Patrick Bateman

Thumbs up!

What the hell? You penis.

I realise that last post is littered with typo errors, I was typing/ranting too quickly to proof-read my typos!

I have to say, customer service in this country simply is dreadful, from call centres to shops. That program on C4 last night was brilliant and sums up my experience when I go in to most high street shops. I already do (as I'm a miserable, grumpy, impatient old git) exactly what she said and it normally ends in my dumping what I was going to purchase in the middle of the shop and leaving. If they can't be bothered to show some politeness and common sense, then I can't be bothered to spend my money there. It's not difficult. But then on the program last night, the Manager bloke summed it up; he wasn't bothered either! His training was rubbish, he didn't show his face, the shops looking in need of repair so just how nice is that to work with? He suggested that they were "no worse" than other shops, which is another issue, people are generally too lazy to raise the bar and exceed customer expectations. Waitrose are a great example. You ask nicely if the assistant knows where an item is, not only does that assistant tell you, they take you to the item and then ask if they can help with anything else (sadly I used to work in Hythe Waitrose 20 years ago whilst at college). Go in to Tesco or Asda and you get a grunt as they try to run you over with their goods cages and a begrudging (try aisle 3). Shocking. As for call centres, I don't like phoning overseas call centres when it's to do with something UK-based, i.e. TV, phone, mobile etc as a lot of the time, the staff their don't have first hand experience or access to the right systems (especially for TV) and that's what makes it hard. Also, especially Indian workers are very efficient and are more likely to stick to a "call script" during the call, which can be annoying for those of us who know what we're talking about. But I have to say, I don't find understanding overseas call centres any more difficult that getting through to one in Glasgow or Liverpool! At my last place of work, I was studying business process improvements, so listened in on thousands of customer calls. It has to be said, quite a large portion of the public who phone in are complete d*cks. They start of rude and swearing, are hard to understand sometimes, expect instant resolution and don't explain the problem properly. That means by the time those of us (obviously everyone on this thread) phone in, the agent on the phone is probably a bit p*ssed off, expecting more abuse and generally itching to get home. Some agents I (remotely) listened to at said company weren't good and polite though. Anyway, generally I'd agree that customer service is getting worse and a few people need to raise the bar and start pulling their fingers out.

You are absolutely obsessed with politics!! Which is no bad thing, but why not stand for an election one day as you are obviously passionate about it?

Totally agree mate, as brilliant as Alex is, he's being brilliant at League 1 and has not been scoring week in, week out, in the Premier League for a good number of years now.

Obviously I don't want people to lose their jobs, but cutting senior management and renegotiating contracts is always going to be a winner with the public. It's a shame it has to get to that level before people take action, bit everywhere is the same, especially in the private sector. Companies inplement a recruitment freeze, then fill up on a shed load of contract staff. Generally, people/management need to PLAN better, well in advance.

July probably wouldn't be the best time to go, it'll probably rain more days than is sunny, if you want to go to the Maldives, go from October to end of April, maybe May. June to September are rubbish in comparison, weather wise. There are many nice islands to choose from, some more busy than others. Last time I went, I stayed at Cocoa Island which had less than 30 "rooms" (they are all Dhonis, over the sea) and it was very very very quiet, bliss: www.cocoaisland.como.bz/

No, because most of us don't have time to wade through pages and pages of posts so have no idea if it's been posted or not. Thread Police.

As good an idea as it is, they wouldn't have got away with. You dictate the bonus of one paricular, small group of people without affecting others. As Pancake said, what about all the hard grafters at the banks who keep it ticking over daily, in IT and the customer facing staff. Should they be limited to £2k as well? What if the "bankers" appealled and the Judge then said that for this rule to apply, no one would get a bonus of more than £2k? Just hypothetically speaking mind. Great idea, but flawed. And yes, it does annoy me that my bonus is halved. But what can I do? Not a lot.

I know it's all bluster and speculation anyway, but the bit in bold makes me a little bit cross. I wouldn't really put him in this bracket, raw talent and moulding?? Surely someone like Kenwyne Jones more fits that category - i.e. discovered when older and turned in to a decent footballer? Ah well, pretty sure he'll be here next season, well, hope so anyway - fed up with losing decent young players so early in recent years, however, I guess it's an indication of where we are now in the footballing ladder. Like it or not, we're still 3rd div currently.

He might be a local lad and an ex-Saint, but I really don't feel "sorry" for him. He's played a lot of top-flight football, earned a shed load of cash which will see him through comfortably until death, if it's been invested and not spoofed on material rubbish. There's nothing wrong with competition either! Good luck to him if he goes to Villa, would rather he was here, but that's not going to happen in the next year or so is it really? Certainly never on those wages!!

No it's not. Man United fans sang it for Ronaldo. Credit to Man Utd's away fans, they do come up with some genuinely original songs.

Very subjective. I'm sure he hasn't murdered anyone, but then Dune probably hasn't either.

Well if he just shut up and stopped politically stirring, he presumably wouldn't get rubbish thrown back at him. I mean; " In 2001 he set up a website to encourage tactical voting to oust Tory MPs in South and West Dorset. More recently he has taken a stand against bankers' bonuses by refusing to pay taxes in protest. " What a tool.

I actually feel very sorry for Liverpool fans, would far rather they won the prem than the Manchester teams, or even Chelsea. Arsenal I don't mind watching, they looked awesome last night (on the TV). Don't think Liverpool will go down, but I wouldn't mind a fiver on Villa to go, would be a shocker as they are, or rather, should be, an absolutely massive club!!

hahaha, we all have those in the office!!

It's a simple fact that some players fit in at other teams with the players, staff and fans. Some players won't do well at Saints, some do. Look at Kevin Davies and his first spell with Saints and then his Blackburn spell? Saints could sign the striker with the best goal-scoring record in the Prem, but is he doesn't settle and doesn't gel with the staff, he'd be sh*t. I also think that maturity has a lot to do with it. Best wasn't brilliant at Saints and wanted out, whether that's because he hadn't settled, thought he was bigger than were Saints were in the league or a mixture of both, he wasn't right. Fair play to him for now scoring a hattrick in the Prem - but doesn't mean he'd settle and do it here. He may well do, but we're not going to find out, so it's a pointless argument. Ahem. Grump.

This thread is funny, looks like we all have some minor OCDs, but obvioulsy nothing that interrupts with our daily lives like some people! I do things in 4s; check the front / car handles Stereo in car / at home etc has to be on even numbers Items can't touch on the dinner table and should be in alignment The toilet roll has to be on the right way round I get cross about toothpaste tubes not being squeezed at the bottom and so on!

The gimp from Pulp Fiction??

I couldn't give a stuff about the takeover mess, what happened happened and we ended up with a great owner and a good chairman (when other football chairman are considered). So no complaints from me. Anyway; I'm currently reading this book, is a really good read, but only because I'm a Saints fan. I don't think non-Saints fans would necessarily read it. Before that, I read Roy Keane's book, which was absolutely superb, one of the best autobiographies I've ever read - really well put together, great stories and you do end up liking the guy a bit!! Also, there were less grammar errors than in Matt's book ... !! But, it is a good book, really interesting and I'm enjoying it. It's good to read how he felt about the various managers, especially Branfoot.

Fkkn PMSL u r so funE hun, fkkn luv wot ure sayn LMAO xoxox bet ure havin a gud nite xoxox

Boring pr*ck.

Sorry mate, that's a f**king disgusting thing to say. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Any reason you can't bloody search for it yourself? http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&expIds=17259,27585&xhr=t&q=walsall+fc+undersoil+heating&cp=28&pf=p&sclient=psy&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=walsall+fc+undersoil+heating&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=64956a2742cae788 http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=walsall+fc+away+fans+guide&aq=0v&aqi=g-v1g-o1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=64956a2742cae788 'kin hell!