Count your opinions

Originally uploaded by Beatnic.

So I thought I’d add my input to the survey being run by London Underground on personal safety at Elephant & Castle tube station.

Unfortunately I didn’t understand how to use this “Opinionmeter” until I’d already started using it – at which point I had already mistakenly answered the first question.

I think the reason I got it wrong is because I expected it to be like a cashpoint (ATM), where the instructional text would appear on the little screen above the numeric keypad.

Only in this case the questions and instructional text are on the poster above the machine.

Being my usual self and therefore not reading the instructions I pressed the “1″ button, because that’s what it said on the screen.

A quick fix would be to have an highly visible label on the Opinionmeter itself pointing me towards the text above.

I really don’t understand the purpose of the screen at all.

I wonder how many other people this has happened to.

Better still, why not build it in to my ticket machine / Oyster top-up experience? Anonymity guaranteed of course.

Every week I receive an inordinate amount of junk mail offering discounts, credit cards with huge credit limits, loans – presumably to pay back the credit cards – claiming I’ve won £1million in a competition – presumably to pay back the loan – or asking me to donate to charity.

It’s bad enough that it’s a waste of paper and other resources.

But the thing that really makes me think about never being a customer to one of these companies is the fact that I can’t just throw the thing in the paper recycling bin.

No, first I have to check it thoroughly and tear out and shred any sections which might contain part of my identity.

So please… Sky, BT, Capital One, Lloyds, Barclaycard… to name but a few… stop wasting my time!