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Previous: Hotels' alarm clocks | Main | Next: Patient experience in many hospitals
August 16, 2005 12:03 AM
Broken: Sheetz kiosk error
Ben Schumin points out that even "Fresh Food!" can be problematic. (From a Sheetz in Fishersville, Virginia.)
I've been writing software for 17 years and am also a very literal person. The "data dump" has always bothered me, but moreso now, as it's being mixed in with my fresh food. I'm going for a swim in the page pool.
A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your food...
Beginning dump of fresh food...
Not Broken. I am a contractor for Sheetz Gas & Foods (who's screen you show), and while I do not support/maintain the Food Information Display screens, I can give you some information.
Each screen in the cluster (10-12 screens) is powered by an individual PC. Each PC is connected to Continental's corporate LAN, where they receive updates from a central server.
Because of the LAN connectivity, and that the screens are running a Windows based Operating System, corporate policy requires that they have an error dumping enabled. While the Food Info software overrides most dialog boxes, there are a few that still get through. This includes the anti-virus pop-ups and Food Delivery Dumps that you see.
It's not broken, as I said before. The reason it's not broken is it's preventing a virus from getting on our food network, which in turn could cause food delays (yes on the FDA reports the store files, they can attribute a food delay to technology).
Just in case you don't get why this isn't broken I suggest you look at.
http://www.thisisbroken.com/2005/08/airport_monitor.html#comments
:D
i know how to get gaurenteed BSOD, install windows XP on an old K-6 machine, take thw CPU out and carefully break off 1 pin out the CPU back in and...........
That stop code would point toward some memory going bad, unless something new was installed on the system, which doesn't seem likely.
So is it really broken for the public to see error codes? Amusing, yes. Broken? Not so sure. I mean, if a bus were broken down on the side of the road and had those little orange triangles up, would you think that was messed up, that you, the public, can see it is in need of repair? "Please give me the impression that nothing ever breaks."
the public should never see error codes like this, because it is not their responsibility to fix it. the bus triangles are not a plea for your help, they are asking you not to hit the bus or anyone trying to help the bus. THIS ERROR IS PREVENTING SOMEONE FROM GETTING THEIR FOOD, even tho they can do nothing to fix it. send this error to whoever is in charge of the computers, and if need be they will get someone to run out and put 'out of order' on the machine. the purpose of error messages is to help someone fix the problem, and the customers obviously do not need to see them.
the public should never see error codes like this, because it is not their responsibility to fix it. the bus triangles are not a plea for your help, they are asking you not to hit the bus or anyone trying to help the bus. THIS ERROR IS PREVENTING SOMEONE FROM GETTING THEIR FOOD, even tho they can do nothing to fix it. send this error to whoever is in charge of the computers, and if need be they will get someone to run out and put 'out of order' on the machine. the purpose of error messages is to help someone fix the problem, and the customers obviously do not need to see them.
Sheetz sounds like a really bad name for fresh food. It sounds very, very like a slang word meaning diarrhea. You wouldn't want food to give you that...
By the time you get the "BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH" your computer is no longer functioning, therefore how would it manage to send an error message to anyone?
So while something is definitely broken in the computer running this thing (hardware or software) and the user experience is broken in consequence, I don't see any way to resolve the problem aside from either fixing the problem with the computer immediately, or completely modifying the way this system works.
That doesn't exactly stop people from going there. I've never actually thought of their name like that.
However, by the time you get the "BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH" your computer is no longer functioning, therefore how would it manage to send an error message to anyone? So while something is definitely broken in the computer running this thing (hardware or software) and the user experience is broken in consequence, I don't see any way to resolve the problem aside from either fixing the problem with the computer immediately, or completely modifying the way this system works.
You know what is broken? Windows. Simply using windows for, well, any reason is asking your computer to break or get infected. Simply opening a web page in IE can infect your system. (If you MUST, use Firefox, great browser). But there is no reason you would use windows on a system like that.
Sheetz is actually a pretty good convenience store, in my experience their clean, the gas is usually 10 cents below the current rate and their hogies are pretty good too. None of this stopped us from talking about going to get "Sheety" gas, or "Sheety food"
Old joke:
Maid: "How many sheets do you want on your bed?"
Customer: "You sheet on my bed and I'll kill you!"
I agree that having a setup where BSODs, Antivirus popups, etc end up on public screens is broken. However, it is hard to avoid.
Last time my computer told me it was 'beginning dump of physical memory' it lost ALL my data and I needed a new HD.
BROKEN!
Déja-vu. That's the same message I got on my pc last week, although it didn't dump the physical memory. At least I hope it didn't dump the physical memory; we're going to attempt retrieval tomorrow.
"the public should never see error codes like this, because it is not their responsibility to fix it. the bus triangles are not a plea for your help, they are asking you not to hit the bus or anyone trying to help the bus. THIS ERROR IS PREVENTING SOMEONE FROM GETTING THEIR FOOD"
And in the bus example, the error is preventing someone from using that bus. Right?
Yes, Tom, it is, but people can still use another bus. However, with the food, the error prevents people from using the service whatsoever. As Joshua explained, all of the computers are hooked together, so all of the computers are unusable. Not so with the bus analogy.
I've gotten that error on my old computer. Obviously it still worked but one time Windows corrupted it's own files and I had to reinstall Windows XP... six times. I think it's a bad HD. I mean the computer was designed for Windows 95 and it was an old school computer so I've got to give it a break.
First of all, origin of the "Sheetz" name - it's the last name of the guy who founded the place.
Also, the error message at the time the photo was taken existed only on the one screen. The other screens both outside at the pumps and inside the store were operating correctly. It also took about three months or so before that one errant screen was fixed.
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Previous: Hotels' alarm clocks | Main | Next: Patient experience in many hospitals
the food may be fresh, but the tech's the same old leftovers.
Posted by: gmangw at August 16, 2005 12:39 AM