Typical Australian Efficiency

I should have probably mentioned Stephen by name. My other half. The Brit who sometimes finds himself just as bemused by this place as I am. Last year, we bought some patio furniture, and arranged for it to be delivered. So, a few days later, I hear the delivery truck pull up. I'm sitting there waiting for the driver to knock, or ring the bell,or something. Silly me. What he does is unload all the furniture at the top of the driveway, and leave. No signature, no nothing. This is fairly typical of the Australian level of service.(Bunnings, I'm looking at you. You, too, Harvey Norman.) Poor Stephen had to lug about a dozen pieces of wooden furniture down the driveway, and out to the backyard. It almost seems as if it's a point of pride to give crappy service. Kind of like "I'm not waiting tables(driving a delivery truck, etc.) for a living, just until I find a real job."

Which leads me to talk about when we went to go get a fridge. I had just arrived, and this was my first shopping expedition. We went to Harvey Norman(think Crazy Eddie's and Bob's Discount Furniture, all rolled into one.) He decided to get a chest freezer, and a fridge with no freezer compartment. So, after looking over the two in front of me, I said "O.K., where are the rest of them?" Thinking there had to be a larger selection. He said, "What do you mean, this is it. These two." He still laughs at the look on my face. But that's pretty typical for choice here... it's pretty much take it or leave it. That's when I started calling this place "the ass end of nowhere." In a fond way, of course.