Well, it appears things are just getting worse. I have had a slew of bad experiences in the last couple of weeks when it comes to dining out, so much so that I am very eager to revive my cafe review site – whichcafe.com
I have been to bar’s, cafe’s, restaurant’s and everything in between. And I really hate to say it – but the best service I have had in the last couple of weeks has been from MacDonalds. This country seriously has to do something about the quality of our food and beverage staff, and how they treat customers and their job. I really don’t think that it is good enough to let staff look at F&B work as just something to get them through a rough patch, or university or whatever. They need to be there because they want to be. At least, if it can’t be managed across the board, restaurants where you pay $25+ a plate for a main need to keep staff with the right attitude.
I think we need to introduce tipping, give the lazy pricks some incentive to at least make an effort to look after the customer. If they aren’t interested in doing a good job because they take pride in their work and who they are – then perhaps we have to bribe them with money.
For the record – I have dined at Hungry Jacks (Herston) , MacDonalds (Fortitude Valley) , KFC (Clayfield) , Coffee Club (Ascot), Vagelis (Racecourse Road, Ascot), City Cosmopolitan (an off shoot of Cosmopolitan Coffee in Fortitude Valley), Fat Boys (Fortitude Valley) in the last week – and it breaks down a little like this:
HJ’s – Couldn’t get the order right, but that is expected.
Macca’s – Quick courteous service, order was right
KFC – Slow, but got it right (for once)
Coffee Club – Slow, but very busy – so acceptable, good food, Coffee was not impressive – but their normal standard
Vagelis – Absolutely CRAP, I have dined their a couple of times in the last week, and every time have had a really negative experience. Hopefully I have learned my lesson, and will only go back to do my final review.
City Cosmopolitan – Worse then CRAP, they even messed up scrambled eggs and bacon. They had no stock of food that my guests asked for and took ages when the place was empty. Very disappointing considering that their parent cafe is so good.
Fat Ric’s – Indifferent service – but that is what they are famous for and they work hard to keep it that way, so it is expected. Food was good, quick and coffee was also good.

I don’t know if it is just me – but it appears that a lot of the people I know didn’t really enjoy their christmas this year. I am not sure if they just didn’t want to admit they had a good time or what – but there seems to have been very little happiness.
I myself quite enjoyed the day as a whole, we had my fathers extended family over and everything went quite well at my parents. I didn’t really get that much in the way of gifts, but I am used to that now. And, I keep reminding myself – it’s not about the presents

Yeah – I know this isn’t really to do with anything – but I just need to say – today was too hot. I was sweating in the shower… now that is just wrong

It seems there is a trend developing in my posts of recent times. I have always been of the opinion that the Australian media is just a little sensationalist, but as I pay more and more attention to what is being reported on – and the associated comment that the “impartial” media is making – I am getting increasingly concerned.

It is atrocious that there have been recently supposedly race based riots in Sydney (with outbursts around the rest of the country). However, the numbers involved have been small – and I don’t think deserving of the type of comment being made by the media. These are not far reaching and wide spread, nor are there even many hundreds of people involved. The largest riot reportedly had only 150 people involved. There are more people on a single floor of an office building in some parts of the CBD.

I am waiting for some sort of “correction” to take place in the media. Somebody to start a non-biased, non-politically motivated and non-sensationalist medium that will have the same broad coverage of existing main stream media – but without all the extra crap that they have added.

Please don’t argue that government operated media is the solution, the ABC is starting to be run as a commercial entity and the SBS is already a commercial entity. And it seems with our society the way it is, on mass yearning for sensationalist reporting – the ABC is having to align itself with them.

It is such a pity that the uneducated and on large stupid masses have such control over what the rest of us have to stomach as “news”.

Can we make some effort to take ourselves seriously? Why the fuck are we not celebrating the death of a convicted drug courier? We had a service in Melbourne to which “thousands attended, to commemorate the life of a fallen Australian” (news.com.au)

If you take the semi-literal interpretation of that comment – yes, he is a fallen Australian. But the implication is that it is a tragedy that he has “fallen”. There is no tragedy. The man tried to courier drugs, he tried to do it into a country that he KNEW would kill him. He deserved to die, and he deserved to have his death publicised to put people off doing it.

In my opinion, he did NOT deserve to have his death commemorated in such a way. Nor does he deserve any pity or sympathy. The absolute ludicrous suggestion that the nation should observe a minutes silence for him is disgusting. At least there are some people speaking out against this stupidity (and a lot more eloquently then I care to as well). De-Anne Kelly has spoken out against it – and I hope she can gather more support before this amazingly stupid plan can be implemented.

The Ford Motor Company is fairly well known for it’s support around the greater community. As part of that – it has made several donations and pubically supported several gay groups and societies. It also pro-activly supports equal oppertunity employement and lots of other things that appear quite balanced. Without intimate knowledge of how they operate – they seem to be a fairly good example for other large corporates.
Recently, due to losses and budget constraints, Ford has had to remove some advertising for some models from gay media. This appears to have brought to a head a fairly lengthy and ongoing battle between gay rights groups and the American Family Association, a Mississippi based conservative watchdog group.
The gay rights groups think that Ford has pandered to the AFA, and the AFA think ford is still supporting the gay rights groups. The AFA recently lifted a boycot on Ford possibly because of the removal of their advertising, but possibly because they realised that it was ineffective. Since the AFA’s boycot – Ford sales have actually increased – and their appears to have been no measurable impact at all.
I think that Ford’s track record speaks for itself, they are openly supportive of many community groups, not just gay rights. They have not withdrawn their support either, they have simply had to reduce some marketing costs.

As time goes by and I get older and older, yes – I have my walking frame on order, I am starting to realise that there are quite a few people in the world who (as far as I am concerned) just do not get it.
Anybody who reads my blog often enough will know that I work for an I.T. company. There is currently an insurgence of new blood to the company, and as part of that – quite a few new faces around, on all different levels of the hierarchy. A great number of those new people have made every effort to understand how the company works, whilst a few others have walked in with the attitude that they are better then most everybody else, and as such should have instant respect.
Unfortunately for me – it doesn’t work that way. I would like to think it is unfortunate for them also – but it seems that the goal of the company now is to bring more people in like this – as they think it is an effective way to operate. I think it might be ok very short term, but can only collapse in a heap when nothing actually gets done towards the long term.
But… I could be wrong…

I can only hope that now Mr Nguyen has been removed from the gene pool, we can get back to reporting on things that actually are news.

I find it disappointing that in this day an age a country still feels that the very real threat of death for breaking their law is their only deterrent, but I have absolutely no sympathy for Mr Nguyen. Here is a man that travelled to a country – knowingly carrying a substance that carries the death penalty where he was headed. I think that it is probably best that Mr Nguyen be removed from the gene pool, and if I still followed the darwin awards, I would nominate him.

One of the things that I find so confusing about all this is that all the people I have discussed this with also bare no sympathy for Mr Nguyen, and support the Singaporean government in their efforts to protect their boarders (as I do). In support of this a recently published Roy Morgan poll shows that the majority of Australians supported his execution. Yet, regardless of what seems to be the educated popular opinion, the news still reports on the “Nations” desire for clemency for Mr Nguyen.

I think we should leave the Singaporean government to do what it needs to do internally with respect to a recognised law. There are not that many people that do not know what Singapore does to those importing drugs, so there should be absolutely no surprise when somebody gets busted, tried and convicted – and then executed.

Further to all this – comments being made by unions, for example the baggage handlers at Sydney airport who threatened to not work with any baggage on or off Singapore Airlines flights are further evidence that unions have done all the good that they can do for the country and should now step aside.