Life’s too short to deal with cable companies
Once upon a time, I used to work in the murky world of cable and satellite television. How the channels I worked for ever got to air I’m not sure, given that they were almost entirely populated by 25 year olds in their first jobs and with a near-universal penchant for binge drinking. And that [...]
Customer service hell (or America, as it’s also known)
Customer satisfaction isn’t exactly a particular focus for New Yorkers. In fact, on the list of 500 Things Every Business Must Do To Be Successful in NYC, “making sure that the customer is happy” appears just below “don’t leave dead rats in your reception area.” It sometimes feels that if you walk into a shop [...]
Over the Hil
Incredibly, after more than 500 days of campaigning, it looks like the race is over and Barack Obama is the chosen one for the Democratic party. Personally I think it’s a shame to see either one lose, given that the electorate has paid much more attention to this clash of the titans than they probably [...]
School papers
I’ve blogged before about the impossibility of doing anything in this country without some form of ID, and rarely a day goes by without me thinking that I should muster the will to go get a driving license. Not so that I can drive, you understand, but just so that I can spend more than [...]
A very British sense of humo(u)r
Crime isn’t funny, I know. But a New York Police Department sign which I saw in a yellow cab on my way home this evening made me laugh out loud. The sign read:
“Reward up to $500.00 for the arrest and conviction of anyone who commits GRAFFITI VANDALISM”
And scrawled underneath that in neat ballpoint penned handwriting?
“Bite [...]
X marks the spot
Today much of the US has gone to the polls to decide which of the candidates will represent the Democrats and the Republicans in the upcoming election. With more than twenty states holding their primaries today, it’s one of the most important days on the road to the 2008 presidential vote.
As a student of political [...]
Taxing times
With January 31st rapidly approaching, it’s probably about time that I completed my UK tax return if I’m to avoid a £100 fine. Thankfully I only have to do the short one, although no doubt that will change next year when I attempt to claim back a heapload of overpaid British tax.
After more than ten [...]
The winning number
When I was a mere young pup (well, about 12 at least), an official looking envelope arrived for me through the postmail one morning. Given that the only things that ever arrived with my name on them were birthday cards containing book tokens, I opened the letter with equal measures of excitement and fear. Had [...]
