Friday 5 March 2010

Rage and the Secret Life of Point Cards

 AM

At 9:30am, I woke with a crushing headache. Rather than a hangover, which would indicate a great night beforehand, the headache mainly resulted from rage and a touch of dehydration. After reading my draft schedule for the next academic year, my shock was so great that it nearly caused vomiting. Despite a year of outstanding evaluations and a spotless attendance record, not one of the seven schools I nominated appeared on the sub-professional spreadsheet (right) .My week of personnel department rage began with two trips to Wakayama in one week, subsided on Wednesday, then was enflamed once again on Thursday night. I'm still pondering whether or not to compose a strongly worded letter. Then again, I didn't come here to work for my company - I came to get out of a rotten job and out of the cool soup which Melbourne isn't and enjoy myself (which I am!)

PM

During the PM hours I was asked no less than four times whether or not I had a point card. I also gained one point card and redeemed some goodness from another point card.

I've inadvertently become a regular at the Akagakiya Sushi restaurant in Namba. Every time I visit, which is very often, I get asked whether I would like to convert my pile of plates into points. Finally today (thanks to Rosie's Japanese skills) , I was able to become part of the sushi point card bretheren. I'm completely unsure as to the nature of the calculations, however today I accrued 17 points. As to exactly how the points will pay off I am also completely unsure, but I plan to pile on the numbers for something big - someday.

Just 30 minutes later, I experienced the joyous result of point accumulation. For months, small numbers of points have been added to my and Rosie's Yamada LABI card. Today, at about 4:30pm the pay off came. It was unexpected, for my previous experience with points has been almost nil, and in Australia, redemption for most people is an impossible dream. As the clerk fed our card into her machine, then scanned the barcode on our new powerboard an amazing thing happened. In my ignorance, I offered the young women the 1300 or so yen for the good but she simply pointed to the register that read 0Yen. The powerboard cost nothing but a few abstract numbers on a hi-tech silvery card. Again: what an amazing country.

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