Entries Tagged 'quebec' ↓

The terms of service used to forbid linking:

  You are prohibited from creating links in other Web sites leading to this Web site without prior express authorization from the Site Owner. (To obtain an authorization, contact our Web site administrator at info@tourisme-montreal.org) — retrieved May 21st

Today I checked again, and lo! the terms have changed:

  The Site Owner reserves the right to request, at any time, that any link to this Web site created from a third party’s website be deleted if, in Site Owner’s sole discretion, such link causes the Site Owner a prejudice.

We can assume some clueless nitwit insisted on keeping the provision, no matter how often it was explained to them that it was ridiculous and unenforceable.

“A man, working in a laundromat?” It wasn’t really a question, nor a rhetorical device. She was just floored I’d ask why the help wanted sign on the window explicitly said “Woman wanted for 3 evening shifts per week”.

When I indicated the laundromat on Duluth St. had 2 men working there, she told me that when they hired a man at their previous location, they lost a lot of customers.

See also a blog entry from a year ago: Women can’t lift heavy weights.

What should I do? Report, boycott, ignore or try and cajole?

1- The forgotten password

We all forget passwords. So you click on that link on the login form, and you’re greeted with a blank text field for your email address.

And it’s usually blank, even if you already entered an email on the login page. How stupid is that?

2 - Is that VISA or MasterCard?

It happens every time I have to give my card information over the phone. On nearly every website with a checkout form, you usually have a drop-down.

That’s stupid, because if you have a credit card number, you already know who issued it. Wikipedia has a list of credit card prefixes. Mastercard starts with 51-55, VISA with 4.

3 - 90210, that’s in New York, right?

A simple search will tell you that’s Beverly Hills, CA. This one’s not nearly as trivial as my first two points to implement. Still, asking someone someone to input city, postal code and state is annoying, pointless and adds the possibility of error.

4 - English or Français on splash pages

Our browsers already tell servers what language they want pages served in. We have cookies to track these types of preferences. Yet the Canadian government still insists that every time I go to a department web site, I’m asked: Français / English?

Taking their cue from government, businesses do the same thing, which leads me to my last pet peeve.

5 - ATMs suck

Besides their outrageous fees, every time I visit another bank’s ATM, they ask me the language question. And then they ask me what operation I want to do, with only ONE choice: Withdrawal.

Pretty stupid, no? But my bank tops that. No language choice - but it asks me which account I want to withdraw money from. Even though I only have one chequing account with them.

There are a lot of small details that can add up to a pleasant, friction-less experience. Most of them don’t take that much effort. I believe it’s a responsibility on our part to create interfaces that are as simple as possible, so that people feel empowered.

Anyone have other examples they can share?

When AngesQuebec announced $750k of funding from the Québec government, I asked what the justification was for giving money to already wealthy investors.

Austin Hill is one of the network’s members, as well as one of Standout Jobs’ 3 founders. I pinged him, teasing him about getting government financing. He argued that while he’s generally opposed to the idea of subsidies, it makes sense in this specific case. In our discussion, a few facts came out that changed my mind about the project:

-$750,000 is over 3 years, after which the network should be self-sustaining
-AngesQuebec aims to have a network of 200 angels
-Over the next 5 years, $50 million should be invested in 120 companies, creating 800 jobs
-Other angel networks have gone bankrupt trying to bootstrap from member fees.

AngesQuebec is a non-profit, trying to build a public infrastructure good - something markets tend to fail dismally on. They are currently all volunteer run, and seeking their first paid staff. Hopefully this hire can improve communications and start the process of recruiting angels in order to grow to a sustainable size.