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Josephine's Cheese: Terrible packaging

Josephine's Traditional Goats Cheese in Ash

Josephine's Cheese, given your site has no contact information, and doesn't even display the product I bought, I'll have to howl into the aether and assume you'll find it when I SEO your arse (given Google doesn't even see your image-only site, that won't be hard).

So I bought your "Traditional Goat's Cheese in Ash" last week. It was delicious. Unfortunately your packaging is abysmal. After very carefully peeling off the label, you're presented with this tube of squished cheese. If you take care from this point, and happen to have scissors or a sharp knife handy, you can just about get a single blob of cheese out ready to serve. More likely you'll end up with more like a tube of cheese toothpaste squirted out onto your serving location.

Great cheese. I won't buy it again in this packaging. Buy your competitors' products and learn.

21 Feb 2010 23:17 [category: /grumble] #

Getting rid of my landline

I'm getting rid of my landline. And no, not just to avoid the Telstra tax, but because the people who call land lines have no social graces. The only people who call landlines are old people and telemarketers.

Telemarketers are scum and I don't want to talk with them, especially since our number is on the Do Not Call list and they're willing to ignore that (yes I know you're a charity, but that doesn't give you an excuse for rudeness).

Old people have no understanding of the social graces modern technology allows. They think the primary advantage of a mobile phone is that the caller can contact the callee anywhere, anytime. The real advantage of mobiles is the ability to switch it off and divert to voicemail, to deal with later. My Mum answers the phone during dinner, during her favourite (untimeshifted) TV shows, any time it rings. Hell, she's polite to telemarketing scum.

Old people don't get this. Yesterday I had one trying to call me while I'm at work. I rejected the call and diverted to voicemail. He hangs up without calling leaving a message. He calls the home phone, where Holly and Louis get woken up, massively improving everyone's mood. It goes to the answering machine. The caller doesn't leave a message. And redials the home phone. Then calls my mobile again.

Now granted, in a genuine emergency this might be reasonable, but if I pick up the phone in these circumstances and there's no emergency, don't get all offended when I tell you to stop being so rude and hang up.

But the oldies don't get it. They're PAYING to talk to you, so you should answer. They come from a time before texts, voicemail, answering machines. Hell my Mum's first home phone was a "party line" shared with half the street so they didn't even have privacy.

So I'm gonna reduce the options. I've had no luck getting the message through that serial dialling isn't on, so I'm dropping the home phone. I'll use voip for cheaper outbound calls. And no, if you're over 50 you don't get to have my work landline number either.

07 Jan 2010 00:43 [category: /grumble] #

What is it with recruiters?

Why are all IT recruiters:

I don't get it. My theory on the last two is that they're mostly not very good at computers, hence their career choice of leeching off those who are. Why their all poms, not a clue.

There are some honourable exceptions to this, but they're thin on the ground.

Anyway, I'm after work. Interesting web stuff. Copy writing. Integration. Production. Freelance, contract, permanent.

24 Aug 2009 01:38 [category: /grumble] #

Crotchety old buggers

Now I thought I'd become suitably curmudgeonly with age, what with still using a text-mode email client and grumbling about HTML posts. But it's always good to know there's someone better at something than you. Gives you something to strive for.

Enter Tom Ellard's Soggy The Sailor rant. I bow before the master.

03 Apr 2009 03:25 [category: /grumble] #

Do Not Call means just that

We've received two telemarketing calls from the Police Citizens Youth Club soliciting donations in the last week. Being a charity, they're legally excluded from complying with the government's Do Not Call Register. So they can't be fined for ignoring my stated preference of not being called by telemarketers, but they need to understand that they're giving their organization a bad name by ignoring the list.

Yesterday I used the online form on their site to complain about their telemarketing activities, and to point out that I will now never donate money to the organization. Very quickly I got a response from a Reg Woodleigh:

Thank you for your request.

Unfortunately we do are not able to access this register, and if we were, then we would be happy to honor these requests as it is not in our interests in community support to ring people who prefer not to be called.

For this reason, we maintain a 'House' register. If you can provide a telephone number, we are able to add you to this, and ensure no further calls are made to that number.

I got this initial response really quickly afterwards, but my request for clarification of why they can't access the register (using the signup form on the government's web site, perhaps?) but I haven't received an answer. I can only assume this guy was lying, and the organization is happy to stomp all over the preferences of the people they call.

Rather shortsighted, don't you think? And you expect me to go to every charity in the country and register that I don't want to be called?

15 Jan 2009 03:23 [category: /grumble] #

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