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From this article in the Irish Times, Frank MaNally reports that

A large majority of Irishmen do almost no cleaning, laundry, or cooking at home, a survey by the Economic and Social Research Institute has found.

The ESRI have made this claim after surveying one thousand adults.

The time-use study suggests that on weekdays, the statistically composite Irish person spends an average of just over eight hours sleeping; four hours in paid employment; one hour 50 minutes on household work; one hour 30 on caring; and five hours on leisure, including a small amount of voluntary or religious activity.

I’d like to live in the statistically composite world. Oh to only have to spend four hours a day at work rather that the ten hours per weekday on work related activities. (i.e. work and travelling to work)

SK, I am sure would also like to live in the composite world. He wouldn’t have to do any cleaning, laundry or cooking. What are the women of Ireland doing? Why in this day and age would any woman continue to clean, do laundry and cook for able bodied men.

SK, thankfully, is accomplished at cooking, cleaning and doing his own laundry. So are most men I know of my own age and older.

trolley point

At lunchtime today, I went to Spectra photo on Lower Grafton Street with the intention of printing out some photographs which I had stored on my memory key.

In the shop, they have machines set up for selecting photographs to print out. They clearly state that they do not offer one hour photos from that machine. They clearly state they do not accept TIFF format photos.

What they do not clearly state is that they do not allow you to print photographs from those new-fangled devices otherwise known as memory sticks or memory keys which can be plugged into USB ports.

The USB port on the machine I was using had sellotape over it, not that it was stuck on particularly well, it looked as though it had been pulled off previously.

So, not seeing any sign to the contrary, I plugged in my memory stick. The machine had no problem reading it. Nearly two hundred photograph selections later, I was at the final stage of uploading my files, about to get my receipt.

That is when the strange little man who was helping people at the next machine decided to approach me. The strange little man saw my memory key.

“We don’t take USB keys” he said..
“Pardon?” I replied.
“We DON”T DO USB keys” he told me again.

OK, that is strange, as obviously the machine accepts them happily. I wonder why.

“Oh, why? I don’t see any signs stating that and it is working perfectly.”
“We DON’T DO USB keys” he repeated. “That is why it was taped over”
“Why?”I asked adding “The tape was loose.”
“We DON”T DO USB keys”
“Yes, but do you have a reason why? As obviously it works perfectly. The machine is built to cater for it.
“We don’t do USB keys”

Am I dealing with some sort of bot I wondered. Like Eliza? Although, Eliza would have more intelligence. Eliza could say more than “we don’t do usb keys”.

“Oh but it’s nearly finished loading my photographs” I said, “It’s about to print my receipt, what do you suggest I do?”

With that, strange little man promptly pressed the screen to cancel my photo selection and receipt printing. So I removed my memory key from the machine, afraid that if I didn’t, he would and then throw it on the ground and stamp on it. He still hadn’t said anything else. Finito.

He was basically telling me to GET OUT OF THE SHOP through his actions. Other than the “we don’t do USB keys, he hadn’t said anything intelligible. Is there a USB phobia I wondered, USB keys, as we all know, are dangerous, and pose a threat to machines with USB connectors built into the front of them.

“Fair enough”, “I’ll take my business elsewhere”.

you’ve just lost Spectra a customer, I won’t be back in a hurry.

Dejected, I left the shop. Another thirty seconds without strange little man’s interference, I would have had my receipt in my hand, and my prints would have been ordered. No problem. The machine hadn’t crashed. Or exploded. The sky hadn’t fallen on anyone’s head. But when entering Spectra on Grafton Street (the bottom end, opposite Trinity) be aware, THEY DON”T DO “USB KEYS” (as they call them).

What on earth is their reason for not accepting photographs off USB keys? It is the daftest thing I have ever come across. Their machines have USB connectors in the front of them.

They should also, perhaps, train their staff to offer a valid reason for not accepting USB keys. Train them how to communicate with their customers. Train them to say more than “We don’t accept USB keys”.

There wasn’t much to do after two defeats in a row except DRINK!