OK so this is not really MY good service story but my Dad's, but I figure most of the prizes would be better off in his hands anyway.

It's also a good service story that has no element of misfortune in it - it's simply a story about amazing good service.

We have family in Singapore and we're all regular visitors. On Dad's last visit in August, he did his usual trawl of Orchard Road shopping for Dad things, shoes and suchlike.

He went into Singapore's version of an upmarket Farmers, their attempt at Marks and Sparks if you will, called Robinsons.

He chose some shirts and tried them on, all the while experiencing obliging service as you'd expect from any half decent department store, help with sizes and that sort of thing.

Having decided what he wanted to buy, he told the nice lady which shirts he wanted and that he wanted to wear one in particular out of the store. She insisted on fetching new shirts rather than selling him the ones he'd tried on. She also insisted on ironing the (new) shirt he was going to wear straight away.

As he was paying at the counter the staff asked him if he'd enjoyed his shopping experience. He said yes, it was wonderful. How was our service? They asked. Amazing, very excellent, he said.

'In that case, sir, would you mind ringing this bell?' Yes, a ding ding bell on their counter.

He obliged, rang the bell and promptly the entire floor of this department store stopped and all the staff clapped.

For real.

Our family's shopped at Robinsons for years and never encountered anything like it and we'll definitely be shopping more there now.

When I heard this story I thought how much my bosses would like it. They loved it and adapted it - now any time one of our reps makes a sale, the bell gets dinged and we all clap and cheer. It sounds mighty cheesy but it's amazing what it does for morale and to put a smile on your face.

I was assured FB was 'addictive' although I'm still not convinced that's a good thing. There were many 'you've been added as a Friend' emails before I finally buckled - under intense pressure I might add.

Knowing I signed up to FB before techie luminaries like Damian and Russell though? That's pretty cool. Makes me feel a bit like a 'mid' adopter rather than an early or as I thought, rather late adopter.

Totally go the FB PA group though.

It is excruciating. She seemed shamefully underprepared, asked a lot of closed questions and should've killed the interview long before she did. I also glanced over a comment on Youtube saying he has Asperger's.

To me all interviews are hard work and if I had to interview a precocious kid I would put in double the legwork, prepare the subject a bit more and strike up a rapport with him and try not to be so patronising. Not that I know whether they attempted any of that before putting him to air.

I also know that trying to get information out of strangers for the public is only appealing to certain people - and that's why I leave the interviewing stuff to the people who like it!

Actually, Singapore is quite anal about terrorists. Armed police are present at the lovely airport and if you ride the newer MRT lines you'll be able to watch incessant public awareness videos (in all 4 official languages) about what to do if you see a mysterious package left on the carriage and people acting suspiciously, etc. At least, that was the case when I was there in October. Russell, I hope you have some expat friends in Singapore who can show you some good eatin' and I don't just mean Newton Circus etc. If not I can hook you up.

Oh, god, Damian, thank you, thank you for posting on this - as, I think, the only woman in creation who never watched SATC and hated the very concept with a passion, when I saw the Blonde at the Bar banner up on the Herald site I wanted to cry and gnash my teeth...then I READ it...gawd.... I don't know what's worse, the original content or the reader feedback...