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On misplaced incentives

 A few years back a recipe site would be like this:

Google recipe --> Click --> Find recipe

Now, it is like this:

Google recipe -->Click-->Irrelevant story of the recipe -->Irrelevant picture ---> Still more irrelevant stories about the recipe --> Please check out my other recipes-->Useless version of recipe ---> Some more random pictures or ads --> and after what seems like 17 scroll downs is the recipe hidden away in the footer. 

Obviously scroll through links pay in ads or page views I guess.

Last week I went to the bank for a minor service issue. One of the "customer service" persons helpfully walks up, hears my problem so empathetically I actually make the mistake of thinking it is solved - and then helpfully says, "Sir, close the account and open another one"

And after waiting for ages - when nobody could care about - suddenly on realising I was there for something more than a service issue - a swarm of people became interested in me - the kind that happens when you step out of a railway station and a swarm of taxi drivers want to take you to your destination at an exorbitant cost. Clearly bank folks are incentivised to open accounts, deposits, insurance and what not. 

In both cases the incentives are misplaced - leading to the wrong kind of behaviour. 

But, why is it so difficult to someone to think differently? 

And thats why I like those who share recipes on instagram without all the random introduction and family stories and fake nostalgia.

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