Feelin' Slightly Un-Groovy

Life carries me along in a whirlwind these days, as though I placed an order heard as, “Surprise me, supersize it, and make it to go!” So many options with not enough time to scope each out, appearing and disappearing in a flash so that little has a chance to become familiar.

Making hotel reservations comes to mind, as I sit in StL accommodations. Weeks ago I gave up trying to make them via phone, so I trusted the website to lead me through the process. With reservations made, printed for my own peace of mind, with the confirmation filed in an email folder and in my phone photo album as a screenshot, I packed the morning of my trip.

The hotel, or the website, or who knows, sent me an email the day before telling me I could upgrade if desired, check in and get a digital key on my phone, thereby avoiding the check-in counter altogether. My decision? Nope. Check-in the old-fashioned way is fun and familiar.

I made sure to stick my printed reservation confirmation in an easy-to-grab-from pocket of my purse, double-checked the email folder and made a screenshot of the screenshot to make it easier to find in a pinch if I had issues upon arrival. I was already dealing ahead of time with the stress of driving on I270 with AI as navigator.

No way did I want to add the stress of wondering if I had checked in correctly on the web. Too many icons float around, many which don’t mean anything to my brain, and if they do happen to make a little bit of sense, they disappear in an exasperating game of hide-and-seek before I can respond.

So to lessen the likelihood of a meltdown by overloading my stress circuits, I headed to the city, tuning in to the pleasant-sounding navigator at the 67/55 exchange. She told me there was something in the roadway ahead. She might have been a bit more specific. Road construction at the ramp to merge onto the interstate is quite a “something” to contend with.

And is it too much to ask, since AI is supposed to know everything, to have the pleasant voice notify the powers that be that the street I need to make my last turn onto still doesn’t have a sign identifying it at the time I’m told to turn? I made a u-turn without arguing with the voice that it’s probably against the law to do it there, and voila! A sign naming the street, visible from that direction. Sheesh.

At the hotel desk, I inwardly rejoiced when I received a genuine key card! To check in early, I accepted a room on floor 9, which meant using an elevator. I CAN be flexible. Surely getting stuck on an elevator can’t happen twice in a lifetime. It would be fine.

But it wasn’t. The card didn’t have any visible arrows or instructions on it. I wasn’t able to get it to work any way I held it. Then I saw it. “Your phone is now your room key. Download the hotel app.” There was no indication it was an option.

30 minutes later, after hunting for my passwords and fiddling with all the floating icons, I had the app but the digital key button was still hiding. Perhaps I seemed distressed since a lady entering an adjacent room asked me if I was okay. I explained, she asked for my key, opened my door and smiled at my immediate relief.

I chuckled too, eventually. Slow down, world!

PS. The title is a nod to Paul Simon's "The 59th Street Bridge Song" aka "Feelin' Groovy" because of these lyrics: "Slow down, you move to fast, You got to make the morning last, Just kicking down the cobblestones, Looking for fun and feeling groovy."