Sideswipe: Hardly pooling the resources

A reader is feeling a bit sorry for the people in the flash Sentinel apartments on Takapuna Beach. "They paid a fortune for their apartments and big dollars for the body corporate fees but alas their pool looks a bit underwhelming."

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A family cat survived by a whisker after bedding down in a washing machine for the night in Germany. The pet, called Zoro, climbed into the machine before the family's boys, aged 3 and 4, started the 90C wash cycle which uses near-boiling water to tackle stubborn stains. Alerted by noises emanating from the machine, the mother discovered the cat, thoroughly cleaned but thankfully alive as the water had only reached 30C.

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A thirsty reader writes: "After deciding I'd had enough to drink on Saturday night, I asked the bartender at Spy Bar (Auckland viaduct) if I could have a glass of water. The bartender refused to give me a glass of tap water and instead told me I would need to buy a tiny bottle of water for the insane price of $5. I have never run into this situation before and find it hard to believe that a bar can refuse to give someone a free glass of water, especially when water is so readily available in NZ. And what about encouraging responsible drinking? I may as well have bought a shot which would have cost me only a dollar or two more."

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A partially disabled man who uses a spatula-type knife to open his mail was flabbergasted when police surrounded him in the English city of Torquay and ordered him to hand over his "offensive weapon". Steve Gardner, who was waiting outside his home for some mail at the time, said afterwards: "It was just a spatula. It's something you use to ice a cake. It's not an offensive weapon. I don't have full use of my hands so I need it to open my letters, put on my shoes and scratch my back." But police insisted the object seized was a customised bread knife and effectively an offensive weapon.

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A reader writes: "In a call centre where I used to work, staff had to enter codes on their phones for meal breaks, toilet breaks and miscellaneous breaks (eg off to stationery to get a new pen or to find a resource from the library). If any were too long employees were spoken to on the day and it would be mentioned as a failure during monthly appraisals. It can be a rough life chained to the phones all day - but at least I had a job!"

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Dean says there are good reasons for monitored toilet breaks. "I understand the main purpose of timing toilet breaks is to alert employers to possible drug use (amphetamines including P). Users will often hide in toilet cubicles to 'do their thing' but will often lose track of time while they're in there."

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View today's Herald cartoon

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