KEY POINTS:
A sign outside the Waipu Cove store on Saturday. Let's hope the vendors are planning to leave town.
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Garry Owen's comments that the donkey/John Key problem could be solved by opening one's lips is not quite right, says Nicky. "Neither word can be pronounced with
the lips closed; rather the letters 'd' and 'j' are each formed by pressing the correct part of the tongue to the correct part of the palate, with the openness of the lips of no relevance beyond their being parted enough to allow for the expiration of breath. What really separates these two words is syllabic emphasis: the words should, in the correct context, be pronounced 'DON-key' and 'John KEY', hence why, when repeating the one over and over, it can be heard to sound like the other. Case closed yet?" Yes, please!
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A reader writes: "I had to laugh when I saw that KFC Birkenhead is open on Christmas Day. Oh, festive joy. I wonder if they will have a special Kentucky Fried Turkey? You're in for a treat this year, kids, because we're going out for Christmas dinner. Saves on the washing up, I suppose."
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Three encounters in the past two weeks have reminded Tony Waring from Titirangi to always complain when things aren't right, and that frontline staff often do a great job of solving stupid head office policies:
* "The National Bank charged me $20 for my cheque account being in overdraft by $300 for a day and a half when more than $6000 was sitting in other accounts. I complained by email and my branch manager refunded the $20 and set up an overdraft facility to make sure it didn't happen again.
* "The guitar controller on my son's new Guitar Hero PlayStation game broke down after a couple of hours. Instructions in the box said to fill out an online form and take the component back to the retailer, who would send it away for assessment, and in two weeks it would be replaced or repaired. At JB Hifi, while two pleasant assistants and finally a manager wrestled with the complexities of the return process, I dropped into the conversation, 'Of course, in the good old days when you bought something new and it didn't work, they gave you another one straight away.' The exasperated manager said I was quite right and sent an assistant to break open a box and give me a new guitar controller.
* "I saw a Noel Leeming ad for a cellphone that seemed a good deal, so on Friday I bought one for $130. The next morning the same chain advertised my phone for $100. Buying something at the regular price one day and then seeing it go on sale the next is just bad luck. But to advertise a special deal on an item one day and then even lower two days later is not keeping good faith with the first crop of customers. Thinking I would have to take this battle to the top, I was pleasantly surprised when the store assistant agreed with me immediately and refunded $30."
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Today's Webpick: How advertisers market cars to the ladies. Watch them here.
These are the very best online videos from Ana's online magazine Spare Room.