4 February 2010 (Thursday) - Commercial Acumen?

Up with the lark (as usual), and after a quick episode of BattleStar Galactica (I’m now half way through season three) I set off to Tesco. Among other things, I needed a shoe polishing brush. I found the polish, but couldn’t see any brushes, so I asked a employee who was fiddling with a till. (Note I use the word “employee” and not “assistant”). I asked if they had brushes. She didn’t even turn her head when she brushed me off with a curt ”no!”. As she snarled her reply, so I saw the brushes I was looking for.

I shall go to Asda tomorrow.

And so to work, where I was asked to show round some visitors from a private healthcare establishment. Now this seemed odd to me. I’m sure that Sainsbury’s wouldn’t welcome a contingent from Waitrose and show them round. Let alone give them an in-depth spiel on their business practice. But what do I know? I must admit I’m feeling rather negative about work at the moment, and so I am likening myself to the biblical centurion – I am merely a man subject to higher authority.

And then we had a tidy up. Apparently we are getting a VIP visitor next week. That will be nice. I expect I will be giving my loyal readers updates on this as time goes by. In the meantime, let’s just say that I was surprised to find that this particular VIP is still alive. I thought he’d croaked a few years ago.

In between tidying and giving away commercially sensitive information we posed for photos. One of our number is speaking at a scientific symposium next week, and photos are always good at these sorts of thing. Especially if you are considering a career with International Rescue.

And then home again to hear some very odd noises and giggling. “My Boy ^TM ” had found his old yo-yo, and was up to his old tricks with it. I can remember him being particularly talented with it in his youth. A talent I never shared.

I blogged a few weeks ago about “Beer in the Evening” - what was once a wonderful website is now in ruins. There are errors and inaccuracies on Beer in the Evening that have been there for years. There is one (the duplication of St Leonards in Sussex) that I reported over two years ago that is still awaiting correction. I and so many other people have offered to give the bloke an hour of our time, unpaid, every evening to put right the mistakes and to clear the backlog of pubs waiting to be added. (A backlog of suggestions going back to November 2007)

This evening I had a look on the forum on Beer in the Evening. For all that I’ve been a firm advocate of that website, I’ve never really used the forum that much. Sadly it has been all but destroyed by concerted trolling action. There is a protected “regulars” section which isn’t open to the hoi-polloi, and finally the absentee owner of the site has deigned to make an appearance. The owner appeared to tell his critics to shut up. He is adamant that he doesn’t want any help, and was rather rude in his dismissal of such offers.

Oh well, it’s ultimately his loss. It seems an odd way to run a business. If someone who has been contributing to your commercial success for years offers to work on a more regular basis for free, wouldn’t anyone with commercial acumen take them up on the offer?