At afternoon tea with my extended family today, one of them asked in relation to my spots on 612 ABC: "Do you have to have a grumble about something every week?" I pointed out that it wasn't compulsory, but I usually found something about everyday life annoying enough to talk about. I soon realised I wasn't alone. We got on to the subject of bad service in supermarkets and discount stores. Complaints ran thick and fast, about:
+ How you can set out your things in a sensible order - all the cold things together, the vegetables and meat in one place - and then the person at the checkout will then just put them randomly in different bags;
+ How there's been a new staff intake at one major chain and everybody is hopeless;
+ How the checkout operators can't identify fruit and vegetables (I suggested that next time an operator ask what an item is, the respond with something like: "It's either a cucumber or a zucchini, depending on which is cheaper").

Love cats but can't have one because you're allergic to them? Fear no more, for a mere US$3950 (A$5265), you can buy a hypoallergenic kitten.

Brilliant But Cancelled is a website that's monitoring the fate of the new shows that have just debuted on US television. Chances are, about half the shows won't survive a full first season, let alone go on to become hits. If I had the energy, I'd link up the shows with the Australian networks that have already purchased them. Then I'd wait to see which of them has the nerve to promote an already-cancelled show as a potential hit here.

I must be psychic, sort of, in relation to my item this morning about US TV flops that get sold over here and promoted as hits. Channel 10 has just announced it is screening an American sitcom called Out of Practice on Saturdays at 6.30pm. According to my research - i.e. looking up its WikiPedia entry - the show had a troubled debut in America late last year, was put on hiatus mid-season, and then cancelled after two more episodes. Still, it does have Henry "The Fonz" Winkler in it, so it may be worth viewing for curiousity value alone.