I'm getting better___

SNC00190, originally uploaded by dataceptionist.

______________at making coffee on the machine at home.


I bought a new macch glass. Still playing with it

So Annoying!

I'm ANNOYED enough to USE UPPERCASE!

I trundle over to get my coffee this morning, it was really quiet early in the day so I thought I would pop over a bit earlier than normal, give me something to do.

I'm not sure what the barista-lady was concentrating on, but it obviously wasn't my coffee today. Since I got back from our Trip, she seems to be gearing up her staff to be able to handle her not being there. I completely understand this, and it made no sense to me that in the past she's been so precious about making all the coffee herself that she made herself irreplaceable day-to-day and can never have a day off. That must be difficult when you run your own business.

So the last few weeks have been a bit of a mish mash of coffee qualities whilst she trains the more junior girls to make coffee. So I was pleased today when I walked in and she was ready at the machine and was going to make it.

The only problem with this is, with the other "newer" girls making my coffee I can help tweak how I like it, for example by saying "can you just add a dribble more milk?" as she was teaching them to pour the tiniest pour of the milk and then add a dollop of foam ("stain") on top. My personal preference is for slightly more milk than that, so with the training I have a chance to change slightly the way its made, all under the guise of "helping".

My barista has been making my coffee the same way for almost two years, and there is only the barest of variation.

So I was surprised when I went to drink my coffee, and there was virtually no milk, just the "stain" on top. I'm never too worried about this when I have coffee at work though as I can always just splash a bit from the fridge, which is what I did today.

BUT THE MILK WAS OFF!

As soon as it hit the coffee it curdled, and try and I might to "scoop" the chunky bits out (tiny ones) I couldnt get it all.

THAT IS SO ANNOYING! I JUST PAID BLOODY $2.60 (about $5 USD on current exchange rate) FOR A COFFEE THAT I CAN'T BLOODY WELL DRINK!

I ended up taking a large swig, in hopes of sort of shotting it down my throat, and then couldn't stomach the second swig, and feel sort of ill, 2 hours later.

aaaarrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Sexy Foam?

Make That A Triple Non-Fat Sexy Latte

sexy foam?

Coffee Shop
Vancouver, BC, Canada

(A woman walks into the coffee shop and orders a latte with “sexy” foam. I make what I thought was a latte with really “sexy” foam.)

Customer: “F***! This isn’t right. I want it with really sexy foam.”

Me: “Okay…”

(I make her another, with lots of really thick foam.)

Customer: “No, no! Sexy foam, really sexy foam!”

Me: “Okay, so less?”

Customer: “No, you know… sexy! Sexy foam!”

(I make her a third drink. This time less foam and more milk.)

Customer: “You don’t get it! I want sexy foam. Really sexy foam!”

Me: *giving up* “I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!”

Starbucks shuts 61 of 84 stores

Story in the Australian today - http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24099400-5013404,00.html

Well I'm not that sad to see them go really. I always thought their coffee tasted like brown water. I can make (bad) brown water at home thanks, not pay $4.60 for it. (I do feel very sorry for the 600+ staff set to lose their jobs)

I actually always thought their sizing was excessive. I mean, being a short style coffee-drinker of course I don't want to drink all that milk, sure, but the idea of the largest coffee you can buy ( Venti? Grande? N.F.I.....?) makes me positively nauseous. Bigger certainly not better IMHO....

As the Australian says today

Another explanation is that Australians are more particular about their coffee than the average American. "In the eyes of many Australians, they have always been seen as a big American interloper," Mr Eslake said.

Enjoying a latte at Badde Manors in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Glebe, Harry Vasutabu wasn't surprised to hear the news. "I'd much rather come somewhere like this. The vibe is so much better here. The people are more interesting here. The atmosphere is more interesting," he said. "Starbucks seems so fake. The coffee there is not that good."

Ok, I've been to Badde Manors, and I'd say the atmosphere at that particular inner-west cafe is pretentious and more like "we're so EDGY!" "Look at our Badde spelling!"

As my boss heard quoted (somewhere) today, Australians have choice for good coffee. There are a million brands, and they're (mostly) all good! Instead of the choice between drip-filter sludge in the US and espresso at Starbucks, hey I'd take Starbucks in that equation too.

Now if they could only take Gloria Jeans with them too....

Shitty nights sleep and more coffee shop capers

Welcome to my 600th post.
Yay!

I slept SO badly last night. M was sleeping on his back, just slightly encroaching on my side, and I was hyper aware of it all night. I kept tossing and turning and grabbing doona. He was clearly oblivious to my discomfort however, laughing at me when I exploded onto his side of the bed as soon as he'd vacated it.
My fitful night led to some intense, very weird dreams, but I can't remember them now. Should have written a few key words down. Something about a ravine...


Monday night is chocka block at the gym. I don't normally get to go on a Monday, we have dinner at my mother-in-laws normally on Monday nights. I do think its a great way to kick off the week however.
I've increased my tea and coffee consumption through the work week I've noticed. Since I gained access to a plunger at work, I normally have at least one coffee, and one cup of tea. I would have said before now, that average tea/coffee consumption was only one macch, first thing in the morning. Occasionally I would mosey over to the cafe for another coffee, or a hot chocolate, but these instances were few and far between.
I'm wondering if the added milk and sugar are affecting me, even though I only ever have skim + 1.

Coffee Lady accidentally made an enemy last week. She asked me to "have a quiet word" with my boss about the fact that he'd forgotten to pay for his coffee and toast as he was chatting with a friend while he was in the cafe. I instantly forgot of course, so when she asked me the next day what his response had been (as he didn't come in to settle the matter), I smacked my forehead and proclaimed I would "go straight back" and discuss it.
When I mentioned it to him however, he blew up, saying he did pay, and starting spouting some righteous indignation that he'd been so good to her, helping her in her personal life, not taking the free coffees that the loyalty cards are for. He gave me the money to pay her, vowing not to take his patronage there again however.
And I guess yes, when I think about it, she's essentially saying she thinks he's the sort of guy who would just walk out without paying, happy to fleece her.

She recently put her prices up, and my coffee went up by 10c. Prices increased Monday, but as I'd had an appointment, I trundled over none-the-wiser on Tuesday morning, short the 10c when I went to pay. So instead of saying "no don't worry about it, just pay the increased amount from tomorrow" she added me to a long list of 10c here, 20c there "payments owed" on the wall.

She's a funny bird, for someone who has the shop littered with "good Karma" concepts and life and love giving mantras; she's tight as a ducks asshole.

Paper Envy

Decided I would take myself to breakfast Saturday morning. Woke late(ish), and went to the gym, M was working so I had only myself to amuse. By the time I finished a good session at the gym, I was nearing lunch, but feeling like breakfast, so went to Coffee Club, which does all-day breakfast, then thought I would do some leisurely shopping afterward.

I had initally intended to read the paper whilst at the cafe, but when I arrived all the national papers were "out" at other tables and I wasn't as interested in the local paper as the World News. I did that hemming and hawing thing, thinking

"do I REALLY need a paper?"...
..."oh well I could play with my phone instead"
"don't be daft, you're not at a bar, sipping a vodka, waiting for a friend, you can't play with your phone while you eat"...
..."oh don't be such a ninny, just go and BUY a paper"
"oh but the newsagents is all the way over there"...
..."but then I'll lose my place in line"

In the end, I walked out of the line, and went and bought the Saturday edition of the SMH. If you're not a reader/buyer of the SMH Weekend edition, its a monster paper. So much so, it actually sits in two piles at the newsagents (and I almost walked out with only one section, I wonder how many people get ripped off without knowing what they're missing).

I got back to Coffee Club, ordered and sat down with my paper. I flicked through the sections, before deciding which to start with (Barack Obama piece), and set the rest of the paper down on the other side of the table. As I did this, it was lunch time pretty much (I did admit it was lateish) and there were increasingly more people taking seats and placing orders etc etc. As I read, I slowly realised that a LOT of the tables settling in were eyeing off my paper. One woman who was rifling through the stack near the counter, kept glancing at me, almost glaring!
Since I wasn't sporting a swastika or swear word on my t-shirt, or wearing hot pants and hooker heels, I can think of no other reason for her behaviour!
After that, I felt compelled to look up everytime I noticed someone near the newspapers, and they were always kind of looking my way, coveting my paper!
I felt like standing up and shouting "I PAID FOR THIS! IT'S MINE YOU BASTARDS!"

In the end I didn't, but I was terrified to move after that. I didn't want to leave my paper unattended, for fear someone would pounce on it, but I didn't want to take it with me to the counter, that would look ridiculous.
So where I would probably have ordered another coffee and continued to sit reading, I didn't, as CC only operate under "Order at Counter" not table service.

After I finished eating, I carefully packed up my paper, taking care to make it look neat, and tucked it under my arm, scurrying away out the side door, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

Taking the Plunge

Discovered at work we have a mini coffee plunger, just big enough for one cup of coffee.
Handily, looks just like this one-->
It's branded with a recruitment company's details, which leads me to believe it must be a gift from some Christmas past. I want to say here and now, AWESOME IDEA, recruitment company. If I was a decision maker, I would totally use you again after this gift. Unlike the entirely shithouse bottle of branded Red Wine from Mail Call I got at my last job to try to win our courier business. M took one sip (he's the red drinker in our house) and declared it rubbish. I then made the mistake of trying to cook with it (to use it up!), committing the cardinal cooking sin of "don't cook with wine you wouldn't drink". As such I've been too scared to try to cook with wine again.
But I digress.
I made a brew, the Coffee is nice, the reason I like plunger coffee is I can use the same blend I would make espresso with, and grind the beans fresh myself at home.
But, I've put in too much sugar! I could almost stand my spoon up in the cup. Dammit.

Conundrum Update

**update**
She asked me yesterday if I'd started the book, so I panicked and said I was half way through and it was strange. "very confronting concepts" I said.
Eek.
Then this morning she had this big chat to me about a Japanese scientist who reckons you can change the composition of water by praying over it.
Hmmmm.....is the coffee worth it?

Didn't quite hit the mark....

I forgot how much liquid is in a flat white. This morning, in the search for a different coffee experience, and being swayed by the ads currently screening for McDonalds

"New stronger arabica bean blend"

(I know, I'm such a consumer), I decided to get a coffee from Maccas with some breakfast. I've recently had a couple under duress, (on the old blend) from the McCafe section, and found them bearable, possibly even palatable, as long as I got an extra shot in a small flat white.So I ordered the same, and by the time I got to work it was cool enough to drink, and yet, the cup is a quarter full still, I just can't drink that much milk.
And yet, I had the same, in a china cup on the weekend and it was quite nice.
I've found that a bad macchiatto, is worse than nothing at all almost.

Hmm...the search goes on.

Too hard too soon? Is that even possible?

I worry (ok, infrequently) that I've peaked too early sometimes.
Eight years ago, I started, a little chocolate, a little milk, (a lot of) sugar.
I slowly graduated to cappuccino, enjoying the chocolate on the foam with my spoon. Gradually I came to loathe the foam though, spurning it in favour of its milky sister, the Flat White. Occasionally I asked for chocolate on my minimal foam, to rekindle the days of old.

But I soon tired of the flat white too, especially if it was too hot to drink. I started asking for my takeaway "not too hot" and learnt this translates to "warm" in barista.
I made friends with the coffee shop near my store, "warm skim flat white with 1". Day in, day out, I changed stores and my order came with me, making new barista friends along the way.
But it would go cold, even though I had made the effort to ask for it warm so I could drink it right away. It was too big, even a "small".

Before I knew it, my interest in the "small flat white warm skim with 1" was waning. I was flirting with a second shot, but it wasn't enough to hold my interest. I needed something new, something different.

I discovered- the macchiato.

We became instant friends. I was nervous at first, it seemed like a big change, much bigger than any other step I'd taken. Once I started though, I was hooked, I couldn't get enough. I didn't feel bloated and full if I had two in one sitting!

Have I gone too hard too early though? Where is there left to go? Single Espresso? Double espresso? What hope is there for me......

She's back!

My coffee lady that is.
So back on the good stuff, thank goodness. Today's was ten times better than anything I've drunk for the last two weeks, and I made sure to tell her, and I hope she feels appreciated.

Day 3~The great Mona Macc hunt - Hooray! {Sort of}

Hooray!

We have small cup~!

Yippee! Sort of. Coffee is mediocre, but I will probably return. It was convenient, this cafe was on the street on the back way to work and parking was totally easy. I actually quite liked the interior and it wasn't too busy. Sometimes when you walk into a cafe for a takeaway it can be a little awkward, if there aren't clear signs directing you (or sometimes even if there are) and you can tell all the people waiting are regulars and know the system already. There was none of that. They also had great looking muffins and friands!

My regular cafe where I normally get my coffee when they aren't on holidays, its kind of a conceptual cafe. The owner used to be a chef and the cafe is kind of her SeaChange, and she makes all the food herself. Its great and everything, but there's kind of a lack of the "normal" things you expect to find in a cafe, like muffins. I mean, she has muffins, but they're savoury ones and they don't quite hit my muffin-mark. She doesn't do friands either. Not that I need to be eating friands I guess. *sigh*

At my last job, I was in a business park so there were only a few cafes to choose from, and I was usually lazy and chose the closest. They used to have these fantastic mini friand things, closest likeness I could find on the right. They were the size of the lid on my takeaway espresso cup, or just bigger than a 50c piece.
There were blueberry or raspberry to choose from and I think they used salted butter to grease the pans because they had a salty yet sweet flavour. They made one batch a morning, and they were free{!} with your coffee if you were early enough. If I had time to go before I started work I would get one, if I had to go mid-morning they would be gone. They were a great size as you could eat them in one bite, or savour them in three bites.
I miss them. Its the little things in life....

Sorry I wasn't clear Eca, after yesterday's effort I had no intention of returning, as soon as I walked out of the shop. Perhaps that's unfair, but it really does annoy me that much when they don't have little cups. It would have had to be the best coffee I'd ever had, to make me return knowing it would be served in a giant cup.

I actually had a terrible coffee experience over my break. My local shopping centre I'm still trying to determine who makes good takeaway coffee if I want a quick one while I walk around. So I tried a different place, and I tried to watch, but got distracted, (by anything: could have been navel fluff) so the next thing I know, I'm being handed a regular size foam cup (X grr), which when I picked it up, was too heavy (X) and when I took the lid off it was about three-quarters full (X)!!!

After conveying (nicely) that they didn't have espresso takeaway cups (X), it wasn't what I'd ordered, and there was way too much liquid, she offered to re-make it under my direction. In this instance I asked her if she could just put it in a proper cup as I was only going into Coles (next door) and I would bring the cup back. It was at this point I figured out that they serve macchiatos as LONG macc's, instead of Short, how I prefer them.
It was drinkable, but I wouldn't return. This is a rarer problem than it could be as I always try to specify "short" when ordering. Hmmm...

*And I did return the cup

My name's Dataceptionist, and I'm a Coffee Wanker.

:(

On goes the coffee search, in this difficult post-christmas-working period.

This is today's effort.

I have included the shot below to give perspective. The little cup on the left is the cup I used yesterday to tip my ristretto into. Standard espresso cup.

(Keen observers will note, even though yesterdays coffee was tiny, I still didn't finish it, evidenced by visible remnant in cup.)

So, today's : "regular" takeaway cup used again. X

This one was drinkable though, and I did enjoy it. But I can't really explain fully how much the wrong sized cup detracts from my coffee experience. Ok, this DOES make me sound like a giant coffee wanker, admittedly, but I think you have to be a bit of a coffee wanker if you're drinking short coffee. It's either good or bad, there isn't a lot of room for error. When you've only got 60mL or so to impress, you need to produce goddamit!

In other news, I think you will enjoy this blog I was put onto, as much as I do. Its by a Barista in a 24hr Sydney Cafe. Good writing style, good content. I've enjoyed it since I started reading.
So Check out Graveyard Barista

Billylou I am totally feeling you on the $3 for bad coffee thing.
I didn't mention in yesterday's post about the cost because it seemed a trifling isolated incident, but now, two days in a row, I have paid more than the menu price at two seperate places, which annoys me!
Yesterday's coffee on the laminated table menu (as opposed to the non-existant menu board) said $2.20 for a macchiato, which I must say I was really impressed with, and he could have had a returning customer if the coffee had been even passable, for price alone. He then proceeded to charge me $2.80??? I was just confused, as usually it's DINE-In that is more expensive (and we won't mention that I then got less coffee than expected for the price???).

Then today, I looked again at a table menu, to check out their breakfasts, {as discussed yesterday I do love a good brekky}, and I noticed (having already paid) that I was charged $3, which I feel is overpriced for a small coffee, the large flat white I ordered at the same time was only $3.30 but the menu price for my coffee dine in was $2.50!

So that's a X against them there too.
The hunt continues.....

Happy New Year Y'all!

So I'm back at work

*sigh*

It's not all bad, I was kind of almost feeling ready to return. Is that weird? Over the weekend (where we did painfully little) I was sort of thinking, oh yes, work. Something to do during the day.
I had actually reached the point (mercifully after two/three days) where daytime TV was going to make me stab my eyes out. Who knew 7th Heaven continued to run after it went off Prime Time??? It left for the programming wasteland that is between 9 and 5, and had all its prominent actors grow up and leave for "better" things ("'s for the fact that...where are they now??? Jessica Biel? The boy? ).

9am "summertime" with David & Kim made me feel like throwing myself off the balcony, or at the very least scratching the tv until I had nothing but nubs, those two presenters are so VERY wooden it drove me to tears. I will say though it is refreshing to see an interviewer cry when faced with an emotional subject and Kimmy was very convincingly touched.

So I had some wonderful breakfasts and outings during my time off. I love going out for breakfast, it can be the best meal of the day I think. I love cafe coffee when its made well. Hey it just has to be made nicely usually, you know, just not crap. That's not really that hard is it?
As many of you know, I drink a version of a short coffee, a macchiato, as below. This one looks great actually. I like them best served in a small glass as you can appreciate how good the coffee looks, and you can see what you're getting. If they look cool, it will generally taste good too as they've taken the care. Essentially in a nut shell, a macchiato means "stain of milk" so the way it is made is a single shot of coffee, with a tiny dribble of textured ("frothed") milk, with a little dob of "foam" on top. The shot part is usually the same everywhere, its the milk part that varies.
Can you see those different parts in the one below?
Looks so yum!

So I've started back at work today, and I would usually have a coffee, first port of call.
My local cafe makes my coffee great, the owner is the barista and she makes great coffee.
Unfortunately though they're closed for a further two weeks for holidays and I will need to source my coffee elsewhere. So I tried another place, there's no shortage of coffee places where I work. This is what I recieved (In a "regular" size takeaway cup no less, which didn't score points for them, generally means they don't make short coffees)

Its hard to tell exactly how much coffee is in this cup, I couldn't find a great photo to demonstrate. But I'm fairly certain instead of a macchiato, I actually got a ristretto which is an entirely different beast!
A ristretto is a shot of coffee with like half the water or something, its a very strong and VERY little drink. And no milk! I ended up tipping it into an espresso cup I have at work, and it took up about 2cm in the bottom of the cup. Probably not even.

Not a good sign for the new year. :(

Cool coffee designs

Breakfast of Champions

Breakfast of Champions, originally uploaded by • w a a •.

Mmm Yum coffee

Protests shut Starbucks in Beijing's imperial palace

China's imperial palace has closed its Starbucks outlet following protests led by a state television personality against the American coffee chain's presence at a major Chinese cultural site.

The small outlet, a popular resting spot for visitors to the sprawling Forbidden City in central Beijing, closed yesterday afternoon, the Beijing Morning Post and other newspapers reported.

The Starbucks opened in 2000 at the invitation of palace managers, but critics said it was inappropriate for the site.

Palace managers offered Starbucks the option of continuing to operate as part of a combined coffeehouse with other brands but the Seattle-based company declined, the Post said.

AP - SMH July 14, 2007 - 2:58PM

Thank god for the freaks

It's been a bit of a freak drought here at my job. This blog used to be all about the freaks, and I'm taking it back there today. Here at work we've taken on 100 new Temps to take phone call enquiries for a particular Government initiative that has just been announced *nudge nudge*. As you can imagine, the sudden injection of 100 people of all races and ages who are available at short notice, are suitable for call centre work and don't need the benefit of a finishing date brings out the best in the candidate range. I'll just pick a few choice ones.

• The Really Deep Voice guy. This guy, literally sounds like he's taking the piss out of Barry White. He only looks about 20, but his voice makes him sounds like an Alabama Cotton Farmer sitting in a rocking chair on the porch (or would it be verandah?). Not that I've ever been to Alabama, and seen any old men in this position, but a bit of poetic license wouldn't kill you. Seriously though, his voice is amazingly deep. Annoyingly though, he always wants to talk to you. I'm sitting in the break room minding my own business, reading, as I normally do, and he walks in to make coffee---fine, normal normal, but then he says "I don't mean to bother you...." with an upward inflection like a question, hands out in a placating manner- But then, he doesn't say anything!! I'm looking at him, waiting for the next bit and it never comes! He always tries to strike up conversation, not in a "hey baby how you goin' " way, or a polite conversation way, just in a "hey you there-I'm interesting and quirky and let's chat!" way. Gah.

• Guy that reminds me of non-descript-loser-character-in-teen-movie-sans-glasses. There's this guy, bugs the hell out of me. Always says hi as he walks past (Oh you know the type, they're all hello, and hi...) I can't quite put my finger on why he irritates me so. I do know that a few days ago the CEO had a visitor waiting in Reception and he walked past and was like "hey, how's it goin" to him! I mean you just don't do that! You have your standard good-morning-ers, and they're fine, I like to think you earn your good morning priveledges though. You can't just go good morninging everyone, and these guys have only been here a week! A polite closed-lip smile suffices until you move along to a wider, "how are you with the eyes" smile, and then eventually you graduate to good morning or a hi, and eventually, a "how are you" verbally (which only certain people you actually listen to the response anyway-It's true!)

• All the people who don't know how to make coffee. It came to our attention that some of these newies were making their coffee incorrectly at the espresso machine. The system is thus- There's a small fridge with the milk near the machine, you take out a bottle of milk, dip the tw hoses into the bottle of milk, make your coffee, then put the milk bottle back in the fridge. Between coffee making, the milk hoses rest in a clear jug, somtimes with a bit of water in the bottom. The temps were pouring the milk into the jug of filth and then making their coffee!! EWWWW. I really didn't think the system looked that hard to follow.....

That's all the freaks for just now, might have more later. A few other work related funnies though.

The CEO walked into the dark boardroom (very infrequent-usually the PA does it) as he is obviously expecting guests. After pottering around a for a few minutes, he comes out again and says to me, "if anyone goes in there before 11 o'clock, tell them if they don't leave it exactly as it is now I'll kick them". LOL.

On the level above us they're carrying out works to refit the level for new tenants. As such there are all sort of weird banging noises and stuff all the time, the column near the water cooler even sounds like they're someone trapped in there sometimes hehehe. On that note, I'm sitting here blogging earlier, when the small cupboard that sits under my desk, that my leg leans up against, I feel this tapping from the inside. It felt exactly like there was some sort of small child I had locked in the cupboard and was knocking to be let out! Hahahaha. It was so funny and bizarre I rang Zogg right away! : )

No radio no coffee no nothing

Well this morning I'm bored beyond belief. My radio ran out of batteries at the beginning of the week and as the foyer is a secured area there is no ambient noise. We have security doors to get into any of the working areas, you need a swipe card. This prevents any noise of any volume escaping into reception and so it is deathly quiet. I rang our stationery lady to order new batteries and she forgot to bring them on Tuesday when she came. I hope she brings them today. She and Jess keep making oblique references to what exactly I require the batteries for, as if to imply I'm going to take them home and use in some sort of buzzing apparatus! Hahaha. Well I guess D's are the right size for that!

I really want a coffee and some raisin toast. My stomach feels like it is eating itself inside out. We have a cafe in our business park, but being on reception, and leaving one's desk and the switch unattended being
(as previously discussed at http://worksatisfaction.blogspot.com/ ) punishable by death, I am reliant upon someone else going down and being kind enough to get me something too. I had a really good system worked out where I would ask this guy to get them for me. But I couldn't see him this morning so I emailed him to ask if he was going down. His reposnse -

No sorry.... I would go to Simbi.. but I would have to catch
a train back to Berowra, get in my car, drive to north ryde, find a park.. and
then walk to simbi :)

hehehehehe

Nah.. I'm out at a client site
today so sorry.. I can't get your raisin toast :(

So major bummer. I asked another guy upstairs but he hasn't replied as yet other than to say that he will be going down there. So I am left hanging, and hungry! I am bored, hungry and I wanna be perky dammit!!!

*sigh* Its difficult to do one's job to one's expected personal standard when you can't even get a bloody COFFEE!!!!

Why do they Do this to me?

Stupid ppl 1)
Ok, So I rang Campbell's this afternoon because thats who we order all of our Kitchen supplies from, the coffee and sugar etc. We're completely out of Milo so its a bit dire. We've been waiting for them to fax us this thing all day, a quote so we can have it approved and all so they can deliver it. After ringing them a few times today, they still haven't faxed it to us, but Amy assures me that the guy isn't there right now but we'll have a fax by 4. This is at 2.30. At 4.30 I ring and Amy is on the phone so I talk to a woman called Elisa who obviously doesn't speak a whole lot of English, and she tells me that "Eddie" didn't come back, he must have been stuck in traffic so just didn't come back to work! Now why can't I do that? Gah! So I ask if someone else can do it but no, Eddie's the only one who knows how to do it! Now how retarded is that! If he falls over dead tomorrow no one can do his job apparently! The sheer stupidity of the situation is what I then tried to impress upon Elisa, that maybe they need to rethink this system. She just didn't understand me.

2) I have been battling with Australian Air Express because they keep forgetting to log our pick-ups properly when they need to be picked up from an external location and brought back to us. Of course it would help it everything ran properly on our end......

A week and a half ago I logged a job on Friday for Pickup that afternoon. It didn't get picked up. Monday morning they(client) ring and say
'It's still sitting here',
so I ring AAE again and say, hey that hasn't been picked up. They relog it for pickup that day. The next day They(client) ring in the afternoon and say to me
"Whoops! The driver showed up and someone told him there was nothing here for him so he left!"
Bloody big Whoops!
So can I please re-log it. I ring them, yep pick up tomorrow. This is Thursday. Today Wednesday, someone emails me and says,
"Did that job get logged in again?"
Like I'm an idiot.
So I say "Why, yes yes it did",
in my most pleasant tone.
A few hours later client calls-
"Whoops! We did it again! The driver left without the package! Can you rebook it?"
Which of course begs the Q, Why do they do this to me!?