adaptable

Something like four years ago, I had a negative interaction with a mass-market franchise outfit which offers free wi-fi; basically, on a second visit I was unable to get into an art site because of an adult-content filter. When I e-mailed the parent corporation to express my disappointment, what came back was a form letter which really didn't even address my issue. Then, I started receiving marketing spam from them, which still comes through periodically.

So I boycotted the place. For four years. They got not one dime of my money.

Today I've finally reconsidered, largely because I know that corporations are not static places, that with the coming and going of people in management come other changes. Although I'm still not naming them, not ready to give them any positive PR just yet.

There's a practical aspect to this also. I needed to download an edited version of a document sent by one of my colleagues, so I could add my own edits and put it back into the system for the next guy to take his shot at it. Today is strictly business, nothing that's even remotely likely to make a content filter go tilt. And I'm staying with family in the suburbs, there are very few choices for wi-fi here... apparently the assumption is that everyone has internet access in their homes. Probably true, but I'm not going to take the time right now to install a wi-fi box there, or start moving someone else's DSL cables around, and the independent coffee places I prefer to to patronize for wi-fi are in the city or in Evanston, each 20-30 minutes away from here. I'm not going to inconvenience myself that much for the sake of principle, not then my project budget is involved.

So they got $1.87 out of me today. And indeed, it does appear to have changed. The interface is less intrusive, the login is intuitive... which it very much was not last time. Now there's a "free newsletter" box to check, so the spam is optional... maybe if I ask them, the old spam will go away now. Or it can just keep going to my junk mail folder, which is probably easier.

No time, today, to find out if they still censor. Maybe next time. But it sure is strange to sit in a coffee place where the average age of the clientele appears to be about 60. For an upscale suburb, they sure are noisy, and less than tactful.