Do as we say ... not as we do

FROM MY CORNER .... with Ann Brunswick

Three years ago a colleague registered a business name with the state government's Office of Fair Trading for a hobby-based enterprise he wanted to develop. The registration period of three years expired in mid-June, so in May he sent off a cheque to keep the name for a further three years.

But months later, no receipt or acknowledgement of having received the payment had been sent to him by the OFT people. So, he checked his bank statements and found the cheque had been cashed in early June.
So, last week he dropped into the state government's service centre in the CBD to ask if his payment had been recorded and to make sure his business name was still registered. A few clicks of the keyboard by the very helpful woman behind the counter soon turned up the fact that his payment had indeed been received by the OFT.
"But I didn't get a receipt or a new certificate saying the name had been registered for another three years," he stated. The very helpful woman's response stunned him. "Oh, the OFT doesn't send receipts or new certificates," she informed him.
Well this was odd news to my colleague, given the OFT is the agency overseeing consumer rights in our state. Plus, a quick glance at its website reveals the following advice: "Businesses must supply you with proof of transaction (a receipt) for goods or services valued at $75 or more. Examples include a GST tax invoice, a cash register receipt or a receipt number provided for a telephone or internet transaction."
It goes onto say if they do not, you have the right to ask and receive one within certain time frames. My colleague had paid more than $200 to renew his business name, so he felt that perhaps the body giving such advice might actually follow it and issue receipts or renewal certificates when they are paid for.

***

Remember Tony Blair? He was British Labour Party PM for a decade from 1997 and will be remembered mostly as a compliant performing poodle to former US president and failed military strategist George W Bush.

Now as an unconvicted war criminal, Blair spends his time globetrotting and being paid lots of money to make unrevealing speeches to big rooms full of big wallets. He is also paid as a Middle East peace envoy, and his and Bush's record in Iraq must have been overlooked on his CV when they chose him for that one.
Anyway, enough of my spleen. Blair was in Sydney recently giving one of his fatuous, self-serving speeches to an audience that included one of our former PM's, Bob Hawke.
In his speech Blair made reference to a remark made at the lunch table by Hawke, now almost 82. Apparently Blair had asked Hawke what kept him looking so fit. "Sex," the Silver Bodgie replied, according to Blair. Pleeeeeeeease Bob. Too much information.
Having of late regularly been subjected to sights of Hawke puckering up to much, much younger women when on the campaign trail in the past year at the federal and NSW polls. One thing we do not need to live with is the image of Hawkie and Blanche in the throes of passion.
Hawke was once regarded as a sex symbol, especially in his younger, hard-drinking years. From all reports his reputation as a ladies' man was well deserved. But at 80-plus it is perhaps time for him to call in quits on that image, don't you?

***

This column has previously complained about the high cost of those microscopic ink cartridges used in home printers. Recently my latest printer ran out of ink in three of its four cartridges.

So, lucky me, there was a generic brand of cartridges in my cupboard that were purchased for when my brand-name ink cartridges ran dry. Well, it was a good plan to start with.
What I had not counted on was the sneakiness of IT hardware makers these day, especially those peddling printers that cost less than $100 but whose brand-name ink cartridges cost almost as much to replace.
You see, the current brand of printer sitting on my home desk has little electronic chips on each of its cartridges. They tell the printer that the right brand of cartridge (ie: the really expensive ones made by the people who make the cheap printer) are installed.
On opening the box of generic cartridges, which incidentally cost around $60 compared with almost $100 for the brand-name ones, it at first seemed this problem had been foreseen. The generic cartridges came with a little plastic tool for prising off the chips from the brand-name ones, plus instructions on how to do the job, and a little plastic glove to use when doing it.
Well it worked a treat until the printer went on strike and refused to recognise what it clearly thought were imposter cartridges. So not only did I spend $60 on the unusable generic cartridges, the next day saw me visiting the stationery store again and forking out close to $100 with little change for brand-name cartridges.
Technology – and those who profit from it – wins again.