Me: Morning. I’m just calling to check that you have received a facsimile from me this morning.

Him: Right. Well if it’s been sent this morning it won’t have been recorded on our system just yet.  You’ll need to call back

Me: Could you give me an idea of how much time you need to record it’s arrival?  When should I call back.

Him: Well, a fax is treated like a piece of mail so it will have been picked up and placed with the mail to be distributed to the correct department.  As you can imagine we receive a lot of post and so I Would expect that your fax will be sorted and recorded in about a week.

Me: A WEEK!!? Well. As I have received a rather threatening letter which contains threats which are actionable in less than 7 days I am a little concerned that it will take that long for you to acknowledge my actions today. Am i to understand that you are so overwhelmed with post that that threat was completely empty and unnecessary? I want you to record on the system that I have called to say I have faxed it please.

Him: Yes I can do that for you.

Me: What will happen once they do receive it? Will i get written notification that you have processed the form and that nothing further is required?

Him: Once it is processed a note will go on the system.

Me: Yes but will I get a letter confirming that you have everything you need and no further action is required?

Him: No. Not usually.

Me: Right well that concerns me further. Is there any way I can request some form of communication that this has happened?

Him: You can call back in a week?

Me: No. I’m in Australia and I’d like it in writing.

Him: Ok madam. I’ll diarise that (Noun into verb there!) and ask someone from communications to write to you.

SIGH!

They need a business analyst FAST!!!  DEAR GOD!

To be fair this guy was actually a little bit more helpful.  He even apologised that the last set of forms hadn’t gone too well – Much better at customer service even if he is working for a poorly organised mad house!

Yesterday was rather a busy one!

The morning involved catching a couple of buses up to Port Adelaide to get my drivers license renewed and my name changed from Clarke to Woodward. That went without a hitch and we managed to do that so fast that were also able to go to “Customs House” to collect the illegal contraband that Matt had tried to sneak into Australia.

Protecting Austrlia's Borders

That’s right Jeremy, we went behind the doors of Adelaide’s border security.  We stepped inside Customs House and through border that is so well protected by our Australian Border Control.  LOL.  I even remarked to Matt about how exciting the whole experience would have been for you.  You see, for those of you who don’t know, Matt decided to import some foam nunchucks that were given to him by his Karate instructor when he got his black belt.  Now, these are harmless.  Totally harmless but, he declared them on the form like a good boy and as a result they were seized.  Matt had to be accompanied to the local post-office by a Custom’s officer whilst he wrote the address of the sorting office where his dad works and paid for the postage for them to make their way back to the U.K..  Once they were safely behind the Post Office counter we were left to our own devices.

As it was lunchtime we headed to the river (which usually contains a couple of dolphins) and stuffed ourselves silly on pancakes. We couldn’t stay too long though, i had a meeting at 2pm.

My meeting was over quickly so i decided to call Thebarton (where I used to work before) to speak to the principal. I think the second sentence that came out of his mouth was do you have your paperwork to teach and is it all up to date.  Apparently, there isn’t a job at the moment, but their will be once i get that too him (yay!).  I told him I’d check it all out and send it all over to him.

I call DECS and discover there’s no problem there, i just need to fill in a long form and wait an hour or so.  I check my registration to the South Australian teaching board and discover that it ran out yesterday! I’m not allowed to teach without being registered.  In my naivety I thought that a simple renewal would be similar to a renewal to the GTC in England.  Pay your money ($200) and regain membership.  I called them up and discovered that if I didn’t get myself down to their office with all my documentation, my passport, marriage certificate, certificates of first aid etc by 5pm (2 hours away) so that I could complete a form… i wouldn’t be able to teach this YEAR!  OMG!

I did make it and It’s all OK but that was a little stressful! Imagine if I’d have left it just one more day before calling Thebby… I’d have been stuffed! or else would have had to pull something amazing to sort it all out!  As it stands, i should be ok to teach now. I just have to wait for all the bits of paper to come through so I can present them at the college and start work.

I remembered though, that Mum had mentioned a rather rude letter from the student Loan’s company that had arrived addressed to me at her home.  I told this “company” that I was leaving the country in July 09.  I believe I commented, on the phone, that I was given them 6 month to sort it all out as they messed it all up last time.  I was assured that this would not occur again.  Hmmmm..

Despite having called, told them I was leaving, asking what I needed to do to make sure that it all went smoothly, filling in and having signed off a whole heap of forms and sending them off in September, I still recieved a letter informing me that I had left the country without telling them or completing a form.  As such, if I didn’t reply within 14 days they would fine me over £100 then they would attempt to look for me and if they found me would take me to court…!!  CHEEKY SWINES!

I was very annoyed when my mum was panicing on the end of the phone as a result of their stupitity.  I decided to call and ask to speak to the gentleman who wrote me the letter, A Mr Kevin O’Connor.  There was a moment of silence on the end of the phone and then I was told that that wouldn’t be possible.  When I enquired as to why not I was told that he didn’t do calls, that his name just goes out on all letters but that it wasn’t expected that anyone would respond to him…….  Now… this  may be basic letter writing but if someone puts their name on a letter then I’m going to assume that they are taking responsibility for it’s contents.  If its contents offend me I need to speak to the person who signed it and find out what went wrong.  I, quite frankly, am owed an appology.

Unfortunately, during this conversation I found out the following rather conflicting informations:

• I hadn’t told RTL I was leaving… I’d told an advisor
• All the advisors inthe call center work for all of the different areas that make up the SLC but when I pressed what ever number it was to get through to the teachers repayment loan scheme and spoke to them, that information isn’t going to be relayed to the rest of the company.
• I was at fault because I hadn’t told the RTL that I was leaving. That is despite the fact he could read to me notes which stated that I had said I was leaving at the end of December and that I had asked to know how much I owed them and how I went about paying that back… did not apparently register … I had spoken to an advisor remember… not the RTL..??

That guy was special! He wouldn’t admit that I had gone out of my way to give them all the information that they needed and that they had failed to respond with the correct paper, work on time.  In fact, depsite the fact I returned my form in September, it wasn’t ‘recieved’ ( which i think means processed) until November and that information wasn’t passed on until the end of December!!! He also told me that they couldn’t tell me how much I owed until my previous employer sent back their form – an annual review… so… why then… did they say I haven’t paid a contribution since APRIL?????  How would they know that if they’re still waiting for paperwork!!??

What a shambles!  I just hope I can find the money to just pay them off and get them off my back.  They have the most ridiculous system in the world.. I will send the form they need.  It will tell them that I don’t earn any money at the moment… Matt has to write to tell them that he is supporting me… I then, apparently, have to send another form as soon as my circumstance changes.  How many people would remember to do that?  They must loose a fortune through poor systems and incompetence!  Ridiculous is not the word!

Needles to say, by the end of that conversation the only option was a glass of red at the Grange Hotel.  We sat on the edge of the beach and I got tipsy!  Much better! LOL

I spotted these comments this morning. At first, I thought the first comment had been made by a mate being silly; until they started making sarcastic comments about my husband. This is not something that my friends would do. Not even tongue in cheek.

The second comment about my blog being “dreadful, egotistical, self-serving dirge” made a clear statement about the true tone of the first. Just to ensure that they were clear R/regarm then made their final comment which affirmed the nature of the original post.

The first question I had was who had written such a thing? Perhaps, I thought it was someone who had just stumbled upon the blog and had had too much to drink? Being the nerd i am I always track all users on my websites, this helps me to evaluate who reads what; particularly on my business sites. I developed this skill through playing with the code on this blog. As such I am able to see who was online at 12:46, 12:51 and 12:53, where they were in the world (down to a few miles) and how they stumbled upon the site in the first place.

This made things more interesting…

You see someone who stumbled upon the blog wouldn’t have gotten to it by typing in it’s actual address. You have to have either clicked a link I or someone else have created elsewhere (a site referral would be logged in this case) or know/be told the address by someone (who would know me). At times, you see, people might do a Google search for something I have blogged on (usually a place I have travelled to) and google will direct them here; this would be a person who did not know me or this blog. The person commenting on the post below though obviously knows me or at least the site as they came to it by typing in the address.

I say person because, although there are two names in the comments, both of them came from the same IP Address so we’re looking at a couple of people sat in front of the same PC at 1am writing.

Most would have advised me to delete the comments, to ignore them. One actual friend reminded me that they must be strange and bitter people who are unhappy with their own lives to have written something like that; particularly if they do know me. However, by writing a public blog I do open myself for such criticism and, apparently, even for attack.

I am reminded however of the assembly I witnessed last week on cyber bullying. This was aimed at children… It made the obvious point of how much easier it is to be nasty when hiding under a pseudonym. That it takes real guts, and perhaps acceptance of consequence, to say things to people’s faces. That perhaps if you can’t say things to someone’s face (and face the consequences) you’re cowardly; the traditional bully.

So regarm and trusp, thank you for your “comments”. I don’t think much of them however. You are misinformed and your apparent cowardice strikes me as childish. In truth, I hope the evidence pointing to the location is wrong, that you aren’t on Virgin Media Broadband, on the Harborne server (to be precise) and that you don’t know me at all.

My “pathetic blog” began as a means for me to vent my thoughts and frustrations. So yes, it can at times be self-serving – that’s exactly what it was intended for. Now it has morphed into a place where i post about things that happen to me to my friends who live all over the world. I have NEVER “bragged about how much {my} house is worth” In fact I was merely recording my shock at losing over £20,000 grand in 10 months. Indeed, I can sympathise with others in such a predicament. As for my spelling? This ‘egotistical’ writer has never ever pretended to be perfect; not in any way. I am just a normal person, who has skills, interests, passions and flaws.

I hope you find this response satisfactory, being that you have checked back five times today to see the fruits of your labour.