What Annoyed You Today? (20 Viewers)

MiTasol said:
Pure public service mentality,

My son has an IT contract with a large federal government organisation. He is being supplied two common garden variety computer monitors and a specific circuit board to add to the computer they supplied three months aga. It would cost probably $50 to send them by courier from Brisbane but no - he must sign for them in person so they are paying him full contract daily rate to drive to Brisbane, plus fuel, mileage, per diems and accommodation for one night. He can do the round trip in 10 or eleven hours but they say he must only work 8 hours a day.

Mileage alone will probably exceed $1,000.
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You have to justify your budget increases. If you were to not overspend, your budget would be at risk for cuts.
 
There was the brilliant Australian politician, Barry Jones, he was invited to join MENSA but declined as he said they were a bunch if idiots simply justifying their own existence by their supposed intellect.

When I worked in local council, I only lasted 8 months ... couldn't hack the sitting around doing almost nothing & watching the "managers" doing nothing. Also the general intellectual corruption & criminal corruption of the mayor. Most councils are overstaffed by at least 20% & "public servants" overpaid by 20% too.
 
Antarctica said:
There was the brilliant Australian politician, Barry Jones, he was invited to join MENSA but declined as he said they were a bunch if idiots simply justifying their own existence by their supposed intellect.

When I worked in local council, I only lasted 8 months ... couldn't hack the sitting around doing almost nothing & watching the "managers" doing nothing. Also the general intellectual corruption & criminal corruption of the mayor. Most councils are overstaffed by at least 20% & "public servants" overpaid by 20% too.
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Look at the ACT that is the best example of the competence, intelligence, mental speed, etc of the public service in Aus (and many other countries).

Note that I have been lucky and not been there for six years but these examples will not have changed - except maybe to get worsse.

Driving from Victoria coming in through Yass or through the Monaro "highway" are both the same. You are driving on a two lane minimum width twisting hilly country road and the speed limit is 100kmh (60mph).

As soon as you cross the ACT boundary the road becomes a four lane (extra wide lanes with a wide black top verge and guttering) divided highway and the speed limit drops to 80 (50). This is because a public service brain is not capable of operating fast enough to be safe at NSW speeds.

Worse still, coming from Yass, the first roundabout inside the ACT boundary has traffic lights. Apparently the public servants on that side of town cant even remember which side they must give way (yield) to so need lights to control them.

Every couple of years the road safety council release the statistics on the number of fatal highway accidents by the state/territory of issue of the drivers licence, ACT drivers are involved far more accidents per head of population outside the ACT than any other The reason given is that ACT drivers are not used to driving at 100 and 110 and are therefore not competent to drive at those speeds. Again the real reason is public service brains are not capable of operating fast enough to be safe at those speeds and the far worse roads outside the ACT.

There is an old (almost) truism that we should be governed by coin tosses. That way decisions would take seconds instead of years and they could only be 50% wrong
 
MiTasol said:
Look at the ACT that is the best example of the competence, intelligence, mental speed, etc of the public service in Aus (and many other countries).

Note that I have been lucky and not been there for six years but these examples will not have changed - except maybe to get worsse.

Driving from Victoria coming in through Yass or through the Monaro "highway" are both the same. You are driving on a two lane minimum width twisting hilly country road and the speed limit is 100kmh (60mph).

As soon as you cross the ACT boundary the road becomes a four lane (extra wide lanes with a wide black top verge and guttering) divided highway and the speed limit drops to 80 (50). This is because a public service brain is not capable of operating fast enough to be safe at NSW speeds.

Worse still, coming from Yass, the first roundabout inside the ACT boundary has traffic lights. Apparently the public servants on that side of town cant even remember which side they must give way (yield) to so need lights to control them.

Every couple of years the road safety council release the statistics on the number of fatal highway accidents by the state/territory of issue of the drivers licence, ACT drivers are involved far more accidents per head of population outside the ACT than any other The reason given is that ACT drivers are not used to driving at 100 and 110 and are therefore not competent to drive at those speeds. Again the real reason is public service brains are not capable of operating fast enough to be safe at those speeds and the far worse roads outside the ACT.

There is an old (almost) truism that we should be governed by coin tosses. That way decisions would take seconds instead of years and they could only be 50% wrong
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When you talk about the ACT just remember that as a small city and a larger portion of us work outside the sphere of the Federal Government which swells our population by several thousand when the parliament sits. We also have all of the Embassies with there over populated staff who not only swell the unaccounted population but they also roam this city immune from our countries laws which is particularly noticeable on the roads. Canberra also covers a vast area which is very much like living in the country, it is a city of hills and open spaces with an abundance of wildlife which unfortunately contributes to many of the accidents.

I will agree that the first roundabout coming in from Yass is a pack of poo tickets, it would have been much better if a fly-over was constructed but we are a small city with a small land area so revenue is always a factor. As for the Yass road, that again is a pack of poo tickets and very accident prone, but it is a NSW and Federal problem and that incoming ACT speed restriction is to slow people down coming into a residential area that is hidden by all the tree or foliage lines our many four lane black topped avenues.
 
I've attended on appointment this morning, now I'm waiting to attend another mid afternoon. It disrupts the day and I hate this having to hang around waiting, I also know that this coming appointment will be running late and I'll be hanging around even more, so I'll take a good book. :D
 
Yeah - medical appointments that run late always p155ed me off so much that way back in the mid 80s I started to only go to GPs who charged higher fees. These nearly always run exactly on time and when you own your own business sitting around a waiting room for an hour or two is just not cost effective.
Even though retired I still do this - my GP charges a minimum $75 a time but he has been exactly on time every time we have been to him. He is very good and you are not just a number to him. Although he is booked out for weeks in advance he keeps several appointments every day spare for urgent cases and if it is just a script or referral you just show up at 12;30 and he bulk bills. The only down side is he is over an hour away but that allows us to shop for things not available locally.
My eye surgeon likewise charges like a wounded bull but he has a 24/7/365 phone number and says he does not care if it is midnight Christmas eve - if an eye goes bad call him. That I consider priceless.
 
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Went outside for lunch today and took up smoking, didn't even need to buy a pack of cigarettes as the air is smoky enough from all the Canadian wildfires lately. Not good.
 
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My appointment didn't turn out to be so late, a 3:15pm time and we were out of there just after 4:00pm. It would have usually been around 5:00pm before finishing and had it been so we'd have stopped by our favourite chippy and picked up some hot battered fish and potato cakes on the way home for an early dinner, but it was to early sadly. :D
 
Greg Boeser said:
It appears the MSP metro area lies in the thickest concentration of smoke. Air quality alert extended to Friday. :smoker:
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Great, my throat is already sore, coughing, wheezing, etc... Smoke is even coming into the building I work in so it should be a fun couple of days.
 
People where I am are the most thoughtless & inconsiderate I have ever come across. Carefully backing out of a parking space at the supermarket they just barge past as if you didn't exist. One day I'll ram them & they'll say it was my fault. :mad:

I heard a few months ago that Dusseldorf (?) in Germany is removing traffic lights at some intersections to speed up traffic flow. Indications show that it works because German drivers there are considerate & know how to drive. :)
 
Second day, and will be 3rd night, with out air conditioning. Top temp today 92F. Last night 86F inside. With all the fans running, it reminds me of middle fifties with my parents. At least we had a large window fan, until window a/c units put in by Dad just as I left for USAF.
 
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