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Home / New Zealand

<i>Sideswipe:</i> The inconvenience store

Ana Samways
By Ana Samways
Sideswipe - ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz·NZ Herald·
23 Jun, 2009 04:00 PM3 mins to read

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Oh, for some privacy. (source: failblog.org)

Oh, for some privacy. (source: failblog.org)

Ana Samways
Opinion by Ana SamwaysLearn more

Blair writes: "On a recent trip to London, I went to a 24-hour supermarket - only to find that it was closed. This photo was a sign by the door." But look closer ... it is open 24 hours Monday to Friday, but not Saturday and Sunday. Ooops.

* *
*

A reader was walking into the supermarket behind a group of four young blokes: "Bloke #1 says "Okay what do we need?" Bloke #2 replies, "Everything, bro." They walk straight past the fruit, veges and milk section and when I met the same four at the checkout, in their trolley was beer, pizza, bread, biscuits and Coke ... The new 5+ a day?

* * *

Marketing failure No. 3: Has anyone else noticed that, in the latest "We are doing our bit for the environment" Westpac TV advert, in which the featured man is forced to retrieve his discarded rubbish from the ocean by the collective disapproval of a number of onlookers, one man spits on the beach to show his disgust?

The spotter writes, "In this time of masks and hand sanitisers, a bit of sensitivity to the well documented fact that spitting carries a major risk of spreading disease would not have gone astray; and to show someone doing this on a public area used by children might be construed as counterproductive to the advert's message?"

* * *

Selina believes there is a serious lack of common sense in the Dell Customer Services department: "Seven screws came loose and fell out of the bottom of my laptop, and I called Dell (spending more than three hours on the phone in total and countless hours on hold/writing complaint emails). They asked me to show them which screws fell out because they are all different sizes, so I took a picture and drew arrows pointing to the location of each missing screw and emailed it to them. They sent me seven screws - in the wrong size. I called again. They spent 30 minutes trying to figure out which screws were missing and finally figured out that the reason the wrong screws were sent to me was because the correct screws were out of stock. I sent another email complaining about this, and received a call back from them saying they'd send me seven of every size of screws (all the while misleading me to think that they actually had the correct screws in stock). I received the boxes of four different types of screws promptly. And of course, none of them fit. I'll be buying Mac from now on ..."

* * *

View today's Herald cartoon

* * *

Today's Webpick: Watch as a landlord inspects his now vacant apartment... Let’s just say they are unlikely to get their bond back. Watch it here.

These are the very best online videos from Ana's online magazine Spare Room.

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