EXPERIENCE EXPOSES 'LUNACY'
I went to buy a book a couple of days ago but was forbidden to pay for it at the counter.
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I had mused over their large table of books, boxed jigsaw puzzles and kiddie "science" kits whereby you can make plaster volcanoes spit out a lava-like froth which (the table, not the lava) dominates the mall walkway at store-front.
I thumbed a few titles on the remainders table that blocks most of their doorway and did the same inside, taking down books and having a quick peruse before replacement.
Apparently, all that was fine and dandy, but when I offered to pay for my choice (it was Moby Dick stickybeaks) I was not allowed to pay because I don't own a mobile and I'd left my paper copy of my vaccination record certificate at home.
That last, I admit sheepishly, was partly deliberate - I have a morbid fear that my A4 piece of paper, after continued pawing, folding, and refolding will come to resemble the Dead Sea scrolls or perhaps some unfortunate patient from the TV show Botched - hanging together but only just.
I want it to retain its pristine state in case I ever really need it.
That's irrelevant anyway - a burly bouncer should have prevented my entry in the first place and hunted me away from the mall-aisle display if any of this is to make sense; instead, I was able to do whatever I liked except hand-over cash and depart with a book. Go figure.
This is lunacy writ large in the management of our everyday lives and it's not just about one shop or one poor assistant to whom I was as nice as I've ever been to anyone so obviously plopped into the ejector seat of a helicopter by her employer.
I bought Barnaby Rudge two days later at the bookshop in the main street, no questions asked.
Robert T Walker, Wagga
TIME TO STAND UP AND BE COUNTED
Just a few thoughts.
Australia desperately needs a prime minister of Tony Abbott's calibre and America needs to resurrect Donald Trump.
Like these men or not, they know how to run things.
Add Peta Credlin to Tony Abbott and you have a great working combination.
Donald Trump ran America like the businessman he is.
Tony Abbott is a very compassionate man and a little TLC right now is what any nation would want to embrace.
His abilities as a PM previously gave us a taste of what orderly and honest leadership entailed, which is what Australian people cherished along with other favourable PMs.
Take for example Bob Hawke, considered the "Aussie larrikin".
John Howard never wavered - stern as they come - he too endeared himself to the people.
Then we had Ben Chifley, a very likeable, caring leader along with the very conservative Liberal man Robert Menzies, who was creative with a brilliant mind.
There are so many of them who contributed to our nation in their own special way.
However, today things are different and one thing in particular the majority of the people are noticing is the lack of will to stand up and be counted despite the backlash.
It's a sorry state of affairs.
The only shining light is Mark Latham, leader of One Nation in NSW.
Perhaps it's his turn to shine.
Yvonne Rance, Griffith
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