Invalidity
Tonight Al asked me to order something online for him from Brookstone. I found the site relatively easy to navigate, and I even successfully found something extra we needed to get up to the $100 minimum for free shipping. Then this happened:
Me: Arrrgh! ENTER A VALID LAST NAME? I'LL SHOW YOU 'VALID'!
Al: [without looking at me or screen, leaps out of bed and starts for door, then pauses] Do you want me to get one of my credit cards, or are you going to remove the hyphen?
Posted by Lori in me, me, me at 11:46 PM on March 14, 2010
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Comments (6)
Just one reason why I kept my own name...
Posted by ratphooey![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.avocado8.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
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March 15, 2010 10:42 AM
Posted on March 15, 2010 10:42
Yup, that would be a deal breaker for me.
Posted by juliloquy | March 15, 2010 1:33 PM
Posted on March 15, 2010 13:33
Computers are stupid.
Related: Illegitimate.
So which of Al's practical solutions did you do? Or did you do something else?
Posted by artlung![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.avocado8.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
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March 15, 2010 1:53 PM
Posted on March 15, 2010 13:53
@artlung: I removed the hyphen.
At least the Brookstone page didn't admonish me to type my name "EXACTLY AS IT APPEARS ON YOUR CREDIT CARD" and then berate me for entering an invalid name, as many sites do. (I only got the Invalid error.) As a software engineer, I find this extra insulting. Did you really not anticipate spaces, hyphens, and apostrophes in people's names? Come ON.
FWIW, I knew United couldn't handle my hyphen when I asked that my son's middle name be hyphenated. IOW, I asked for trouble.
Posted by Lori![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.avocado8.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
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March 15, 2010 2:10 PM
Posted on March 15, 2010 14:10
Ah, the world of the hyphenated human! It IS maddening that we can put a man on the moon but can't get a hyphen into a computer program.
Posted by Josie | March 16, 2010 4:05 PM
Posted on March 16, 2010 16:05
As a fellow hyphenated Lori, I feel your pain. My name on Delta's frequent flier program: Lori Harrisonsmith. Nice! And there are a lot of people in England and Australia with hyphenated family names that go back centuries. How does the internet deal with them, I ask?
Posted by Lori | April 20, 2010 12:31 PM
Posted on April 20, 2010 12:31