The beautiful Shanina Shaik.
A poem I wrote.
Thought via Path
I had a terrible day which involved apology, regret & a Scottish Terrier with an insatiable sexual appetite.
– Read on Path.
Devon’s Roof.
The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea.
Isak Dinesen (1885-1962)
The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.
George Orwell
Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come.
Matt Groening
My new iPhone app.
How I forgave the man who failed to pay when he won my eBay charity auction.
I didn’t. The Knob.
One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways.
Bertrand Russell
Wrestling
The following hypothetical conversation summarises my experiences when dealing with local independent businesses.
“Ah, big supermarket’s are destroying my business, how can I compete with online retailers, things are so tough for me”
“Hello, can I try this shoe on in a size 9 please”
“Go fuck yourself you ignorant piece of shit, get out of my shop”
Last year I had an shopping ‘experience’ with a local skate/snow store. I spent a lot of money and suggested I’d appreciate a bit of discount. The owner responded “no, we can’t do it”.
It pissed me off.
So much so I’m writing about it, like the sad knob head I am, over a year later. I’d chosen his shop over online-stores because I like supporting independent businesses and the local economy yet when I asked for a gesture of good-will he wasn’t willing to budge. If he’d said “look I can’t afford to knock any money off but how about I throw in some stickers” or “how about I give you 5% off your next purchase” that would’ve done the trick. As it was I never went back. What was the point? It was more expensive, the service was terrible and there was no reward for loyalty. The shop closed down last year.
So today I had another experience. There’s a cool local record shop. They stock some amazing stuff, but the prices are mental, literally 100-150% more than you’d pay on play.com, HMV or Amazon. But I want to buy stuff from the shop, I want it to survive, so I send them an email telling them I want to shop there but they’re just too pricey. I get a response from the owner which explains why they’re so expensive and that I should stop telling her how to do her job.
I clearly struck a nerve, she was obviously passionate about her business but what happened to “the customer is always right”, why didn’t she recognise me as a potential customer and explain why it’s nice to pay a bit more instead of being abrupt and unfriendly.
My point is this; don’t ever wrestle a man with sideburns. No that’s not right, my point is, only the strongest will survive. While some are moaning about supermarkets, overheads and the internet, others are looking at new angles, being nice to their customers, creating loyalty schemes, blogging, tweeting, facebooking and engaging with their target market. They’ve realised they can’t compete with online prices but they’re making a visit to their shop a worthwhile experience.
Q:where do you live?
Cornwall in the South West of England. How about you?
You can have your own opinions, but you can’t have your own facts.
Ricky Gervais
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