Month: July 2009

Bored at work (nothing new there) – so decided it was time for a change. A new theme and a new title, to reflect hopefully a new outlook and a bunch of more positive (and perhaps interesting) rants and writings.

For anyone who read this blog before (hardly anyone) the old title “The Blue Corner” was partly a reference to a battle with depression that I’ve had over a long period. If I look back now some of the posts are very introspective, negative and self obsessed. Perhaps also a little whiney. But also intensely personal – because I never really advertised this blog to anyone (though I know a couple of people including family members, found out about it and kept tabs on it) so I felt I could blather about my love life and other stuff like that without really caring.

Sorry in advance if anyone goes back, reads the posts and decides I’m incredibly self obsessed and boring. I’ve mentally wrestled with the idea of removing them but decided not to – I’m quite happy to lay it all out there. I’m like that in real life too, my emotions are usually visible on my sleeve, so what’s the difference. No games, no bullshit.

I know someone else right now who is dealing with similar inner demons – and though we’re not close, I’m trying to reach out to him a bit and show him he’s not alone. I would encourage anyone who is in the same boat to do the same – life’s too short to see people going through (and possibly leaving) their lives that way.

Okay, so John Birmingham (Australian author) puts out a challenge today to write a poem inspired by his last book Without Warning.

The brief was:

Imagine you’re the new (Post Wave) Poet Laureate of the US.

It’s your first gig at the (western) White House.

You’re reading from your first epic bit, entitled, ‘The Disappearance’.*

Gimme what you got, poets, it may be your only shot at mass market publication.

So, umm, while I should’ve been working, I knocked up this quick ditty:

Men and women, children all
Millions of us vanished
Buildings burned and choked the earth
Our innocence was banished
With one fell swoop the wave destroyed
The lives and loves we’d known
Sweet Liberty and Uncle Sam
Unseated from their throne

But from the farthest point northwest
A light dawned bright and clear
Noble deeds and love prevailed
To drive away the fear
A shared resolve to build again
The country we revere
And when we’re done to not forget
The ones no longer here

Whaddya think eh? Not bad for an IT nerd :p

So the other day at work we had this big discussion about Harvey Norman’s interest free etc. This is a subject I am passionate about, having worked in a retail environment for a long time (in a business that didn’t do interest free because of the cost).

Basically (and this is all my opinion) it is a ripoff – in most cases you are better off getting a low interest credit card. In store interest free finance has a number of “gotchas” for the average consumer including:

1. Very high interest rates after the interest free period (can be as high as 27%)

2. High account keeping and payment processing fees

3. Cost to retailer – my understanding is that retailers have to pay somewhere in the vicinity of 8% of the sale price back to the finance company to cover the cost of the interest free, it could even be higher now (as interest free periods seem to be getting longer and longer). This means that in order to cover this cost, margins are higher and YOU as a consumer pay more for the product.

My understanding is that the default rate on in store finance can be up to 60% – this explains the high costs somewhat. I also know a number of people who’ve been caught out by the high interest at the end of the installment loans online and found themselves in a neverending cycle of debt which is very difficult to get out of.

But in summary… it’s expensive… and it drives the price of goods up… but people still use it because it’s convenient. I have personally seen people refuse to take an (reducible) interest bearing loan, and go down the street to purchase a product that is 20% more expensive just because they could get it on interest free. How dumb is that?

So anyway, we have this discussion at work… next thing you know one of my colleagues changes his facebook status to “Don’t get interest free finance from Harvey Norman, it’s a ripoff etc etc…” – I had to laugh. At least he listened to me from the sounds of it!

On another note, I hate Harvey Norman in general. They seem to be able to advertise as being “the specialists” in everything. “Specialists” in mobile phones, “specialists” in home entertainment, “specialists” in Dysons, “specialists” in floor coverings… I mean WTF? They are the antithesis of specialists. They are a multi department franchise, staffed by underknowledged salespeople who (for the most part) are only interested in closing the sale so they can get their next commission cheque and couldn’t give a stuff what happens after you leave the store. I have not (in the last decade) heard one person tell a story of giving repeat business to a Harvey Norman store because of the good service or help they received or the good relationship they have with the salespeople.

And yet people still choose to shop there. That is the power of advertising and the laziness of the general population.

People never cease to amaze me. And not in a good way.