Administrative Assistant's Update

JUNE 2014 2 Care to join me in the virtual world? As I was waiting in line at Starbucks recently, I began my usual ritual of plowing through my wallet for my Starbucks card. I found a ledge where I could plunk my wallet, and then I took a fi stful of cards out of it and started shuffl ing, shuffl ing, shuffl ing until I found the one I could use to buy a coffee at this particular establish- ment. (As opposed to, say, my Tim Horton's card or my Second Cup card, which are also in there.) The guy in front of me did things a lot more elegantly. He held his smartphone up to a laser reader and—blip!—paid for his latte with- out even interrupting the story he was telling the barista. "What was that?" I asked the barista. "Oh, he hates his economics class; I took the same one and that professor..." "No, not that," I said. "The scan- ner." And he told me something I sorta knew, but sorta didn't know. That you can use the Starbucks app to pay for coffee instead of cash or your Starbucks card. I mean, obviously I knew the technology was available for that but I guess I thought it was only be- ing used by people in Seattle. As I sat in Starbucks, sipping my capuccino I thought, "Yes, I can do this." I found the Starbucks app on my phone—which I'd downloaded for I'm-not-sure-what reason—and immediately stumbled at the fi rst hurdle: what was my password, again? So that was a non-starter. I'll have to go through the "Forgot your password" ritual. But I will. I am de- termined to make this thing happen. I am determined to get at least some of the cards out of my wallet be- cause frankly it has become embar- rassing rifl ing through everything from my Q2video membership card to my PC Points card trying to get to the one I want. Plus, I mean, it's the future, right? I feel like a dinosaur using plastic cards in this digital, hipster world. Making a Scene I did it for Cineplex—and quite suc- cessfully, actually. I signed up for Cineplex's Scene program, which gives you free movies and discounts. I got tired of trying to fi nd my Scene card, which was inevitably stuffed in between my two library cards (one for me and one for my son) so I took the plunge and uploaded my Scene card onto my Cineplex app. And for the most part, it works. Instead of using the plastic card, I now just fl ash the Scene barcode. I always have to be reminded by the Cineplex teller to increase the brightness on my phone to allow it to be scanned, but that seems a small price to pay for the conve- nience, free movies and a 10 per cent discount on snacks. My big, fat wallet (not from money) So, here are the plastic cards in my wallet: bank card, credit cards, health benefi ts card, Shopper's Drug Mart, Menchies, Yogurty's (froyo addiction much?), YMCA, driver's license, Sobey's, Loblaws, Longo's, Tim Horton's, Second Cup, the Royal Botanical Gardens, Autoshare, a hospital, Q2video store, the busi- ness cards of four people I met at a trade show, and my own business cards. That's a fat, inconvenient and luddite-istic (not a word) wallet. Inspired by the blippy guy at Starbucks, I have decided to enter the virtual world of near-fi eld com- munications that the hipsters so effortlessly inhabit. I am determined to, if not get rid of my wallet entirely, at least stop embarrassing myself at Starbucks. Administrative Assistant's Update is published once a month by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. EDITORIAL OFFICE v joycegrant@sympatico.ca S (416) 656-7796 U Joyce Grant, Editor Administrative Assistant's Update Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. 1 Corporate Plaza, 2075 Kennedy Road Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 CUSTOMER SERVICE S (416) 609-3800 (800) 387-5164 T FAX (416) 298-5082 (877) 750-9041 v carswell.customerrelations@ thomsonreuters.com Contents copyright. All rights reserved. © 2014 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. Contents may not be reproduced without written permission. Brief extracts may be made with due acknowledgement. Annual subscription: $189. Publications Mail Registration No. 40065782 GST# 897176350 UPDATE Administrative Assistant's F R O M T H E E D I TO R Joyce Grant Credit: Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock.com

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