stackwanderer's review
4.0
Another great pick from Melville House's Contemporary Art of the Novella Series. Duteurtre is a French music critic and writer. Here, he focuses his satiric wit on the ever-more-powerful and interconnected business world.
Set in present times, the author describes a world in which corporations have infiltrated every move that their customers make - even when those customers have no idea they are even buying the company's product.
A global telecom company, with the mysterious "Leslie Delmare" as Director of Customer Service, is happy to help the narrator replace his beloved smartphone, which was tragically left in the back of a cab. Of course, there's a price. Not only must he pay for his new phone, and new service, he most also continue to pay for the lost phone service until the contract runs out. This is only the first of many incidents that lead him to a simple conclusion. Companies are attracting customers at cut-rate prices, locking them into unbreakable contracts, and then charging them for the most minor infraction of the rules. This creates a new source of income:
[W]aiting time had been transformed into an economic agent and source of profits.
See the full review on my blog: Wandering in the Stacks
Set in present times, the author describes a world in which corporations have infiltrated every move that their customers make - even when those customers have no idea they are even buying the company's product.
A global telecom company, with the mysterious "Leslie Delmare" as Director of Customer Service, is happy to help the narrator replace his beloved smartphone, which was tragically left in the back of a cab. Of course, there's a price. Not only must he pay for his new phone, and new service, he most also continue to pay for the lost phone service until the contract runs out. This is only the first of many incidents that lead him to a simple conclusion. Companies are attracting customers at cut-rate prices, locking them into unbreakable contracts, and then charging them for the most minor infraction of the rules. This creates a new source of income:
[W]aiting time had been transformed into an economic agent and source of profits.
See the full review on my blog: Wandering in the Stacks
jasminenoack's review
4.0
So I was in Philly on Sunday with David to visit my friend Pix. Now I'm not a social person so I do well in New York, but in Philly I realized that the whole world is not as up on technology as me. At home I am not required to talk to people CVS, the train, regional rail, ordering pizza... I don't know if it's even possible to buy something from an actual person, so as pix got in line to buy train tickets at the window I had a bit of a panic attack at the prospect of not being able to just buy it from a machine. That night going back downtown I was not only require to talk to a person but I had to buy a ticket on the train cause not only were their no machines but there weren't even ticket booths at the stop. Not just that but I like calling machines on the phone, I hang up when someone tries to connect me to an operator. I email my father cause then it feels kind of like I'm talking to a computer and he's talking to a computer and there are no actual human beings involved. I like texting my friends more than talking to them. I'm more even, more calm, more reasonable. a lot of my closest friends are people I've known online for 6 years. Basically someday I should probably just plug myself into a computer and call it good.
Greg recommended this book to me when I told him Adam Thirlwell was making my head hurt. He use to recommend books to me a lot, most of the bizzarro I read and the really depressing books at some point link back to things greg recommended, basically dude has great taste in books.
This book reminded me of my mom who cannot open an email attachment, once when I sent her a paper she edited my email signature instead because she didn't know there was an attachment. I sent her a text once, six months later she told me she couldn't get this little envelop on her phone screen to go away. This book is like that. basically it's hilarious. The intersection of my world and my moms world, and my world sticking it's tongue out at her and telling her to get with the program.
Greg recommended this book to me when I told him Adam Thirlwell was making my head hurt. He use to recommend books to me a lot, most of the bizzarro I read and the really depressing books at some point link back to things greg recommended, basically dude has great taste in books.
This book reminded me of my mom who cannot open an email attachment, once when I sent her a paper she edited my email signature instead because she didn't know there was an attachment. I sent her a text once, six months later she told me she couldn't get this little envelop on her phone screen to go away. This book is like that. basically it's hilarious. The intersection of my world and my moms world, and my world sticking it's tongue out at her and telling her to get with the program.
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