Category: Personal

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Stopping the junk mail flood 4

Since my last post on this subject two months ago I’ve seen a substantial drop in advertising material in my letterbox. While I haven’t complained to the perpetrators who continued to ignore the “no advertising material” sign, let’s list them for posterity.

The new guilty parties are: 3 Mangoes Thai; Arthur, a builder; Australia Wide Tax Solutions; Bus Stop Espresso; Caldo Pizza; Domino’s Pizza (yet again, twice); Chadwick Plumbing; Civic Video; Essence of India restaurant; Green Ecovations: Hot’n’Spicy Thai; James Wilson Pest Management; Just Screw It (carpenters!); L J Hooker (the real estate agent, again); Lat-Dior African Eatery; Moon Koon Chinese Restaurant; Notes Live Music Restaurant and Bar; Patrick Coughlan, electrician; Pavarotti Gourmet Pizza; Ray White Real Estate; S & W Building Services; San Remo Pizza; Smiles (a dental clinic); Stanmore Natural Health; Steve’s Budget Gutter Cleaning; Thingk Baby [sic]; Urbane Inner West (another real estate agent); Yoga To Go.

I still want to know why real estate agents figure so prominently. And I still want to know why Domino’s customer service people never reply to their emails.

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Stopping the junk mail flood 3

There’s been far less junk mail lately. Complaining to the major distributors, as described in my previous update and its comments, works. However there are still some serial offenders.

First, though, a pat on the head to Broadway Shopping Centre, Franklin’s and Mountain Designs who, as reported in the comments, responded quickly.

A slap on the wrist to De Sousa Real Estate; Domino’s Pizza (again! three times now!); Marrickville First National Real Estate; Prestige Cleaning Specialists; Raine & Horne Marrickville (a real estate agent again! twice!); and Ray White Newtown (yes, another real estate agent!), none of whom even acknowledged my email. Pathetic.

Since my last update, the new batch of rude pricks includes Banana Joe’s FoodWorks Marrickville; Camperdown Fitness; Domino’s Pizza (again); L J Hooker (a real estate agent); Lat-Dior African Eatery; Magic Tree Service; McGrath (a real estate agent, of course); Pinpoint Plumbing Services; Ray White Surry Hills & Alexandria (yes, another real estate agent); St Brendan’s Church, Annandale (OK, I suppose religious organisations are exempt); Sydney Antenna Specialists; and a builder-repairer called Michael.

I won’t contact these businesses his time, as some of the problems date back more than two months, and, quite frankly, I couldn’t be bothered. But I will get back into a routine of a roughly monthly post — for my own reference if nothing else.

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Am I John Birmingham’s inappropriate Muse?

Photograph of John BirminghamI seem to have some really odd Special Powers. I can walk into a strange pub, buy the last few tickets for the meat raffle, and win — much to the chagrin of the regulars. I can also create inappropriate mental images which then persist.

Like “masturbating to tentacle pr0n”.

Yesterday, I made an offhand comment on Twitter to writer John Birmingham (pictured), who had the misfortune of having to watch the Hey Hey It’s Saturday reunion special last night.

This morning, his column Hey, it wasn’t that bad, quotes me by name.

It is, as I say, a Special Power.

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Like a lizard!

Gosh, I haven’t posted much detailed work here lately, eh? That’s because I’ve been flat out on many things, including more writing for Crikey than usual. I’ll try to catch up tonight with an overview of the Telstra break-up stories from the last few days.

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Stopping the junk mail flood 2

It’s a month since I complained about advertising being inserted to my “no advertising material” mailbox. How that’s gone?

The good news is that immediately following PMP Distribution chastising their walker there was a significant drop in unaddressed advertising material, perhaps to only half what there was before. Good. But there’s still plenty of “bad corporate citizens” who I’ll now name, and a few businesses who failed to respond.

First, kudos to David Jones and their distributors PMP Distribution, and also to MiniMovers and Marrickville Metro (AMP Capital Shopping Centres), who responded promptly and dealt with the problem. Well done.

A slap on the wrist to Domino’s Pizza; Go Green Insulation; Kmart; and Raine & Horne Marrickville, all of whom didn’t even acknowledge my email enquiry. Pathetic.

An especially big slap to Kmart, since your website contact form sent me an email which said:

We value your feedback, and wish to advise that the matter you have raised has been referred to one of our Customer Relations Representatives who will be in contact with you in the near future.

I didn’t bother chasing Cavellis Woodfire Pizzeria, Cut & Save Tree Service, or Papaya Thai Eatery since they didn’t list email addresses.

Now, the new bad apples…

This month’s rude pricks are: Broadway Shopping Centre; De Sousa Real Estate (who also camouflaged their advertising to look like a hand-written note); Domino’s Pizza (again! twice!); Franklins & Family Supermarkets; Marrickville First National Real Estate; Mountain Designs; Prestige Cleaning Specialists; Raine & Horne Marrickville (again!); Ray White Newtown (another real estate agent!).

I’ll be in touch with all of these businesses to give them a chance to respond. And, since real estate agents feature so prominently in this list, I’ll be asking the REIA whether they consider this to be acceptable behaviour.

We also got a message from beyondblue, but since that’s not advertising but a public health message about depression I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Keep up the good work.

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Script Challenge revisited

Image of Script Challenge text: click for full story

After two years of sitting online unchallenged, my Script Challenge is finally being tackled by a couple of people.

Can you figure out what’s said by this unknown piece of writing?

It’s a quote from a novel by Ursula LeGuin.

Bob Bain and Jason Langenauer started having a go across the weekend, and a high school English teacher said he might show it to his class. So, no more clues for now — except to say that people are missing one very important point about alphabets.

[I’ll close off comments on this post so that all the discussion stays with the original article.]