I want to go back overseas. It was fun to have no obligations and just go out and walk and explore things. Even vacuous things like going shopping were fun. Just going to stores and trying on clothes and talking to people was a delight. Customer service in Australia is so poor. There's such a massive level of arrogance and elitism with shop assistants, most won't even talk to you and they certainly won't be any help to you. They think they're better than everyone else, so if they don't want to serve you, nobody is going to buy anything! And people are wondering why the retail sector is dying here. It's much easier to get things online, where we can pay cheaper prices to get exactly what we want, delivered to our doors! No overpaid, self serving, smarmy bastard behind the counter who doesn't know how to do their job. People in stores in South East Asia and even the Middle East are incredibly friendly and helpful. They go out of their way to welcome you and help you find what you're looking for. It was a very different experience to what I'm used to. It also probably helped that it was incredibly warm. This winter is brutal. I'm already developing chillblains on my toes and fingers.
That's another thing I don't get. Things are ridiculously expensive in Australia. Even the things manufactured here. Wages are high, but then the cost of living is also ridiculously high, so when people need to buy houses or cars, they just don't want to, because costs are insane. But what makes no sense is that electronic items (like software that you can buy online, or MP3s and what not) are also more expensive from official channels like iTunes and so on. Why is this the case? It's not about modes of production, because it's not like they need to transport materials to an isolated country, or pay additional overheads and the like. People are just taking advantage of us, and it's up to the consumer to put a stop to things like that. Go search for deals and bargains and put those places out of business, or force them to drop their prices to remain competitive. Vote with your dollars. Free market capitalism sucks, but at least try and make the system work for you, if you can.
I am in two minds about work unions. On one hand they are annoying with their ridiculous demands and constant striking action. And the fact they take a hardnosed approach to people who aren't members of the union. On the other hand, they are needed because employers like to exploit workers to extract maximum work for minimum pay and that's just not right. I wish we didn't require unions, but people's greed always gets in the way.
Made a proper start to the week and made it to the gym. Since winter has well and truly hit, I've made it my personal mission to get to bed a bit earlier so I feel fine for the gym the next day. It was surprisingly easy. A little too easy, it felt like everything was light weight or in slow motion. I'll know the extent of the insanity if I get back on the weights tomorrow and everything feels light. When I don't exercise I drop body weight and strength rapidly, even if I am eating like a pig. My metabolism has gotten better since I was in my early 20's.
Insurance is a joke. I don't understand why people would pay all this money to be a 'part' of insurance, and then when something bad happens, you have to pay even more money to ensure that you're looked after? To me it sounds like people are trying to find a way to leech money of everyone.
Wow, this is a return to form, isn't it? Wasn't expecting to blog like this, especially on a Monday! Anyway, I've discovered that the new updates to the Joaquin Rate List (JRL) may be the biggest one so far. I'll aim to get the names in the list by Friday, or Saturday night at the latest.
Let's keep it there for now. More tomorrow!
As always, take care of yourselves!
Joaquin out.
