A couple of months ago I got caught going 73 in a 50km/h zone, on Neilson St at 11pm, declares Jess. "The cop told me he was out looking for boy racers. Being female and driving a 90s Toyota Corolla, I didn't fit the bill so I asked for a warning. That request resulted in a long spiel about warnings not teaching a lesson, etc. He then comes back to me with my ticket, and discounts my speed down to 60km/h to decrease my fine and demerit points. Instead of not receiving my lesson from a warning, I learned how willing New Zealand cops are to lie for the sake of pretty young women."
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My daughter was driving back from Te Kuiti to Otorohanga when she spotted a little car travelling what she thought was very carefully, keeping hard left most of the way, writes Dianne. "As she drove up closer behind the tiny car, she noticed that the occupants were two elderly ladies chuckling hard out. She also noticed the driver was deliberately travelling on the ripple strips and enjoying the sensation!"
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Clare from Auckland thought it very kind of Onecard Foodtown to send her husband three panty-liners last weekend. "One would have thought that Libra Sanitary Products would have targeted their customer database a little more accurately?!"
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Real estate agents cruising death notices; now ambulance chasing: "Fifteen years ago my mother was knocked down and killed outside her Mt Roskill home of 50 years," writes Anne. "After her funeral I arrived back at my home to the phone ringing. The woman introduced herself as a local real estate agent. She said she was very keen to buy Mum's house. I was stunned. A few days later, when I was more composed, I rang the manager of her firm and she was made to write and apologise."
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More opportunism: A volunteer firefighter from the Bay of Plenty writes: "After attending a fire in which a house was totally destroyed, I returned to work at a local architect. My boss suggested I write the owners a letter sympathising with their loss and suggesting they contact us if they wished for us to design them a new house. I was appalled. He tried to explain that it was commonplace for real estate agents to contact fire victims to try to sell them a new house ..."
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Today's Webpick: Babies, is a documentary which simultaneously follows four new human beings from around the world – from first breath to first steps. From Mongolia to Namibia to San Francisco to Tokyo. Go here and watch the trailer.
Follow Ana Samways on Twitter
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View today's Herald cartoon