each person at the table to do their own ordering.
Ah, this explains a lot.
Not just the tech angle, but the selection of dining options as well.
They’re aiming at business travelers.
Where, even if two or more people are traveling together, they each have their own expense account and think nothing of paying separately.
And since they’re on expense accounts, they think nothing of having no reasonably priced options.
It’s the families traveling for non-business reasons that gunk up the works.
Sorry Delta.
Maybe I’ll keep this in mind next time I’m buying tickets for a non-business trip…
So, back to our need to eat, with only one working iPad at our table.
That’s ok, I’m good at navigating my way around unfamiliar apps, I’ll order for both of us.
So, Dore stands behind me, looking over my shoulder at the pictures and choosing what she wants.
Order complete, time to run my credit card through the scanner on the side of the table to pay.
Only the scanner isn’t even acknowledging that I’m running my card through it.
Over and over, turning my card different ways, and running it through in different directions.
All trying to get it to even recognize that I’ve done something.
Finally, one of the wait staff comes over, takes my card from me and runs it through the other scanner.
The one next to the iPad that isn’t working.
And finally it scans.
Ok, that’s two failures of technology to work, or even acknowledge my existence today.
Oh well, as long as we can eat, I’ll live with it.
For now.
See, I’m known as the guy around whom tech just works.
Often, at work, when one of our programmers can’t get something to work, they’ll call me over to take a look at it to see if I can figure out where the problem might lie.
Only when they try to demonstrate the problem, their code works.
No problem.
Other than the programmer is sitting there, baffled at why it’s suddenly working when it was consistently failing until I walked over.
It’s as if I have this magic ability to make tech work, just by being around.
A lot of the programmers in the office refer to this as the “Davis effect.”
And then I have a day like today, where my presence seems to make everything break down.
Finally, we get to Montreal, and make our way through Customs and Immigration, eventually being disgorged into the arrival lobby.
And I whip out my phone to request a car from Uber.
Network failure.
Can’t sign in.
Can’t even connect.
And I made sure before this trip that my phone was enabled for international use.
I’ve got five bars through the local phone network.
But it appears that I don’t have data.
I can’t call a car for pickup.
Hmph!
Well, time to say uncle.
At least the ATM works, allowing me to get some cash as we head over to the taxi stand.
Apparently it’s my day to go tech free.
Or rather the day for tech to go free from me.
At least my Kindle worked, allowing me to read while on our flights.
Although I would find out later, once I got home, that this trip had somehow reset the Wi-Fi settings on it, making me reconfigure it for our home network.
Even though I had Wi-Fi turned off the entire trip.
Hmmm…
Featured image by Jon Ross, used under the Creative Commons license.
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