I have a drawer in my desk at home that is dedicated to personal documents like passports, IDs and a diving card. I also have a concertina folder that contains all my car papers, house papers, electricity bills and salary slips.
In my wallet I have a credit card, an ATM card, my Vitality movie card, my medical aid card, a Woolies card, an Edgars card and a voucher from Young Designers` Emporium that looks like a credit card.
I have a section of my wallet for business cards, a place where I keep each week`s lottery ticket, some small change, banknotes and my driver`s licence.
Every time I go to the movies, I pay money and swipe my Vitality card to get a ticket to let me in. I pay cash or use a credit card to buy popcorn and a Slush Puppy, and I get a slip to prove that I have made my purchase.
To leave the parking lot after the movie, I have to find a ticket that I received upon entry (no mean feat) put it into a machine, pay money, get the ticket back, get a receipt if I want one, and then depart.
I can say with absolute conviction that the movements of small pieces of paper are not making me happy.
Georgina Guedes, editor, ITWeb Brainstorm
When I go to the caf'e across the road from where I work to buy a bottle of water or a chocolate, there is a big sign above the till imploring me to demand a slip. Dutifully I do so, and add it to the mess in my wallet, alongside the lottery ticket I usually purchase at the same time.
About once every two weeks, I have to go through my house and pick up all the pieces of paper that my existence has attracted over that time period and file or dispose of them.
Paper cuts
Douglas Adams, in the Hitchhiker`s Guide to the Galaxy, observed that people in the late 20th century were preoccupied with finding happiness through the movements of small pieces of paper.
I can say with absolute conviction that the movements of small pieces of paper are not making me happy.
In spite of ongoing predictions that we will soon be living in a paperless society, the opposite has never been truer. While credit cards have replaced cash in some transactions, and e-tickets are making the check-in process for airplanes a smidgen easier, for the most part, paper is threatening to drown us.
It`s incredible to me that a universal information card solution hasn`t been successfully launched yet. I`m not suggesting we have chips embedded under the skin in our wrists, but if we could get one universal card that contains all information relating to our bank balance, movie tickets, parking tickets, ID and purchase records, surely we could begin to burrow out from under the overwhelming mountain of paperwork?
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