Chapter 2 on "info@"

Art Gillis

info@ is not just a business concern of mine. I need it for more important matters, such as proving to my sweet wife that I can do anything on the Internet. Somehow she lives happily, relying on the New York Times and the New Yorker. Recently she complained that her favorite honey was no longer on the shelves of her favorite gourmet grocery stores. Typical of a know-it-all consultant, I responded with, "Go to Whole Foods, they'll have it." That went over like a scene from Curb Your Enthusiasm, as Larry David sticks his foot in his mouth one more time. "That's where it isn't", my wife said. So I went to google.com and sure enough a search of key words such as Tasmanian, Leatherwood, honey and New Zealand delivered actual names of stores where the honey was sold. I went to info@ for one of the stores that just had a most inviting name - Garden of Eden. I'm still waiting for a response, and I'm not talking days, weeks or months. My inquiry ended up in the black hole. But the bright side of this story is that the honey sells for $12 a jar. Sue Bee goes for less than two bucks. Thanks, info@, I'm glad I met ya.

There's a real problem that exists in my ranting and raving. Ten years from now, people will be reading about the crudeness of the Internet and they won't believe it. Right now, we are observing an Internet which works technically, but not humanly. When the two connect, then we'll have something.