23 November 2009

When Smart Technology Backfires

I don't really use the Amazon "Gift Organizer" but I did set it up a couple of years ago, and made a list of the people for whom we "must" find gifts for Christmas, and once in awhile I do actually add something to one of the lists as a kind of aide-mémoire. But some of the people? I've never actually put anything on their list.1

What Amazon does in that case is make some random suggestion - Here's the most wished for camera. How about a Kindle? Here's the most gifted in Gourmet.2

Imagine my surprise when I looked at the Gift Organizer the other day and discovered that it was suggesting the Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator for my nephew.

Obviously, Amazon does not realize that Tiny is FOUR.




1 Not because I don't love them, but because I buy in lots of other places, like the thrift shop, and I make things, and, well, even though it likes to think so, Amazon doesn't sell everything.

2 Can I just say how much I hate that use of "gifted". It's "I gave you the book", not "I gifted you the book". Argh.

19 comments:

  1. I'll have to add "gifted" to the list of things people aren't allowed to say to me. It's right up there with "reach out" when they mean call or email. Bugs the everlovincrap out of me.

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  2. We have a Venturi. My husband INSISTS on pouring his wine through it before imbibing and I have to say that you can taste the difference. Still, not so much for a four year old . . .

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  3. Gifted: HATE it (when used in that horrible way).

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  4. I think that that is the PERFECT gift for a 4 year old. GOOD CALL AMAZON.

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  5. Anonymous2:48 PM

    There was obviously just a mix up. The wine aerator is on MY stocking stuffer list.

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  6. Yeah. I was reading the editor's thingy in the Food & Drink magazine one Christmas and she mentioned "the food, decorating and gifting details that go into Christmas". I threw the magazine across the room (well, maybe not literally, but I definitely did in my head). I'm not sure whether I get more annoyed when their suggestions are stupid or when they're right on target -- like, the Big Scary Computer actually KNKOWS me? Agh.

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  7. Yes! I GAVE you the book. Gifted means you are talented and smart. [Although, why not just say talented and smart?]

    T.

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  8. And what is a wine aerator?

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  9. Heh. That's funny.

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  10. If 50 is the new 40, can't 4 be the new 21? Is Tiny the new Pinky? Hi Pinky!!!! xoh

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  11. I laughed and laughed when a friend brought a wine aerator to our recent dinner party... and I laughed some more when I heard the SQLRCHH sound it made as the wine poured through it... And then I stopped laughing, because that aerated wine really did taste better. So, it's a fine gift, as long as your nephew is a patient young fellow and can wait a little over a decade and a half to use it.

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  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  13. I HATE "gifted", too. Hey, if you dilute the wine, maybe Tiny Tim would enjoy a sip now and then!

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  14. Anonymous9:11 PM

    kids are growing up so fast these days.

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  15. I was going to say I could use that with my half drunk bottle of Prosecco, but then I realized a)I never have 1/2 drunk bottles of Prosecco and b)that thing have the exact wrong effect.

    Better give it to Tiny after all, then. His parents can just re-gift it.

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  16. Maybe the sages at amazon.com meant to imply that the mother of a four-year old could certainly use plenty of aerated wine at the end of the day. Or non-aerated. Or straight out of the bottle.

    Because what Tiny really wants is a bow and arrow. Oy.

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  17. And maybe the whole "gifted" thing came into being on the heels of "re-gifted" becoming so ubiquitous. Just a thought...

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  18. Well, it's never to early to learn the essentials of wine appreciation.

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  19. Listen, just because YOU didn't have a wine aerator when you were four doesn't mean NO ONE can have one.

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