# Hey, Company. Not everyone is a Millennial. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 24, 2019, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974 "2019-06-24T16:12:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/41 "2019-06-25T01:22:50Z")
Electronics are all pretty irritating now. What I need: volume up, volume down, channel up, channel down. What I get: “Welcome to Nissan Audio Experience Smart Connect! Download our app to personalize your automotive listening experience! Clicking the off button indicates that you accept our terms of usage, including gathering your speed, location, and social security number solely for the purpose of improving our quality. Based on your past purchases, please enjoy your specially customized playlist called ‘toilet seat warmer 120VAC’” ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/42 "2019-06-25T01:37:20Z")
Shit, my coffee cup required a smartphone app. No joke. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/43 "2019-06-25T02:06:53Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > …Almost as much fun as the time someone in the IT department decided to upgrade EVERY computer and register in the company system - all 200+ stores and corporate headquarters - at 2pm on one fine Sunday afternoon. For an upgrade that had the whole system down for about an hour and a half. Because who works on a Sunday afternoon, right? > > _We’re a **grocery store** _ - Sunday afternoons are a peak time for business… The reminds me of the time Facilities decided to all day fire alarm testing on a Monday during normal business hours. :smack: I mean it’s not like a blaring alarm going at random during the work day is going to distract anyone, especially in the call center (on the busiest day of the week). I mean they send out a mass email telling everyone to ignore the firm alarm unless another email went out to confirm the building is really on fire. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/44 "2019-06-25T02:36:42Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > I suspect that at least as big a factor is the cost reduction. Instead of making you a physical remote control with two dozen buttons, they just give you a super-simple remote that has the most-used buttons (on/off, channel, volume, etc.) and then write some code for your phone for the vast array of rarely-used functions. This. They are saving millions of dollars over time doing this and actually inconveniencing very few. Also, you can update the app but not a physical remote. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Actually, who is and isn’t a millennial isn’t the point of this thread. The point is that companies, specifically Vizio in my case, are making assumptions that exclude a lot of their customers. They aren’t assuming a damn thing. They made the decision to save a lot of money knowing the downsides. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/45 "2019-06-25T02:45:21Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > They aren’t assuming a damn thing. They made the decision to save a lot of money knowing the downsides. Plus Vizio is a budget brand. They didn’t get down to that price point by providing a bunch of extra features. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/46 "2019-06-25T03:19:25Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > At this point, I put “adults who don’t carry a smartphone at all times” in pretty much the same category as the Amish. I’m a runner, I never carry my phone when I run, race, or go to the gym. In fact, I have a cheap, $5 chipless key that will only unlock the doors (& turn the car on to “Accessory” mode). Not all of my running shorts have pockets. I intentionally lock the ‘real’ key in the car & tie the cheap one into my shoelaces. No electronics means I don’t even need to worry if it gets wet when we do stream crossings while trail running. These new cars that won’t let you lock the key in them are a bug, not a feature. I’m not the only one in my group that feels this way. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/47 "2019-06-25T03:43:53Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Don’t buy a Tesla Model 3, then. Although it’s _possible_ to drive without a smartphone, the phone is your primary key and the interface for all external functionality (locking, flashing the lights, etc.). They do sell a fob separately, but the phone is IMO a superior solution. I hate carrying extra shit, but I always have my phone. There is a credit card backup in case your phone battery is dead and you don’t have any alternative. > > At this point, I put “adults who don’t carry a smartphone at all times” in pretty much the same category as the Amish. So what happens when you lose your phone or get mugged? Then you can’t even drive home. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/48 "2019-06-25T03:46:36Z")
What happens when you lose your car keys? Not really that different. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/49 "2019-06-25T04:29:16Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > So what happens when you lose your phone or get mugged? Then you can’t even drive home. If I lose my phone, I can use the keycard in my wallet. It’s less convenient, but workable in a pinch. If I lose both somehow, then I retrieve the keycard I have at home (inconvenient of course, but as **Dewey Finn** said, no worse than losing my keys). If I was married, I’d have my wife’s phone paired with the car, and she could give me access remotely (even from the other side of the country). And if I needed extra keycards, they’re only $25 for spares. > [@Spiderman](#): > > No electronics means I don’t even need to worry if it gets wet when we do stream crossings while trail running. These new cars that won’t let you lock the key in them are a bug, not a feature. I’m not the only one in my group that feels this way. Again, the keycard solves this problem. I know that runners frequently wear a little thing to hold a credit card or two. If not, you can hole-punch the card (not through the antenna…) and tie it into your shoe or necklace or something. Completely waterproof, lighter than a key, and virtually indestructible. Not that anyone on this thread would approve, but I believe that some people are working out how to get the car to respond to those implantable RFID chips, like for pets :). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/50 "2019-06-25T04:53:35Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > I _detest_ the fact that I now have to have a mobile phone to do my damn job due to two-factor authentication. Once they introduced that to access my work email remotely I pretty much stopped using my work email directly. Instead I have all my mail from that account forwarded to my Gmail account where I can just deal with it without having to log in/authenticate all the time. Chase has pissed me off since, when I want to put a travel notification on my cards, the only option they offer is to send an authentication code to my phone either by voice or a text message - there is no option to receive it by email. But guess what? Since I live in Panama, they are apparently unable to send the code to a foreign number. So I have to call them and go through an entire rigmarole verifying who I am. (I swear to god, they didn’t just use my own security questions, but did a search on my former address in New York, searched for other people who had lived there, came up with my mother, and asked me her birthday which they got from public records! It was incredibly creepy.) It took me 15 minutes on the phone to do a travel notification on both my credit and debit cards. Meanwhile, doing it on my other card from BOA, which doesn’t require authentication, took all of 30 seconds on line. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/51 "2019-06-25T07:47:36Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > 2005! How archaic! Yeah, I get that a lot with my electronics, all of which are more than six months old (except my smartphone - got that just a couple months ago. A really, basic, bare-bones model which I’m told is borderline obsolete.) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/52 "2019-06-25T07:53:15Z")
Don’t you just love security features that make whatever it is so secure you can no longer use the thing. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/53 "2019-06-25T12:38:33Z")
Personally, I’d much rather live in a place where you can’t get by without a smartphone, than live in a place where you can’t get by without a car. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/54 "2019-06-25T15:25:04Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > These new cars that won’t let you lock the key in them are a bug, not a feature. My Porsches wouldn’t let me lock my keys in them. You had to lock the driver’s door with the key. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/55 "2019-06-25T15:44:22Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > I suspect that at least as big a factor is the cost reduction. Instead of making you a physical remote control with two dozen buttons, they just give you a super-simple remote that has the most-used buttons (on/off, channel, volume, etc.) and then write some code for your phone for the vast array of rarely-used functions. Not to mentioned that it used to be a common complaint about remotes that they had too many buttons on them. See [here](https://www.simplemost.com/grandkids-make-grandparent-friendly-remote-controls-tape/). A non-trivial number of people _want_ the super-simple remote. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/56 "2019-06-25T15:58:29Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > Not to mentioned that it used to be a common complaint about remotes that they had too many buttons on them. See [here](https://www.simplemost.com/grandkids-make-grandparent-friendly-remote-controls-tape/). A non-trivial number of people _want_ the super-simple remote. Oh, the pain. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/57 "2019-06-25T18:07:32Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Not that anyone on this thread would approve, but I believe that some people are working out how to get the car to respond to those implantable RFID chips, like for pets :). It’s easy enough to hold my cat up to the B-pillar to unlock the doors, but I can’t get him to stay sitting on the center console while I’m driving. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/58 "2019-06-25T20:06:07Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Our new HR software at work is designed to be used via smartphone. In the meeting where this was all announced I asked “What about people who don’t have smarthphones?” \*:::Guffaw guffaw::: - who doesn’t have a smartphone? \* was the reply. “He doesn’t” I said, pointing to one of the cart pushing guys. Two hands raised in the back by other employees. They didn’t either. _:::Looks of dumbfounded puzzlement and a little fear:::… uh… we’ll have to look into that…_ Coming back to say… gosh darn, someone DID think about that! The app is also accessible on all the PC’s at work. (Some of our employees are “special needs” and do not have either computers or smartphones - it’s not so much fear of where they might wander on the web as unsavory types taking advantage - or worse - of people are impaired. And some of our more financially impaired employees don’t have to buy one, or senior citizens who don’t want to have to learn a new gadget.) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/59 "2019-06-25T20:59:38Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > It’s easy enough to hold my cat up to the B-pillar to unlock the doors, but I can’t get him to stay sitting on the center console while I’m driving. Just use the ancient techniques of Bonsai Kitten to [store the cat in a small jar](https://www.dailydot.com/wp-content/uploads/c3a/13/kitteninjar.jpg). Use of a small kitten will ensure that you use up only one cup holder. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974/60 "2019-06-25T21:57:43Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > The reminds me of the time Facilities decided to all day fire alarm testing on a Monday during normal business hours. :smack: I mean it’s not like a blaring alarm going at random during the work day is going to distract anyone, especially in the call center (on the busiest day of the week). I mean they send out a mass email telling everyone to ignore the firm alarm unless another email went out to confirm the building is really on fire. But how can anyone determine if the building is on fire without an email? There’s absolutely no way for you to know. UNLESS, you download our new **“Izzit-A-Blaze?”** app. **“Izzit-A-Blaze?”** makes it convenient and fun to discover if your’re in a fire or not! **“Izzit”** uses a propriety algorithm to dispatch special fire-smelling turtles to you the moment the ambient temperature in your building rises 3 degrees. Our Fire-Turtles use state-of-the-art 7G WiFi to automatically find the fastest route to shamble your way right when you need it.\* So yeah. Don’t _wonder_ if you’re building is on fire… Find out for _sure_ with \*\*“Izzit-A-Blaze?” \*\* \*In a hurry? **“XPress Turtle Taxxee”** is available for an addition charge . **“XPress Turtle Taxxee” app required.** (Not available in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Louisiana, Rhode Island or any other state.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-company-not-everyone-is-a-millennial/835974.md?page=4)