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Archive of posts tagged profesionalism

the final…at last

well…in a week that saw barcelona write history, messi top ronaldo and the young coach out-smart the master…in the nhl, not to be outdone, the final will begin. a rematch from last year; when detroit pretty much dominated the series from start to finish. the young penguins had no chance…yet this year…may be different (according to some). anyhow…my prediction…it’s gonna be a series…given detroit is running on all cylinders and the penguins seem quite unstoppable. anyhow…my prediction..detroit in seven…
Detroit Red Wings vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

and so it ends…

with disgrace, disgust and disappointment. disappointment for an entire country. a country, who’s last hopes of entertainment and dreams were shattered by a corrupt system that clawed its way into a beautiful sport. a system that has infected a country…entered a sport…it entered football and the effects seem to be long-lasting. until now there was somewhat of a trace of hope…even if that hope was based on the stupidity of the most overrated star in romanian history (yes…i am talking about drug-struck mutu). a team lead by an injury prone defender (too bad you came to late chivu), a goalkeeper who can’t seem to be more than a bench-warmer outside of romania, and a drug-user in the attack. anyone else that plays well outside of romania does not have a place on the field for romania in the eyes of the worst player to ever put on a national jersey (yes…we still remember the gambling, the arrests, the dumb comments and the overall idiotic attitude piturca…).

what happened? it’s simple…quite too simple actually…it starts from the top…with the federation’s ‘leader’…a shady double-faced character…by the name of sandu…the same guy that runs the romanian football federation as if he wants it to fail. the same guy that changes his word depending on who’s words are sweeter (given the ‘favorable’ referring romanian received after sandu screwed over the uefa president a few years ago). regardless…it’s not as if he will step down…so we can at least not dream about it.

lack of professionalism from the coach…on top of that…there’s a clear lack of dignity (let’s not forget he wont’ resign because getting him fired…will pot him around half a million euros)…and on top of that a clear lack of contact with reality. after the loss against serbia…he stated quite calmly…’that serbia passed the center line just 6 times’…why would they need to pass it more often if they played most of the game in the romanian half? better yet…why worry to pass it more often if they scored 3 goals with those 6 times?…that’s a 50% efficiency…quite a different team if you’d ask me?

after the austria game…he states ‘we lost a game…that’s all’. obviously…everyone knows romania lost a game and with destroyed mutu’s dream at snorting coke off a south african woman…the question is will he take responsibility? probably not…and thus the eternal pain will continue for a country that simply has nothing else to look forward to. at least until now…football was something to look for in order to forget the corruption of the system…now the system took over football…

the best joke today on april 1st…is that the romanian ‘national team’ showed up for a game…

air transat

i haven’t even had the pleasure to fly with them and they’re getting a promotional entry. some are just that lucky, or well in their case just that deserving. let’s put matters in perspective…and will try to keep this short. i’m due to attend a conference at the end of april in england…and with it…i get to see someone very special…so you can imagine that besides looking forward to this trip, i’m also very sensitive about any hick-ups that arrise or could arrise. as any other eager person…i booked my ticket in the begining of january…and was quite happy that i ended up getting what one might consider a pretty decent deal, roughly $910 for the ticket including tax. the flight was direct…and leaving late from vancouver meant arriving early in london…and without any stops, one could say i was quite happy with the choice.

well, on march 4th i get a dreaded phone call (and this i thought only happens with tarom…)…informing me that my return flight to vancouver was cancelled. they can offer me a flight a day earlier (quite impossible as i’m still at the conference) or 4 days later. sure, get an extra few days, however…i would be alone, in london, for 4 days, and the person i’d like to spent time with the most would have gone home by then…a receipe for a wonderful extended vacation…

no reimbursement offered for the change in plans, or offer to help with the hotel or help with other flights…no help offer at all from air transat. now if you’ll argue and ask if i purchased air-insurance…no i didn’t…but regardless they changed the flight. on top of that…quite unprofessional…no appology, just straight to the point…with an attitude of ‘take our offer or leave it, as we don’t care for your service’. well…the next day i get another call from them (and no, it wasn’t about my ‘feedback’ email i send them a few hours later) to ask what my credit card number is because they don’t have the full one on file. now, at that point i was in the middle of my experiment (you know…then one where i have to change gloves every minute) and i couldn’t quite answer the phone. i called back…to no avail…as i have yet to talk to them. i did leave messages, but nobody has called back yet.

what did the cancellation get me…well for starters the cheapest direct flight ticket is roughly $350 more. so there you have it…the service and reliability is related to the price…i guess it’s true, you get what you pay for. last time i purchase anything with them…and that pretty much includes their vacation deals. if this is the reliability they showed, as well as lack of professionalism, i don’t think i’d like to find out how their vacation deals fare. now i gotta keep my fingers crossed and wonder if i can catch them on the phone to recuperate my money…given my credit card bill was already paid

edit: so, not long after i posted this…i get an email from air transat…asking me if i’d like to book something with them (part of the email is shown above in the photo). i guess they missed my ‘feedback’ email?