Gripe with Skype

Skype is pissing me off.  Not really Skype, but the entire usability structure of the Internet.  Technology is never really simple to use – it's suppose to make things simpler, right? 

I've been trying to call the parents for the past hour through Skype by using some yet known combination of username/passwords, credit card payment, automatic money withdrawal services (moneybookers.com be dammed!), and online banking system — only to learn that

1) my parents have blocked strange numbers from their phone and
2) the stupid microphone doesn't work on the headset that I'm using. 

Really, when you combining broken technology (microphone) with a stupid human (me) -- nothing ever works.

Piss off, Skype!

I am supposed to pay for $800+ worth of computer equipment in cash.  Funny Vietnamese people.  Everything is paid in cash here.  "Oh, you don't have $1,000 on you?  Why, the ATM machine is around the corner!"  Their eyes bulge in amazement when I inform them that practically every serious bank puts a per day cap on your cash withdrawal. Perhaps they're gloating at the dumb foreigner.  I mean, who doesn't hide all their money under the mattress?

'Really! You don't say!"

Not to mention that every transaction used by credit card (if you can find the 3 vendors in the city that actually accepts credit cards) tack on a 2.67% transaction fee.  Now, ya'll may call me cheap, but I ain't shilling out $20 extra in 'bank charges' on an $800 laptop – not when I've been subsisting on less than $10/day for the past two months.

In any case, to see if I can pay for the laptop using my credit card or cash, I have to access my credit card accounts online to make sure I have enough $.

But I can't access my credit card accounts online because I've messed up my username and passwords trying to pay for Skype, I can't pay for Skype using Moneybookers because my credit card has not been confirmed (I can't access my credit card for the stupid confirmation process), I can't access my online checking account because it's been locked and can only be opened if I have my ATM card and PIN -- and I can't get my ATM card or PIN because I can't call my parents through Skype!

I love how I can totally be kicked in the nuts by the Internet. F— you technology!

EDIT: White flag. I'm going to pay the stupid transaction fee. Somewhere, some crusty man in his office is laughing maniacally at his dastardly idea to make more money by gutting the common man. Yes, I am a common man.

Love this entry. LOVE IT!

Posted by: vinny | February 10, 2006 at 12:58 PM