Thursday, September 9, 2010

Other night at the pub, the barmaid poured me the wrong beer.


A Coopers Pale Ale poured instead of a Carlton Draught. The Draught was on special for $3 a schooner, whilst the other was full retail.


Back in the days when pubs were, well, different, that was called a mistake, and irrespective of the price, you scored it for the price of your order.

That was back then.

Today? Down the sink, then the correct one poured. Deal done. Despite me offering three bucks for the mistake, down it went. Down the bloody drain. A disturbing sight to behold.

Culture. Pub culture. Where has it gone?

Certainly here in South Australia, the demise of the publican and the advent of gaming rooms have led to a generation of young people who might never have entertained working in the entertainment business. If that is what pokie rooms are, entertainment.

Years ago you could prop up at the bar, leave your money there as you went to the dunny to do battle with little yellow round things in the trough, and most of the time arrive home with change in the skyrocket.

Remember the meat men who would cruise the bars on a Saturday avo slicing up salami and metwurst for the drinkers? I am now positive my good wife of 30 plus years knew we were not going to squash training at the now defunct Modbury North Squash Club on Milne Road all those Saturdays back then.

Then there were the Sally Army stalwarts with their donation tins. Every Friday night and Saturday avo. Never fail.

And you gotta doof your hat to the excuse board behind the bar. A dollar a session. If your better half called looking for ya, well, you're not there. Pay more, and the excuses dished out by the barmaids just got better.

My pub, my local for the past 20 years was part of the Taverner Group that was taken over by Woolworths.

However, way before that was a publican, Leo.

Leo would occasionally pop in, shout the bar, and every so often toss a few lunch vouchers around.

And if you had a problem, such as a steak served up as an iceberg, Leo would sort. No questions asked.

You try that today.

Without any doubt, the pokie players are well looked after. Try to get a beer when there is someone at the counter looking for twenty in coin. Then you have the free coffees made to order.

Somewhere in all of this, is the social drinker. The lover of the pub. Amidst a culture, an alien culture.

No mistakes. No money on the bar. No staff-understanding of what it means to either place your glass on its side, or, upside down if you are an idiot.

In the good old days, you could crank up a sing-along at the bar. The same group of socialites, week after week. Home away from home.

Today? Nope, not video killed the radio star. Pokies killed the culture.

Pubs are buggered. Well, as far as we old farts are concerned.

There still are a few of us, from the good old days. We huddle together at the same stand-up table, week after week. Yeah, talking about the good old days and how much these days do not make any sense.

Particularly the pouring of beer down a sink!

Woolies...you need to get your act together. Don't confuse beer with all that bread you throw out every night.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

What the hell is going on at Public Trustee...again!


Despite many assurances given by Mark Bodycoat to the 2009 Parliamentary Inquiry, ‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark’. Hamlet 1:4.

http://adelcomp.blogspot.com/2010/03/why-is-there-still-workplace-bullying.html

2007: PUBLIC TRUSTEE CATH O’LOUGHLIN RESIGNS FOR PERSONAL REASONS

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/public-trustee-and-senior-officer-quit/story-e6freo8c-1111113368981


2009: PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY
Double-click DOCUMENTS, COMPLETED INQUIRIES, TABLED REPORTS and look for 51st REPORT, PUBLIC TRUSTEE

http://www.parliament.sa.gov.au/Committees/Pages/Committees.aspx?CTId=5&CId=183


EMAIL PORN STREWN ACROSS YEARS, Channel 7, TODAY TONIGHT (uploaded by Family First SA to which I have no affiliation)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSMpmxP4h8U

What has the I.T. Manager been doing? He replaced the previous person, THEN PT EXECUTIVE RECLASSIFIED THE POSITION UPAWAYS WITH A VERY HANDSOME PAY RISE TO BOOT! Yet, still the same number of Network Users, same duties, same work. With around 160 staff members, the PT position  pays handsomely compared to say the Office of Consumer Affairs where at least a hundred more Users lurk, as well as remote offices. Empires all unto themselves!!! The difference in salary is at least equivalent to a couple of people on the dole.

3 SEPT 2010: MARK BODYCOAT DOES AN UNEXPECTED CATH O’LOUGHLIN. TEARS FLOW AT FAREWELL DRINKS.

TEMPORARY PUBLIC TRUSTEE ANNOUNCED WHILST THEY LOOK FOR ANOTHER.

And speaking of illustrious leaders, albeit the blow-in type. Is it true that recently a senior female Jerome Maguire favourite was shipped across from 45 Pirie Street to stand-in for Mark Bodycoat for 4 weeks, but decided to bugger off on 2 weeks leave and left that rickety old rebirthed Mary Celeste rudderless? Did she still pocket the additional salary when Acting in the Bodycoat shoes?

Well, that is the good old Attorney-General’s Department for ya!

At Public Trustee, history seems to have its umbrella caught in the revolving door.

How many Inquiries now?

DISTRICT COURT 2004.
My little effort at the Equal Opportunity Tribunal.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/sa/SAEOT/2004/1.html

GOVERNMENT INVESTIGATION UNIT, COMMENCED DECEMBER 2005

SAPOL ANTI-CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION 2006

MOSS INQUIRY. 12 MONTHS. A DISCIPLINARY INQUIRY INTO ALLEGATION AGAINST A SENIOR, NOW-EX PUBLIC TRUSTEE OFFICER.

THE PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY OF 2009.

We can but wonder what other story will be next to pop up in the media.

She is a sick little puppy that now-relocated Government Agency. Rann sold off the Franklin Street building to his mate in Spain not long ago.

We can but wonder what could be next.

Just a quick one though. Being from Belfast and having worked there during The Troubles, I know what to do when a bomb threat rips though the switchboard.

I remember we all gathered in Victoria Square, by the book, and the then Public Trustee Cath O'Loughlin strolled up. She asked; 'Anyone want to go back in, go throught the floors, and see if anything looks out of place?'

As I stood there staring at the big red trucks surrounding 25 Franklin Street, I thought about.....which planet!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Federal Election. If I was one of the Independents.

What a bloody circus this election has become. Sitting around, day after day, waiting to find a winner, a new or a recycled Leader.

OK. The circus idea has gripped my imagination. So, what would be my wish list to sling at Julia and Tony?

FUNDING FOR BEER DRINKERS.

The BDs of this nation have been ignored for way too long. Not unlike those fortnightly payments for bubs, I would like to see a couple hundred appear into my forever empty account, every fortnight, only to be used for going to the pub.

Consider the benefits. Guaranteed employment for all those hot chicks behind the bar. SAWater making a killing supplying crap Adelaide water to Coopers Brewery as beer production goes in to orbit. Then there are the hossies. Gambling will shoot right through the bloody roof. Those cheques from Lotteries Commissions to horsepistols will breed like bunnies. I can see new wards sprouting up everywhere with names such as The Guinness Ward.

A YEARLY TRAVEL ALLOWANCE.

The Pensioners get tossed a couple of tickets for free train travel each year. Hey, let’s expand that service. Just before Christmas, mail out Five Thousand Buck Qantas Travel Vouchers. Why the polies ask? Here’s a stupid question for ya. Think you will be voted out at the next election? Hell no!!!

INCENTIVES FOR PROSTATE TESTS

I have gone to my doc several times lately for the ultimate sacrifice...an encounter with a sheathed finger and a blob of gel. Only to reappear with the knowledge that my ears were clear. You know those little cardboard gauges you get to measure the circumference of your ring finger? How about a Prostate Incentive Kit that includes one for the doctor. Get to the surgery, line up all the docs, and whack all their fingers through that little bad boy. The teeniest weeniest one gets the honours. Include a voucher for a couple of pre-inspection pints at the local, and you are set. Thwack Thwack, bring it on big fella.

POLITICIANS ANNUAL AWARDS.

Bugger the Logies. This would be more fun. Consider these. The Lost in Space Award to Penny Wong. Or the Hogans Heroes I Know Nothing Award to Mike Rann. How about the Federal Golden Dagger Award to...well, nuff said. Yeah, and a travel voucher, a beer voucher, a flag inn voucher. Sweeeet.

As for South Australia? Well, our Premier has again bolted overseas. We have discovered that Fred’s Fish and Chip Shop is more likely to draw the ire of SafeWork SA than the government-run desal plant would. And porn is alive and writhing throughout the Public Trustee computer network.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSMpmxP4h8U

Never a dull moment.