Truth in Advertising

One part of this is true.  The other part is false advertising.

The money charged by phone companies is a combination of the cost of doing business and what the market will bear.  Period.

If I'm really getting $550 worth of calls and texts, who is paying the other $532.01 every month?  NO ONE!

Is there anyone who would willingly pay $550? NO

Is there anyone who is paying $550? NO

Then why can companies make this kind of claim in their advertising?  In Australia, every company advertises mobile services the same way so the company used in this example is irrelevant.

If it really cost them $550 to give me those services, the company would have been out of business a long time ago.  How dumb do you think we are?

If I pay $17.99 per month for a service, I’m getting $17.99 worth of value.

Awkward

I’d have to blame myself for why I’ve never taken the time to meet my neighbour sooner.  We’ve rented this house for over 2 years and even though I give a wave when I drive by, that’s about all I’ve done is drive by. 

But today fate and timing intervened.  I met a girlfriend for coffee near my house and decided to walk to the cafe instead of taking the car 5 blocks – I still don’t know if they’re called blocks in Australia as each house sits on a ‘block’ too.

I know he’s a car buff as he has a huge garage and a race car often sits on a trailer.  I know he likes golf as he can spend hours chipping uphill on his verge and landing on the grass every time despite it being only about 2 meters wide. I know he had a knee (or hip) replaced recently as he was on clutches for a few weeks and has slowly returned to walking around with a slight limp. Another neighbour also told me that his wife had had cancer a few years back and had had a double mastectomy.

So today as I walked back from the cafe, my neighbour’s garage was open and he was puttering about.  We said hi and somehow that led to 20 minutes of delightful conversation where I learnt so much more about him.

He started working as a building contractor when he was 20 and built his first housing complex which he and his mother eventually lived in.  He is ‘70 and a half’. I assume this means 6 mos to his next birthday rather than being 75.  He has raced cars for 30 years and has an old Alfa Romeo race car which he bought and restored almost 10 years ago.  He has a golf handicap of 12. He’s helped one son build a house and he has a daughter living in Hong Kong and another son living in Sydney.  Next year he wants to go on a cruise from San Francisco to Alaska, around to Russia and past Japan and China ending in Singapore.  But I only found these things out after we broke the ice.

It started this way.

When I first said ‘hi’ today, he asked if I’d been playing much golf recently.  I had forgotten we’ve had a brief conversation with me admiring his verge chipping skills and his asking if I played golf.  Not often and quite poorly had been my main remarks that day.  So today I told him I can’t play until October as I have recently had surgery.  I told him that our mutual neighbour had mentioned that his wife had had a double mastectomy - well that’s what I had had as well. 

He was quite excited that we shared this common experience – well me and his wife that is.  Who were my breast surgeon and plastic surgeon?  Well it also seems his wife, Sandra, and I both have the same plastic surgeon and she underwent the same reconstruction 7 years ago after she had breast cancer.

Did you keep your nipples?

He seemed shocked that he actually asked me that.  He apologized for being so forward. 

I learnt so much from him today and that question was like asking if you put butter on your toast.  If you knew my friends, it’s the first thing we talk about when we meet someone new.

I am sure we will talk more frequently from now on and that I will soon be chatting to Sandra about our shared experience and mutual acquaintance in our plastic surgeon.

There was only one thing bothering me about our interaction today.  Nipples?  No, the question didn’t faze me.

I forgot to ask his name.

Awkward

Update - His name is Paul!

Dockers

I live in the land of the Fremantle Dockers.  A couple years ago, they were at the top of their game in the Australian Football League (AFL) - more commonly know as footy.  This year you will more likely hear "I'm glad we became Westcoast Eagles fans" as that team has risen as quickly as the Dockers have fallen in this two team city.

But enough about football.

It hit me like a ton of bricks today.  If you ever find yourself amongst a gathering of American business men in Perth, you will notice a common theme to their office uniform - Dockers. The American chino style pant mass produced by the Levi Strauss company for men who want to avoid wrinkles and need a little Scotch-guard in their fabric to avoid looking sad when they spill beer on themselves.

These guys blend in at work but get a group of American men together for a sundowner or weekend social and Dockers become the overwhelming trend. 

Dockers - the uniform of the American man. Fortunately, they don't sell them in Australia.