Rob Lally : Robert Lally

Most mornings, on the way to work I stop off at the Cost Coffee on the A91 services. Most mornings I have a large latte. Some mornings, particularly if I had a heavy exercise session the night before and I’m feeling dehydrated, I’ll order a large tea. This is where things go down hill.

Costa seem to not want to sell me a large cup of tea. They have cups, they have tea, they have water, I have money. But for some reason it is an issue.

When I order a large tea, a random selection from the following list will happen:

1. I get it.
2. They refuse to give me a large cup, telling me I can only have a medium or a small.
3. The ignore my request for a large cup of tea and give me a medium cup.

Number one makes me happy, although my enjoyment of the tea is spoiled because of the tension from not knowing if it is going to be a hassle getting it.

Number two annoys the hell out of me, so much that I’d rather not have gone in.

Number three makes me really, really mad. You’re deliberately giving me something that isn’t what I asked for.

This morning was a #3 day and I lost my patience. As she was pouring water into a medium cup I turned and walked away. Walking away, never to return. I will not ever purchase anything from any Costa Coffee again.

I did a quick calculation, and I was on track to spending - between beverages and breakfast - close to £1000/year with them. That’s enough money that, I finding the idea of not giving it to them satisfying. The fires of my wrath will warm me where their tea has failed.

…or at least talk. I’m appearing at the Epicenter conference in Dublin next week. I’ve got two sessions lined up:

• Next Generation Languages for the JVM
• Lean, Kanban and Theory of Constraints for Managers

I just stumbled across this very cool video. Irrespective of how you feel about aquariums, you have to admit it is pretty.

I really liked the song and, since there was a link on the page, I decided to buy it. But of course, Apple and the record company have decided that they don’t want to sell it to me because I live in the UK.

If this was the first time I’d had such a problem, I would write it off as an aberration. But it isn’t, it happens all the time and it really pisses me off.

I don’t know anything about the record companies business model, or the realities of life as an up-and-coming artist - but if your business plan involves artificial market segmentation to the point where people can’t buy your products.. you deserve nothing but scorn, poverty and, if all my wishes came true, some sort of painful and inconvenient ( but not necessarily fatal disease. I don’t know what Scrofulous is, but it sounded funny when Terry Pratchett used it, so, for now, I’m going to hope for that.

Barcelona, keep up the good work, I hope the Scrofula doesn’t get in the way of your singing, nor the poverty and attendant malnourishment distract you from your musical endeavours. I’m sure that the scorn will only aid you in your artistic struggle.

This intriguing article from Monica Harrington caught me by surprise for two reasons:

1. Bob was real! I remember seeing MS Bob - way back when, but I genuinely thought it was a gag. I’m both flabbergasted and a little disappointed. For years I’ve thought kindly about Microsoft because I remember how hard I laughed.. discovering that it wasn’t a cunning joke is… oh, my.
2. There’s a lot of wisdom compressed into a short article.