Rhonda Bracey: At Random

I’ve been back a few days now (and as busy as!), so this will be a quick summary of my week in Brisbane last week:

• VirginBlue flight left after 10:30pm on Monday night. They stuffed up the seat allocation so this guy and I were both allocated the same seat. The steward had a hissy fit at me and was rude and obnoxious. I posted my letter of complaint to VirginBlue today. Will I fly with them again? Nope. Not if I have anything to do with it! Their motto: “The on-time airline.” My experience? That’s BS!
• Had meetings and workshops with the new team the entire week. Great group of people. Mixture of software tech-heads and geology/mining people.
• The company is very transparent – employees at all levels are kept informed of the bottom line at all times. The company doesn’t have ‘feel good’ mission statements or sprout off about how much they value their employees – they just do it! Actions speak louder than words and their actions the entire week were terrific. There’s no need for talking the talk if you can walk the walk.
• The social events they had organised for the team were great. On Tuesday night we had dinner at the “Pig and Whistle”, an Irish pub in the Brisbane CBD. There were probably about 30 of us and the company picked up the tab for the food and the drinks. On Thursday night we went to the Strike Bowling Bar to do ten-pin bowling (Craig, you’ll be impressed! I chose the lime green/yellow/fluoro bowling ball!!). Lots of yummy finger food and snacks served. Open bar… yes, including cocktails! Mmmm… Long Island Iced Tea and Caprioska! After the bowling, we adjourned to the pool tables. Some left at a reasonable hour; some were still there at 3:00am!! (or so we heard the next day – it sure wasn’t me!)
• Our Perth team stayed at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Brisbane, about a 20 minute walk from the office. Breakfast was excellent. Rooms were good except for the tiny and very awkward bathrooms (The toilet was directly behind the door, and you couldn’t open the door more than halfway as a result. Reaching around the door and the toilet to turn on the shower was an exercise in contortion!) Internet access was…. wait for it… 55c a MINUTE!! Highway robbery. I checked email etc. at the office. Even though the company paid all charges, that to me was an absolute rip-off.
• Qantas Club at Brisbane Airport on Friday night was standing room only! I’ve never seen a lounge that busy. After the flights to Sydney and Melbourne had left, it cleared out enough to find some chairs to sit on.
• Qantas flight home was uneventful – and on time. Got in just after 11:00pm Friday, grabbed bags, caught shuttle to carpark out in Woop-Woop, car started OK (but was FILTHY), overnight accommodation was cheap but fine.
• Drove home on Saturday, stopping off in Mandurah to get fuel, put car through car wash, grab a late breakfast (mmmm…. Aussie meat pie!), look at sofas in a couple of stores and write down measurements of those I liked. One in particular took my fancy. After the last experience with sofas, this time I asked for a tape measure when I walked in and wrote down details of the height of the back, the width, and the depth of the seat. I won’t get caught again.