hevs

Here here. I reckon Akron should hurry back; his local M and S needs him

iPom

You're saying you don't pick your nose? I don't believe you.

arkon

Sometimes you lot amaze me, reality check time…I live in Australia, do you really think some spack head is going to actually do something with the bit of paper that has my book or DVD request on it? They are all very very good at following procedures and check lists and making sure you fill in form 2b/43.a but then once you’ve done your bit and paid your fee the form goes into some kind of black hole never to be seen again. You then spend over the next 6 months more on phone calls and repeat visits than the blasted book actually costs to be met with the same response each time, Oh she doesn’t work here anymore and I’m new, or the guy is on holiday, OR worse..your book is in come and get it big boy…..40 minute round trip to discover….Oh that isn’t here anywhere, I don’t know who told you it was…..you did….Oh did I, sorry…..It will be here next week……

iPom

I think his local S and M needs him more.

iPom

You really have a terribly low opinion of people Arkon. Yes, I've had no problem ordering DVD's, CD's and the latest books from my library.

I don't need a reality check because last time I looked I lived in Australia too, but not the sad place you obviously inhabit.

I hope you sell your farm soon.

hevs

You amaze me all the time. I live in Australia too and have never had one teenth of the misfortune that you have well unless you count the last few months of bad luck (and i'm talking far worse than, shock horror! the shop not stocking freakin sand!) but hey you know what? You get over it. You move on. You find that there are different ways of doing things and do you know why that is? Cos we live in aforeign country! Its. NOT. England. Its. Australia!

I reckon they see you coming mate, i really do

iPom

You get back what you put in, that's for sure.

arkon

Yes maybe I do, but it seems you all live in an Australia very different to mine. I'm sure your city libraries are very good but come try mine. Australia for me exists in a 100km radius from my home and for me service here is non-existant.

hevs

SO why the frig did you move there then ?

Ozzidoc

I cant be a*sed to search for the details, but there are some very obscure laws in Oz. One used to be that all sold books could only be published/printed in the UK or a UK-permitted location......that's why books in Oz have UK not US spelling. I wouldnt be surprised if there is some kind of law somewhere that says first print books cannot be sold for less than the production cost. (Not saying that this is the case, but wouldnt be surprised if it turned out to be correct.)

There was a HUGE kerfuffle about 15 yrs ago when Oz supermarkets were allowed to start selling magazines for the very first time.

iPom

I don't live in a city, Arkon. I live in the Blue Mountains. Why not come and try my libraries instead of inviting us all to share your crap one? I have a few choice kilometers to choose from including the drug riddled socioeconomic problems of Katoomba just up the road. It's not all 'ha ha ha hee hee hee' for everyone else either, but I don't whinge on and on about it. I accept it and try to help change it. For all it's grunge I've never had a problem in Katoomba because I really believe that people respond to what you put out. If you're so willing to think of people as 'spack heads' instead of just the ordinary people they are, then of course they're going to treat you like shit and I don't blame them for one second.

What makes you so wonderful anyway?

arkon

If I had known what it was like I wouldn't have. Unfortunately I never had a crystal ball and until you actual live somewhere for an extended period of time you can't possibly know what it's really like. My experiences here are all true and an almost daily occurrence. Today with the 6X6 girl, she couldn't add up period, it wasn't because I was me or a pom, it was because she was thick and couldn't do basic math’s.

I know it's very easy to say that my bad luck and experiences here are because of something I do wrong but it really isn't. Everyone here gets treated the same, the difference is they seem to just shrug it off and yes get on with life, whereas I find the huge drop in my standards to be beyond what I am prepared to accept. (Hence the return home once the farm is sold)

arkon

Nothing I assure you, but I do know I do nothing to agrivate the situation. When I use a term like spack head, I use it here on the forum only. I am only every courteous and polite and always just bite my tongue when being pissed off by shoddy service here. Yes I verbalize it on here but there is no way this has a feedback on my life here and no way it can contribute to my situation.

What irks me is when someone says something like the book situation is bad here, then someone comes on and tries to deflect the criticism by saying Oh but the libraries are very good and people should basically stop whinging about it and use libraries instead.

iPom

But there are shop kids in the UK who can't do their 6 X table either! Just because it's Australian you're talking about dropped standards? Do you have any idea of the amount of UK kids who are illiterate? My sister teaches those kids every day and it's painful for her, but she believes in them.
I can't think that you were anything but derisory wiht your poor lass today. You think she's thick? How the hell do you know whether she was thick or not? You perform some sort of IQ test on her?
Or obviously as you know everything, you have the ability to bestow on her your judgement that she is thick? Did it ever occur to you that she might not have been taught? Or her home life's so crappy that her mum and dad don't help her learn, or perhaps she's just slipped through the system in school like many kids do, because the teacher's overwhelmed with stuff to do and the kid can probably look it up later.

Jeesus! You might try just being a little bit kind and forgiving of people. These problems aren't just in Australia. They're all over the UK too. You get shitty service there too, but your attitude, Arkon ... It's just gobsmackingly hyper critical of everything.
And yet if none of these things come up to your standards, what exactly have you done to put into your community some sort of assistance that might help people? I'm willing to bet absolutely none.
It's just too sad for words.
Your bad luck? Do you think none of us meet young girls at the checkout who don't seem so bright but we don't come here and condemn them for it?

iPom

Yes, the book situation is bad. So what are you doing about it? Are you contributing towards your local library? Are you lobbying to get cheaper books? Are you looking into home publishing? Has anyone local got a story to tell? Have you done any fund raising (alpacca burgers) to raise money to buy some new books for the community?

This is my point, Arkon. Yes it's bad - we're not in denial.... so do something about it or shut up. Moaning about it doesn't do anything. Doing something about it does.

It's bad, so I go to the brilliant libraries here and get books for free. That's just my way of handling the book situation differently. If people don't support libraries, the gvt will no longer fund them. Use it or lose it.


Anyway, we obviously have differing attitudes, but at the end of the day, you take yourself with you wherever you go.

And I must go to bed. Tara.