The Long Way Home - Chapter 13 - Gladstone Day 11

Yesterday we had a strange call from the Radiology Practice where I am set to have the ultrasound on my elbow. They are having staffing issues with the onset of Covid. Expecting the appointment to be disappointedly moved back even longer (we already have been moved once) I was pleasantly surprised to have the appointment brought forward to today.

It seemed somewhat incongruous but I am happy to be seen earlier given the aching joint. My investigations into exercises and therapies appear to have helped.

The procedure goes without too much pain, with the technician suggesting she was able to get excellent pictures of the affected area. Not sure how long before the results are published and I get summoned back to the doctor but for now we are back to the van.

On the way home, the phone rings. I answer but all I get is “on hold” music. Clearly a SPAM call but you would have thought the lazy mongrel trying to contact me would have the decency to be the one annoying me not immediately have me on hold. No problem, I simply hang up but I suspect I will get another call in the not too distant future as the computer generating the calls will have noted that this random number has been answered.

Back in the van, I want to have a big push on getting at least one of the books completely uploaded to the new website before we launch. It’s a three pronged approach once the blog is written and the photograph taken, renamed and readied for upload.

Firstly all the photographs have to be checked for gallery classification. This is a time consuming action only I can attend to. As well as the galleries there are the personal shots that need to be removed and a decision made on the quality of some of them. Depending on the number of shots, this can take up to an hour per chapter. 

I manage to get several chapters done, working with the internet jumping in and out until finally the access to the internet dies. I must have used up my 400gb allowance. Just to check I will access (or try to as the case may be) the My Telstra App and confirm. 

Unusually I have success and I can see our accounts. The Dongle seems to have reverted to the 60Gb plan for some reason and a message suggesting access has been terminated is displayed. For a start I have a 400gb plan which I am paying for and secondly I believed when I was last in a Telstra Shop early last week, my usage was something akin to 180Gb already this month/billing period.

There is only one real option, although I am resigned to the fact I may have used even the 400Gb allowance, a visit to the Telstra Shop. 

To me the Telstra model at a shop level is wrong. The option of setting appointments may assist their staff but does nothing  for the customers with immediate issues. If at a retail level they feel the need to set appointments then perhaps they need to look at staffing levels. If issues like mine which are immediate cannot be looked at immediately, all you get is increased frustration. 

Yes I agree “user error” is a huge part of what they encounter but there has to be a better way than suggesting a time in the future (which may actually be tomorrow) is their only option for an immediate occurrence. Coupling this with most Telstra Shop locations in large shopping centres, sending people away for appointments tomorrow potentially means another trip. 

They just don’t get it. Yes one might think the majority of their customers are the younger generation, you only have to watch the clientele heading in and out of a Telstra Shop to understand the frustration. Are they a service operation or a retail shop. If the equipment and the network they pedalled worked without incident (yeah like that’s going to happen), a retail outlet , pedaling the latest gadget is all they need. But if they are going to lead with their chins so to speak, backing up their sales with after sales service then the “appointment model” is not right.

It reminds me of the Jonathan Price character, Elliot Carver, in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997 MGM) who marvels at the distribution of a new operating system laced with bugs, meaning years of upgrades etc. Too much emphasis on getting the latest thing out there without true testing or building networks with capable capacity or not even ensuring the billing system works or talks to the operations system, is the order of the day.

Are the Telstra, the Google etc of this world doing an Elliot Carver on us all – just saying.

The Telstra staff are unable to fix the issues. He thinks that with the billing period restarting tonight, all might “go away. In any event , if it doesnt he is happy to see me on the doorstep at 9.00am tomorrow but he is quietly confident all will sort itself out. I leave him with a “see you tomorrow” and fully expect, given my experiences, that indeed will be the case.

Another two hours lost to internet/computer issues. We had not considered dinner options, so I am sent to Woolworths to find “something nice” for dinner. Pickings are slim but  do manage to find some chicken breast wrapped in prosciutto and accompanying condiments that look appetising. I also grab the ingredients for my version of tabouli which, according to the dietary requirements for reducing cholesterol, because of the rice content, is off limits, I will, indulge as a stress mitigator.

Without a shopping bag, I struggle back to the Cruiser and then back to the park. Getting from the Cruiser to the van is a much less challenge and given I have to wait for the internet Gods to re-allow me access, I set about tending to dinner preparation. Sampling the mix a piece of parsley gets caught in my throat and I start to cough. Robyn immediately suggests I might have Covid which annoys me significantly, given I am simply trying to clear my throat. I feel I have had enough stress today without her paranoia around the virus, just because of a trip to the shopping centre, adding to it.

A few bourbons later and the cough has been cleared. Dinner is very nice, the selection approved by the diners. During dinner Cousin Bruce calls and asks if we would like to accompany them to the movies tomorrow night. Robyn is anxious, but as soon as Bruce suggests we are going “executive class” with the layback chairs etc all is good.

His wife Sonya is picking the movie and he thinks we are seeing The 355 (2022 Universal). I was fully expecting some rom-com or something in the tear jerking genre but will be happy to watch this one with them. We might dine early first and then head in.

With luck I will wake tomorrow to full internet service again – yeah and pigs might fly as well.

Faith, we must have faith but the cynic inside waits without bated breath.