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The following is reply received by a business traveller to his request for a copy of his hotel bill.  Can you spot the error????

Dear Mt ST, Thank you for contacting Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum. I hope your day is going well. I have sent an email to the Sheraton Miyako Hotel Tokyo requesting the folio be sent ASAP. I am very sorry for the incontinence this has caused you. We appreciate your loyalty MR ST, to SPG as a Platinum member. I hope you enjoyed your stay at Sheraton Miyako. Best Regards, Cathy C. Associate, Platinum Starwood Preferred Guest Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, LLC

Will soon be over!

Eight miles north of Birmingham, I've just witnessed sideways rain and hailstones whilst the sun was shining.  Outside walk around of property later or in morning to see if there's any damage.   House across road has lost three ridge tiles.  Surprisingly, daffodils in bud have withstood the wind so far.

Well done to everyone who battles the elements to provide public transport, be it plane, train or bus.   Watching my favourite flight tracking service earlier and witnessed lunchtime Emirates flight into Birmingham taking 2 attempts to land, nailed it on second one.  Unfortunately, after circling Milton Keynes for around 45 minutes Qatar Airways chickened out and diverted to Stansted.  Can imagine there's a lot of extra washing being done this afternoon 

I think that H&S has become a subject to avoid because of the ridiculous extremes it's taken to.  The example of banning kids playing conkers is just one of them.   Sometimes it's used as a reason to fob us off.   I agree that people lack common sense.  

I recently read of a couple who wanted to reserve two aircraft seats.  Nothing unusual in that, except they wanted the middle and aisle in the row of three.  This was declined on the grounds of health and safety, yet there is no aviation regulation stating that it cannot be done.  It was the airline recognising that the single window seat may be difficult to sell.  Using H&S as an excuse is why so many people just laugh or show no interest.

 Same apathy applies to travel safety/security.   I've delivered many individual briefings where I've been concerned about the lack of understanding displayed.  My favourite comment was if they were in a job where they had to be at the top of their game 100% of time, they would be dangerous

Thanks Steve

The bit that amuses me is "avoid the use of acronyms".   That's a joke, they have pages and pages of them!

As is usual with these stories, they lack detail.  When we were first told that fat was bad for you, lots of people tried to cut out all fat because the media had failed to report it was saturated fat.  Then it was reported that bacon is bad for you, yet you would have to eat it every day for x number of years.  

We all have differing metabolic rates and some people may have genetic problems like kids having inherited high cholesterol levels, which means that they cannot eat chocolate and sweets.  

Then there is the diet fizzy drinks issue.  Some people think they can drink as much as they like, but what they are doing is pumping themselves full of chemicals which can adversely affect their health, not just increasing the size of their waistline.  Diet fizzy drinks should not be consumed by anyone who has heart problems or high blood pressure.

Good idea!

For those with a military background or having worked with them, JSP101 covers how to write communications......

It is a long time coming and there are probably other countries who haven't reacted as quickly as they should.   The UK is now taking this very seriously and this new centre is certainly a step in the right direction.   Having worked for a Government client, it opens your eyes to who and what is a threat be it physical or cyber.  

I'm a customer of a number of companies who have experienced hacks; thankfully it has not affected me but I've checked accounts, changed passwords, etc.  I've even covered over the camera on my laptop after finding out that hackers can get your passwords etc by watching through it.    I've also told callers from the "Microsoft Technical Centre" aka an African call centre to go away and so far they haven't bothered me again.

As for the Queen not knowing much about cyber security, don't under-estimate any member of the royal family.   They do their homework before any official function/visit.  Although HM may not actually tweet herself, I'm sure she at least knows the basics!

This is an old one!

Another more recent is PayPal.  I've received a couple of "payment notifications" to a John MacKenzie.  Took a while for PayPal to send me their free UK phone number so that I could discuss this with them.   They are aware of it and I've closed my account as a precaution but I know that some of you may not be able to do that.  

The e-mails look legit until you read the "from" e-mail address.  

Originally Posted by Rebecca (PayforPrecision)

“I am with Julia here, sounds like my worst nightmare! Sparkly cushions and room full of women? What a way to segregate yourself  Sounds like a huge step backwards, do they hand out free tampons too? jeeeez. No wonder I prefer male company! ”

Thanks Rebecca, couldn't have put it better myself!!

An ex-boss once commented at my annual appraisal that I had a problem, my relationship with my female colleagues.  Yes, he was right; the pettiness demonstrated by them was exactly why I got on better with the guys......

The organisations making money out of the "sisterhood" aren't just in the USA, I can think of a couple over here that I try to avoid 

This is just the sort of female stereo-typing that makes me angry.   Why do we need white cushions with glittery writing??

Having worked on a project about lone female travellers at my previous employer, it was very disappointing to discover that many of the so-called "empowering" individuals/organisations are only there to make money (surprise, surprise!).   Whilst working on this project, one of my male colleagues asked why it was restricted to females.  Okay, we have characteristics that are unique to us, but that doesn't mean that it's only females who get harassed on flights/in hotels, etc.    

Back to the original topic, Steve summed it up very well.  Times are changing and it's not difficult to find out what interests your male colleagues.  I've worked in a lot of predominantly male environments and have got on with the guys because I know something about football/cricket/rugby, etc.   Why should we shut ourselves away in "girls lounges" with naff decor because someone has decided to make money telling us that's what we need......