Lately, I keep getting a request to leave a rating for a service or product … for everything. Window cleaning, dryer repair, ordered a candle, ordered some olive oil, clothing, dentist visit, eye exam, routine doctor visit, drugstore purchase, etc. Immediately on the same day, I am asked to complete a survey … for everything I am doing or wherever I have made a purchase.

If the experience was exceptional, I want to do it. But when I click on “take the survey,” I am asked to log in with my email address and on everything, it says ‘powered by Google’! So I back out. I have Gmail, like millions of others. I have noticed the speed has picked up and my phone is anxious to fill in more words that I don’t choose, in both email and text. I have had emails disappear from my phone of a religious nature by magic. I set my phone down to take a sip of coffee or water, and the story is gone. It’s not in my trash — just disappears.

I had Dish before our current move. I was pleased with them. The tech arrived just as Covid was unfolding. He set it up and pulled out a long speaker system to lay in front of my TV. I said I don’t want that. He said I know, but I have to show that I offered it and take a picture. He packed it up. He showed me all the features. I said I don’t want voice activation on my TV or from remote, so he disabled it. He said you will get a survey. They ask you to rate my performance from 1 to 10. If you don’t rate me a ten on all answers I fail. I get a bad review. This is Google’s policy. I gave him a 10 and made a mental note.