Thursday 8th December 2005
And today's PTPMO award goes to....... Andy Harrington. That's right an actual real, living, breathing person! Although the award is really aimed at his organisation for what happened to me this evening. Here's the background...There's an organisation that promises to "Create The Life You Deserve". Now I've experienced plenty of organisations, people, coaches, 'experts', NLP'ers, etc, read the books , journals and websites, listened to the tapes, etc. about this sort of thing. Part of what I enjoy in life is to learn more and more about life, living, etc. So, as you'd imagine, when I came across this group's website and saw that they were running an intro seminar I thought I'd go along, listen and learn.
I tried to book on a seminar online but my registration appeared to bounce off the site with some sort of garbled error message. Tried a few times and figured that the way to "Create The Life You Deserve" was to not faff around with a poorly designed web registration process. So I gave up.
A few days later I received an emal confirming my place on the seminar (and to give them credit it was for the right date, place and time and that's better than some companies I've dealt with). The email emphasised how important it was that I turned up as places were strictly limited. Fair enough thinks I. Then I receive a couple of phone calls, re-iterating the same points - important to turn up, it'll be life changing, let us know if you're not coming along. THEN I received an SMS restating the message yet again. FINALLY, there was a letter in the post confirming date, time, venue and the importance of turning up. All credit to the organisation for using all aspects of technology I guess.
So, I went along and guess what....before I could go in I had to fill in a registration form. Hang on, you have my details already - you've phoned me, emailed me, SMS'd me and written to me - so why do you need my details yet again ? The answer appeared in the contractual details included in the registration form. The smallprint waived the organnisers of ANY responsibility for harm or injury arising from the event. It mentioned that there would be physical activities and that the presenters could be abusive (or something like that).
Now hang on just a cotten picking minute! If you're going to spend the time telling me how important it is to show up, why don't you forewarn me that it could involve dangerous activities from which you expect me to absolve you of any blame ? Sorry, but if you're doing a presentation I do not expect to be exposed to any physical, emotional or psychological risk UNLESS you have taken adequate precautions.
It really p*ssed me off that I made the effort to travel to the hotel and, more importantly, that I'd freed up my evening to attend and only at the point of arrival you suddenly expect me to sign a waiver absolving you of any risks. If I attend a Microsoft course I don't have to sign a waiver absolving them of negligence causing physical injury, so don't expect me to for this kind of stuff! Arrggghhh!
The icing on the cake was when left the hotel and arrived at Paddington to catch the 18:22 home. The board said 'ON TIME'. It kept saying that right until 18:23 when the status changed to 'CANCELLED'. Apparently there was a mechanical problem with the train at the depot. Incredible though isn't it that the failure occurred at precisely the instant that the train was scheduled to depart ? i.e., for those who don't understand sarcasm, innuendo or basic analysis.....How the f*ck did First Great Western expect a train that hadn't even left its depot by 18:22 to leave on time from the station ?
posted by Gary N @ 2:39 PM
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