I think the current generation of late teens/early 20s has lost any understanding of respect and are too self-centred.

I’m sure I’ve hinted at this before; but this morning it was highlighted to me, and it got me thinking.

The case in point is that of my housemates.

When the mousemates moved into my house the deal was that they would cook and do the garden.  To date living at my house has effectively saved them $2,000; it has cost me money in increased electricity bills (they have the tv on all day, fail to turn off lights for days on end and are fond of running the airconditioner with the doors open), damage to property (cigarette burns in a couch, stains on another couch, damage to a water pump and jobs that have only been done by half and will require me to spend money to fix or complete the job).  To date they have not paid me any of the money they owe me for their fridge or washing machine (excluding the first payment shortly after purchasing the whitegoods) at the start of last year.  Additionally I have had to help them with moving stuff and collecting a drowned car from by a creek.  When the housemates decided to get a dog they asked about getting a specific dog that was small, I agreed to this but they did not end up getting that dog; instead they got Leylah, a border collie and as such a much larger dog.  I’m sure there are other things, but they obviously aren’t important enough to remember.

As I mentioned in a previous post my car window has also been left open, the first time resulted in oen housemate being banned from the car for a short period of time, the second occasion resulted in a more permanent ban.  These bans would have been avoided if said housemate has apologised for leaving the window open or had asked if any damage had been caused.  No damage was caused, but the lack of concern for my property is what annoys me.

Last night the issue was raised when the housemate who is banned from the car asked for a lift into town.  I told her I would not take her into town and that I was going to take my motorbike, I also reminded her that she was banned from the car.  Her response was “that’s just stupid”; I disagree, what is stupid is her lack of ability to think and her lack of respect and concern for other people and their property.

This morning when I got up this housemate was ready to go into town and asked for a lift again, once again I told said housemate that I was taking the bike, the ute costs a lot more to run and that there was a ban on the use for the car.  My housemate then tried offering to put $20 of fuel in the ute (it costs around $20 in fuel for the return trip, plus wear and tear on the car bringing the total cost of the trip to around $40), once again I reminded my housemate that they were banned from the car.  At this point my hosuemate started crying because “I can’t deal with spending another day in the house”.  A comment was made “well we’ll just have to move out then” as my housemate stormed off.  As if moving out is a threat to me; if they move out I’ll have to do the garden myself (it will most likely get done quicker without them anyway) and I will have to cook for myself; in return is will save several hundred dollars every quarter in power, I will have less stress about what they have done wrong or broken, I wont have to put up with a large dog running around the house and making a mess and I will have a house that once cleaned will stay clean for a long period of time.

If these housemates showed some respect, cleaned up after themselves, had some pride in the residence in which they live and stopped expecting everyone to do what they want, then their life would be a lot easier and people might be willing to help them.  If they do move out I am tempted to tell them the washing machine and fridge both stay as they have not been paid for; perhaps that will help teach them to pay their debts and to treat peoples property with respect.

School bus driver drops kids at police station
NEWS.com.au – February 25, 2009 10:34am

A SCHOOL bus driver took a detour to the local police station to get officers to deal with misbehaving children.

The Queensland Times reports the driver took the bus load of St Edmund’s College and St Mary’s College students to the Yamanto station just after 3.30pm.

Apparently the students had refused to wear seatbelts and the last straw was a lolly that hit the driver on the head.

“I think it was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said one man, who was picking up his younger brother from the police station.

One St Edmund’s pupil said he felt the bus driver had overreacted.

“People were mucking around but he did not have to go that far,” he said.

He added that the driver beeped his horn repeatedly outside the station for 20 minutes before three police officers came out and told the school kids they were being stupid.

This has to be one of the best news articles I’ve read in a long time.  It’s about time someone taught these kids some respect.

I applaud this bus driver for taking the kids to the police station to deal with the situation, although it would have been better if the police issued a fine to each kid for not wearing a seatbelt; lets see them explain that to their parents!

wishes people would learn how to listen and think!

I’m starting to think that people have forgotten how to listen.

For those that don’t know me well, I work for a small company, I am the primary employee and there is a part-time worker.  I just had the following conversation (bits between the greater than and less than symbols have been edited for anonymity):

Me: <Company Name>, Michael speaking.
Caller: Hi, it’s Matthew <Last Name> here.
Me: Hi Matthew, how’s it going?
Caller: I was just wondering if you could tell me when I am rostered on next?
Me: Ummm, sorry? I think you have the wrong number.
Caller: Oh, is this the Base Hospital?
Me: No, sorry.
Caller: Ok, seeya.
Me: Seeya

If this person knew how to listen properly I would have expected the conversation to go either of the following two ways.

Option one, if the caller was really listening to what I was saying:

Me: <Company Name>, Michael speaking.
Caller: Sorry, i think I have the wrong number.

Option two, if the caller was listening, but was expecting the hospital and was caught off guard:

Me: <Company Name>, Michael speaking.
Caller: Sorry, what company was this?
Me: <Company Name>
Caller: Sorry, I must have the wrong number.

Seriously, people should learn to listen; and to think, this guy works in a hospital where people’s lives may be at stake.  I hope he’s a cleaner or something and isn’t a doctor or a nurse.

What sort of an excuse is “I fucked up!”? Especially when the person using this excuse regularly fails to think or plan, so 99% of the time the fault is that he fucked up?

Why should I have to be put out because someone else fucked up?

Should I just accept it and move on, or should I take the issue up with the person using this excuse and say it isn’t good enough? If I say it isn’t good enough what action can I take to ensure it doesn’t happen again? Should I just stop helping this person out entirely?

All questions that I wish I had answers for!

Every morning I drive from Wiangaree to Lismore (via Kyogle).  Normally this is a pleasant trip, but at the moment Lismore Council has some roadworks about 5km out of town.

I don’t normally have a problem with roadworks; roads need upgrading, we need to reduce speed for worker safety, it’s all good; but these roadworks annoy me.

The problem with these roadworks isn’t the lead into them (it’s a reasonable distance) and it isn’t that I still have to slow down when nobody is working there (they turn all the speed signs when they finish work for the day).  The problem is the speed limit and the distance of this speed limit area.

My issue with the speed limit is that they have signed the area as a 40kph zone (it is normally a 100kph zone) yet the roadworkers are not working near traffic, they are working on an area off the road.  To me the speed reduction seems excessive.  For worker safety I belive a 60kph or 80kph zone would be acceptable and would allow for better traffic flow.

My issue with the length of the speed zone is that the lead-out from the roadworks is way too long.  a one or two hundred metre lead-out would be more than satisfactory for worker safety; the 500(ish) metre lead-out that is currently in place is excessively long and again impacts traffic flow with no benefit in safety for the workers.

It is my opinion that Queensland has much better policies for roadwork speed limits.  The lead-in to roadworks has a sign advising that there are rroadworks ahead before reducing the speed limit in 20kph increments (I’m not sure about the distances between these increments); upon exiting the roadworks area the speed limit is increased back to the normal speed limit at the same point traffic in the other direction enters the 40kph zone.  To me this is much more sensible as after passing the roadworks a driver is of a negligable risk to roadworkers and it allows for free traffic flow.

dislikes inappropriately sized roadworks and inappropriate speed limits on said roadworks.

is surprised the housemates did something around the house today… only about 30 minutes work by the look of it though.

So, I got home expecting to find the place still in a mess and having to go off at the housemates, but I got a pleasant surprise!  The laundry floor didn’t have clothes on it, neither did the bathroom floor, even the kitchen looks like it’s had a minor effort made in it (the bits of the bench that I could see have been cleaned).

So, basically I’m assuming my Facebook status of “Michael is somewhat annoyed with people who fail to show any respect for a person or their property!” was interpreted by my housemates as being about them.  I have banned one of them from the car, her response was “Oh, okay”, I didn’t really expect an apology, would have been nice if I got one though.

I elected not to go off at them tonight about the lack of cleanliness in the house.  I’ll see if they keep cleaning the house after today, and go off if they seem to stop.

My hope is that buy Friday when I get home from work the shared areas of the house will be clean; early next week I would like to see the storage room neatened up as when they moved in their boxes were just chucked on top of mine.  Once those things are done the challenge will be to keep the house that way.

thinks skip bin hire is too expensive!