Don't Just Say it ...!

One of the delights of my weekend is to settle down on Sunday evening and listen to folk music.  There's a two-hour programme on BBC Wales that has been regular listening for me for quite some while and it's followed by another two hours of equally pleasant easy listening and light opera which, in the words of the presenter, make me 'warm and relaxed, and ready for sweet dreams later on'.

I listen to these via the internet but, before I can do so, I have to log in to the BBC website.  So much these days is dependent on 'logging in'.  If I want to read my e-mails, or see what my friends have posted on social media, I have to log in with a user name or my e-mail address and a password.  And then there is this infuriating little box marked 'Keep me signed in'.  I say 'infuriating' because, however often I check that box, you can guarantee that within a couple of days - sometimes within only a couple of hours - it's back again, asking me to confirm once more my continuing wish to use the site.

This technological phenomenon is only one example of something that seems to have become more and more common in recent years ... or is it that it has brought to my attention something that has always been present in life in one way or another?  I'm sure you'll realise that what I'm talking about is the concept of the unfulfilled undertaking.  For instance, how often do you say to your spouse, or to a teenage child, "would you do so-and-so for me please?"?  They respond in the affirmative but the 'so-and-so' doesn't get done until a reminder is issued ... and sometimes not even then, despite the willingness initially expressed.

We have recently enjoyed - many would say 'suffered' - our annual dose of politics in action, as we (some of us, at least) have voted in our district council elections, and this weekend in the elections to the European Parliament.  It is a matter of some notoriety that politicians will commit to all sorts of things to gain our vote but, once elected, seem rarely to fulfil those pledges.  There are many reasons - many quite valid reasons - why some pledges can't be fulfilled.  Some are simply impossible, others depend on a level of finance that's just not available, and some require the co-operation of other parties - which may not be forthcoming - for approval.  The end result for the man/woman in the street is the same, however: 'said, but not done'.

Of course, as you will imagine, a particular experience has brought these thoughts together.  Almost a year ago, I decided to change my internet provider.  I couldn't fault the courtesy of the salesperson and of the installer who visited my home.  As an incentive for the changeover, I was given a year's introductory discount from the monthly payments and it had been suggested that, if I were to talk to their customer services people before the anniversary of the contract, I could probably renew this discount for another year.

So that this valuable concession should not be overlooked, I had made a note in my diary and this week, after making several abortive attempts, I managed to navigate all the telephonic menus and speak to someone for this purpose, only to be told not only that any arrangement of that nature will not be possible until after the introductory discount has expired, but also that it can all be accomplished on line!  If only the woman I was speaking to last year had got her facts right ... half an hour of frustration and embarrassment could have been avoided!