I didn't think that much of it – the highlights at Galatos for me?

Things you'd also never drunk, I take it? :-)

Perhaps Auckland's truly starting to realise it's a real city, and not just an overgrown town?

It is not free and it is not discounted...It is free in certain hotspots for up to 30 minutes per device per day.?

Heh. Didn't like them at all.?

It?s a bit better than that: Users will be able to get free access for up to three 30 minute sessions a day per Wi-Fi device. So?

No it isn?t, but FFS that pool?s never going to deepen unless more restaurateurs put as much time and effort into recruiting, training (and rewarding good) staff as they do into the fit-out. It really does matter, especially?

It was in (some of*) the other sets – that's the great thing about a diverse gig. Anyway, when the frontman came down and charged at me, spilling my beer, I was smiling. Haven't seen that at a gig in?

I'd also prefer a waiter who didn't patronisingly touch me on the shoulder when I?

did you look at him funny or something?

Yikes.

Time vs. Amount is a hard one. When you think about it you take your phone out of your pocket, check Twitter, put it away, rinse and repeat a few times. The phone?

And it's not going down well with the government.
(via Hilary, discussed on unrelated thread)

I think it was just his shtick.

You really have to wonder what's going through the heads of those ministers.

I think James liked it.

+1

Whatevs, perhaps you had to be there :-)

ETA: Wait, wat?

I'm not sure about a StarMart, but when we ventured down to the Wynyard Quarter yesterday, what was definitely lacking was somewhere to buy water or an ice-cream – or did we miss something?

Our overall impression was that it was a great space and?

sorry :)

What Wyndyard Quarter is sorely missing is a skate park for the tweens and teens ? and perhaps a non-alcoholic drinkie diner place for them to hang?

Yep – That is standard for pretty much any waterfront restaurant around the world. Overpriced decidedly average or worse food. Lets hope they can get things right soon. And?

symptomatic of management's role in our nation's lack of productivity

And a nice little dig at the unhelpful men from central government too. I must pop down and buy a copy of the paper today.

What Wyndyard Quarter?

+1.

We had lunch there, and ordered an 18" (honest, they had a ruler) Pizza, for $29. The menu said 'Fennel Sausage'. It arrived with one puny sausage diced?

Isn't there some saying about an inverse relationship between a restaurant's views and the quality of its dining experience?

I would suggest the other way of looking at it is the higher the rent, the less money spent on recruiting, training and paying staff.

The location means for six months?

Well, depends. If somewhere gets enough of a reputation as a place to be seen,?

Had to have a little snort at that but then realised that it actually made me a bit angry.
TVNZ's major foray into digital TV seen as "underground". Thank you Steven Joyce,?

On the contrary, there are more experiences hospo staff in Auckland than you can shake your largest stick at, myself included. But most bail from the industry after realising we can make twice as much money in a?

To be honest, I don't necessarily want a dairy down there, and I suspect Waterfront Auckland don't either. It's not the right place?

But, it seems, the people who go there do want one. It should be possible to get a cold drink or a packet of crisps without going into a bar. Yeah, I?

Given the number of submissions to the Waitemata LB draft Plan asking for smokefree public places I would have thought cigarette vendors to be a sunset industry.

Now how long is it going to take to run the tram all the way to Britomart?

That'll impress our foreign visitors

Tis a question on everyone's lips. Answer: Not long (comparatively speaking in Auckland speak). Give it three years or so.

I wish the same could be said for folks who profiteer off self-inflicted alcohol poisoning while blithely flouting licensing laws, but I won't hold my breath waiting...

In all cases I've seen, the majority of such folks don't flout the licensing laws. The licensing laws, as I've described before, means that it is very very easy to get a liquor licence and extremely difficult to?

It's a terrible thing, I know, but not actually illegal, and you'd think outside tables, at night, would be a permissible setting.

But?

What's in their heads is they a) never expected Rodney to be able to force it through in one term so they didn't properly prepare for it, b) when they saw that it was actually going to?

With all due respect, Christopher – bullshit. You know as well as I do that licensed premises are not supposed to serve alcohol to intoxicated persons, or allow such persons on their premises. We both?

Define "intoxicated"?

– over the youth limit for driving?
– over the adult limit for driving?
– obviously affected by alcohol?
– sufficiently annoying to other bar patrons as to drive a number of paying customers away that isn't?

ideology. and that's all

Red Ken vs the Iron Lady, methinks? It'll look horribly spiteful if they actually do take a leaf out of the latter's book.

What a great collection. Makes me wish I'd ventured out, rather than opting for the alternative, which didn't quite go to plan.

He seems to be using jAlbum, which is my pick for making online albums in a?

Which would be a pretty acceptable solution *if people could find it*. Dairies just aren't the sort of thing that end up on maps. (Plus,?

All the more so when TVNZ7 sadly gets unplugged by tunnel-vision. Where to after that?

I just entered 'convenience store' in my phone and google pointed me to a bunch of local 7-elevens (and one Star Mart – they're not as?

Star Marts I'll grant you, dairies I'd be doubtful of -?

Auckland City Council, meet the widely known phenomena of the ?Kiosk?

http://www.prestigekiosks.com/information.php?info_id=5

they sell newspapers, ciggies, lollies, chippies, postcards and stamps ? all that sort of stuff that the punters want, AND they can be moved if they don?t work out.

I suspect they'll be the norm amongst our relatively wealthy rugby tourists ..

postcards and stamps

.. though maybe not all of them.

Mind you, I like writing letters when I am on holiday as well. Half the fun is finding the local post office.

The people who conspired to steal such?

The queues in the?

AKT blog has a post with photos of the problems – which apparently include lack of basic protection from rain, something repeated across Auckland's transport network that should be a source of shame for designers. Compare with the earlier artful renderings.

Inevitably, there's a [[http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Dislike-new-Krd-overbridge/265666743446643|Bookface?

For sure. I just searched for "dairy" on my phone and it came up with one that's 2 km away, missing the 3 that are much closer. Tried "convenience store", and it got about 10 hits in?

Yep, I verified that recently on Maps trying to send someone directions to the flash new Viaduct Events Centre.?

To be fair on the council, it's not their job to fix up the maps of third party vendors, and it's not like major roading upgrades are a big secret. Google didn't?

Better that than the other way around, I suppose.

I believe said vendor's business model relies on being notified. And Auckland Transport in particular has been working with Google on some projects. Probably lack of integration with Waterfront Development Agency..

I found them fairly common a few weeks back, but as Sacha says most visitors will have them – and hopefully have reasonable international roaming rates that mean that they don't have?

Advice for visitors: spend the $13 you would have spent on a glass of wine on a marked-down bottle of?

Yes, Google is free for a reason.

You would think, however, that some of their employees in NZ might notice the grosser deficiencies. Or are they all hipsters who live in apartments in the city and never drive anywhere?

Then watch all the games on the TV? You're?

Or they know they're going to get a lot of business that way – the proper international food shop closest to me with the good Indonesian noodles and the Asian Home Gourmet?

They are very quick to respond if you do advise them, and have dealt with us in renaming?

At 3am? I suspect that'll be peak time for many wanting a packet of fags. Then again, the ability to focus on the phone's screen may well be gone as well by that time.

They have ways around that law. Teapots in restaurants that don't serve tea and so on. Plus Malaysia ain't that far from Bandar Seri.

Nice mosque though.

I remember when it?

If the cost of good service is putting people's ability to earn minimum wage on any given evening?

+1

The tipping system always seems to me like a form of social control.

I think it should be clarified the RWC stands for RugbyWorld Cup not Rugby WorldCup.
A subtle difference which means Global standards do not apply.
;-)

It fits perfectly into the US's whole blame-the-poor-for-their-poverty system, perhaps the most particularly direct expression of it.

So, not just me then.

I think most of the people who think it's great have only seen photos. It feels wrong in real life.

vista for visitors...
It shouldn?t be too difficult to remedy the?

But yes, it does just feel wrong. I think partly because it's so exposed compared to the rest of the street. The old overbridge was admittedly dingy, but so is K Rd, so at least there was?

we can pretty much guarantee the street markets weren't part of the design brief

The new design optimises views from the overbridge

Uncomfortably so.

I had a few drinks with a barman from Boston the other night who was telling that on a good night he can pull $2000 in tips and never less than $300 so I guess it?

The fact that their whole revenue system is fscked is quite possibly their number one problem.

The new design optimises views of the overbridge.

I think it really got me on Saturday night because I've walked over the bridge so many?

Reckon. Or you'd have to call it 'Silt Bar'. Or the 'Hydrocarbon Cabana' maybe? 'CO Espresso' even?

There has to be some viable use for it though. Apart from bus storage.

When I saw it on Saturday night, I was flabbergasted, because it seemed that the metal screen cut off the entire view from the bridge, but it gets lower towards the middle.

This says to me that the architects had no idea?

very good. gas-mask on entry

I'd hate to think what Opus would bill for the overtime.

What really irks me is the way the ++ (or in Singapore, +++) is added automatically to to accounts in many countries. The (+, or ++ in Sg) I get as it is the tax?

Going over there today, straight, and bearing in mind your comments earlier, I?

That's very generous and kind of you, but when you have no cultural context for it, really confusing. The?

http://transportblog.co.nz/2011/08/30/guest-post-why-are-there-cars-on-queen-st/

That's very generous and kind of you, but when you have no cultural context for it, really confusing. The guy's probably wondering what you mean by it, what?

I don't. He has $50 tax free he can spend, or if he really does have false consciousness, he could just give?

I've never given a tip such as yours in that setting, but I have had very good individual service from a young guy at JB HiFi and,?

Well, by writing the letter I was hoping that there would be some sort of trickle-down to the particular employee, which would let them know how awesome?

The Auckland Plan will include a Highline-like redevelopment of that off-ramp. I don't know that access to it has been sorted (it certainly makes sense to get it off K-Rd or down the back of?

Maybe one of these?

JB contends it actually pays more to junior staff than The Warehouse,?

Personally, I think getting?

I just think he might have felt as though he'd be at risk of being sacked for accepting money from a customer that didn't go through the till.

When I lived in London I would often tip extremely generously, as it was expected, and I wanted to err on the side of caution. I found it quite refreshing?

Quite possibly. But if so, he could always just take it straight to his boss and say what happened. There is no?

This guy sounds like he's gold and will go a long way in life. JBHiFi will be but a mere blip in?

Arrrggh. NZTA building cycleways alongside roads has been an amazing development. Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with Joyce?

NZTA would consider linking the old Nelson?

I'm going to hand the debate over to some guys in sharp suits. Some NSFW language.

It's also a way of many American retail employers dodging payroll tax obligations – so another downside might be having a state approaching the right size to drown in a bathtub while many of the nation's people struggle to live.

Wearing elected rep hat?The (ultra vires) Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Transport tells NZTA where to spend the money (and under Joyce ? it's on RONS). NZTA to their credit have?

You'll notice he says in the middle of that spiel that he does tip for good service. Even he, with all his total lack of care for the plight of the waitresses, sees the?

Unless sitting in the back of a van, trying not to spit the nerve-settling gum that I've been chewing in a frenzy for four hours?

The Last Exit to Nowhere?
The Peter Off-Rampton?

Excellent! :)

I have a visceral hatred of tipping and I dont agree with Ben's further comments that 'getting bitter?

I have a visceral hatred of tipping and I dont agree with Ben's further comments that 'getting bitter?

It just feels deeply wrong and un-egalitarian.

It surely isn't egalitarian. But I'm not sure egalitarianism is that great.

However, I do- and giving a thankyou gift is not as raw & actually belittling as offering money ("Here you are poor person – have some of my largesse." Veddy English, totally Yank-))

Something' s a bit weird- co0mments arnt posted – but then turn up twice...

If a comment isn't posted, try clicking reload on your browser, you'll probably find it has been posted, you just haven't seen it on your browser (so what is happening is that you're posting twice). Refreshing?

Perhaps some of your traffic is using RFC1149 tonight

You could be overtipping. 20% sounds like quite a lot. If you really don't care for what you call smarm, then just cut it back. You'll soon find the "kiwi level".

I lived there for four years and I ate out a LOT. Smarm is the default.

In restaurants, no, it seems OK. The concept is pretty basic, and we've learned to expect nothing more than what we usually get. In shops, though, it's often hopeless, and that's especially annoying since?

No-one has ever *given* me money Ben : the prizes some of my books have *earned* is a matter of fate.

I *have* been given gifts from fans & I LOVE those -

The shop might be. The person working in it? Well, sometimes I'd like to make sure, on the rare occasion that someone makes an effort. NZers?

Can't see the distinction, sorry. You worked, you earned. People paid. Same difference. Do you really think that what you did was really no more or less valuable than?

I'm not sure whether to be happy or bummed by the story. It's nice to hear about people who like their work, not so nice to hear that verbal praise is all the reward they get for giving good service. I guess it's?

I'm not sure that we're not talking at crossed purposes here. I'm still undecided about what's the best way to organize a bunch of people who are all giving their best, if the best?

Friends went there last night: Late, undercooked mains, terrible service (one of them had a tray of drinks spilt on him) and a bill that bore little relation to what had actually been ordered. Half the group walked away without paying when?

Infinity minus one non-patronising points for all that. You've really got that good retail service is a long game – I might not max out the overdraft immediately, but I will be a PR Terminator for stores, restaurants etc. that don't treat me like a walking turd. Clerks who?

I'm sure he'd approve of the Welli waterfront's latest impromptu addition too.

Yes, I can't see tipping helping there. Foot-voting is a much better idea. And making them give a fuck about the internet by writing a shit-can review on every site you can find that even lists them. They may soon start to?

I vote for a wholesale move of the Ponsonby Food Hall down to Wynyard Wharf.

Nikki Kaye could help you move it there on a tram.

You'll need to fight me for that food court. It's going nowhere!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxBGzUhT-TM

Thanks for showing us the error of our ways.

My pleasure. Because I don't work in the city, when I go looking to eat out, I actually shop around, ranging across the entire city. Albert St is by far the best food court in this town. Only problem, it's so?