Sydney style…
I had the opportunity to (finally) catch up with Mario and his lovely wife Pam last night. And an absolutely fantastic night it was.
Now as a subset of the recollection of my evening, I want to take particular instance to both admit my own prejudice and ignorance to the interactions and personality of certain individuals.
I have, in the past, certainly felt that Pam had a different personality type to my own, concurrently we have never had the opportunity to sit down and get to know each other. After talking with her animatedly last night until almost 1am, my only regret is that it had to end and that I hadn’t spoken to her, at length, earlier on.
However a I feel that the changes that have permeated over the past months have been a catalyst for the interactions (positive) that I encountered last night. There is always something to be said for age and wisdom….
The night was sparsed with conversational points such as politics, human rights, sociology, arts, theatre, opera and the redfern ‘riots’ which have caught so much attention over the past weeks here in Sydney.
I was fascinated and engaged on topics of both her career goals, personal satisfactions and desires for a better future for herself, her husband and (in the future) her children. Pam has completed both her degree and her masters and continually strives for educational excellence against an initial backdrop of parental discourse, something I had not been aware of until last nigh .
It makes me realise that we must continually evaluate the relationships in our lives and work to break down those prejudice barriers that we erect. We need to be sure that the judgement calls that we make are valid within the context of time and space. It had been 6 years since I met Pam and last night I got to know her as a person.
Her generosity and hospitality were fantastic and I look forward to catching up with them both when they come to Brisbane at Easter.
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Oh yeah, I went and had dinner with Mario and one of his work mates too 
….. Beer, steak, comics, bullshit and childish humour…. the usual 
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Ok… now that i’ve sucked up to within an inch of my life!
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Went and visited the Three centre yesterday. I have to (quite frankly) say that I was absolutely appalled at the poor level of technical assistance, sales or support wrapped in a very glossy shell.
I *wanted* to buy one of these video phones recently brought out by NEC, all the salesman had to do was give me a run-down of the hardware, answer some basic technical questions (battery life, case questions [does the extended life battery fit inside the case]) and actually show me the video phone component work (well, it’s a gimmick but i’d use it!)
They failed miserably on all three parts (no, no irony there) and I left the building feeling despondent and irritated at their inability to get the product into my hands.
Three, a few words of advice:
- Do NOT have you manager there abusing your phone-support team about a request which they have fucked up. Makes you (and more importantly the backend support people) look unprofessional.
- Have test phones that actually work (really people)
- Have some basic understanding of how the phone actually works. Things like battery life and cases are a dime-a-dozen and (in my situation as i’m sure they are for most peoples) are important tidbits before I commit.
- Don’t argue with clients in a public arena when even I could see that they’re right…
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I’m back in Manly today as the rain has decided to settle in, so my trip to Australia’s Wonderland had to be cancelled.
That means a day of books and sleep before heading out for the (in?)famous $5 steak deal and steins of beer by the hour. I fear what I might look like tomorrow.
Tomorrow is scheduled for the monorail and i’ll be taking a visit to the museum again. Friday will probably bring a visit to the Caravaggio exhibit. We’ll see how it all goes.
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It’s going to be incredibly strange leaving Sydney and going back to Bundaberg on Sunday and i’m really not forward to not being here. All the time i’ve spent here has felt homely and I know it will take me a few days to readjust to the North QLD lifestyle again.
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Rachel: Yes, I will catch up with Amanda again upon my return! (sorta realised that I avoided the topic when you asked me… I have a way of doing that!)
Loving all your work
Adam
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