Judgey Wudgey

I had this post perfectly composed in my head yesterday evening when I was riding the bus to meet S at a bar to celebrate his coworker's birthday. As I sit here and write this now, I am admittedly less angry, but still a little judgey. If you don't want to hear me rant about relatively mundane things, this post may not be for you.

So, here's what got me into this state... Yesterday morning I had to rise at 4:30 am to participate in a conference call. Brisbane and greater Queensland, I learned does not do daylight savings, so I am even more ahead or behind West Coast time. On a side note, one of my clients likened my situation of being 19 hours ahead (or 7 hours behind, which is an easier way to look at it) to the Umberto Eco book, The Island of the Day Before. He said it's about a ship moored just beyond a dateline. I think I should read this book, as I have a lot of experience with this situation now. I digress; so, I was up early to be on this call and our internet decides to play games with me. When I sign on it only takes me the Vodafone website. I cannot access Skype and I cannot access my email. It pretends that I am all out of credit (internet here is pay as you go). I know I am not all out of internet credit, but the customer service phone center does not open until 8:00 am. In the end it probably ended up being a good thing that they were closed, as I was livid and probably would have said some things I would have regretted. I finally managed to sort out the problem by restarting the internet device. In the calm after the storm, I think to myself, that was really frustrating and had I not solved my own problem there wouldn't have been anyone to assist me for four more hours. I guess 24/7 access isn't the norm for businesses here.

Second angry/judgey moment. On my way to pick up a bottle of wine for S's coworker, I stop at a local coffee shop to get a much needed latte. I really like the vibe of the coffee shop because it reminds me of coffee shops in Seattle. I order and I wait. Then I watch the barista dink around, tell his coworker what he should be tidying up, and make another drink for what I can only assume is a regular customer. About 10 minutes later he makes my latte and says sorry about the wait. I was pissed and I feel, deservedly so. There was no in line behind me and I was the only one waiting for a drink. Normally I would accept said apology, but it didn't seem like there was any need for me to wait 10 minutes for him to get around to making my drink. Insert judgy comment about Australian customer service, perfectly articulated by S: "They always start off with a smile, but there is really nothing behind it." Note, that he said this while we were drinking beers that tasted like soap at the bar I was on my way to. They probably put too much soap in their dishwasher or don't rinse the glasses enough. We have tried returning the occasional soapy beers before and they won't give us another, not ever. And beers and coffee are not cheap here.

I know I should take all of these experiences in stride because I am in another country and they do things differently down here, but today I am going to be judgmental, so there. More interesting and less ranting posts to come.