Archives for September 2005

I’m a bit of a procrastinator but finally I did something I’ve been meaning to do for ages. My mobile phone used to only ring for about four rings before it cutover to voicemail. Trying to find a phone amongst all my stuff in my bag was hopeless and nine times out of ten, by the time I found my phone it showed up as a missed call. This is even more annoying when I have to pay Telstra for my calls to be diverted to voicemail and I have to pay to retrieve that voicemail.

One of the reasons it’s taken so long for me to get this sorted was that I thought it was something I could do myself on my phone but after searching through the phone’s manual there was nothing talking about this. There is also nothing that I could find on Telstra’s website. Come on Telstra, shouldn’t this sort of information be on there? You cannot assume that everyone knows this.

I rang up Telstra’s mobile help number to change the amount of rings and I got an automated voice system where you speak into the phone to get the computer to tell you want you want. I said, ‘I want to learn how to change my voicemail.’ This was completely the wrong thing to say as I already know how to use my voicemail and this is what the computer proceeded to tell me.

I did get an option to say something like this isn’t what I want and when I did this I got put through to a customer service operator. My customer service operator had a very strong Indian accent and I thought here we go, have Telstra put their call centres offshore?

I explained my problem to the very helpful person and he said, ‘I’ve made your phone now ring for 25 seconds.’

I asked, more than once, ‘How long is it ringing for now?’, a simple enough question I would have thought. He didn’t answer me but just told me that 25 seconds was the maximum that it could ring before it went to voicemail.

I said, ‘That sounds like an awfully long time, can we shorten it by about ten seconds.’

He finally said, that it had previously been ringing for 15 seconds which is what I had been trying to find out in the first place. I said, ‘Well put it back to 25 seconds then.’ I am still dubious as to four rings equating to 15 seconds but when I get a phone call next I shall find out.

Being ever so helpful he asked if there was anything else I wanted. I said, ‘No thanks’, and that should have been the end of the call.

He proceeded to say something unintelligible so then I had to say, ‘Beg your pardon?’

He went on to tell me about the free number I get that I can call 24/7 for up to 20 times in one day. ‘I already know about this’, I said. I had this set up not that long ago and his records must have shown this.

It took me a bit of time to get off the phone and I was not satisfied at this service. A customer service officer should listen to the customer should they not? He didn’t in two instances and it was quite frustrating.

I did a bit of searching on the internet to see if Telstra have in fact put their call centres offshore. If they have I don’t think they have put all of them offshore as I have spoken to people within Australia recently, but I’m almost certain that this person was in India. I couldn’t find anything on the web to say that Telstra have got call centres offshore but then I guess it’s not something they would advertise.

Last night I cooked up a bean sauce as a base for nachos. I had it all brewing on the stove and I thought I’ll get the corn chips out of the cupboard so I can get ready to compile my nachos.

I realised just as I opened the cupboard that I had no corn chips because I’d used them one or two weeks earlier. Damnit, I thought, I can’t have nachos without corn chips and now I’ve built myself up for nachos that’s what I want and I will not settle for anything else.

JJ was in the bath so I couldn’t just bundle him into the car or the pram to go to the shop. I thought through my options and called my sister as I knew she was on her way soon to my place to pick up her dog. Unfortunately she didn’t answer her phone so I just left a message saying I urgently needed her to pick up corn chips.

I didn’t hear from her so after JJ got out the bath and I got him dressed I thought we would head off to the shop and the worst thing that could happen was that I would end up with two packets of corn chips. We waltzed out the front door and just after I shut the front door I realised I didn’t have my house and car keys.

Luckily I keep a spare set hidden for such an emergency. I found them successfully in the dark and just as I opened the front door to retrieve my keys, the phone rang. It was my sister saying she could pick up some corn chips.

I never thought I would say that it was lucky I locked myself out of the house.

We here in Australia would have to be living in a completely media free place not to know what has happened on the Gulf Coast in the USA this past week.

First of all it was what devastation Hurricane Katrina wreaked upon the area, but worst of all has been the response, or severe lack thereof, for the displaced people from New Orleans.

It occurred to me that if this hurricane had occurred in a richer and whiter area of the country then things would have happened a lot quicker than they have. I’ve been left astounded at the lack of coordination of rescue efforts for these people.

This Meet the Press transcript covers the ineptness of the post Hurricane Katrina crisis very well and I saw most of it on television the other day. I was in tears at this part of what Aaron Broussard said,

MR. BROUSSARD:  …that have worked 24/7.  They’re burned out, the doctors, the nurses.  And I want to give you one last story and I’ll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me.  The guy who runs this building I’m in, emergency management, he’s responsible for everything.  His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, "Are you coming, son?  Is somebody coming?"  And he said, "Yeah, Mama, somebody’s coming to get you.  Somebody’s coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Wednesday.  Somebody’s coming to get you on Thursday.  Somebody’s coming to get you on Friday."  And she drowned Friday night.  She drowned Friday night.

Australian tourists trapped in the area were appalled that Australian officials were blocked from getting into the area to help them out by US authorities. They were only allowed in a couple of days ago.

They, and their families here were also upset at the lack of the Australian response and caring when ringing the Department of Foreign Affairs here.

I wonder how this might have affected the US Presidential election if this had happened a year ago as it seems there are a lot of questions being thrown towards the US government at their handling of all of this.

Dear dad,

Happy Father’s day and happy birthday.

A few weeks ago when you were visiting Adelaide you asked if JJ and I were coming over for your birthday and father’s day. You don’t normally make a point of celebrating your birthday and/or father’s day so I asked you why this one was so different. You didn’t tell me.

Then a couple of weeks later you and mum were in Adelaide again and when I asked you around for dinner mum was really evasive which I thought a bit strange at the time. I knew that I wasn’t being told the truth.

Then shortly after that I got a phone call from mum telling me that you had been over here to have a biopsy which came back positive for prostate cancer. She said that you insisted on a PSA test from your doctor which obviously picked up the cancer early.

This news knocked me for six as bad news quite often does. I didn’t immediately panic as I didn’t know how bad it was.

You’ve since found out it’s localised and has not spread anywhere else which is great news.

You have decided on your course of treatment and I am confident that you will be cured of this.

My thoughts are with you.

Love J.