Been a busy week for me at work and at home and you’ll be pleased to know that I’ve finally found some poor service on the Isle of Man.
The local chip shop in Port Erin, where I’m living now Port Erin not the chip shop, does reasonable fare at only slightly extortionate prices but the service wow !
I went in this week, for the last time, and tried to order 2 Cod and chips, not a hard task in a chippy you’d have thought, sadly in this chippy you would be wrong.
I approached the counter and said with a smile on my face to the girl in the dirty polo shirt behind it, “2 cod and 1 large chips please” nothing.
I tried again “2 cod and 1 large chips please” still nothing, she looked at me with that vacant stare only the teenager can truly master.
I moved along the counter and tried again with the next scruffy looking counter girl, “2 cod and 1 large chips please” at last something happened, she sniffed.
My smile was beginning to slip at this point as you can imagine, had my wife not expressed a particular desire for Fish and Chips I’d have walked out, “2 cod and 1 large chips please !”
“That’llbe£8.95please” she mumbled at me.
I duly handed over the last money they will see from me or anyone I can influence and waited, and waited, and waited.
At last the scruffy looking Fryer finished frying my fish and the counter girl proceeded to wrap it for me, “syouwantsaltnvingeronthchips?” she mumbled.
“Yes please” I boomed with my broadest most annoying smile on my face.
She deigned to hand me the fish and chips in two packages, with no bag, I thanked her grinning aggravatingly and left.
Now despite appearances I don’t eat a lot of fish and chips, I guess once a month or so when my wife fancies it but at nearly £9 a shot that works out at £108 pa, if I stay here till I retire that’s a potential £2592 not accounting for inflation, if you factor in how many people I will tell about it between now and my retirement and who will consequently not buy there you could be talking more than £50,000 in lost revenue and that’s if I don’t start writing for the Manx papers and spread the news even wider.
I do hope they enjoyed their little bit of truculence.
On the plus side this week I encountered a tailor in Douglas (capital of the Isle of Man) who was the essence of excellent customer service.
I’d popped in to buy a new pair of work trousers and was directed downstairs to the gentleman’s fitting area.
The salesman immediately came round from behind his counter to serve me, “Good afternoon sir how may I help?”
I explained what I was looking for and casting his expert eye across me he handed me a pair of black trousers 52” waist short leg, pretty good considering I take a 50” waist.
I asked for the next size down, he told me that he didn’t have any short legs in size 50” but if I’d try on a pair of medium length he would alter them for me.
I tried them on and they fitted around the waist perfectly but were a tad long in the leg, he duly pinned them up for me and told me they would be ready on Wednesday.
“Is there anything else I can help you with?” he asked and when I said no he took me to the till to pay, “there’s nothing to pay on the alteration so that’s just £30.00” he said.
I was amazed, free alteration on a pair of trousers worth £30, actually they are worth more than that, the quality of material and workmanship is excellent.
I paid and he escorted me to the door, “See you on Wednesday” he said smiling and I left with that good old warm feeling I’ve come to expect over here.
Work this week has been full of triumph and disaster in equal amounts and I won’t bore you with the details except to tell you about some third party developers I’m working with.
I am producing two sites for the far east, one for Korea and one for Japan, I sent the two web agencies, in the respective countries, exactly the same files, a complete copy of the uk site with instructions to convert it to the appropriate languages.
The Korean agency have finished, the Japanese agency have barely started, I’ve been working with the Korean agency to get it right, the Japanese agency has ignored me and simply keeps requesting the same information over and over again.
I am forced to wonder whether we have a.) selected the wrong Japanese agency or b.) is this a cultural difference?
I’ve always been very impressed with the Japanese people’s work ethic but I find it no surprise that Korea are overtaking them based upon this experience.
I’ll let you know how my little experiment in cultural differences goes.
Well fastyr mie (good afternoon), as they say around here.
Take care,
John
Friday, April 20, 2007
Saturday, April 14, 2007
The Milkman is in the house
Ok it’s a week after Monte Carlo and I’m just about recovered !
1st thing to say about Monte Carlo is OMG, How much ? !!!!
A beer in MC costs 20 Euro’s about £11 as does a sandwich, well it did in my hotel anyway. Ok it is pretty but not that pretty.
2nd thing to say about MC is it’s full of Tossers, rich ones to be sure but still Tossers of the first water.
Not being a small chap it wasn’t so easy for them to brush me aside as I saw them doing to my smaller friends and they got most upset when I didn’t fall back in awe at their designer suits and sunglasses, one of them got extremely annoyed when I “accidentally” stepped on his designer clad foot as he was trying to push me aside to get to the bar before me.
I did try to explain that being English I wasn’t at all phased by his apparent wealth or lack of manners and that if he thought I was going to move aside for euro-trash he had another think coming but I’m afraid his lack of linguistic skills and my complete indifference to his feelings meant I was forced to resort to pointing at him, pointing at a small space behind me and forcibly placing him back in the queue.
Bless him he stood where I’d put him desperately trying to look like that was exactly where the in-crowd stood while waiting to be served and I was not forced to dirty his shoes again on the way out.
3rd thing to say about MC is it’s heaven for car fanatics, after a couple of days of walking past Ferraris and Roll Royces by the dozen I was more impressed by a guy who rolled up in front of the Monaco Bay Hotel in a Triumph Herald convertible.
Anyway, what did I learn while I was there I hear you ask, sick to death of MC already, something that happened to me after they started drilling outside my hotel window at 8am on the first morning !
Well I saw 700 odd poker players vying for the top prize of 1.8 million euros, I mean playing cards for that sort of money is obscene isn’t it? Anyway they played for a week and eventually a 25year old won the top prize and we were all most relieved I can tell you.
I was there to stream the event over the web and it went swimmingly, I’m not allowed to reveal the figures but you’d be amazed at how many people tuned in to watch 8 blokes sitting around a table fiddling with bits of card.
I hadn’t known just what a huge business Poker is, the money companies were spending on it not to mention the money people who’d been knocked out were wagering on side games was immense, at one point a guy in his twenties was wondering around trying to find someone to play him head to head for 25,000 euros, which he had with him in a brown paper envelope !
My hotel was crammed full of excellent service, from the bellboys to the manager and everyone in between and as I was booking out I thought that a stint here would do a lot for customer relations at most of the hotels I’ve stayed at in the UK.
While I was there I did play some poker myself in the company sit and go tournament where I acquired a nick name “the Milkman” for my habit of milking players for their chips and cashed out twice in three games.
The next day one of the journo’s that we’d let play paid me a huge compliment, “if you go professional you should definitely keep that name” he said and I nearly fell over !
There’s no danger of me going professional or even playing for real money but it was a lovely compliment and quite made my week.
I’ve now borrowed a company book, “The Dummys book of Poker” and am reading with interest about pot odds etc. which is fascinating and mostly pretty incomprehensible but I’ll persevere and see if I can improve any.
The weather here is wonderful at the moment and people are swimming in the bay as I write, mad of course but a good indication of how lovely it is. I look out of my windows and marvel anew at just how lucky I am and hope all of you are well and prospering.
Take care,
John
1st thing to say about Monte Carlo is OMG, How much ? !!!!
A beer in MC costs 20 Euro’s about £11 as does a sandwich, well it did in my hotel anyway. Ok it is pretty but not that pretty.
2nd thing to say about MC is it’s full of Tossers, rich ones to be sure but still Tossers of the first water.
Not being a small chap it wasn’t so easy for them to brush me aside as I saw them doing to my smaller friends and they got most upset when I didn’t fall back in awe at their designer suits and sunglasses, one of them got extremely annoyed when I “accidentally” stepped on his designer clad foot as he was trying to push me aside to get to the bar before me.
I did try to explain that being English I wasn’t at all phased by his apparent wealth or lack of manners and that if he thought I was going to move aside for euro-trash he had another think coming but I’m afraid his lack of linguistic skills and my complete indifference to his feelings meant I was forced to resort to pointing at him, pointing at a small space behind me and forcibly placing him back in the queue.
Bless him he stood where I’d put him desperately trying to look like that was exactly where the in-crowd stood while waiting to be served and I was not forced to dirty his shoes again on the way out.
3rd thing to say about MC is it’s heaven for car fanatics, after a couple of days of walking past Ferraris and Roll Royces by the dozen I was more impressed by a guy who rolled up in front of the Monaco Bay Hotel in a Triumph Herald convertible.
Anyway, what did I learn while I was there I hear you ask, sick to death of MC already, something that happened to me after they started drilling outside my hotel window at 8am on the first morning !
Well I saw 700 odd poker players vying for the top prize of 1.8 million euros, I mean playing cards for that sort of money is obscene isn’t it? Anyway they played for a week and eventually a 25year old won the top prize and we were all most relieved I can tell you.
I was there to stream the event over the web and it went swimmingly, I’m not allowed to reveal the figures but you’d be amazed at how many people tuned in to watch 8 blokes sitting around a table fiddling with bits of card.
I hadn’t known just what a huge business Poker is, the money companies were spending on it not to mention the money people who’d been knocked out were wagering on side games was immense, at one point a guy in his twenties was wondering around trying to find someone to play him head to head for 25,000 euros, which he had with him in a brown paper envelope !
My hotel was crammed full of excellent service, from the bellboys to the manager and everyone in between and as I was booking out I thought that a stint here would do a lot for customer relations at most of the hotels I’ve stayed at in the UK.
While I was there I did play some poker myself in the company sit and go tournament where I acquired a nick name “the Milkman” for my habit of milking players for their chips and cashed out twice in three games.
The next day one of the journo’s that we’d let play paid me a huge compliment, “if you go professional you should definitely keep that name” he said and I nearly fell over !
There’s no danger of me going professional or even playing for real money but it was a lovely compliment and quite made my week.
I’ve now borrowed a company book, “The Dummys book of Poker” and am reading with interest about pot odds etc. which is fascinating and mostly pretty incomprehensible but I’ll persevere and see if I can improve any.
The weather here is wonderful at the moment and people are swimming in the bay as I write, mad of course but a good indication of how lovely it is. I look out of my windows and marvel anew at just how lucky I am and hope all of you are well and prospering.
Take care,
John
Monte Carlo or Bust
Well I’m sitting outside a bar in Milan at 11:20 am waiting for a train to Monte Carlo which doesn’t leave until 3:05pm so I thought I’d jot down a few things for you dear readers.
As you will recall from my last entry we are happily ensconced on the Isle of Man now and it’s lovely, so why I hear you ask am I in Milan ?
Well this weekend is the final of the Eurpoean Poker Tour and it’s being held in the casino at Monte Carlo, I’m in Milan because the French government are being silly about online Poker companies and may well arrest me if I go into their territory so I’m having to go via Italy, which is a right royal pain I can tell you.
I assume they are being like this because they don’t get any taxes on the money people win or lose online, just like the US.
That aside I’m really looking forward to my first major Poker event, I’ve seen the pictures of the hotel and the salon and it looks lovely and the guys who’ve been there since it started on Tuesday are very upbeat about it.
The tournament runs from Tuesday through to the following Monday and we had over 500 entries at $10,000 a ticket ! I can’t imagine paying that much money just to sit down at a table and play cards but then I’m no poker fanatic.
Undeniably people can win a lot of money playing this game and there are any number of professional poker players who do nothing else so it can’t be all down to luck but it doesn’t appeal to me at all.
When the professionals turned up on Monday there were no cards around so they all got $100 dollar bills out of their pockets and the one with the highest serial number won !!! It’s madness I tell you.
Is there a place for that sort of mania I ask myself and this led me on to think about obsession and its place in my life.
I’m obsessed with very few things in my life, I love what I do for a living and if I wasn’t being paid for it I’d probably still do it for free but am I obsessed, I don’t know, what is the definition of obsession?
Do you have to be obsessed to be successful?
One of my greatest friends has just been made deputy under editor, third on the left at Computer Weekly and he is as happy as a journo in a cess pit, now he works harder than any man I know at whatever he wants to achieve, but is he obsessed?
How can you tell?
I’ve had calls from him at 3am discussing his work so I guess he’s the closest thing to obsessed I know, does it bring him happiness, well fairly obviously it does at the moment but is that caused by the obsession or the results of that obsession?
I must ask him next time we speak.
This last fortnight have been all go for me, the level of work I’m getting through is astounding even to me , as an exercise I’m keeping a note of everything I do and I’m up to 7 A4 pages so far this month, it’s a worthwhile task as it really gives you an idea of what you are doing, if you end up with half a page of A4 at the end of the month you might want to consider if you’re in the right job.
Looking at the truly successful people I know they all get through mountains of work and funnily enough they all seem to smile quite a bit, hmmmm wonder if there’s a connection?
You know sitting here and here is a small square outside Milan Central Station I’m reminded quite forcibly of Croydon, there are office blocks and apartment buildings all around me, trams trundle past full of sad looking people and cars rush around like worker ants in a disturbed nest, no one seems to have time or seems to be particularly happy with their lots.
Yet just now a delivery man came to see what I was writing, he earnestly asked me something in Italian which I took to mean what are you writing squire and I had to smile and explain that I was English and could speak only a little Italian, he smiled and told me that he was a delivery man, pointing unnecessarily at the box on his shoulder and pointing at the post office a little along from me said something else to the effect of I’m delivering this to the post office, Chow he said and wandered off a huge grin on his face.
2 minutes later he was back and though we couldn’t converse made me understand that I was welcome to his city, Chow he said again as he left to drive furiously off in his little red van, obsessed? No I don’t think so but happy yes, so perhaps there’s more than one way to happiness.
Take care all,
John
As you will recall from my last entry we are happily ensconced on the Isle of Man now and it’s lovely, so why I hear you ask am I in Milan ?
Well this weekend is the final of the Eurpoean Poker Tour and it’s being held in the casino at Monte Carlo, I’m in Milan because the French government are being silly about online Poker companies and may well arrest me if I go into their territory so I’m having to go via Italy, which is a right royal pain I can tell you.
I assume they are being like this because they don’t get any taxes on the money people win or lose online, just like the US.
That aside I’m really looking forward to my first major Poker event, I’ve seen the pictures of the hotel and the salon and it looks lovely and the guys who’ve been there since it started on Tuesday are very upbeat about it.
The tournament runs from Tuesday through to the following Monday and we had over 500 entries at $10,000 a ticket ! I can’t imagine paying that much money just to sit down at a table and play cards but then I’m no poker fanatic.
Undeniably people can win a lot of money playing this game and there are any number of professional poker players who do nothing else so it can’t be all down to luck but it doesn’t appeal to me at all.
When the professionals turned up on Monday there were no cards around so they all got $100 dollar bills out of their pockets and the one with the highest serial number won !!! It’s madness I tell you.
Is there a place for that sort of mania I ask myself and this led me on to think about obsession and its place in my life.
I’m obsessed with very few things in my life, I love what I do for a living and if I wasn’t being paid for it I’d probably still do it for free but am I obsessed, I don’t know, what is the definition of obsession?
Do you have to be obsessed to be successful?
One of my greatest friends has just been made deputy under editor, third on the left at Computer Weekly and he is as happy as a journo in a cess pit, now he works harder than any man I know at whatever he wants to achieve, but is he obsessed?
How can you tell?
I’ve had calls from him at 3am discussing his work so I guess he’s the closest thing to obsessed I know, does it bring him happiness, well fairly obviously it does at the moment but is that caused by the obsession or the results of that obsession?
I must ask him next time we speak.
This last fortnight have been all go for me, the level of work I’m getting through is astounding even to me , as an exercise I’m keeping a note of everything I do and I’m up to 7 A4 pages so far this month, it’s a worthwhile task as it really gives you an idea of what you are doing, if you end up with half a page of A4 at the end of the month you might want to consider if you’re in the right job.
Looking at the truly successful people I know they all get through mountains of work and funnily enough they all seem to smile quite a bit, hmmmm wonder if there’s a connection?
You know sitting here and here is a small square outside Milan Central Station I’m reminded quite forcibly of Croydon, there are office blocks and apartment buildings all around me, trams trundle past full of sad looking people and cars rush around like worker ants in a disturbed nest, no one seems to have time or seems to be particularly happy with their lots.
Yet just now a delivery man came to see what I was writing, he earnestly asked me something in Italian which I took to mean what are you writing squire and I had to smile and explain that I was English and could speak only a little Italian, he smiled and told me that he was a delivery man, pointing unnecessarily at the box on his shoulder and pointing at the post office a little along from me said something else to the effect of I’m delivering this to the post office, Chow he said and wandered off a huge grin on his face.
2 minutes later he was back and though we couldn’t converse made me understand that I was welcome to his city, Chow he said again as he left to drive furiously off in his little red van, obsessed? No I don’t think so but happy yes, so perhaps there’s more than one way to happiness.
Take care all,
John
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