I ain't getting on no plane, you crazy fool!

So, over the last few days/weeks you'll no doubt have heard about BA staff wanting to strike, over a dispute about pay and sickness.  With cabin crew taking an average of 22 days sick each year (more than a working month!!!!!!), BA have tried to clamp down on this, which seems fair enough.  Without getting too much into the detail, this just seems so wrong.

We feel, and this may be a bit controversial, that the actions of the BA staff, and the unions representing them is akin to terrorism.  With the World seemingly fighting a 'war on terror', determined to not show weakness with terrorists acting all over the globe, no-one wants to give in to their demands. 

According to dictionary.com, terrorism is:

1.	the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.

2.	the state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization.

3.	a terroristic method of governing or of resisting a government.

We know terrorists are taking aggressive actions to draw attention to the plight, put the news on any day, and chances are there will be another story.  Living in the UK we are fortunate enough to live in a respectable, free, democratic society.  Other countries are not so lucky. 

The actions of BA cabin crew, encouraged by their unions, has been shocking, and in our opinion wrong.  If you are not happy with something in your job, do you not go to work one day.  Chances are that if you didn't, you'd get some unwanted disciplinary action aganst you, and/or be fired.  However in the BA situation, it's mob rule.  Just because 8,000 of the 12,000 (from memory) staff voted to have a few days off to try and bully BA into giving in to their demands. 

BA are trying to run a business, and pay their staff to do a job.  The unions in this case, and with support from their members, have instigated strike action, because they didn't get their own way, basically sticking 2 fingers up and saying without us, you cannot run your company, give us what we want, or we won't do the work (but presumably they still wanted paying for the days they were going to be striking!).  Yes, this hits BA where it hurts, but is it right - NO!  If BA cave in and give in to all demands without question, they find themselves in an impossible situation, which sets a bad precedent for future demands.

Imagine these principles applied to what the media would call terrorists.  If a government (or BA) gave in to terrorist demands (or the cabin crew) once, everyone would see this as a successful way to ensure their demands are met.  This is bad, BA cabin crew be ashamed of yourselves, this is a huge case of bullying...

dicuss.

Snow way?!

It's lovely, snow is great, and makes everything look good.  However, there is a problem, not just with snow, but with weather in general.

One of the favourite pasttimes of people in this country, is to bemoan the unique climate we have here.  If it's hot, people want it cooler, if it's dry, people want some rain and so on, never happy some people! 

So today, one of my favourite things, well, weather wise - snow!  It's fantabulous, everything is peaceful, I was awake at 5 this morning and noticed it had snowed, and was still snowing.  It's not like it used to be, and we're not going to ski on it, but hey, it's better than nothing!

Anyway, stuck in the office now, eventually!  One thing this country cannot cope with is any extremes, if it more than drizzles, blows a gentle breeze or rises above about 20 degrees, the transport infrastructure goes belly up. Why? No one really knows, what does it mean? The people using public transport seem even more self absorbed, selfish and rude than normal, and any teeny tiny element of common sense has gone out the window.

I had to wait for 3 different trains today, before I could get on one.  Normally this wouldn't be a problem with the people on the train, rather the train companies not being able to manage their customers.  But today, with the disruption caused by a sprinkling of snow ( n.b. not on the tracks!), there were some particularly stupid w@nkers out today, including one guy who (and the people on the train could see me fuming at this!) was completely oblivious to the 30 people crowded into the vestibule, and stopping more people from getting on (probably another 4/5 people coiuld have got on).  If I had managed to get on this train, I think I'd have been in work about 30 minutes earlier!  This guy typifies one big issue I have with commuting in to central london, I wish I had the thought to get a photo of this chap, and 'shame' him!  People are just so bloddy selfish, in the metro ( metro.co.uk) at the moment, there seems to be people discussing ladies applying makeup on trains - I have no problem with this, if they are considerate of those aropund them.  I have a bigger problem with idiots who continue to try and read their paper when there is clearly no space to do so (i read the metro on the platform, it's rare i get to do it on the train).

Commuters seem so caught up in actually getting on the train, they are 'in the zone', they forget common sense, decency and basic respect.

Most people  moan about work when they get there, take the opportunity to grab 5 minutes extra fresh air, and see the snowy beauty, wait for the next train!

Come on people, we're all trying to get to work, let's be sensible about this.  If anyone from the protest group regarding rail travel is reading this, leave a comment, I want to help!

So, frustratedly, belatedly and irately, I am left, once again, by my fellow londoners, in a foul mood at the start of a work day - why, oh why, do we do this....?

well....

...we read with interest about the protest group formed to act against rail congestion during rush hour...excellent, we will update the details later on...

zzzz....

OK, I am feeling really, really fragile this morning.  After a 'quick' after work pint on Tuesday - you know the type, genuinely starts out with the best of intentions, and quickly turns into 15 pints in 3 hours...!!! - i was feeling quite delicate yesterday.  Unfortunately, doing it all again last night, and getting 3 hours sleep have made me really really really jealous of those people that don't feel like this!

Everything seems to be taking about 5 times longer than it should - this post for example has so far taken about 10 minutes because my hand eye co-ordination has gone to pot, I'm tired, I'm hungry and i want to go to bed!

So anyway, one of the great things about London is the randomness and ability to physically go off on tangents...more of this another time, i can't do this right now, i promise to try harder tomorrow.....

The List!

OK, continuing the rant-a-thon, I am going to start a closely related topic, 'the list'!

Everyone has had bad experiences which they want to share with people, rather than doing anything illegal or immoral, hit companies that don't live up to your expectations where it hurts - tell people.  Although all press is good press, enough accounts of poor customer service, or missed appointments or rudeness about a company could save a single person from embarking on a relationship with a company that won't treat them right!

But, it's not only bad, there are some really great companies that will go that extra mile to make sure you are a happy customer, we want to know about these as well!

Before we get too involved, I would like to point out that this topic is personal opinion, and is not intended to cause any offence.  Any issues with the content, please contact us to discuss.

Leave comments, or email, with your experiences (good or bad), and we will publish as much as possible.

OK, without further ado...

* St. James' Homes - BAD...full details to follow, although I am 'hoping' to proceed with Legal action, so cannot go into details at the moment.

* o2 - after years of being really pissed off at the crap service, I requested something through their website this week, and not only did I get a same day response to my email, but the response covered everything I needed, and my new sim will be with me shortly - I know they're only doing their jobs, but after past experiences have set my expectations soooo low, it's nice for them to be efficient!  Good Job!

More to come soon, give us your examples as well....