i like soccer but...

the bust up between the AFL and FFA have had me quite bemused this week. i enjoy soccer and would love to see the world cup hosted in australia, but not if it comes at the expense of the football season. it's not often i agree with andrew demetriou but this time i reckon he's got it right. the FIFA rule that no other sporting competitions can be run at the same time as the world cup is arrogant and unreasonable. whether soccer supporters like it or not, football is the most popular sport in australia and the FFA need to negotiate with the AFL rather than attempt to dictate terms. demetriou's role is to protect the interests of football in general, and the AFL in particular, and if he didn't do so he'd be neglecting his duties. to blame demetriou for us potentially missing out on hosting the world cup is ludicrous. if we miss out on the opportunity to host the world cup because an agreement can't be reached with the AFL, the blame lies fairly and squarely on FIFA and their unforgivable arrogance.

latest hungry jack's ripoff

can you believe how shameless hungry jack's are in their chasing of profits? first they changed the default size of combo meals from medium to small. this doesn't particularly bother me as it's probably for the best that i eat less fries and the drinks usually have free refills. it's more the way they've tried to sneak it in quietly that i find rather dishonest. now at the innaloo branch (and quite likely others) they've taken this one step further. i was in there yesterday and noticed that when the person in line before me placed his order, the guy behind the checkout asked if he wanted it medium or large. of course, the bloke asked for medium and was charged the upgrade fee. there was no mention from the checkout guy that there was an extra charge for a medium meal and no mention of the option of having a small meal. when i ordered my whopper meal, he asked me the same question: "do you want medium or large?" (with the voice intonation dropping on 'large', thereby implying that these are the only two options). i replied by asking, "don't you do small sizes anymore?" to which he looked rather surprised and asked, "sorry?". i repeated the question and he confirmed that they do small meals so i placed the order for that.

i realise that the upgrade fee is only 55 cents but it's the principle of the matter. if they're going to ask which size you want, they should either offer all the choices or none; not just the choices that attract an extra charge. i would presume that most people, when asked if they want medium or large, would choose medium. using a simple, dishonest tactic, hungry jack's are now able to entice the majority of customers to pay for an upgrade without realising they're doing it which i reckon is pretty unethical.