Looking back over the past weeks and to the weeks ahead – to rate the noteworthy, the cringeworthy, the good, the bad, the ugly, and the truly amazing.
Man loses best friend and hopes for speedy return
A man in the United States formed an unusual connection with an unlikely ‘support animal’ ten years ago and is now bereft that his alligator pal has gone missing. Joie Henney had travelled with Wally (said alligator) from Pennsylvania to Georgia and he believes Wally was taken from outside the house he was staying as a prank before being located by local authorities and released into the wild.
“Mr Henney said the alligator had helped relieve his depression for nearly a decade, and the bond between the pair has earned them tens of thousands of followers on social media. Mr Henney has urged his followers not to risk their safety by joining his hunt for his beloved reptile and said all he wants is information. A fundraising page set up to cover travel costs, vet bills and “potential legal costs” has so far raised more than US$8,000. ‘All we want and honestly all anyone wants is for the trapper who was doing his job to give us a location,’ he added.” (Source: “‘Bring my baby back’: Wally the ’emotional support’ alligator goes missing in Georgia,” 2nd May, www.news.sky.com)
Like many I am hoping that Mr Henney is reunited with his reptile amigo. What a movie that would make!
5 stars – yet another reminder, if we needed one, of the gifts to our lives that animals bring.
Woman mystified by creation of pop-up car park
Multi-national car park monopoly, Wilson’s is never far from the news. It’s exorbitant fine regime raises heckles and promotes caution from consumer watchdogs, but this is a new one entirely.
Auckland woman, Josephine Williams says she had parked her car at an expanse of gravel in Westgate and when she returned found Wilsons’ signage everywhere and a ticket for $85 on her windscreen. Wilson’s argued that the carpark had been there a while and they had merely added more signage.
‘”To my unfortunate surprise – and many others – I was greeted by an $85 parking ticket for a breach and a flyer from Wilson Parkinh saying paid parking had started that day. ‘But what breach exactly was made? How was I supposed to know paid parking started that day when there was nothing at all displayed anywhere in the car park?’ Williams said. Williams provided Stuff with dash cam footage that showed her pulling into the gravel clearing at 7.45am. In the video, no paid parking signs or Wilson branding can be seen.” (Source: “Auckland woman says Wilson set up car park around parked car then gave her ticket,” by Katie Ham, 1st May, www.stuff.co.nz).
Williams contested the fine with Wilsons enforcement services and it was waived. However, she says there were more than 50 cars in the vicinity that day and all would likely have been ticketed. She is concerned that the vehicle owners would just pay the fines.
0 stars for utterly below average behaviour – 5 stars to Williams though – knowing your rights and contesting illegal practices is good form.
Burger joint new to the country demands business change its name
Bill Cao and May Zhou have owned and operated Popeye’s Takeaways in Fielding for 20 years and the business traded under that name for ten years previous. A family business, it has served local consumers since 2008 and all was well until US owned mega fast food giant, Popeyes, rolled into South Auckland recently. With no sense of fairness or decency the company employed a local legal firm to issue cease and desist notices to make the Zhou’s change their business name.
Whilst the Zhous have complied to the standover tactics I think it makes Popeyes look like bullies. The Zhous have traded under that name for 18 years – Popeyes opened their doors in New Zealand a few weeks ago. The Zhous shop is in Fielding: so far Popeyes has one outlet in Takanini, Auckland. It looks very much like a global food chain picking on locals, for no reason at all.
“Patrons expressed annoyance that a long-established identity in the community could be rubbed out by a multinational corporation operating in New Zealand for less than a week, and scoffed at the notion anyone would confuse the businesses.” (Source: “‘No more Popeye’: Fish’n’chip shop forced to drop name by fast food giant,” by Matthew Dallas, 3rd May, www.stuff.co.nz)
0 stars – I’d rather give my money to hard working locals than support a global company that chose to act this way.
