Barmen, not barmaids

Now, you know it’s not like me to be sexist. OK, so maybe occasionally, but this time it’s a valid point.

This weekend I went out in the Hollyoaks wannabe infested town of Chester. It was all very nice, filled with make-up clad women looking for footballers perhaps, but pleasant nonetheless.

However, after entering what seemed like the tenth bar (the actual number may have been far higher in truth) we found ourselves stood at the bar waiting to be served. It’s not like there was a queue, although there were others waiting, it’s just that no one was being served at all.

There were four barstaff, all women… yet they were all ignoring the customers. Why? What minor disaster had caused these women to completely forget the jobs they’d been paid for? Had someone found a copy of Heat magazine? Had George Clooney just wandered in?

No, these women were all cleaning. Two of them were sweeping up a glass that one of them had just dropped, and the other two were wiping the bar… thoroughly.

I’m all for a clean bar, I’m fine with women cleaning if it makes them happy, but when I, and several others, are stood at the bar and there are FOUR barstaff NOT serving; I draw the line.

That would not have happened had they been male.

So, barmen not barmaids!

Christians threaten Google with legal action

This is why I hate religion, it’s the cause of all arguments. Christians in particular make me sick, they’re always trying to ram their own beliefs down the the throats of everyone else. This time the pompous bastards are trying to force Google to spread their own brand of stupidity via Adwords, but Google quite rightly has said no.

Google has rules on advertising on Adwords that states that you cannot advertise a website that is irrelevant to the chosen keywords. The Christians want to advertise their own Christian institute website on keywords for abortion, so that they can spread their views on abortion.

It’s WRONG! say the Christians. Google has said they can’t do that because their website, a religious website, has nothing to do with abortion. In the true tradition of Christians being meddling, interfering tossers they’ve threatened to take Google to court over it.

Er, Google can do what it likes. It’s Google’s own website, if they don’t want you opinionated, self righteous morons spreading your waffle on irrelevant searches, then they can do that.

The evil Christians have even roped in bible bashing MP Anne Widdecombe.

It does seem to me to be the most appalling and blatant case of religious discrimination.

Religious discrimination? Stupid woman.

You can read the full story on the GetUpdated website.

Fairwater leisure centre, Cwmbran, rip me off

In the Summer of 2006 I started going to gym again. Guess I felt a little out of shape and wanted to do something about it, it happens to us all. My nearest gym was in Fairwater Leisure Centre, Cwmbran. It wasn’t much of a gym, but was cheap and had enough equipment for me to use for the first few months.

However, in September they phoned me on day to say they’d closed the gym for refurbishments, and it would remain closed for about 4 weeks. Now, being a council run gym I knew that ‘4 weeks’ meant at least 6 weeks.

Also, I had just renewed my monthly subscription with them, but they said I’d get a month added to my subscription once they re-opened.

Obviously this wasn’t good enough as I was in a training routine and couldn’t just stop for 6 weeks (or 4 as they claimed) so I joined the gym at Cwmbran Stadium. It cost a bit more, was further away but was a much better gym.

Then, on November 1st, Fairwater Leisure Centre phoned me to say they’d re-opened and I could use the gym again… some 6 weeks later 😉

I explained I’d now joined Cwmbran Stadium and didn’t need their subscription, so could they just reimburse me for the amount I’d spent when the gym was shut, without warning. The woman said she’d speak to the manager and he’d phone me back.

Guess what?

That’s right, nothing. I emailed several times throughout the next few months, with false promises of someone dealing with it.

In December I injured my back in Cwmbran Stadium and had to cancel my subscription, then I moved away from the area entirely in March. This was when I contacted Fairwater Leisure Centre again, only to be told by the manager that I somehow owed money to Cwmbran Stadium so he wasn’t going to reimburse me.

I explained that I didn’t owe them anything, and he should check his facts. He said he would and then call me back.

That was March 2007… 2007!

It is now April 2008… and I phoned them back, only this time, I recorded it. Tomorrow I’ll post up the phonecall and a summary of events since last week.

20 months to get back less than £20? Could only happen to me!

Climb every mountain

I received a text message on Friday from my flatmate containing the following picture of a lone figure up a mountain. It was accompanied by the message that he’d just climbed some peak in some bad weather.

The thing is, he was meant to be in work Friday… so I assumed he was joking. He wasn’t. When I got home that night I found him knackered claiming he’d learned three very important lessons.

Paulie up a Mountain

  1. Don’t take paper maps with you
  2. Wear waterproof trousers
  3. Get some proper hiking shoes

He said the weather turned very sharply, causing his maps to get soaked. Lucky he had his compass with him. Wasn’t he supposed to be working?

Well yes, but when he woke up Friday morning he thought ‘sod this, I’m going up a mountain’.

Paulie up a Mountain

He does keep saying he wants me to go up there too… hmm, tempting as that sounds, I think not. I’m all for Jeremy Clarkson’s idea of mountaineering when he ‘climbed’ a Scottish mountain in a Landrover, but as for actually getting out of the car and walking… no thanks.

While this scenery may be very nice, I can still enjoy it in photographs, and unless I can turn round and see a well stocked bar in front of me, it can stay where it is.

Paulie up a Mountain

Facebook launches ‘People you may know’ feature

Facebook has just launched a new feature called ‘People you may know’, which crawls through your friends list and finds people who share more than one friend with you. I’ve already found several friends I didn’t have on my contacts through using this tool.

Facebook

The best thing about this feature is that it shows you people you may know, together with a list of your mutual friends. This has led to some ‘small world’ moments for me already as I’ve noticed a few people who know several friends of mine, who I know from completely unrelated parts of my life.

Facebook

For example, a girl I went to University with is friends with several people I worked in Cardiff with… how? Then some girl in Bristol is friends with my flatmate, and someone I work with now… and they’ve never met each other? Plus they’re all from different parts of the UK!

This is really starting to open up some networking questions and could be one of Facebook’s best features to date.

Carphone Warehouse Complaints

In the latest in a series of complaints that pre-date this blog, today I’d like to reminisce about Carphone Warehouse, and my efforts to return a phone to them.

Back in 2004 I bought two Sony Erikkson T610 phones from Carphone Warehouse, one for me and for the wife. We both had contracts already so I just bought the handsets, over £100 each.

A couple of days later I noticed that actually my wife was able to get a free upgrade with her contract, D’oh! So she returned the phone to Carphone Warehouse in Newport, South Wales.

This is where things started to go wrong. Carphone Warehouse told her that she couldn’t have a refund. This was somewhat confusing, as they had posters everywhere advertising their 14 day money back guarantee.

When she phoned me in work I was understandably outraged. I phoned the store immediately and was told by the rather rude and confrontational person on the other end that Carphone Warehouse did offer a money back guarantee, but it did not apply to phones…

Excuse me?

They have a money back guarantee at CARPHONE warehouse, and it does NOT apply to PHONES!!!

What the fuck does it apply to then????

Naturally I escalated the issue and contacted their head office, where I was told that actually YES, the money back guarantee does apply to phones. The manager of the store was instructed to call me and offer a full refund.

It meant my wife had to drag my two kids back down to the shop again to get the refund though.

Anyone else dealt with Carphone Warehouse?