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I have one person (age 45) that handles call in orders. To take the order quickly, the cc info is written on a form. When this person takes the day off, others write this info down. A large percentage are declined as a result of not being able to read the chicken scratch of this new generation.
The question is...will computers cause the art of handwriting, letter writing, etc. to become a thing of the past. If so, when?
I can understand the chicken scratching while on the phone taking the order, but why not force them to rewrite it legibly after they hangup?
These days, it seems like a lot of kiddies can type faster than they can write.
Actually the handwriting the info came into play because I had a youngster that was the fastest typer I had ever seen...blazing fast. However, in certain parts of the US people talk as fast as the fella in the old FedEx commercial and she couldn't keep up with them. Asking them to slow down a bit seemed to offend them for some reason on occasion. Otherwise the system worked great because the order was processed by the time the phone conversation ended.
The lady that usually does this task now days uses the lost art of short-hand so people can rattle off info as fast as they like.
My son's penmanship is terrible and his teachers seem not to put much emphasis on the skill. Back when I was in school (during the Stone Age) we got points docked off our grades on tests if letters where not formed correctly.
Computers won't replace pencil and paper any time soon.
My handwriting is HORRIBLE, but it's not about ability, it's abou care. Why is doctors' handwriting infamously atrocious? Because they have better things to worry about.
Everyone can write legibly, they just have to want to.
answer: no
because: when was the time of the most beautiful handwriting? the medieval period! all those wonderful illuminated manuscripts - this was a time when hardly anyone could read or write, those that could made an art form of it.
because: letter writing and so on will always be valued, lets face it, most of the population couldn't write very well in the pre computer age anyway, nothing has changed.
some people write fantastic emails, its not all one liners and text speak, so the skills are there, letters will stay around, they have more meaning now as they take more effort.
just as tv didn't kill radio, email won't kill letters.
just as tv didn't kill radio, email won't kill letters.
Problem is most letters are written on the computer and then printed out. So letters are not more than emails with a letterhead printed out and sent by snailmail.
to me a letter is a properly crafted, well written message, possible quite long but that isn't a requirement, whereas an email is just a short hastily written note.
i realise i'm in semantic deep water here and that the argument isn't exactly watertight.
i realise i'm in semantic deep water here and that the argument isn't exactly watertight.
And you're drowning in water metaphores.
Water you going to do about it, that's what I'd like to know?
Water you going to do about it, that's what I'd like to know?
Despite the rising tide of technical innovations, simple handwriting skills remain firmly afloat amid the sea of mankind's accomplishments.
At one point being a P/Q accountant this caused real problems.
Since a child, in the 70's, a variety of schools have tried to correct it with handwriting lessons but it never improved.
Its just about readable if I use a fountain pen fo some odd reason
[edit: typo]
Maybe we just need more fonts.
