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Monday 3 July 2017

Julia Hartley Dooda Goes Postal

[Update at end of post]

Even though she has been reduced to a rant slot on the increasingly downmarket Murdoch media outpost Talk Radio, Julia Hartley Brewer wants everyone to know that she is someone. We should know who she is. After all, she is still a paid-up member of the Pundit Establishment. She is big - it’s the pundit opportunities that got small.
Yes thanks, we already know who you are

Armed with this suitably self-important mindset, Ms Hartley Dooda proceeded from her daily rantfest to the Post Office just south of the river on Blackfriars Road, where she was subjected to the ultimate humiliation - not only did she have to queue for service, but had to do her queuing with ordinary people who were less important than Herself. And it also seems that nobody at the Post Office knew who she was.
But she did know how to run a branch of the Post Office, because, well, she knows about this sort of thing, as she’s a Talk Radio host, and they know everything about everything. So, having been forced to stand in line, the outpouring began: “Just waited in line 25 mins at the Post Office to get proof of postage. Staff sent on lunchbreaks while 30 people queued. Unbelievable”. Perhaps she would write to the Times about it.
What she did do was to jolly well tell the manager how to do his job, because she’s a very important person. “The PO manager said his staff have to eat lunch. Yes, but not at lunchtime, the busiest time of their working day. Why not at 12pm or 2pm?” This was a poor substitute for talking loudly in restaurants, but it would have to do.
Did the manager take her words of wisdom on board, and bow to the devastating clarity of her superior insights? Sadly, no he didn’t: “I asked the PO manager if he knew how to run a business properly. His response was to accuse me of ‘being abusive’. Laughable attitude”. Yes, her attitude was laughable, but the manager seems a sound bloke.
In any case, she still knew more than the manager about running his Post Office, and so could easily latch on to something else that incurred her displeasure: “New staff arrived but at the Travel Money desk - where there was no queue. Apparently people who can't use a cashpoint abroad have priority”. People want the choice of being able to have some foreign currency before travelling. Isn’t that freedom of choice in action?
Whatever. The whole thing had by now totally exasperated Ms Hartley Dooda. I mean, there she was, knowing more about how to run the place than everyone else there, and still she has to queue up. “There's no sense among Post Office staff that they're providing a SERVICE for customers. We're merely irritations in their working day”.
They still didn’t know who she was. And she had a message for all those out there on Twitter who (rightly) concluded that she was merely attention seeking (again): “To the people replying to this tweet who think it's outrageous to expect basic service. YOU are the reason we've such bad service in the UK”. It’s all someone else’s fault. As usual.

People have to stand in line. Sometimes that takes several minutes. But, guess what, it’s all about Herself Personally Now. No prizes for guessing the subject of tomorrow’s Hartley Dooda Talk Radio Rant Sermon. Another reason to tune in … elsewhere.

[UPDATE 4 July 1400 hours: Ms Hartley Dooda has, despite having had the Zelo Street Twitter feed blocked for some time now, read this post, but sadly has been unable to take a hint.
So she has taken to Twitter to indulge in a little projection and ignorance, claiming "Hilarious. An angry man writes an entire blog about my Post Office whinge. I think he needs a new hobby". Hilarious is right, but there is no anger involved in taking the piss. Try again.
"But bless him for using a photo of me from about 15 years ago. I'd thank him personally but he's blocked me". No, I haven't blocked her. But she has blocked me. It seems Ms Hartley Dooda has suffered a memory lapse. Perhaps she left it in the same place as her sense of humour]

14 comments:

Fishman Dave said...

Reminds me of a cafe close to the docks in Goole that used to close for lunch

Anonymous said...

Lately, Julia dear looks and sounds as though she isn't getting any.

That would certainly explain her "erratic" behaviour.

Either that or she's a trainee nutjob who you find in old age throwing orange peel at passing cyclists.

Arnold said...

"Why not at 12?" Half would have gone then. It's called staggering.
This reminds me of the Great Storm of 87. Trees had fallen on many Eastbourne roads. Power was intermittent. A metal pole had been driven through a sign belonging to a clairvoyant who unaccountably hadn't moved it to safety the day before.
And there was still a queue outside whining that the Post Office hadn't opened on time.

David said...

The whole tone of JHB's tweets is very "don't you know who I am??"...and how dare people have their lunch at lunchtime!!

Maybe she's forgotten how to interact with the wider world after all that time at work cooped up in an LBC "Eurosceptic Right" echo chamber with the likes of Perrins and Isaby?

Unknown said...

Well, I guess Post Offices could employ more staff and pay them more so that they are rewarded for not taking lunch breaks at lunchtime. But then costs would rise somewhat substantially and JHB would moan even more.

SteveB said...

Would now be a good time to mention how privatisation was meant to make everything better?

iMatt said...

If the service was that bad, why not go back later? Or on another day perhaps? Why suffer poor service AND be happy to do so in order to turn it into cheap Twitter fodder? Brewer is such a sensationalist.

Anonymous said...

Why did she go at lunchtime? Didn't she know it would be busy?

In any event, surely someone as successful as she thinks she is has staff who do such things for her? She has obviously failed spectacularly in life if this isn't the case.

Sam Best said...

"“The PO manager said his staff have to eat lunch. Yes, but not at lunchtime", How jolly selfish of them eating lunch at that time. Why not at 10am or 3pm ?
Alternatively she could have comeback at another time that was not "lunchtime". Doesn't she have someone to go to the PO for her so she hasn't got to mingle with the plebs?

Anonymous said...

When the post office is open from 9-6 and if you work normal working hours like me (9:30-5:30), you find that lunchtime is the only convenient time to go and get parcels sent. It is reasonable to expect at peak times (because other than lunch time the post office would be empty) for all the staff that are scheduled to be working are actually working. It is incredibly frustrating if you spend half of your lunch hour queuing (which I have had to before).

If the post offices opened for more than Saturday morning (unbelievable it's closed Sat afternoon and all of sunday), then perhaps royal mail wouldn't be so busy during lunchtime but that's their business decision

ILoveMilo said...

what a sorry bunch of idiots you are. She went at lunchtime because she no doubt had to work before and after it. When you run a service business, you run it for the benefit of your customers, not your staff. So, if your customers are mostly wanting to use your services at lunchtime, you ensure your staff are available then. No need to hire more people, you just ensure you deploy them in the right way.

I genuinely fear for the future of the world with people like you lot in it.

Anonymous said...

Oh I wouldn't worry ILoveMilo.

Service businesses are run for profit, not the benefit of customers.

For which, you could consult the international banks for their part in the ongoing 2008 Depression, or the car manufacturers fraud on engine pollution, or the oil corporations on environmental pollution, or the fracking companies on the pollution of ground water.

None of that of course bothers the JHB moron. She's far too busy peddling her line in hugely comic lower middle class whinges. If I was her local post office I'd slam the door in her face and tell her to fuck off to Murdoch Rip Off Mails Inc.

Daleking Duds of May said...

Saddo complains about lack of staff but is too mean to employ someone to run errands for them. How do you expect the Post Office to make a profit for their shareholders, Julia Hartley Boohaa? I want a decent television service but I can't have one because of self-centred twats hogging the studios.

Nick S said...

If she isn't looking for things to rant about, does she really exist? Her entire persona is tied to being a dick, and without that she has no identity.