Sideswipe

Farmers Ad: Shave while you sweep?

Opinion

A reader writes: "Working in a bookshop a while back (not naming anyone but a large national chain with a high turnover of staff), a staff member came to me for help. She took me to the Cooking section, where a customer was looking just a tad exasperated. 'I can't find it, but the customer is sure we'll have it,' I was told on my way. 'What book?' I asked. 'The Gingerbread Man,' was the reply."

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Top 15 trademe (link below) searches last month:

1 Von Dutch
2 Playboy clothing
3 iPod
4 Rx7
5 Holden (right)
6 Nike
7 Xbox
8 Sunglasses
9 Roxy
10 Evo
11 Mp3
12 Nokia
13 Bratz
14 Digital camera
15 Kayak

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Three ticket clerks from the waterfront, Elizabeth Meadowcroft (BA), Vannessa Lightfoot (BSc), and Marie Ockleford (BDes), have taken "great offence" at the Sideswipe reader who implied, tongue in cheek, that the ticket clerks who refused his daughter a student fare with her Otago University ID did not realise Otago was part of New Zealand. They write: "Firstly, there is no such thing as a student fare to Devonport and we do not appreciate the tone in which Graeme Martin implies that the ticket clerk (which could easily have been one of us) is stupid and doesn't know New Zealand geography. We can safely say that all ticket clerks in this area are fully aware of the existence of Otago, and Otago University. All of us are even studying at universities ourselves.We would appreciate an apology for this implication." Lighten up, ladies.

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And, more helpfully, a reader named Chris explains: "Fullers don't allow university students to just walk up and present their student IDs like the bus service. If you want student prices you have to fill out a form and get your university provider to sign it to confirm that you are a fulltime student. Then Fullers gives you permission to get student prices. They are very, very strict on giving out student prices and they obviously don't want to let anybody get away with getting a cheaper fare. A one-way fare can be very expensive, say $4.70 from city to Bayswater, a two-way $9 and adult 10-trip $32, but then a student is only $4.40 one way - still expensive but a 10-trip is $24, a huge saving and much, much cheaper than the bus."

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Reg Nicholson from Hamilton reckons the news story a few days ago about a lot of hens suddenly appearing will probably be up for a pullet surprise.