Zoho CRM User Experience & Interaction Design Blog

Last month, I cleaned up a big mess of a Rat family. 6 kids and a couple. The couple escaped, but the kids lost luck. They were disposed. Lately for the past two weeks, the female mom started sneaking in and created two holes in the door yesterday night.

Unfortunately for her, Today morning, I spotted her hiding behind the window curtain. I didn’t waste a second. Quickly I closed the windows, door and pulled out an old telephone cable. Then the chase begun. She jumped, ran to the corners,tried to hide in darkest places. Then I got the idea. I grabbed the Mosquito repellent spray and sprayed on the rat when it was cornered. I guess it did some good. The rat lost it’s speed and I was able to whip the cable and slow her down. When she lost all energy and unable to walk, I took a polythene bag and captured her inside. Packed the bag firmly and walked out of the home. I then throw the bag into the street bin. Rat-Taa-taa!!!

I do not hate animals. But  rats, is a different story.The amount of damage they did to my computer cables, TV box, the cartons and the doors!! That is totally unforgivable.  No wonder.. people don’t like rats.

Recently I am receiving emails from phone service providers asking me to switch to eBills (aka Bills via Email). The main reason they say is “Save Trees, Save paper, Save Environment”. But I suspect the main reason is - to cut the cost on their front. Though the underlying idea is good. Why don’t they start with themselves? Why dont they cut short the usage of paper in their offices? Did you ever notice how much print materials like pamphlets, slips, banners, posters etc go waste, whenever they run a campaign ? If they can cut that cost, they can save millions.

Another problem I see when switching to EBills is - Address proof. Most of the BSNL bills are used as address proof and for reimbursment claims. Submitting a ebill (taken as a print out) is not accepted by the Income Tax dept. So I am not going to support the eBill, unless the I.T dept comes up with a policy to accept bills in the form or print-outs.

Instead of asking users to switch to eBills, let those corporates correct  their own policy for using paper.

- Rajesh Sundaram