31 May 2004

Sunday's shoe binge....

On the weekend, I bought 3 pairs of new shoes. I don't want you to get the wrong idea here (as I could tell shop assistants were when they looked at my full up shopping bags). This is not a habit - rather, I go for a couple of fashion seasons with no luck, so when there are suitable shoes around, I go to town for a half day and buy up big. It would be a binge if I was doing it to excess, but in the long scheme of things, I have a smaller than average sized shoe collection for a chick.
Thanks to bsharp for all her assistance in this matter!! Hope your new boots serve you well also. I usually test the patience of everyone I shoe shop with (ask my Mister), but yesterday seemed to be a breeze, and I only commented once to a shop assistant about how annoying it is that they can never order in more size 7's, which is my size and is always sold out first. Next shoe shopping effort will focus entirely on mens shoes, as C-chan has a male version of my not being able to find the right shoe problem, and sadly, men's shoes options are even more limited. Just another thing we have in common.... :)
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After a full half day of shopping, what could be better than catching some friends who came up for a short trip from the nation's capital? Lovely to see them and their gorgeous crawling bub, that seemed to take more of a liking to me this time (phew). I'll store the superwoman flying trick in the back of my brain for next time I encounter an 8-month old.
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Got home to a roasting dinner, put together by someone who had had his nose in books all day, but still managed to think that I might like to watch the new ABC-7:30pm-Sunday time slot show on the 7 wonders of the industrialised world, and started taping it for me (Good on him, as my Auntie would say). Life is good to me!

24 May 2004

Employee of the year competition – first nominee

This is the first in what could be an annual competition. It really depends on whether I encounter any more outstanding efforts worth writing home about, and if there ends up being more than one at the end of the year, I suppose that is enough to have a winner.

This nomination goes to Sharon*, a checkout operator from a large supermarket chain with an outlet at Broadway, Sydney. I think you will gain an understanding of her outstanding service in the following dialogue:

R: oh – I have a few bags of my own that I would like to fill up first.
(Proceeds to ignore my request and continues packing into plastic. I reiterate my request.)
S: I generally find that too much of a hassle.
R: So much for reducing plastic in landfill and saving the environment and all that.
S: I really don’t care, so long as I make a buck and get ahead in life.

Sharon has demonstrated a strong determination to not save resources that is beyond (or behind?) her age of late teens/early 20s. Even when my irritating habit of wrestling grocery items from her hand to pack into my bags (or repacking the bags so that mine could be full) began to slow her down, she showed amazing perseverance and resolved to pack one more plastic bag!! All this, despite fact that her particular company sells lovely bright green reusable bags to customers so that they can reduce their plastic bag usage.

I would like to commend Sharon for her efforts, and congratulate her for her nomination.

*not her real name

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By the way, while on the topic do large supermarket chains pay checkout staff by hourly rates only, or is there a bonus system that rewards churning more people/$ through the checkout?
I will just assume that there is no staff reward system for reducing plastic bag usage.

20 May 2004

New negotiating technique - 1. The Rottweiler

Came across this technique over the past week - was used against us, and was a bit of a distraction until we worked out what was going on:

An essential ingredient is a group of people in opposing team that are new to working with each other.

In the lead up to a big meeting where a course of action will be decided, proceed to talk to everyone on the opposing team and backstab everyone else on the team. Completely discredit them by using past examples of where they have stuffed up. It's preferable to be completely one-sided in your accounts, so that the people you are back-stabbing look as incompetant as possible. Put nothing in writing (of course) that would reveal what you have been conveying verbally.

Hopefully, you'll even get a rise out of inflammable types right away as you talk to them. You will probably make the confidence of the opposing group sink pretty low, as they start to believe their team is the ultimate group of losers. You may even succeed in making them distrust each other. You'll probably distract them from the task at hand, and they probably won't notice the stuff-ups that you have made, or the breaches of contract that you could be accused of.

On the day, turn up and be most civil in front of your superiors and opposing team.

NB This won't work for long (if at all) when the opposing group does talk to each other regularly and frankly enough to let each other know what has been going on. Be warned that people will will think you are a gruff bastard, and will think twice (or even 3 & 4 times) before picking up the phone and talking to you, until trust is established.

19 May 2004

them unis have strange types...

The High Level Adademic
Pet topics include the prestige and strong traditions of uni, but this means diddlysquat to average people. Have impressive academic resume but have spent entire life in university system and have little experience outside the uni system.

The Scientific Professor
Knows a lot about some stuff. In fact, don't make the mistake of asking them detailed questions in their area, unless you have appropriate time available to hear the answer. No management or administrative skills whatsoever in most cases, and nor are they incouraged to learn them. Frequently emerge from their offices, blinking their eyes in the light, as if they have been locked away, reading for hours.

The Departmental Hinge
People who run academic departments. If they go on leave, no invoices get signed, no meetings happen, no new staff can access email, and no milk gets ordered. Love chatting, but rarely seem to get around to doing what you have asked for.

Other peculiarities:
Internal Mail.
No teaspoons or indeed other useful cutlery and plates in kitchen (ie byo).
Rostered days off.
New union maternity leave policy that could entitle you to 36 weeks paid leave (yipee) if you have worked with them for 2 years, and a minimum of 12 weeks paid leave.


14 May 2004

Shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life you'd like to...

As my gratuitous Smiths quote above suggests, today's topic is shyness.

I met someone today who is really shy. I'm mentioning it because I realised at the time that I rarely come across people who are really shy. (What a confident bunch of people we all are!!)

She sits very quietly at lunchtime, listening but not saying anything. When you try to engage her in conversation, it seems to be first met with disbelief. Once it is established that people are looking at her, expecting an answer, she'll respond quietly and quickly, ending the conversation by looking away. If you pass her in the hallways, she will avoid all eye contact, and not say hello.

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up my nose...

Someone who sits near me has a serious snorting habit. Not pharmaceutical of course, but serious sinus problems, that seems to require them to snort really loudly. Am sure that one day I'll get really fed up and offer a tissue.

Gross.

13 May 2004

Wierd noises from neighbouring apartment, episode 3

Some of you have been spared details of episodes 1 and 2* of this exciting series, because I didn't have a blog then. Those who weren't spared will probably have worked out by now that wierd, recurring noises bug me, and that one of my passtimes is to speculate about what could be causing the noises.... I'm sure there's a name for my condition, but I haven't sought professional help yet.
No I'm not talking about the unmistakeable sounds such as rattling pipes, or the toilet brush being used on the toilet upstairs (too much information, I know, but we have no doubts about what that noise is when we hear it...).
I'm talking about FREAKY noises that aren't always clear at first, and come back frequently to interrupt your thoughts.

So what's the new noise? The apartment across the hall emits a really loud sound in bursts lasting up to 5-10 minutes. Sometimes, it happens 3 or 4 times a day, at no particular time. The way I'd describe it is a hand-powered egg beater being used in a metal bowl. Noise could either be:
- a piece of excercise equipment, with rotary action to part of it
- it is an egg beater, and neighbours are running pavlova business from home/eat protein supplements that need to be mixed well
- their favourite industrial/dance track

One day, I might just have the courage to ask...

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* Episode 1 - the operatic orgasm; Episode 2 - the continual beep upstairs.. life support machine??? or maybe just fire alarm batteries needing replacement?

11 May 2004

Going Aggy...

A few weeks in an Aggy campus brings some interesting things to note after a few years away from such settings:
- unoffficial dress code: blue shirts with name of institute embroidered on pocket (not too popular with the women-folk though, I must say).
- 2 popular times for making meetings: after morning tea (which everyone has at 10:45), or after lunch. Don't expect any other time to be kept. Location of meeting will always be vague, as will duration of meeting. Don't expect them to come and find you.
- food outlets nearby - Cobbitty Art Gallery and Tea Rooms, Cobbitty General Store (they make good sandwiches I hear), and food and drink vending machines in lunch room. Food vending machine is unreliable, or so I found out late one day when getting a bit vague with hunger, and using my last $2.
- friendly, science geeky, earthy.
- signs in ladies toilets: "These toilets are smelly - you might want to use the other ones" complete with little graphic of toilet. Not sure if this is unselfconscious humour or a genuine attept to warn us without consideration of tactlessness.
Kind of like William Shatner's (of original StarTrek fame) psychadelic version of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" - you don't know if he's taking the piss out of himself, or recording the track with a conviction that he is creating art and will be taken seriously. Remind us to play the track for you if you are at all interested. Worth a laugh.
Am embarrassed in advance for next female guest I need to entertain on campus when nature calls for her, and wonder what could possibly be stuck up in the male toilets...