Jim Barker's Page

We decided to get some work don to our bathroom and phoned two plumbers to come give estimates. One eas due at 2pm monday, one at 6pm. The 2pm plumber not only didn't turn up - he's ignored any of our calls to find out where he was. The other plumber phoned to apologise that he couldn't make it on Monday, re arranged for Tuesday, turned up on time, looked over the job thoroughlly, was helpful reccomending items and ways of cutting costs and promised an estimate by end of the week. Though locally… Continue

Following Chris Harley's piece on being asked to work for free, here's a link to a video I've been passing around colleagues:

http://tinyurl.com/pvkceu
If the link doesn't work, just cut and paste.

Ring any bells with anyone?

Jim Barker

I blame The Beano.

In other parts of the world - Europe, America, Japan - cartoons and comic strips are regarded as a legitimate and serious art form. In the UK, however, thanks to generations of cheaply produced comics, they are still seen as simply ‘kids stuff’. It’s amazing how sniffy people can be about cartoons. I’ll meet a marketing’n’PR person at a networking event and the minute I say I draw cartoons, you can see the eyes glaze over, barriers going up and they’re looking over my shoulde… Continue

I have a neighbour who's looking to a have a CV professionally composed and prepared. Any members able to do that - or able to point me in the direction of someone reliable?

Thanks
Jim Barker

For a project, I'm looking for examples of Petty Bureaucracy Frustration - the really really petty stuff where (for example) you have to fill out a form for something, you wait six weeks for a reply and get it returned because you have a number transposed. Or the "Press 1 for this, press 2 for that" telephone lottery where you just end up back where you started. Or finding that the person you need to speak to has just gone off on holiday for three weeks and no - one else knows anything about you… Continue