Loyalty: The two way street

Kerry Packer on loyalty:

"I believe you offer loyalty to everyone, which is not as big a strain as it sounds, because very few people pick it up."

And in my own words:

"I love you, but if you're making plans that don't include me, please don't be hurt or surprised if I happen to be making plans that don't include you"

And I only have a few instances in my life that my loyalty has been reciprocated.

And that's fine. But I love it when my faith in humanity is rewarded.

Dollar Shave Club: Back to Quality

The definition of quality is about consistency of delivery.  I liked that when I got my blades each month I also got a business card with the Dad joke on it.

It wasn't any big deal but I became used to it. A few months ago to dad jokes stopped. That was a lapse in quality. I'm pleased to announce that the dad jokes have returned.

Outstanding women

I don't follow AFL and I haven't seen in AFLW game. But I am in awe of these amazing women - Aussie Rules is a tough game and I love to see when people excel in the toughest of endeavours.

Breaking Bad (Spoiler): "I did it for me"

The only time in the whole series where the asshole was honest with his wife and himself. He'd do the most horrible things to just about everyone - and all the time thought he was doing it for the family:

Thinking is difficult...

I can't help but agree:

I have so many thoughts that I just keep to myself because I don't trust the people around me to come to the table with an open mind.

Coopers: When you have friends at a party who don't get along

Tom Richardson just called me, and one can never be sure of how one's words will end up in the press. So in advance of InDaily I probably need to say what I think about Coopers and a recent video that the bible society put together.

The video had two Liberal MPs politely discussing Same Sex Marriage, one being for and one against, drinking light beer and the message being "keep it light".

The intent of the message (that we can disagree but remain friends) never resonated - the video was seen as Coopers taking sides in the debate. Unfortunately.

As soon as Coopers was seen as taking a side they were in trouble. Just as when you have friends at a party who don't get along, nothing good can come from taking a side.

For a consumer goods company, it rarely makes sense to enhance your appeal to segment A by grossly offending segment B. Recall the lamb ad, where the SWAT team burst into a vegan's house and destroyed his Kale dinner. The upside of a giggle from the meat eaters was not worth the pain of hurting the feelings of the vegetarians.

I repeat that I don't think Coopers was taking a side on the SSM debate but in consumer goods, a breadth of appeal is very important. And it's what people think you're doing that matters.

UPDATE: InDaily were almost true to my thoughts.

Message to Coles: I drove an extra few kilometres for self service checkouts

I've said how I hate to do people first thing in the morning. So a self service checkout is not purely about service efficiency but also about what I like.

On an early morning run the closest supermarket to me is a Coles. The second closest is a Coles. But my experience has been that Coles do not open their self service checkouts early in the morning. Coles seem to think that self service checkouts are purely for managing volume.

So I had to drive to Woolies.

What if tomorrow is cancer?

I have known more than a few people who have had their employment terminated abruptly - like "pack your shit up and get out of here". I've also known others who through incident or illness have had their lives cut tragically short - like "three weeks from now you won't be alive". I've fist pumped people in the last 20 minutes of their life, with no idea they were.

The one thing that all those people shared - without exception - was a total certainty that this was just another day. That life as it was for them was going to continue without any interruption.

If they knew it was all to end so soon I wonder what they would have done more of? Walk the dog a little more, kick the footy with the kids, had sex that few extra times - a few more skydives?

If you knew that tomorrow was a cancer diagnosis then what would you do today? And why not do it while you still have your health and your life?

Singapore city where everything is a landscape

Down there we see the Singapore River wind its way up to the sea. But the green in front of Riverside Point was trashy, sloppy mud land about four months ago when I was here.

Sure it's pretty now but it does give me the sense that everything is artificial. Perhaps that is a positive - just the way they like it. Perhaps you can't turn a swamp into the business centre of South Asia with doing it that way.

The difference between inconsiderate and plain rude

If I had a choice I would choose to be rude before inconsiderate anytime.

A person who dawdles in a narrow hallway, one who stands vaguely at the buffet with 20 people behind them, or does a balance check three withdrawals and four PIN tries at an ATM. Inconsiderate. Just living life in their own bubble with no awareness (or concern) that others are trying to go about their own life as well.

And, when I loudly proclaim "coming through" or "let's go - serve up and move on", or "there are six people waiting to use this ATM can you please finish up?" I'm being rude.

There's a certain rudeness that comes from knowing what you're on about, and a different rudeness that comes when you're clueless.

The second is mostly regarded as benign - "they're harmless" - but I feel that inconsiderate people are way worse than the rude ones.

But that's probably just because I'm the cringemaster. Thanks - kids - for the title.

Live life up to the last gasp: Strong advice from a man I hate

OK, a fictional man:

"Never give up control. Live life on your own terms. One of these times, hell, maybe even today - I'm going to hear some bad news. But until then, who's in charge? Me. That's how I live my life."

One day it could be all over. Job, house, life. It's the reality we all live with but few of us recognise. Working the system requires keeping an eye on the future but being able to say that "ïf it all ends tomorrow I scored as many runs as I could in the time I had"

And it (mildly) irks me that one of the worst characters in history makes the point so well, as he is getting a test to see if his cancer is still in remission. I despise Walter White.

I like Hank Schrader

Almost as much as I detest Walter White. A good man, blinded by his love for his brother in law. A tragic hero. My type of hero.