random thoughts – Day 2,348 (Wednesday) – milestones and intrusions

The milestone accolades continue to pile up. Well, in Duolingo and other pretend realms, not so much in real life. Today, my streak hit day number 2,222 which, numerically looks cool. It popped up on my phone screen after completing a lesson this morning and, like so many other things in my phone and laptop, has absolutely no value in the world beyond my phone. 

My email is now gamified with a little badge popping up to pat me on the back if I delete some magical number of messages some magical number of days in a row. This one has zero fun value and is 100% annoying. I am not looking to spend more time in my inbox, I just want to check messages, get out, and move on with my day. I don’t want extra overlays on the screen patting me on the back and blowing smoke up my butt for deleting some emails.

The annoyances have multiplied in the retail world in the form of interrogations, specifically Ocean State Job Lot, which is close to the house so I go there a lot. The annoying practice is to flash a survey on the payment screen while the customer is attempting to pay and get out of the store. No, I don’t want to answer questions about today's customer service and hold up the rest of the checkout line that extends halfway up an aisle while doing so. Ocean State still has employees at the registers and doesn’t force us to check out purchases ourselves and I appreciate that.

The surveys are rampant, but usually arrive via text or email and I can deal with them (mostly delete) on my own time. I get one every time I go to the dentist. I ignore it, and they send a follow-up. I get them from the doctor’s office (also ignored). And Amazon. And Kohl’s. Walmart. Ocean State the one time I ordered something ship to store. I am exhausted by ignoring all the requests and then the screen congratulating me for deleting emails. I'm all surveyed out.