Fire and Ice

A week after my gamesmaker orientation event in Wembley I had to be back in Hackney for Module 2 in my role-specific training. This time I had to be there so early that I actually woke up at 6am on a Sunday morning to be able to get there on time… but yet again public transport let me down. A combination of points and signals failure meant that once more I had to race through the streets of Hackney to get to the venue for my training.  I hate being late for things, grrr. Anyway, this last module was the most practical one to date. No more introductions, no more generalizations or broad strategic views. This was it – a very clear view of what our role would entail as well as an in-depth view at the concept of ‘hosting’. This I found particularly interesting, the whole hosting thing. It is basically a term that means that as gamesmakers, we are the hosts for the games and as such, we have some guidelines to follow to ensure that we are being good hosts. There even is...

It wasn’t that long ago that I got myself a new mobile . After a while of trying to learn how to use it, I finally got it and actually quite like it – especially the fact that I can browse my Facebook while on the move. It does have some annoyances (mainly that some features are hidden or under strange menus so I can never find them again) but in the whole it’s a pretty cool phone. But yesterday out of the blue the phone stopped working: it wouldn’t make or receive calls. At first I thought that it may have somehow lost some settings but after a while studying the O2 site and my phone’s instructions, I was none the wiser. I even got myself into a crappy mood because I hate it when things don’t work and I can’t fix them. Today I decided to take it to the shop. I mean, the phone is an O2 phone, bought from an O2 shop and I’ve been an O2 customer for, like, ever so surely they could help me? Boy was I wrong! I’d totally forgotten that I live in the UK and the customer is hardly ...

Something that really, really irritates me is the way clerks here in the UK throw all your change, receipt, cards and anything else back to you in one disorganized pile which they place in one of your hands. I then have to spend a few seconds checking the change myself (because they never ever count it back!!), placing the receipt in the bag with the shopping, the plastic card in its place in my wallet and the change in a separate place. It’s particularly irritating when they hang on to the card even when they don’t need it anymore, just to make sure that it all is returned to you in one huge, messy pile. ARGH! I love the way Americans do it: count the change back, place the receipt in the bag for you and give you back the plastic cards separately, making sure you have enough time to put it all back away. This means that I actually spend less time at their desk because I have time to sort it all out before I walk away. Is it THAT difficult for UK businesses to implement this? It is SO ...