Veneer, applied by those skilled in the craft, can give something quite ordinary the appearance of something altogether different for a while. On the other hand, applied by those with little love of craft, it ends up ugly, quickly, particularly when abused by those who buy it.
I was reminded of this yesterday in one of those serendipitous moments that bring along a "compare and contrast" opportunity. The first was with my bank, (the veneer of which is all laughing children and galloping horses), when using the phone app to deposit a cheque. For whatever reason, the app threw up an error code and I got that sinking feeling when instructed to contact their help line. We all know what's coming next. I could feel the blood draining away, and it didn’t disappoint. The wait. The impatient system that wants you to remember the fifth, twelfth and sixteenth letters of your memorable information with two second gaps, before putting you through to someone who wants to do it all again, and then wa…
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