I forgot to mention that last night I did something I rarely ever do – I stopped in a convenience store. I desperately needed some bread.
At the counter, while waiting to pay, I was looking at candy bars, and saw this Spunow bar. “Hmmm,” I thought, “I’ve never heard of that. I wonder what’s in it.”
It took a couple of seconds to realize that they had decided to display the candy facing the cashier instead of the customer.
I had an unpleasant discussion with Yahoo! Briefcase customer service over their $34.95 charge to my credit card for another year’s service. I “escalated” the issue to “higher level support,” and got a “case number.”
I met with Mike, Kim, and Amanda at 3:30 to learn about the usability test they’ve hired me to do.
It wasn’t until about ten minutes into the project description that it dawned on me, by the language they were using, that they had hired me to do something entirely different than I thought.
I thought they had hired me to usability test their new web site; that is, to use it, and give them some feedback on it. But, when they started saying things like, “So, you’ll get them to use the site, try different things, and…”
They? Who’s this they they’re referring to? And so I asked.
They clarified that they want me to conduct a usability test, not be the participant in one. I’m going to find users in the university who might really use their site, devise a usability test for them, administer it, and then write up the results in a report back to them. Oh!
Two things were fortunate about this revelation, otherwise this whole hiring thing would have been a big waste of everyone’s time: 1) I can do that, and 2) I’m interested in doing that.
I went to Helios from there, and spent two hours devising the materials for the test.
I left Helios at 9:00, and stopped at Moe’s Southwest Grill at Cameron Village to grab a bite, only to find out that it closed at 9:00.
I went into the Harry Peter, and bought me a prepared salad instead.
At home, I ate my salad, and did the crossword puzzle, word jumble, and cryptoquote from today’s N&O, which I had foraged from the recycle bin at Helios earlier.