It’s a CAA regulation that prohibits sending unaccompanied cellphones, unless they’re processed as freight.

Not to be contrary or anything, but I don't actually have a problem with what Air NZ did/said. Rules are rules and they're there for a reason. Your phone could be an explosive device. Bad luck.…

"And how's your day been? Busy?".

This seems to be catching on everywhere. I always feel a little guilty if I'm having a lazy day, like I haven't been pulling my weight for a few hours.

Still it's is all in the intent though. I find the 'Have a nice…

But my real favourites are the chaps at the St Paul's cafe, behind the State Services Commission and the Freyberg building.

They are indeed lovely lovely people behind the counter. It's a shame about the ordinary blandness of their food. But that's probably a good post for the Wellingtonista, not…

if the staff aren't feeling it, or really good actors, it just comes across as fake plastic McDs service

A cafe down at my local shops recently changed hands. One of the new people working there is a lady who likes to ask "And how's your day been? Busy?".

It's…

what makes good service great: connecting with people as individuals.

And there's the essence of it.
Treat people like real people and, oddly enough, they respond positively. The hard part is inspiring that in your staff. Its easy to say "treat people nice, smile, say have-a-nice-day", but if the staff…

Politeness and good manners is like oil in a car. It makes things run much smoother and quicker.

Robyn, you've summed it up. For instance, I've always had amazing service from the xtra helpline -…

If someone was nice and polite on the phone, it was a pleasure to…

On the other hand, we're not always good at acknowledging excellent service when we get it.

You're quite right, and I should mention the lovely lady at the Koru Lounge in Wellington who is always great to deal with, and tried her best when I fronted with my problem.

One…

What, they want you to deliver the mail using a tank?

That would be the bomb. They wouldn't need to go to letterboxes, just drive up the middle of the street and fire postal shells at people's front door.

You'd know your mail had arrived when your front door caved…

I'll try to make up for it with my own lament for a great cafe. Stephen's…

Forget the council one. And I used to work for the council, administering the refuse transfer station (10 years ago).

Heh heh. Any chance that's why you get bad service at the council tip, Jeremy? Maybe they hated their old boss and now they're taking their revenge?
:-)

JRS would probably also point out that the ascendancy of the professional managerial class, who in most cases no longer have any first-hand knowledge of the activities they "manage", has something to do with this, and illustrate this with a dense, periodic exposition of the decline of…

I bet there are other people in Air NZ unhappy with the way they have to treat customers, but the price of protest is incredibly high. John Ralston Saul calls it the "tyranny of the employment contract."

I was thinking "the tyranny of accountability", but yup. Welcome aboard, Susan: that's…

I needed to contact slingshot a couple of months ago and so emailed them because I couldn't be bothered waiting an eternity on the phone. Anyway, I email them, and get a reply saying they will respond within one working day and one week and…

1. They remembered my name and said hi every time. OK, keeping loyalty cards in a box at the counter so you learn customers' names is a bit of a trick, but it's a nice trick.…

On the other hand, we're not always good at acknowledging excellent service when we get it. I heard this week about a group of people who were so impressed with someone's performance they went to the board and made it clear they don't want to deal with anyone else.

Case…

I was thinking today about the All Blacks – sorry, I have been trying to forget last weekend- and it occurred to me that we've become so bound up in process – re-conditioning and careful planning-…

The coffee is Nestles Granulated = Instant Mud

NPL Koru is a contracted site (outside catering etc) & it's unmanned. Not knowing the hour you left but there may not be anyone else at the Aprt untill the next day now (or someone's kid…

If (IF.....) they were clued up, they'd have taken his phone, toddled down to the nearest Post Office, packed it properly and sent it Priority.

Which would be on their next-but-one flight.

And they'd absorb the cost, because if you're a Koru Club member, you're…

The problem is that the MSM won't report it because the Government won't let them. They're scared it will harm our…

A couple of years ago I cycled over to Westland and stopped at Punakaiki. I was locking my bike outside the Department of Conservation kiosk when a uniformed DOC-Nazi leapt out and screamed at me (in upper case, like this): "OI YOU! TAKE THAT BLOODY BIKE…

when you got it from a machine

But I can assure you that that was a good step up from the coffee they served in the 60s & 70s on those ferries.

A guy I know (yeah, one of those) who works in aviation says that there is a secondary latch behind/underneath the pivot point that allows the armrests to go all the way up.

No way! How cheated and dumb do I now feel. You can't imagine how pleased I was…

I think it's cos a) otherwise even a 40-minute flight would be a bit boring without the distractiong of a cuppa, and b) there's the 1960s mystique of the jet age – even though air travel is now only slightly more glamorous than catching a bus, we still…

The airport security process is theater – it serves no significant purpose.

No, it…

When did it become so necessary to eat (and drink) while travelling anyway?

I think it's cos a) otherwise even a 40-minute flight would be a bit boring without the distractiong of a cuppa, and b) there's the 1960s mystique of the jet age – even though air travel is…

We would like to get rid of the give-way-to-the-right anomaly, thereby saving 40 New Zealanders a year from an early death.

Really?
Having driven in many countries around the world I think the turning left give way rule is a pretty good idea. It throws a little more safety to…

is just so you die more quickly, because your neck will snap on impact.

And that lifejacket under your seat is filled with granite.

When did it become so necessary to eat (and drink) while travelling anyway?

Most trips in this country are what, two hours, max? Three hours on the ferry would be about the longest.

You're not going starve in that time. You're not even going…

Worse, those bozos replaced them with seats whose armrest don't go right up.

A guy I know (yeah, one of those) who works in aviation says that there is a secondary latch behind/underneath the pivot point that allows the armrests to go all the way up. I haven't 777'ed since…

peeves are the bozo who took all the seats with back support out of the 777s

Worse, those bozos replaced them with seats whose armrest don't go right up. Lucky enough to get a row of seats to stretch out on? traveling with children? forget any chance of rest and…

The coffee on Air New Zealand is disgusting. I think it's probably instant.

Flying back from Nelson a couple of months ago on a Air New Zealand Dash 8, I saw the coffee being prepared, and indeed it involved a catering-size can of Nescafe and hot water.

What makes the…

Ask any of us off the record and we will tell you:

1. The airport security process is theater – it serves no significant purpose.
2. We'd love to stop doing it, but the US would do something stupid and disproportionate in response (like…

I've entertained making my own sandwiches and hawking them from the back rows in competition with the trolley

I think the coffee…

What's with that? I suppose it's cheaper and easier than brewed, but it's vile. There's a point at which 'budget' becomes a synonym for 'cheap and nasty', and Air NZ have reached it.

Have a cup of…