ISP Hell

I am stranded. It's amazing how much you realise something impacts your life when you lose that one thing.

We are living without broadband.

We have been without broadband for nearly two weeks now. Initially we thought it was just a phone line issue. We had a close lightning strike one night that seemed to fry our line. We got that fixed within one day of calling our phone supplier. When we found that our DSL connection was not working, I called that in too, and (after faffing around performing various tests such as changing phone sockets and removing the splitter/filter) eventually was told to expect a call within the next 3 days from a technician to arrange a time to look at our connection.

4 days latter, after no call, I called customer support again, to be told that the technician had us on their list for 2 days time. I was miffed, but accepted it and expected the call from the technician to notify us of what time, exactly, they would be coming round. Both my wife and myself work, so (like many people) we do not have the time to sit around at home for hours on end waiting for a technicial to turn up.

Still no call.

That night I called customer support AGAIN and was told that they would look into it and get a technicial to make a house call, but that there may be a $99 charge for the call, if it is determined that the fault is our doing, or caused by equipment not belonging to them.

It was getting worse.

The next day, I received a call from customer service expressing concern that our connection had not been fixed up yet. They were going to credit our account the same amount that it would cost for us to be using dial up, so that we can connect through dial up while our DSL is fixed.

OK, not fantastic, but at least we are online again. Even if we are chugging along at 56kbs. WhoooooooHoooooo!

Now the experiences above (phone line, and DSL broadband) are very different. You would expect that I am dealing with two different companies. But NOOO!

Our phone is provided by Optus. Our DSL internet connection is provided by Optus.

Why is is so difficult to get both aspects of the one company to behave in the same way.

Now, I know that different parts of a company can be very different from each other, even to the point of being outsourced to other separate companies. But, this is no excuse. A large company will value its brand. It would not appreciate any aspect of public experience that was a negative experience towards its name and brand.

So, why would Optus have two very different customer experiences for the same customer?

Shut your big yap!

Man, I hate it when people complain about things that can not be changed, or that they have the power to change, yet do not.

The Hippie (see previous posts) is one such person.

When I last posted on our office work assignments, I think I mentioned that us newbies are being rotated through the office, to give us all a break from being on the phones.

This has now changed. The newbies and one other older staff member are now located on the phones permanently. The main reason for this is because of office costings. The office that our team is located in is administered and budgeted by a business line coded the the actual physical office. This office is apparently over staffed by 5 people.

Our phone team is part of a larger team situated in a number of offices, and is therefore administered by a business line that is separate from the line of the physical office we are located in. Our phone team is not over staffed. In fact we are reportedly going to be growing.

So, in placing us newbies permanently into the phone roles, the office manager is protecting us from any possible redistribution of staff in the rest of the office.

The Hippie can not, or will not, see this. When she heard that we were no longer to be swapped around the rest of the office, her first reaction to proclaim that she did not know how much longer she could last on the phones. She did not want to be a "Battery Hen" for ever, and let just about everyone know it.

There was no acknowledgement of the fact that this situation may just save her job. She can only see the negative aspects of the situation and how they directly affect her.

Now, I am not too fond of being on the phones either, but I realise that someone has to be on them, and that by putting us on them, the office manager is guaranteeing that we will still be here in the near future. The Hippie just needs to get over it, and see what she can constructively do about changing her circumstances, not just winge and bitch to everyone who will listen.

She has also noticed that her flex time is in a negative balance of over 12 hours. That's 12 hours of time that she owes our work. She keeps complaining about it, concerned about how she will make up the time.

The annoying thing for me is that I have to listed to it, knowing full well that it is her own doing. First of all, she has taken a flex day when she didn't have the full hours in flex to cover it. Second, we are rostered to start at 8:30am. In the last two months, I have not once seen her come into the office before 8:50am. Third, and last: we get allocated an hour for lunch. The Hippie regularly takes at least 1hr 10mins for lunch.

Most times that she complains about it, I remind her why she has this negative flex time.

But this is what I mean. The Hippie just wants something to complain about, and doesn't want to look at how she can fix it, or acknowledge that there is no way to fix and she should just get on with it.

So either she fixes it herself, and then stops complaining, or she recognises that it can not be fixed right now, and she just has to deal with it, and stops complaining.

Either way, she just needs to "Shut her big YAP"

DPS

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Apparently this is true, although I don't expect anyone to come gushing forth with exultations about the joy they feel at my return to blogging.

Yes! I am back.

Now I realise that people will not have been waiting with baited breath for my next posting, but I do feel a certain amount of guilt for not posting for so long.

I have previously made reference to finding myself with not enough time to do things. Well, I am now at the stage of working my way out of this phase. Towards the end of last month, I was very busy. I was doing my usual full time work in the public service, but most evenings I was moonlighting for a few hours in another job. I won't go into specifics, but the area that I was moonlighting in is the area in which I would spend all my free time, if I could. But that issue is for another time.

What I found is that the time that I usually used for catching up on things, doing housework, looking after the kids, reading email, posting on my blog, etc., had disappeared! I also found that a hard day of mentally draining work, followed by a few hours of mentally energising, but physically draining work, was leaving me with no energy to do anything at all when I got home. I would get home, reheat my dinner (that was lovingly cooked by my wife hours before), eat said dinner, collapse on couch and fall asleep in front of the TV.

That was pretty much my life for the end of October and the beginning of November. Wake up, eat, work eat, work, work, eat sleep.

Anyway, I am through that period, but I still find my energy levels not what they used to be. I am gradually getting back to normal, but it may take a while.

So, essentially, I have not posted in such a long while, because I have been a lazy shit. Which I apologise for.

I will be resuming fairly regular posts from tomorrow. I have a fair bit of information to share with everyone about the Hippie at work, and also a few issues I wish to vent, and use my masses of readers as a sounding board.

Cheers,

DPS

Hypocrites in the workforce

The Hippie is a hypocrite. The Hippie is a hypocrite! The Hippie is a hypocrite!!

Let me say that one more time: The Hippie is a hypocrite!

My previous posting made some mention of the fact that I have joined the Union. The main reasons are explained in that post. Now the Hippie has mentioned before that she is an activist. She had previously asked me to grab her a Union enrolment form, which I had done. When I later asked her if she was going to join the union, her immediate response was..."It's expensive".

What? Expensive? She is on the same pay level as me, she has no kids, she rents a house out of town (cheaper rent) yet she thinks that a fortnightly fee of less than $20.00 is too expensive.

I have 3 kids and loads of debt (that we are gradually getting out of), but when I spoke to my wife about deciding to join the union, it was a no brainer. The cost is minimal to us.

Yet this "Hippie" who does not like large corporations or organistions, did not think it a priority to join an organisation that has the interests of the workers as it's core beliefs.

Fine...I never like the Hippie that much in the first place, but her value has just taken a plunge.

Yet, that was not all.

The Hippie likes to try and pass herself off as a self confident, mature woman. She has told me before that she does not play office games.

This afternoon our team managed to get ahead of our work allocation. For a good portion of the afternoon, the hippie was huddled in her cubicle corner whispering to another of our team mates. Everyone around knew that they were gossiping, and I can honestly say that I have never seen anyone gossiping in this office before. It just smacked of immaturity.

After the Hippie and her friend had their gossip fest, she told me that she was now all caught up on the office goss. I flippantly replied "what, who is sleeping with who?" She said "Yeah". I didn't want to know, and I stopped her by saying to her "Before you say anything to me, ask yourself if it will do any good. Will it make a difference to anything?"

That sort of stopper her in her tracks, but she really wanted to tell me the really juicy bit of gossip. She wanted to tell me that she knew who in our office has slept with everyone else. She wanted me to guess who it was, but I wouldn't play her little game. I can proudly say that I took the moral high ground, and boy did it feel good. She started saying names, telling me who it was not. Again, I stopped her and said, "Who cares? What difference will it make knowing that? Will it do any good knowing it?" She eventually realised that I was not going to give her the satisfaction of playing her game, and she shut up about it.

Man, did that feel good. You see, the Hippie is one of those self righteous bitches who have a belief that they are always right, to the point of self delusion, and that they can not be tricked. They make these kinds of statements with cheery smiles and believe that everyone thinks that they are nice. Unfortunately there are enough people that do not see past the smiles, and cheery voice, that people like the Hippie manage to get away with it. While she will profess one thing, she will do another.

The Hippie claims not to play office games, yet here she is trying to spread gossip.

I found it very easy to take the moral high ground in this matter. The fact that I do not like the Hippie aided me in this matter. Because the gossip was being offered by the Hippie, it was extremely easy to reject it.

I stopped her, and I would like to think that I made her think about if it was a good idea to keep gossiping.

Mind you, I am also fully aware that if it was anyone else, I do not know if my resolve would have been so strong. Part of me does want to know who has been sleeping with who, but at the moment my feel good, moral high ground, centre is winning.

DPS

DPS is a Unionist!

Ok...it has been a while since I last posted. I've gone through a period where I have found time to be very short. Have I been doing more than usual? No. Have the days shrunk? No. It just seemed to be a phase in life where no matter what you do, you never have enough time to do everything you want to do.

Anyway, enough of my winging.

I am now a Union member. Yes, I have joined the ranks of the great unwashed. I can proudly stand next to my fellow worker, and call them "Comrade". I have never been a Union member before. It is a totally new experience for me. I have never before really cared that much to bother joining a workplace union.

What has prompted me to do this? Three simple letters: AWA

These letters have struck fear into the hearts of many workers in Australia. They have existed for many years before, but they have never been that much of a threat. However, since Howard and his cronies introduced the current IR laws, AWAs have become a real threat to workers.

The public service organisation I work for, is trying to encourage all of its employees to sign AWAs. How is it doing this?

Well, I was recently in a meeting where one of our higher up managers explained to us the organisation's take on the available AWA model. He went to great lengths to explain that employees who are on the AWA will receive a significant pay rise straight away, with another pay rise on the year anniversary of signing the AWA, subject to performance standards (more on that below). Many people will see the immediate pay rise, and be lured by that alone. To me, this sets alarm bells ringing. If any organisation is offering a significant pay rise immediately, then you have to look at what the pay off is.

If, for example, a company is offering an immediate 10% extra to anyone who signs an AWA, then you can bet you ass that the AWA will remove or modify conditions, so that the organisation gains more than 10% worth of benefit for it. It may be difficult to identify exactly where the benefit to the organisation is, but trust me...it is there in one form or another.

This manager also went on to explain that the AWA is only really of benefit to those people who are good performers. The incentives, and pay increases are ony applicable to those employees who have performed to a specific standard (a standard that is not specifically outlined in the AWA). The implication here is that only poor performers, or bludgers would want to stay away from an AWA. Therefore, if you don't sign an AWA, then you are not a good worker.

There are many points that our manager tried to make about the AWA, but the one that really had me concerned was the provision that if you are signed onto an AWA, then you do not have the right to take industrial action. You can not strike.

Now I have never taken industrial action in my life. But, if there is one thing that will ever incite me to do it, it will be a large organisation trying to get me to sign a contract that will tell me that I can not do it. This is one of the main reasons behind my signing up to join our worker's Union.

In the past I have also had a fair amount of faith in the industrial relations of this country, and state. But now that Howard has continued to strip away the rights of workers, I feel that the government is not interested in protecting the interests of the common man. I am now of the opinion that the only people who will stick up for us is the Union, and I feel compelled take action to help have some say in the security of my working future.

So, am I becoming a Lefty Union Scumbag? Or am I just clinging to a last shred of hope, and trying to stick up for myself?

Reality TV...very real

Luci's struggles against Project Green Light Australia reminded me of my regular thoughts about the reality of reality TV game shows. I have my conspiracy theories about how rigged these shows are. Now the shows in question may not be directly manipulated to dictate who wins or looses, but the circumstances of the game can be adjusted to suit a particular contestant.

The grandaddy of reality TV game shows is Survivor. Every year a new wave of contestants try to outwit, outlast and outplay each other. But every year, we also see slightly different variations of the game each year. Tribes get mixed up at different stages, if at all. Tribes merge at different stages. There are different numbers of tribes at different points in the game. Because of the security surrounding the production of this show, no one outside of the production staff know what is up ahead.

But...how do we, the unsuspecting public, know that what happens has been planned right from the very beginning? I think it is obvious that the votes at tribal council are adjusted in the pot to be revealed in the most dramatic way possible. It is also very apparent that the host, Jeff Probst, has really disliked some of the contestants. Surprisingly enough, none of these have ever won a series.

Survivor is not the only reality game show out there that could be manipulating things, but as with any largest participant in a given field, it makes them an easy target. I don't want to target only Survivor (I am a fan of the show) but I am too lazy, and harried by children to get them something to eat (go eat some cardboard, kids), to properly research other shows.

My point still remains: How do we know that the sequence of events are not manipulated to suit particular contestants. How do we know that it is reality TV, and not just actors pretending to be reality TV contestants?

DPS

DPS

They go in threes

Has anyone else noticed that celebrities seem die in groups of three? There appears to be a trend that there will be a group of celebrity deaths within a week or so of each other. Of course, I can not bring up any corroborating data to support this statement, but it is my general feeling.

Having stated this, I am fully aware that Australia has had 4 celebrity deaths in recent weeks:
1) Don Chip
2) Colin Thiele
3) Steve Irwin
and now...
4) Peter Brock

Now, as far as I can predict, my feelings about celebrities going in threes is about to be shot down, or we are due for another two famous deaths within the next week or so. These will not necessarily need to be Australian to qualify.

We will have to wait and see.

DPS

The wonders of music

Last weekend I watched School of Rock for the first time. I know, I know...it's been around for ages. Its just been one of those movies that I never got around to seeing. Until now.

This posting, though, is not about School of Rock. This movie reminded me of my opinion of the music industry. An opinion that I would now like to share with you.

Record labels suck. Big time. They are companies that are following a business model that came into existence over 50 years ago, and are extremely reluctant to change, no matter what technological changes occur.

The media often run stories on the decline in CD sales, and how the record companies are blaming the proliferation of illegal MP3s on the internet.

I can not remember where I read it, but I have read someone pointing out that the sales of CDs has been artificially inflated due to the number of people replacing their vinyl and cassette tape collections with CDs. This replacement phaze is apparently petering out. Therefore the number of CD sales has been dropping, as people are scaling back to be only making new purchases, not purchases to replace vinyl LPs or cassette tapes. Yes, some CD sales wil be lost by free mp3 downloads, but how many people in the past have had a taped copy of a CD they "pirated" from a sibling or a friend? I know I have.

If record companies want to win back market share from internet downloaded music, then they need to be offering something extra that you can not get via download. Not just a CD with a bit of cardboard acting as a cover. Something else needs to be offered. Something that you can not access through downloading the songs. Some bands have made their record companies follow this path e.g. Pet shop boys re-released some early music, and added a booklet for each CD (slotted into the cover). these types of booklets can be a fan's nirvana, providing extra background and inside information on the music and the band. Not many bands have done the same thing. Why would people bother to pay for a CD, when they can get a copy for free, either by downloading it, or burning a copy of a friend's CD.

MC Lars' song "Download this song" is a great thesis on the new music distribution model, and the hipocrasy of the major record companies.

$18.98 Iggy Pop CD?
What if I can get it from my sister for free?
It’s all about marketing Clive Davis, see?
If fans buy the shirt then they get the mp3
Music was a product now it is a service
Major record labels why are you trying to hurt us?
Epic’s up in my face like, “Don’t steal our songs Lars,”
While Sony sells the burners that are burning CD-R’s

As a side note, I find microsoft's Digital Rights Management a laugh. Windows media player will not let you directly copy a protected CD (e.g. straight from CD-ROM drive to CD-R/W drive). However, it will not even raise a murmer if you rip the CD to your hard drive, and then burn the CD's contents to a blank CD-R or R/W. Great protection!

Anyway, That is my first major issue with the music industry. I was reminded of my other beef while I was watching School of Rock.

My other beef is the lack of originality in many of today's groups and/or atists.

Where are the supergroups? While the majority of the music industry's new artists are RnB and rap fuckwits, there are no new supergroups like the days of old (60's-80's), like The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, The Who, Genesis, etc. The only thing we have today, even slightly resembling the supergroups of old, are...those same supergroups themselves. Revived, and pushed back out onto the world stage in a last ditch effort to prop up the record companys' bottom lines. There are fewer and fewer bands and/or artists with the ability to put on a good show these days. Even the middle aged reanimated groups of yore are not as energetic as they used to be.

Tied in with all this is a problem that I refer to as the lack of virtuosity in bands today. We rarely see bands with members who could be said to be a virtuoso of their instrument. I remember the days when concerts used to have a certain period when each band member spent time doing a solo, showcasing their virtuosity on their instrument. We don't see that anymore.

All we get now in new bands is RnB and Rap shite, or bands emulating the sounds of the 60s and 70s, like Wolfmother (blurgghhhh!) and Jet, for example. The record companies are not interested in nurturing and developing new and different talent. They want to be able to quickly produce a product that they know will work, because it sounds a lot like something else that was very successful in the past. They are not willing to take a risk and try something new. They will keep trying to find acts that will reproduce a sound that has already prooved to be successful in the past.

Of course, there are always exceptions to any rule, as there are some groups and/or artists that do not fit into this mould, however on the whole, my setiments hold true.

There is nothing new in the music scene. Except for Ultimo, of course.

DPS

I can't believe it!

Well, I guess I shouldn't be suprised. It was going to happen sooner or later. Someone has posted the video of Steve Irwin's death on Google Video.

I'm not even going to comment. Each individual will have to make up their own mind if they want to see it or not.

DPS

Funny

Check this out. This is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

The Princess strikes again

Naomi Robson has once again shown her arrogance and willingness to blame others for her mistakes. Robson was apparently forced to apologise for a "tacky" move during a broadcast outside Australia Zoo for Today Tonight. She appeared on camera in a khaki outfit, with a live lizard on her shoulder.


Come on! What the fuck is this woman's problem?

What is going on in her precious little brain that makes her think that this is in good taste? This just smacks of the media trying to emulate the big story of the day. There is no sincerity in this type of move. But, I guess I should not be surprised by this. I have heard a number of stories about Robson, and her "Princess" attitude. But, the commercial channels themselves have been doing this kind of thing for years. Who remembers the man who was lost in the middle of the desert in remote WA a few years ago, and when he was found by a commercial camera crew, they didn't whisk him to a hospital straight away in their helicopter? Oh no. They got him to walk around for a bit first, so that they could get some shots of him from their helicopter, then do a story, and then they were kind enough to actually rescue him. I can't remember which channel it was, but it was the sort of thing that is not confined to one particular show.

There are many other examples of news and current affairs reporters' egos getting in the way of their judgment, and trying to maximise the "exclusivity" of their story by doing things that are either stupid and ill considered, or just plain fucking dangerous. Not dangerous for themselves, of course, but for someone else "in the line of fire" (remember Mike Willisee and the kids held hostage by muderers near Dorrigo/Armidale, NSW).

Back to Robson's crass display, I love this: "In a rare victory for Channel 9, viewers even went so far as to switch stations to rival A Current Affair, which overtook Today Tonight in the official viewer ratings for the night." Nice to see that viewers showed their contempt for Robson the best way for Channel 7 to sit up and take notice.

Another good indication of the public's lack of tolerance for this type of thing, is from an online poll conducted by The Daily Telegraph. Now the Tele's readers are not usually considered the most enlightened lot, but even they were not appreciative of the khaki appearance: In an online poll 71 per cent of Confidential readers thought the khaki shirt and lizard stunt were too crass so soon after Irwin's death, with just 28 per cent saying it was a fitting tribute to him.

Now, if an inbred pack of Telegraph hick readers feel this way, then I feel confident in saying that the rest of the educated public would feel even stronger about it.

If all that isn't bad enough, when Robson was forced to apologise, she tried to shift the blame onto, a) her wardrobe assistant for the khaki outfit, and b) a young Irwin fan.

Oh come off it. a) We all know that Robson would not be seen dead on screen in any outfit she hadn't personally approved, and b) we also all know that Robson wouldn't be seen dead on screen with any live animal that she hadn't personally approved.

I don't know about you, but I'm not buying any of it. We all saw how she was dressed during some of the broadcasts from Beaconsfield (not live to air, but as reported by other sources), I have heard too many other stories from reporters about Robson's behaviour to believe that she was not in charge of the whole episode.

To be partially fair, though, I have to admit that I have had no personal dealings with Naomi Robson, and that she may very well be a very nice, polite, considerate lady. Then again, she may just be the most stuck up bitch that the western world has ever seen.

You decide.

DPS

PS. Strangeness...I've searched online for an image of Mike Willisee, but can't find one of him anywhere. Well, nothing recent. Has he managed to wipe his previous career as a current affairs "journalist" off the pages of history?

Dreaming of good customer service

My previous posting about telemarketers, or CSRs, seems to have pervaded into my dreams. I woke up this morning on the tail end of a dream....

I was at my grandmother's house, only the lady in question was not actually my grandmother (both of whom have passed on), and we were in the U.S.A., but I was calling her grandma, and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

Anyway, my 'grandma' was talking about how she had recently fallen in the bathroom and had been unable to get help (how this situation was resolved was not discussed). It cam out in conversation that she now had one of those emergency beacon distress alarm thingys, in case it happened again.

I found it in her dressing gown, hanging on the back of the bathroom door. In my dream, this beacon looked like a mobile flip phone. I opened it to check that it still worked, and saw that it sent a signal. I don't remember specifically how I saw this, but I knew it had happened. After I knew that it had sent a signal, I though it would be wise to call the monitoring people, and let them know that there was not a real emergency. So, using the emergency 'phone', I called the monitoring people.

I explained to the man that answered that there was not an emergency, and that we had just briefly opened the 'phone'. I heard him mutter something, then pause, and then say something like "thank you for calling". I asked him what he had said, and he refused. Then I figured out that he had said "Wanker". I told him that I hear what he said, and I knew what it meant, as I was Australian, and not American (remember, my 'grandma' lives in the U.S.A.).

The bit that tells me that my previous posting has pervaded my dreams is that I didn't go off at this CSR. I calmly talked to him, and explained to him why it was inappropriate to call people a wanker. Unfortunately, I do not know how the conversation ended, as I woke up part way through, but it seemed to be going well.

I am slightly disappointed though, that I didn't fly off the handle. I mean, if you can't do it in your dreams, when can you?

DPS

A man of the people...NOT

John Howard has once again demonstrated to the rest of the world, that he is definitely not a man of the people. In parliament today, he was speaking of the tragic death of Steve Irwin. I wasn't able to catch all of what he was saying (kids were making noise) but I heard him refer to Irwin as the "Crocodile Man".

CROCODILE MAN? You've got to be kidding me. It really irks me when people like Howard (sorry Mikey_Capital, I think Beazley is just as bad) try to show how in touch they are with the everyday people of the population. All it takes for their shallow attempts to become unstuck, is for them to make a simple mistake in their grandstanding speeches.

To me, if you can't get the name of someone right, then they are obviously not all that important to you. How dare Howard stand up in parliament and espouse how great Steve Irwin was, and then not even bother to get his common name correct.

Kids on the 'Net

My daughter came home from school on Friday, excited to tell me about a web site one of her friends had found. It is a short flash cartoon series that they had been looking at during school time. I don't know if you have heard of it. It is called Salad Fingers, by David Firth. It can be found, amongst other things, here. It is building up quite a following, including parodies, Fan Fict, clones, Lego models, and served as the inspiration of other animations. It even has a wikipedia entry. Just do a Google Search for "Salad Fingers", and you will find your bounty.

Now, have a look at some of the episodes. When I saw them I thought, "weird, but cool, and yet slightly disturbing, which can be cool too." My second thought was, "the teacher let the kids watch this at school?"

I don't personally have a problem with it, but I could imagine teachers and some parents getting quite offended if they knew their children were watching this at school. I asked my daughter what her teacher was doing when they were watching this, to which she informed me that her normal teacher was not there, and that the Computers teacher was taking them at the time. She didn't enlighten me as to what the Computers teacher was doing, but she seemed to imply that the teacher knew what was happening. The teacher probably just thought the kids were looking at harmless fun animations, without really looking at what they were doing.

I found the whole thing quite amusing, and I was happy to see that my daughter seems to be developing the same appreciation for the darkly absurd that I have. I find it funny what kids come home from school with knowledge of something totally unexpected. Most times you will find that it is knowledge that has been gained from other children.

I do have one doubt about this whole thing, though. It clearly shows that the children are not very closely supervised when they are on the internet at school. This could be a worry.

DPS

P.S. Another great flash animation I have seen is the Banana song at rathergood.com, One of my all time favourite internet songs. It gets stuck in your head. I challenge you to watch it, and then not have "I bought the wrong bananas, I bought the wrong bananas (I bought I bought the wrong bananas)" going through your head afterwards. Go on, I dare you!

The Joys of Telemarketing

In my previous post, I stated that I am not in the business of writing on the IT industry. However, I do like to keep my finger in the water, so to speak, and keep up to date. One of my previous positions was as a department's IT Co-Ordinator. It is not as technically minded a role as it may sound. Part of my keeping in touch involves subscribing to some email newsletters, one of which is ZDNet AU's Weekly Insight. Recently they sent out a story about outsourced call centres in relation to an SBS programme, Storyline on Aug 24.

Call Centre staff (often referred to as CSRs, but usually as Telemarketers) are one of the most maligned groups in the modern day work force. They are seen as a plague on society. Especially when they call you at inconvenient times, and are obviously speaking from India or Malaysia, yet try to tell you they are in Australia (one of the biggest give away is the time delay. If I don't get an immediate response when I answer the phone, I hang up, before they can say anything with their 3 second delay).

I used to work in a high volume call centre for one of Australia's main ticketing companies (Ticketmaster or Ticketek, you decide...I'm not telling). I am currently working in a small team in a large Public Service department that requires much of my time on the phone. I have also worked in a carpet cleaner's 9 person call centre, cold canvassing the phone book. Out of inbound and outbound calls, I much prefer inbound.

I am going off at tangents here, which I apologise for (but I will probably continue to do). The point I am trying to make is as follows:
1) Yes, CSRs call you can be very annoying
2) It is even more annoying when they are from overseas
3) I have worked in a call centre, so I can appreciate the CSRs frustration too.

Apart from hanging up on overseas telemarketers/CSRs, I tend to treat those that I do talk to with a certain amount of respect. When they start their spiel, I politely interrupt them, usually with "Look, I'm sorry but I am going to have to stop you there. Thank you for calling, but we are not interested." Sometimes I may have to reinforce this to them, but I always try to be respectful. I know that they are only doing their job. They may hate it just as much as I do. The company they work for may be pressuring them to get their quota of leads, or sales (highly likely). They probably don't have much of a passion for what they are doing, and are just going through the script. This may be the only job they feel that they can do, and will comply with any directive given by their employer, if they felt their job was at risk. Even if they hate it.

I have been in this position (making outbound calls to cold contacts). It is not fun, but it is also just a numbers game. When you are doing it, you know that for every X number of calls you make, you will have Y successes. So to get your Y*2 number of sales, you have to make (on average) X*2 calls. So you just trudge through them. Well, that's how most people do it.

You do find people who, while they don't like the work, are able to sound like they are enjoying it. You know the people I mean. They are the ones who can take the time to have a conversation with you, instead of just launching straight into, and sticking rigidly to, the script. Strangely enough, it appears to be English females who work this way more than any other demographic group. That may just be my skewed perception, but that is my belief. I think you can really feel the difference when you are talking to someone who is intelligent and has a decent command of the English language.

Basically, the point I am trying to eventually get around to is that the people calling may be having as much fun as you are. I know friends who are abusive to telemarketers, and who have a variety of "ruses" to get back at them. Some people have even developed a type of "Anti-Telemarketing" script. This is unnecessary. Treat people with respect, and most of them will treat you with respect too.

I don't like overseas CSRs calling me either. And my quick hang up is the only form of retaliation I take out on these people. I have been on both sides if the cold contacting CSR, as well as that of the customer. I am not claiming to be unique in this, but it has given me an understanding of the pressures and hassles of both sides. If you abuse the caller, you are going to darken their day, and also darken your own. Is it worth it?

DPS

Best Design App Ever

I am not in the business of writing about the IT industry, but every now and then, an application comes along that will totally revolutionise the way people work. There have been many writers in the IT world who have claimed to have found the next killer application. Some of them have been pretty impressive. Some have certainly changed the way a lot of people work. Few, though, have made such a huge leap in usability and functionality as the application I am about to reveal.

Many of us will look at CAD (Computer Aided Design) packages and think "What the...?" and just stare dumbly at the screen trying to figure out how the hell this thing works. NapkinCAD is a CAD interface that I think just about anyone can use. I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that if you can use a pen and paper, then you can use NapkinCAD. It really is that easy. The interface is incredibly easy and intuitive to use. Check it out and you will find yourself drawing up detailed designs in a matter of minutes.

Bridge building 101

This is a continuation of my previous posts regarding Indonesia, and is in response to Mikey_Capital's remark to it.

I agree that Indonesia is VERY important to Australia, but the way the Howard government is doing things is not in Australia's best interest. Howard has managed to undo all the good that Keating had done in regards to Australia's relationship to Indonesia (in fact much of the south-east Asia region).

Keating was building bridges to these countries in a manner that encouraged mutual respect and economic cooperation. Then Howard comes along and undoes it all.

Howard doesn't seem to know much about proper, effective democracy, as is you scratch my back - I'll scratch yours. His method of diplomacy seems to focus on manipulating opponents into positions of weakness. The problem with this is, that when you opponents find themselves in positions of power, they exploit it to you detriment. Now, I don't know the full situation of Howard's relationship with Indonesia (and I'm sure Mikey_Capital could fill me in), but it wouldn't surprise me if that is the situation we find ourselves in: Howard has effectively burnt bridges to Indonesia, so now the only form of discourse he understands is threats and intimidation - exactly the sorts of tactics used by the Bush administration.

DPS

Learning at a snail's pace

I have been released to the public! Our team have started to be rotated off the phones, and sent out to deal with the general public. We are to be rotated on a 3 weekly roster out of the phone area. Apparently our names were randomly selected to take it in turns. My name was the first. I say "apparently" our names were randomly selected because I think it is obvious that they have selected the team member who has mastered the phones the most. Yes, yes...I know. I'm a conceited prick, aren't I? 8)

Anyway, I thought I would be able to deal with our public customers and that I would have someone to sit with me, and make sure I didn't totally balls anything up. I was very much mistaken. Not about having a 'buddy', but about dealing with the public. Not for me, is the pleasure of being abused by a poor soul sick of beating their head against the brick wall of the public service. No. Not at all.

Instead, I have had the thrill of processing paperwork. I can't even make my week sound more exciting by listing off more than one activity. Paperwork is it! Processing forms EVERY day.

Actually, I tell a little lie. I did spend some time during one day, with the mail lady, learning the intricacies of processing the mail for our office. What a challenge. It wasn't too bad, she knows that it is piss easy, menial work, but sometimes it is good to do work during which you can tune out.

But, apart from that, I have been processing forms all week. And not even a variety of forms. I have only been processing two types of forms. I tell you what though, I am now the office expert at these two type of forms. YAY me!


Things have progressed slightly today. I have been allowed to deal with people who have some into our office, but only if they have one of the two forms in question to give to us. This then makes me a hobbled customer service officer. I ask the people waiting to be served "is anyone here lodging a *insert cryptic public service acronym* form?" That is all I can do.

Of course, this doesn't stop people from asking me other questions. Many times today, I have had to tell people I am new, and essentially have no idea what to do. Which goes down surprisingly well. I have even explained to some people that they are better off talking to someone else who will give them the right information, instead of me making things up and getting it wrong. I usually say this with a smile, and people don't mind.

The thing that annoys me the most, is when I get someone who I ask if the have a specific form to lodge, to which they say yes, but when I get them to my desk, they start with "I have this letter..." AAAARRRGGGHHH! It is soooooo annoying. Once they are at my desk, I have to try and deal with them as best I can, which usually means finding someone else to sort them out at my desk, while I stand around like chopped liver. Admittedly, some people do have the forms I can deal with, and then they have other questions, but I don't get the people who flat out lie to me. Why do they do it? Do I have "SUCKER" tattooed on my forehead? I guess I can understand it, these people see me as a shortcut to service instead of waiting in line for ages, but they don't seem to think about the inconvenience it causes other people. I do find a certain amount of pleasure in the fact that sometimes I have to wait a while for another CSO to be available. This can be enough to disadvantage them in relation to the queue of waiting people. Of course, I am polite to them while they are waiting, but inside I am thinking "Sucked in".

I digress. My main beef in this post is the lack of variety in my work, and lack of ability to do a large portion of what the other workers do in my office. I know that there is a lot of support for me, and the others in my team. My co-workers know that there is a hell of a lot to learn, and everyone is always happy to help out. But, I have let my team leaders know that I am ready and willing to learn so much more, but things are going so, so slowly.

Anyway, I will see how the rest of the week goes. Who knows, maybe one day, I will learn enough to actually serve a member of the public for real! Wouldn't that be exciting?

DPS

We are the new Indonesian state

Australia is now a part of Indonesia!

Well, not quite. But it seems we are heading this way. Indonesia seems to hold a lot of sway over the Howard government. It has probably been happening for a while, but only recent event have brought it out into the public. We saw how Indonesian politicians oversaw the Howard government's decision making on the West Papuan Asylum Seekers. We also now see the Indonesian government feeling bold enough to criticise the defeat of Howard's Refugee bill. (I know it is not really a defeat, but close too it.) The Indonesians say that by not passing the bill, Australia is making it easier for terrorists, and that we "opened the door for a new wave of asylum seekers, including illegal migrants who have been in Indonesia for years." (SMH, 15/08/06)

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda

Two things of interest to me here. One: Which country, out of Indonesia and Australia, has had terrorist attacks carried out on its soil? Two: If Indonesia knows there are illegal migrants on its soil, why doesn't it do something about them, instead of trying to threaten Australia with them?

The only two reasons that Howard withdrew the refugee bill before it went to the senate, is because he didn't want to face defeat, and it gives him the option of reintroducing it again at a later time.

It seems that if the Howard government is not trying to appease the almighty U.S. of A., then he is trying to appease the Indonesians.

Before too long, it seems that we may end up being Indonesia's newest state.

DPS.

To Hell in a Hand Basket

I am fed up with politicians in this country.

Now I think that by now, even the most apathetic of voters must realise what an outright liar Howard is. His FUD campaign against Latham ran on the population's fear of rising interest rates. He led the people to believe his government could ensure that interest rates would stay low, and that it was assured that they would rise under a Latham Labor government. What do we find now, but that interest rates are rising under the Howard Liberal government. We are also seeing the Howard government repeatedly and blatantly flaunting the pretext of democracy, and creating its own legislation without showing a single bit of regard for the interests of the population they are supposedly governing for. If any interest is shown from the Howard government, it is towards kissing Bush's arse.

I won't go into details, but things are continuing to go from worse to worse under Howard. I will get strong disagreement from my friend, Mikey_Capital, but I do not think that the Beazley opposition is offering an attractive alternative.

All I see from Beazley et. al. is a thuggish contradiction of most of the Liberal policies. Anything that Labor does not disagree with, they propose stronger measures in a sick game of political one upmanship. He is just as unable to read the public mind as Howard is. "Oh, Howard has announced stricter security measures. I think people want this, I had better propose even stricter measures." No, Beazley we do not want stricter measures.

Unless Labor can come up with some constructive alternatives to the Liberal's policies, stop the thuggishness, and stop trying to out do the government, they will not be getting my support any time soon. Unfortunately, though, the minor parties are becoming so ineffectual, that voting for them will not do any good. Fortunately for me, though, I am in an electorate that is represented by an independent MP who seems to be able to achieve more for their electorate than they could as a member of the Labor or Liberal parties.

But, this means looking out for the local level, and giving up on the national and international politics of this country. What am I to do?

This leaves me in a position of despair. This whole country (and the rest of the world) is going steadily down the gurgler. My only consolation is my belief that things do need to get worse, before they can get any better. The rest of the world, particularly the non-rational thinkers are still driving things in a bad direction. There are plenty of people out there, with rational thought, who are crying out for things to be fixed. There is just not enough of them yet. By entering into a name calling, insult slinging argument with them, a-la Beazley vs Tuckey outside parliament, does not pay credit to either side. While this continues, the downward spiral will also continue. We will reach the inevitable stage where the irrational will be forced to say:" Ok, things are really fucked up. Lets set things right." Until things are bad enough that even they can't deny it, we will continue down this road.

I just hope that we get there sooner rather than later. Then we can start putting things right again.

DPS

Secret problems

I have a secret, and a problem. I'm not allowed to tell it to any one, the secret, not the problem, and that is a big problem. But then, the whole thing about secrets is a contradiction. I mean, what is the point of keeping a secret, if you can't tell anyone? But then you have the problem of a revealed secret. Once a secret is revealed, it is no longer a secret. You can try to get the person you have told it to, to swear to secrecy too, but you have already broken a confidence placed in you, so you are not setting a good example. The trust placed in you by the original secret holder has been shattered. You may think "It's OK, this person won't tell anyone", but the simple fact that you have already told someone else, means you have broken a trust.

Is this all making sense? No? Good.

Then you have the problem that I now have. I have announced that I have a secret. Simply by making that announcement, I have subconsciously placed an expectation in you, as the reader, that I will eventually reveal the secret in question. Why is this so? I guess the thought is "He has revealed he has a secret. Why would he reveal that, if he didn't want to reveal the secret itself?"

Well, part of me does want to reveal the secret. And herein lies another contradiction. I want to reveal the secret, but I also know that to do this will break the trust placed in me. I also realise that part of my wanting to reveal the secret is to show that I know something that you don't. But if I do reveal it, then you would know it too, and therefore my advantage of superior knowledge would be immediately lost.


There is also another fact to consider. The fact that your inner sense of self worth is improved when you demonstrate to yourself that you are capable of, and worthy of, keeping the trust placed in you. This is not something that you can express to someone else, without appearing at least a little but conceited or smug. So I will say nothing more on that, except to say that this is the reason that I am going to disappoint some of you, and not reveal the secret. Part of me is disappointed by this, but a bigger part of me is glad to show that I can be trusted to keep a secret.

(There is also the issue of a secret that has been discovered by accident, but that is a whole other can of worms.)

DPS

Betrayed!!

Television has made a liar out of me. **mumbled curses about TV stations rescheduling unannounced**

Ultimo's appearance on Video Hits has been rescheduled to the 26th, two weeks away!

Curse you Channel Ten!

DPS

Blatant Promotion #1

I have a friend (as difficult as that may be to believe). I first met him at one of my previous employers. He is a really nice guy, and I got to know him over the years we worked together. We have become pretty good friends, and although we don't talk as much as we should (we both admit to being slack) it is always good when we talk/chat/email.

My friend is in a band. I have known the band through various line ups (they are on their third singer), and a name change. I have heard their music change and grow. A number of their songs have been transformed over the years, and I have had the privilege to hear their transformation from rough demos, through to finished product (some songs, I have even heard sung by each of their different singers). From the very beginning I have enjoyed their music. I have been able to give suggestions, some of which have even been taken on board and implemented in their music.

Things are just starting to happen for my friend's band. They have just released an album, and are promoting it. They have been the house band on Rove. They are "co-hosting" Video Hits this Saturday (12th Aug). They have supported Nickleback, and are going to support the Sydney and Canberra concerts of INXS's Aussie tour.

As you may have guessed, I am enthusiastic about them. I have a great deal of respect and a high regard for them, and I like to do my bit to help them. That is why I have written this piece. I know that not many people read this blog (yet), but I am using it to hopefully generate a little bit more publicity for my friend's band. They are called Ultimo, check out their web site. They have videos and song samples to listen to, so you can get a feel for what they sound like. Feel free to buy their album, "Opposite Ends of the World", either from your local store, or their EP "Tonight" through iTunes. I'm sure they won't object (as an extra activity, you could try to figure out which name in the thankyou list is me!)

Look, that's enough blatant promoting from me (what the hell, it's MY blog). Check them out, and if you like them, support them. If you don't like them, forget I blogged.

DPS

Freedom of thought?

I remember way back when you felt free to express your opinions without fear of being spied upon. The Hippie has made herself paranoid. She seems to realise that she says things that are inappropriate for her current position, whilst at work. She definitely said things that flagged herself during our training.

When one of our trainers said that we must be apolitical, the Hippie took exception with it. I can understand that while I am at work for the Public Service, it is expected that I fulfill my duties to carry out the policies of the Government of the Day. If I was to espouse pro Howard speeches during my working hours, then I can expect to be shafted when the Liberal party loses power, and vice versa. The hippies seemed to take exception with the view that we are not meant to express our political opinions at work.

She later told some of us that she was an activist, and attended rallies and protests, and she found it ridiculous that we are expected to be apolitical.

She has also since then, admitted that she sometimes says things to customer on the phone, that are not totally kosher. She made this latest confession to us after voicing her concerns about her phone. She told our team that she keeps hearing clicks when she is talking to customers. She thinks her phone is tapped, and that the powers that be are spying on her. None of the rest of the team have experienced any clicks on their lines.

In a way, I find it amusing. The Hippie has constantly flagged herself as a square peg in the round hole that is the Public Service. Most of us may find this, but we manage to camouflage our squareness to appear to fit in the round hole. The Hippie just manages to keep shouting out "I'm square and I don't want to fit in the round hole!" I think she has brought this on herself.

On the other hand, though, it is slightly disturbing that a new employee of the Public Service feels that she is being spied upon for what comes naturally to her: expressing her opinion.

DPS

Some arguments just aren't worth winning

One of the most important life lessons I have ever learnt was the simple truth that some arguments are not worth winning. Sometimes it doesn't matter how right you think you are, you lose more by pushing for the win than it is worth.

I witnessed an example of this today. The Hippie (see previous post) was breaking for a cup of tea. She was waiting for an "important phone call", and asked the rest of our (small) team, if the phone rings could we answer it, and get her. We all said yeah, sure, no prob. Unfortunately, her phone rang when we were all on other calls (it had to happen). No-one else moved, so I put my call on hold and started walking around to her desk. The phone stopped ringing before I could get to it. I was slightly miffed that no-one else moved as I am the furthest away from the Hippie's desk, but I let it slide. It wasn't really a big deal.

The Hippie got back from her herbal tea break. When I was done with my call, I let her know that her phone had rung, but we hadn't managed to get to it. She was annoyed that she had asked us to get the phone, but we had not managed to do it. It transpired that the "important phone call" was not work related at all, but was from some lady that was in meetings all day and only had a narrow window to call. A short argument followed. Not a full on shouting argument, but one of those annoying little arguments that consist of little sniping comments fired across the partitions. It didn't last long, and seemed to be resolved pretty quickly. Or so I thought.

A couple of hours later, the Hippie brought it up again, and seemed to feel that she just had to get her point across. She felt she was in the right, and couldn't let it go. What this did, though, was create a lot of tension within the team. Something that was not a big deal to most of us, became a big deal, and became a source of tension for the rest of the team.

Was it that important for the Hippie to express her view? Was the resultant tension worth the assertion of her side of things? I think not.

Is an argument worth winning? Well, that comes down to the weights of the two possible outcomes: What is so wrong about losing this argument, and what is so right about winning it? If there is no great personal disadvantage to losing an argument, and winning it may get a friend mad at you, then it is definitely not worth winning.

So what if you feel you've been inconvenienced, at least you still have a friendly team to work with.
-or-
So what if your team dislikes you a little bit, at least you let them know how inconvenienced you were.

Which option is worth it?

DPS

Right/Wrong vs Good/Evil

It seems that every few hundred years or so, western society undergoes a cycle of religion in government. That is, we go through periods where the government of the day is also, essentially, the church of the day. We find ourselves in this situation right now.

Despite the US constitution stating that the Church and the State must be two separate entities, and the Bush administration paying lip service to this claim, the general public are constantly told that the war on terror is about the US's God given duty to extinguish the evil forces in the world today.

There is a reason that the Founding Fathers of the USA wanted Church and State kept separate. They had enough objective vision to know that as soon as religion entered into any political debate, rational thought went out the window. You just can not win an argument against someone who is taking a position based purely on their own Faith. In these types of confrontations, everyone thinks that they are on the side of "Good". This belief is not negotiable. You can not expect someone to give up their belief structure, no matter how well presented your argument is.

This is a very complex issue to discuss, and there are many facets to this whole situation, but right now I want to suggest an important definition of the Good/Evil terms of reference.

Despite the Bush administration's claim to not be waging a religious war, the fact that they use the terms Good and Evil suggests that they are. To me, "Good" and "Evil" are two terms that can not be taken out of a religious context. They are very different from "Right" and "Wrong", but at the same time, they can be closely related.

To me, "Good" and "Evil" imply a definition of the moral standing of a being (natural and supernatural) in relation to a belief structure that is determined by a framework of standards of behaviour defined by a question of Faith.

"Right" and "Wrong" imply a definition of the moral standing of a being in relation to a belief structure that is determined by a framework of standards of behaviour defined by the society in which the being is located and/or from.

Now these definitions are my own, which may explain why they seem a bit long winded. But I felt that I needed to explain my thoughts properly. In a nutshell: I think that Good/Evil are defined by a religious faith, and Right/Wrong are defined by society.

As I said, two separate things, but also can be closely related. In a society where the morals are dictated by the dominating religion, the Good/Evil vs Right/Wrong question could be irrelevant. Unfortunately, I see that western society is headed in this direction. We are becoming a culture where religious beliefs are dictating Government policy, and the majority of the unthinking population will believe what they are told to believe.

We should be able to tell the difference between issues of Right/Wrong and Good/Evil, but the line is becoming increasingly blurred.

I am a telephone GOD!

One week into it am I have mastered the requirements of my new job.

I am ready for the next challenge, but somehow I think I am going to end up wasting away in my current role for a few years first.

Why do I have such a ticket on myself?

Everyday, everyone in our team is given a "profile" to complete. This profile has a schedule of phone calls to make out to the members of the public who have previously contacted us. Essentially, we do follow up calls before finishing off the business for which people have contacted us.

Anyway, we have a certain amount of time allocated for each call. If you are quick, you can complete a call sooner than you allotted time and move on to the next one a bit early. With luck and persistence, you can get through the calls for the day with time to spare.

Out of our team of four, I am the only one who consistently gets through their calls early. Do I get time off for this? Do I get rewarded in any way? Do I even get the option of doing something different to give me some variety in my work life? No, Nope, and no way! What is my reward? I get to help the rest of my team to finish off their call lists. Two of my team regularly fall behind in their call lists. I, like a schmuck, keep dialing away like I have been all day. I am so good at it, that I do more of it than anyone else in my team. The only person I have seen who is faster than me, is a lady who has been working there for years, and who skips over half of the information required. Not very good service, if you ask me.

I know that I am sounding conceited, but I have worked many years in the customer service industry. I talk well to people on the phone (and face to face), and can help them get through some sometimes confusing information. I get regular feedback that is positive. I have never had a complaint against me (that I know of). It sounds big headed, but I can honestly say that I am damned good at customer service. BUT...I am getting off topic.

This situation does not encourage good performance. My reward for good performance is more work. YAY!!!!!!

I guess I should not be surprised, this is the public service after all!

DPS

Is it bullying or just good policing?

The world is getting in worse and worse shape. It all comes down to one country, that contains just 5% of the world's population. And it isn't even all of this country. It comes down to a small selection of people who want to manipulate the rest of the world to suit their own wants. Who these people are, I don't know. But the effects of their workings are clearly evident in today's world.

Obviously, the country I speak of is the USA. And it is equally obvious that the things that the US have been doing, are not the workings of Bush. I get the very strong impression that he is merely a puppet in the hands of those working behind him.

There are many conspiracy theories around about who is really running the USA. These range from The illuminate, to the "Freemasons are running the country" line from the Simpsons. For me, I have absolutely no idea who it is, but I think it is fair to say that oil interests are involved. But maybe it is bigger than that.

The US is self delusional. I am not from the US, but I have spent time in the school system there. I can remember that one of the strongest elements of US History, was the ingrained belief that the US saw itself as the "global policeman". There was no mention of how the US came into this supposed position of power, nor under what authority it held this office. It was always just held as a axiom, and today we can see the US using tactics used by many local police forces.

One of the strongest weapons the Police use is intimidation. It is not always blatant. The simple fact that a policeman, or woman, wears a uniform and, often, a gun, makes them intimidating. Add to this the attitude of: "If you don't do what I say, you could go to jail" that is often implied in policepeople's interaction with the public. Lets face it, even fully law abiding citizens will often get nervous when dealing with the police, simply because of the intimidation involved.

Now, lets look at how the US operates. You would have to be blind to fail to notice that the US uses intimidation to get what it wants. Under the falsehood of delivering democracy to Iraq, the US has successfully destroyed a country that had no possibility of withstanding the US's "Shock and Awe" tactics.

(Side note: I read "Shock and Awe" as spin on what is really an attempt to terrorise a population. By terrorising the people of a country, the US is carrying out terrorism, of which (coincidentally) the US is the only country ever to be foud guilty of in international courts.)

I think that the only reason that the US went into Iraq is because they knew Iraq could not defend itself. Did anybody notice that the US left North Korea (as part of the Axis of evil) alone? The US knew that N.Korea could defend itself. I also realise that oil played a big part in it, but as far as the US is concerned, Iraq was ripe for the picking.

So, now with one destroyed country under it's belt in recent times (2 counting Afghanistan), the US feels it can intimidate it's way where ever it wants. There is no one to really stand up to them.

During the Cold War, tensions were high, but there were very few actual breakouts of war, or war like activity. Nearly everyone was either on the US's side, or the USSR's side. Neither side was willing to take the final step to full confrontation because everyone knew that if they did, then everyone would kill everyone else. With the demise of the USSR, there is no longer a significant power opposition to the USA.

(another side note: I was thrilled to see Russian president Putin take a jab at Bush in a recent press conference. Putin was sharing the stage with Bush, and Bush was making some comment regarding the Israel/Lebanon/Palestine situation, and how democracy needs to be brought into the region. Putin remarked that we did not want to see the sort of democracy that exists in Iraq. Bush did not look impressed.)

Those countries that are aligned to the USA, feel emboldened to do what they like. Particularly Israel. I won't go into that whole mess right now, but I bet you that Israel would not be as bold as it is being right now, if it did not have full USA backing. It is no secret that the US has basically funded Israel's entire military force.

With the USA behind them, they know that they will be given a lot of leeway. Other countries may speak out in protest, but I would be surprised if any further action was taken, with the intimidating shadow of the US as Israel's body guard lurking in the background.

Take a look at how the US operates in the world, and look at how your local police force operates. Then compare a schoolyard bully, or even workplace bully, and see how they compare to the USA's tactics. Make up your own mind. My discussion of this issue may not be totally coherent (I am trying to write this while dealing with the kids), but I think it makes some sense. This is purely my opinion, and I'm welcome to it!

Manning the phones is just SOOOOO much fun!

My final week of training is over, and we finished the week being let loose on to an unsuspecting public. We ran free without tethers! (except for the supervisor hovering in the background, ready to leap to our rescue, should we ever need it). The day went quite smoothly, especially considering some of the difficult situations we had come across during our "buddy" shifts.

Things like, distressed women who's husbands had just walked out on them, breaking down
and needing support. This is all part of what we do, but to be honest, I was glad I was not the one talking to her at the time. The CSR who was "buddying" me was dealing with the call, and thank God for that. I will take this moment to explain myself, before I get anyone upset.

I have a lot of customer service skills, and I think I am fairly compassionate. If someone is in distress, I like to think that I would be inclined, and able, to help out. To be able to do this, though, I need to be confident in my surroundings. I need to know what resources are available to me, and what avenues of action I can take without being told that I am going too far (lets face it, many organisations that are in a customer service industry don't really want their CSRs helping people). When you are new to an organisation, it can be very difficult for you to figure out where the boundaries lie. Now, as it turns out, my current employer has facilities and strategies in place to deal with this type of situation, and my "buddy" effectively showed me how it works. I am just glad that I was not on the call, simply because I did not know what was the right thing to do. I knew what the right thing was from a personal viewpoint, but not from the viewpoint of my new employer. Now, though, I do (and I will say that from a government department's point of view, the response it suprisingly good).

Another side point about the "buddy" sessions is that just about every single person in my office has their own way of doing things. I would think that people who work for a government department that is regulated by a swag of legislation would be required to do things all pretty much the same way. BZZZZT! WRONG! So many corners are cut, and all of them are different corners cut by different people. I find it unbelievable. Maybe after I have been here for years, I will be of the same persuasion, but right now, I don't see how some of the CSRs can be sure that they are offering the best service to fit with the customer's needs, if they don't get all the information that they can (and are officially required to gather). So you get shown one way to do it one day, and another, very different way the next. If their intention is to make you decide on your own, completely different way of doing things, then they have succeeded. I have decided to follow my own instincts, and follow procedures as they are meant to be followed. I know it may sound boring and unimaginative, but I have worked in too many situations where things can get very pear-shapped, very quickly if you don't get all the correct information when you can.

Anyway, towards the end of our solo flight day, the Hippie (mentioned in previous post) looked over the cubicle partition at me and asked how I was going, to which I replied: "To be honest, I'm over it already." She replied back with: "I know what you mean." We both found that we pretty much felt we had mastered the phone calls, and we wanted to be out dealing with customers face to face. Well, I guess we can dream. I know that we have at least a couple of weeks on the phones, and we have been told that our department does not reward initiative. So I guess we won't be able to show off our great customer service skills for some time.

Oh well....welcome to the Public Service.

DPS

I want to ride my bicycle

I am a tragic.

After the thrill of the World Cup on SBS (damn you Italy), I find that I am still craving the thrill of watching sporting competition at the highest level.

Having been a regular viewer of late night SBS, I find myself watching, and actually enjoying, le Tour De France. My wife and I have found ourselves engrosed in the race. We have no idea of who is who, and who is winning what. We have enough knowledge to know that there is more than one "race" happening at the one time, but we do not know who we should be rooting for. How tragic is that?

What I have especially enjoyed is the downloadable route maps for each stage for Google Earth. (I love Google Earth - one of the best time wasters I have ever come across) I love flying over the 3d rendered view of the climb through the alps. SPECTACULAR!

It really gives you an appreciation of the monumental effort made by these riders. It also allows us to locate the spectacular scenery shown on the broadcast, and see exactly where it is. That way we can bookmark the locations for when we get there ourselves.

On a side note, some of the bloody spectators are idoits. The road gets so crowded, that people are sometimes standing in the way of the cyclists. I have seen a couple of f*ckwits running along beside the riders, and falling over, nearly collecting a bike or two with them. This photo is from last year's tour (2005), and belongs to www.cyclingnews.com, but it perfectly illustrates the point - stupid spectator causing trouble.



At this point, I would also like to assert that I have received no financial incentives from either Google, nor le Tour de France, although I would be open to any offers.

I'm not ready for this!

So, I have finished two weeks of passive information absorption. My brain is absolute mush. I have just spent two weeks having information squeezed into my brain, only to have 90% of it spill out and collect in a squishy little puddle on the floor.

The scary things for me are:

1) the training was initially meant to be 5 weeks - now condensed to 2.

2) the masses of information that I have been given over the last two weeks is just a teeny tiny fraction of the knowledge that I really need to do my job properly.

My issues are: how can 5 weeks of training be effectively compacted into 2? And, I feel extremely under equipped to do my job! (and I know that the rest of my new team feel the same way).

So, the end result is that I am about to be thrust out into the public in the service of "the government of the day" feeling totally unprepared. I know that I am going to be guided and buddied through the teething process for a couple of months, but somehow I am still feeling less ready for this new experience than for anything else I have ever started before in my life.

Oh, except for the very first time I walked into kindergarten.

DPS

I'll save you...(*BANG*)

This is wrong. Very, very wrong. My son received a present today. A playset of vehicles and little action men. This is one of the vehicles included:

Ok...all is well and good. It is a tank. Interesting colour choice, but nothing really wrong with that. Hang on, what's that stuck on the side of the turret?


That's right. It is a "Fire Rescue" tank!

I guess it really should have been obvious from the row of fire extinguishers on the back of the turret.

I can imagine the scenario:

"Captain! There are people stuck on the 4th floor. The flames are climbing quickly, I don't know if we will be able to get to them in time."

"Right, men. Bring in the tank, we are going to have to shoot them down. It's the only way we can save them!"

This is a strange world we live in.

DSP

Bullying, anyone?

Blueberry Fool's comments had me thinking.

It is strange when you find out where people are at in their adult lives, and what their attitudes are to others. I have often found that people I thought were cool, or had their shit together in high school are now in dead end jobs, or have no idea where they are going in life.

Those kids who were bullies will often end up in the lower economic bracket.

(of course, I know that these are very broad generalisations, and I am not going to go into the whole social scientific reasoning behind them.)

You also often find that those who were in the outer (socially) or bullied, have developed the drive to get on with their lives.

Unfortunately, I am now finding that many of my high school acquaintances thought that I was "nice" and had my shit together. Hmmm...what does that mean for me?

Am I going to end up going nowhere? Have I found my own dead end job? I can honestly say that I have not ever really suffered the humiliation of being bullied at High School. I was never the centre of attention for any tough students who made life miserable for some of the other school kids.

I find myself at a stage in my life where I am nowhere near as successful as I think I should be. Should I be further ahead that I currently am? Should I blame my lack of success on the fact that I was never bullied? I never had the resentment belted into me. I never had that resentment to grab hold of in adult life, and turn it into a drive to win. Should I sue the school system for lack of character building experiences? Or should I just accept responsibility for myself and get on with life?

Somehow, I think the latter is the correct response. As with many other things in life, we have to look out for ourselves, but it doesn't hurt to help others along the way.

DPS

School Holiday fun

My kids are currently enjoying school holidays. They are attending a vacation club type thing. My wife was emailing a friend about it...I will let her own words explain it:


We've been a little suckered this week - we booked the kids into a pirate themed vacation care activity thingy for this week and when they came home today we realised that it's actually a religious group passing off their beliefs under the pirate guise. Yes, a bit scary, they even went on a tour of the church.

Try this for size - my son brought home this sheet today - the title on the page reads 'Pirate page' followed by "Paul was in prison in Rome. He wrote to his friends in a city called Philippi who also loved Jesus. Can you spot eight differences between these two pictures of Paul writing to his friends?" Followed by two pictures of 'Paul' writing. Then it gets even better "This is what Paul wrote: Every time I think of you, I thank my God (Phillippians 1:3). Draw a picture of your friends in the picture frame below. Say thank you to God for your friends"

Did you spot any pirates? Maybe it's just me, but I don't see how any of this relates to pirates - other than the title... unless Jesus was a pirate - there were the dead sea scrolls after all. Perhaps the next Disney movie will be Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Sea Scrolls



'nuff said

DPS

Pictures for profile

Its addictive?

O.K.

Just a quick one.

I have spent the week learning about my new team. It is an interesting team. The vast majority of the group is 40+ women. This is not what makes it interesting. The member of the team that does make it interesting is the 30 something ex hippie woman. I say ex, but although she tries to hide it behind a veneer of office worker facade, her hippie tendencies still shine through.

We were discussing possible substances that people can get addicted to, and/or abuse. This list started with alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs, and when Marijuana was mentioned, the hippie'’s reaction was a surprised "Really?"”

Now come on! Lets just announce to the entire office that you are a pot head!

She will be one to watch for interesting developments in the future. Lets see what happens.

DPS

In The Beginning

Well...So it begins. My foray into the dark and troubled world of the Public Service.
Does it matter? Probably not.
Am I important enough to matter? Definitely not.
Will anybody care? Who knows.

I have only been here for less than 1 week, and already my role in the government machine has caused some heated debate between my better half and myself.

Yes, I think the government sucks. Yes, I know my training is probably an attempt to brainwash me to toe the government line. Yes, I am promoting a change in my belief structure, but I need to be able to feel confident in my job to carry it out in an effective manner, and...well...to do my job properly, which is what I am being paid to do.

Am I saying good bye to my personal beliefs, simply for a steady salary? Which is more important, holding true to my beliefs, or earning a decent enough income to pay the bills? Are the two mutually exclusive? Will I be able to uphold policy decisions that I may totally disagree with?

This prospect makes me feel very "dark", and these are the questions that will be explored in this blog, and other tangents that I feel necessary to explore at the time.

Lets tarry on into the wonderful world of the Dark Public Servant.