Observations by Jonar Nader » Well done

A Prescription for Change

Jonar Nader — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 08:25:45 +0000

Chief Reporter with ‘The Australian’ newspaper in Queensland, Mr Tony Koch, wrote a book called, ‘A Prescription for Change: The Terry White Story’.

I happen to know and admire Terry White and his wife Rhonda. I have worked with them on a few assignments, and count them amongst my dear friends.

Terry and Rhonda had sent a copy of the book to me, and upon reading it, I wrote this letter to thank them. I thought to publish the letter here to share with you how the book impacted me. The book is available from all stores or from University of Queensland Press if you click here.

My letter to Terry and Rhonda follows:

My dear friends

I have often said, ‘When you see successful people, don’t just applaud… also shed a tear, because their journey would have been long and hard.’

I always knew that you, Rhonda and Terry, were remarkable souls. I had no idea about your background. I just knew that Terry was involved in serving his community via politics, and that Rhonda is a formidable retailing genius who raised a loving family while taking an interest in a range of fields. I knew nothing of the details, and I am not one to ask, preferring to give my friends their privacy.

It was evident from our special moments together that your rivers ‘ran deep’ and that your spirit was touched by God. All I knew was that you were delightful people who had energy and drive, and who held-firm to your principles. These inspiring qualities were evident from day-one. Your aura exuded your essence, which I felt was grounded in Christian values. It was by your actions that I knew who you were… citizens of substance and joy.

Before your book arrived, I had always held you both in the highest esteem. I did not know your history, and had no idea about your many challenges. I just felt that you were seasoned life-travellers whose journey was no doubt tough and rough, albeit rich and rewarding for you, your family, and all those who were fortunate enough to come into contact with you.

When you kindly sent me a copy of ‘A Prescription for Change’, I opened it in order to glance at it, thinking that I would put it aside and read it during a quiet moment. Alas, I was magnetised to it and could not put it down until I had devoured several chapters and realised that I was late to my next meeting.

Indeed, your story is an important one for so many people, on so many fronts. Your dear friends will benefit from learning more about your amazing childhood and teenage years, and about your family struggles that were not dissimilar to the struggles of many humble families of the day (not to mention the many families of modern times). Yet, it is fascinating that Terry would say that he enjoyed and appreciated his youth. Despite the hardship, it seems that you were grateful. This is a reflection of your good nature: you endure what comes, and you find the gems amidst the fire.

I am glad that you shared with us how you met Rhonda. Mind you, I felt uneasy about you leaving your sweetheart to go overseas, but I guess in every decision, we find lessons that will hold us in good stead. Indeed, it seems that your travels had awakened important questions in your mind.

The writer, Mr Tony Koch, must be commended for being able to re-tell each story in a simple, yet colourful way. Mr Koch was at no time an obstacle to the reader. I was able to visualise the townships, your workshops, your school, and your family gatherings. The only disappointment was that each chapter was shorter than I needed. I always felt that I would have benefited from additional stories. Then again, this is not a criticism. It highlights the skills of the writer: leaving the reader wanting more.

The political story woven throughout the book was gripping. At the time of his reign, I was too young to have fully understood what Joh Bjelke-Petersen stood for. I do recall his pesky presence on television, and I often wondered about his policies. Back then, I had no idea about the complexity of the political landscape which I now realise was a large part of your daily battles. Your book has sparked an interest to research that era in order to understand the corruption and the power-plays that were no doubt frustrating beyond belief. Although it is all over, I do feel for you both. I had not experienced this type of political degradation, but I did live through similar absurdities during the war in Beirut and later through similar human putridity while working for global corporate machines.

Those who have not been squeezed by unfathomable human/political weakness, might not fully appreciate the immense pressure that you must have suffered, while trying to push away the tide of injustice, pleading for some sanity and support from your friends who, instead of assisting you, were ‘advising’ you to back-off. Oh, I do know how difficult this can be. It is like being in a noisy chaotic street wherein no-one can hear you crying out for help.

Terry and Rhonda, your persistence in the face of opposition became obvious throughout the book, and it was during such moments that I, as the reader, and as someone who admires you, felt tense with frustration about a situation that I think still prevails to this day: the bastards make it difficult for the decent folk to get on with the job. But you held your ground, while you ran a business, stood-up to unethical business giants, raised a family, and clutched to your values.

I marvel at what people presume the act of ‘leadership’ to really mean. They often see leadership as some form of orchestration from on-high.

I believe that the story portrayed in your book is a perfect example of leadership: leading yourselves amidst turbulent, lonely, and scary times, while many about you are falling, failing, or distancing themselves. Yours is a story of leadership-in-action, fought in the trenches… declaring yet another war with another greedy idiot, while wondering if this punch might well be your last, or if that blow might well be the final one to knock you down. Despite these grave risks, you attacked, you defended, you bruised, and you pressed on, moved on… That was leadership: carving a new path through a dark jungle, simply because you refused to walk along easy-street where corruption of the mind and soul would have been the cheaper price for a smoother ride.

I found the book engaging. It is filled with lessons about perseverance and justice. It is a real story that depicts two people in the act of following their heart, even if it meant losing friends and infuriating people.

No doubt many have told you how funny it was to read: ‘Benjamin, say the fuck word one more time and you’ll have to stay here — I can’t afford one more fuck.’ I was glad that I was not drinking at the time of reading this chapter, because I would have sprayed the room. That line will go down in history as a cute example of a stressful altercation, involving the delightful Rhonda White whose body-language and voice jumped out from the page. I burst out laughing. Isn’t it interesting that we can find humour in such dramatic incidents that punctuate our lives. Perhaps time heals and time soothes and in the end, life’s struggles settle to reveal our strengths.

The survivors will endure; looking back to learn, to smile, to laugh. Indeed, we can laugh at what can now be described as a knee-slapper about a precious mother-and-son moment.

I thank you, dear friends, for sharing your story with me. And I congratulate Tony Koch on a story well told.

I have purchased additional copies to enrich my friends. ‘A Prescription for Change’ is more than an inspiring story. It is agitating, uplifting, insightful, and indeed infuriating because it reminds us that the world has not changed. Stupidity and myopia abound.

In the end, there is hope. We can learn from Rhonda and Terry that, by the Grace of God, we must neither give-up nor give-in.

You are role models for the new warriors who can learn from you both and say, ‘I, too, shall stand my ground. I shall not surrender!’

In my prayers, and with immense admiration,

Jonar Nader

Beware the back-door tax audit

Jonar Nader — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 04:28:08 +0000

Did you know that there are bin-collectors who could rummage through your rubbish and sell its contents to your competitors? Such collectors have been around for decades. I used to receive calls from such operators asking me if I wanted the contents of my competitor’s bins. Faxes, papers, invoices, letters, price lists and the like were accessible in abundance. So much so, that corporations now have a new kind of garbage system, whereby blue wheely bins are locked, and are only picked up by special ‘security’ companies. Sadly, what’s the point of having such bins lined up on the pavement? It tells the world that the said bins are hot targets. The collectors steal the bins — lock, stock, and barrel. So now, careful establishments have bins in which the shredder is in-built. The moment a piece of paper enters, it is shredded.

Anyway, these days, the collectors have turned their attention to serve the tax office. Years ago, I knew the manager of a marina who would point out certain members of the public and say, ‘That man is a tax inspector’. He was able to spot the snoopers who came to his marina in order to take notes about the yachts. The tax office would then try to match the yacht-owners with their income tax returns, and work out who might be cheating on their tax payments. Anyone who had told the tax department that they had a bad year, would have a lot of explaining to do about how they came to afford a million-dollar vessel.

These days, small-business owners who deal in cash, and who cheat the system, are committing more than one offence. Naturally, not paying income tax is one criminal activity. The other is collecting GST/VAT from consumers and not passing it on. This means that a cash-based business is making an extraordinary profit. To combat the cash cheats, the tax department might be sending garbage collectors to collect all the clues about the activities of a small business.

Here’s how it works. Let’s say that you own a fast-food franchise, and it is your practice to always wear plastic gloves when preparing an order. The tax ‘rubbish’ collector would count how many boxes you discard during a three-month period. If you later say that you only sold 1000 sandwiches, yet you had discarded 20 empty glove boxes, you would have some explaining to do. Many small business operators do not realise that they leave behind many clues, despite trying very hard to cover their tracks. For example, some purchase their stock via the back door, using cash. You would be stunned if you really knew how much stock, delivered by the company representative, is really stuff that fell off the back of a truck. The manufacturer’s warehouse manager would be in cahoots with the delivery-truck driver, who stacks his truck with stolen goods, and sells them to convenience stores under the counter. I knew a wine company whose premium brand of wine was syphoned from the vineyard in large vats, and sold on the black market after being bottled by the thieves (being regular employees). Bottles are easy to buy or steal, and labels are easily stolen or printed. The extent to which this goes on is alarming. If the convenience store ever has to pay a legitimate invoice, such payments are mostly made via a second company that inflates its expenses via clever merchants who write out fake invoices made in the name of Company X which is a sister company of Company Y which is owned by the sister of the brother of the wife of the owner of Company Z which uses the ABN of an old unlisted company. (This is not supposes to happen, but it does. One of my investigations for my client defied all logic and found this type of anomaly, which the authorities denied could happen, but was happening, due to a computer loophole! It is possible to have a listed active ABN for a de-registered company). It’s all a dirty game. Made even dirtier when the employees, left to work on their own for a shift or two, rob the owner blind by stealing goods, giving products away to friends and family, and pocketing the takings without ringing them up on the cash resister.

Below we see a range of photos of the types of clues that tax inspectors can use. They will eventually ask the shop-owner to furnish the invoices for that stock. Unable to present the invoices, the shop-owners has to lie big-time, or blow the whistle on the truck-drivers from whose back things seem to fall off. As a result of this risky behaviour, a lot of delivery trucks are now delivering goods in plain boxes, completely unmarked. And the more serious ones are offering to pick-up the empty boxes, offering to refund deposits for such empty boxes, saying that they care about the environment. What a tangled web we weave.

It’s is always a game of cat and mouse, and for now, the tax inspectors and the tax auditors, are still one step ahead, if they choose to put their claws into you. Mind you, there are so many tax cheats out there, that it is really overwhelming. It gets to the point where the tax commissioner had to decide where to allocate the resources, given that the minister wants a return on investment. So it becomes a question of catching the big fish, the easy targets, and those that would make good media fodder.

The Japanese sushi train washes the lids each night. Taking a photo each day for 90 days will give the tax inspector some ammunition when challenging the restaurant to explain why it cries poor. From these lids, one can see that quite a lot of plates were produced. If the owner is going to say that most of the food was discarded, then the question would be, why make so many dishes each night, when the demand is so low?

If a bottle-shop keeps stocking the fridge each day, one can safely presume that the bottles are selling. If so, where are the invoices for these bottles? Paying cash does not mean that the bottle-shop can hide the takings.

A store with this level of daily stock movement ought to show a healthy set of books. Even if the business can say that it did not make a profit, the GST payments had better add up.

The cash-mad convenience stores will have a lot of explaining to do if they cannot show who supplied these goods, how they paid for them, and when they sold them. Then the flow-on effect will start, whereby the distributor had better show income for these deliveries.

No more banging at hotels

Jonar Nader — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:38:54 +0000

They don’t make hotels like they used to. Gone are the days of double-brick solid walls that contained the noise where it belonged. Sure, the very old hotels had creaky floors and squeaky beds, but the new ones seem to have paper-thin walls. It’s bad enough having to listen to the chatter or domestic arguments next door, or having to endure the late-night drunken stupor or the early morning ablutions, but now we hear a lot of banging in the form of drawers and wardrobes being slapped about by guests as well as housekeeping staff who have no idea that noise travels so well, that one could swear that it’s all happening right there in one’s room. They tried to limit the sounds from the televisions by somehow locking the audio to a certain maximum, which I find annoying.

Anyway, I am happy to announce a new discovery: drawers that no longer slam. What a great idea. I happened to be a guest of Jupiters Casino in Townsville, and the general manager was a gracious host who upgraded me to their best room. It was well appointed with all the modern conveniences, including these innovative silent drawers. As the video below will show you, no matter how hard I try to slam them shut, they will not slam. A hydraulic system absorbs the impact by slowing the draw, and then gently closing it. Perfect for hotels and cosy apartments! Especially where banging would disturb other guests.

P.S. There is a debate going on about the designer’s intent. A friend of mine says that these drawers were not so much designed to ‘not bang’, but to close fully at the slightest of suggestions. One simple flick and the draw closes all by itself, all the way, without needing any follow-up. If that be true, then, my goodness, what a load of engineering to cater to the lazy.

A man with a spray can

Jonar Nader — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 12:48:53 +0000

There is a phrase called ‘after market’ which refers to ideas and gadgets (known as plug-ins and widgets in computer terms) that people think of, for a product, after it has been brought to market. Enthusiasts and users tend to think of solutions to problems, and they go ahead and modify the product to suit their needs.
Here is a clever after-thought by someone with a spray can. Perhaps it was one of the baggage handlers. I wonder why the manufacturer had not thought of it? The zigzag yellow paint helps the baggage handler to see when the conveyor belt is working. You see, now that staff members must wear headsets for communications and safety purposes, they might not be able to hear the conveyor engine working. Full marks to that person. I like to have people of that ilk in my organisation: people who will not tolerate a problem for too long. They get up and do something about it. In terms of culture and personality, it would be fascinating to find out who solved this conveyor-belt annoyance, just so that we can track their performance. Chances are that they infuriate their work-mates, because they are always thinking and questioning. It is also likely that they are an efficient, organised worker who has saved the company a lot of money either through innovation or by minimising wastage. Alas, maybe that person is no longer there. Good people like that tend to be ejected from workplaces unless they are lucky enough to be in psoitions of power and influence, or if their boss rewards such attitudes, or if their colleagues applaud such initiatives. All very slim. But there is hope.

What time do you mean?

Jonar Nader — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:35:05 +0000

I just noticed, for the first time in all my years of travel, that Virgin has added a conversion to their scheduled departure. For decades, airlines have issued tickets and itineraries using the 24-hour clock format. Here, they show a Gold Coast flight at 15:05 and then in brackets they show (3:05 pm). Now that is clever.

By the way, can anyone tell me why airlines use such convoluted reservation numbers? Q4LSBV seems like a top-security password. Why are the alphanumerical? Don’t you love it how there seems to be no discipline in how people say L for Larry and B for Bob. You might like to print out the following list so that you can appear learned. Believe me, anyone ‘in the know’ would be impressed if they heard you rattling-off the correct codes. (Last night I saw a billboard that said, ‘Be a traveller, not a tourist’. I had never thought about the difference because I travel a lot, and I think of myself as neither! Anyway, I could not remember for whom the billboard belonged, so I conducted a Google search and just realised, for the first time, that this expression is widely used, contested, and debated. In any case, if you know the verbal/phonetical alphabet signs, you might stand out as more than a traveller, and more than a tourist!)

A Alpha
B Bravo
C Charlie
D Delta
E Echo
F Foxtrot
G Golf
H Hotel
I Indigo
J Juliet
K Kilo
L Lima
M Mike
N November
O Oscar
P Papa
Q Quebec
R Romeo
S Sierra
T Tango
U Uniform
V Victor
W Whisky
X X-Ray
Y Yankee
Z Zulu

(I do understand that some regions have slight alterations to this list, but I did not want to confuse you.)

Michel’s Patisserie reaching high

Jonar Nader — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:34:27 +0000

I do a lot of flying, and I always request a window seat (I do wish that the windows were larger, and cleaner, but that’s another story). Every time I fly into a city, I try to seek out different land marks. One day, I spotted the Michel’s Patisserie logo, painted on the roof of a factory.

I telephoned their head office, but no-one knew about this building. I was uncertain about its location. After a lot of searching, we were unable to work it out. Then a few months later, a Julie contacted me from the franchise office and said that she might have cracked it. It was the address of the old factory, which is no longer in use.

The bakery dates back to 1988 when Noel Carroll and Noel Roberts founded the company. I would guess that this was their idea. And a clever one at that. Imagine how many people get to see that logo on approach to Sydney airport.

Recently, I spotted a roof sporting the Dr Pepper soft drink logo. It was on approach to Sydney airport, if my memory serves me. If you have information about that, I would like to take a look at it using Google Maps. I am not sure in which suburb it would have been.

Big fat idea

Jonar Nader — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:54:56 +0000

Nothing beats show-and-tell. If you really want to talk about a subject, you need to make sure that the students fully understands each concept. When speaking about weight and weight-loss, here is a small step in the right direction. On two occasions, at different pharmacies, I spotted these lumps of goo. They are one kilogram each. Customers are encouraged to pick them up and play with them. If you think that you are five kilos overweight, you just need to imagine five of these lumps in your hand (then imagine them smothered all over your body, on the inside. They feel heavy, and they remind you to do something about your fat intake (or need to increase exercise). I must walk more often.

How to make a buck

Jonar Nader — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:21:29 +0000

A small internet cafe owner solved a common problem. Patrons at his store often asked if they could borrow a pen. Over time, he lost a lot of pens. Those that were returned were chewed of dirty (you never know where people stick their pens). So, rather than refuse a request, he solved the problem, and now he says, ‘Yes, most certainly, they are only one dollar each’. Good up-sell. Good profits. Everyone is happy.

Power plugs that don’t stick out

Jonar Nader — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:02:18 +0000

Once upon a time, power plugs were all relatively the same size and shape. As we acquired additional gadgets, from electronic photo frames to mobile phone, we started using plugs that were bulky. So much so, it is often impossible to plug two devices at the same time because the wall sockets were not designed to cope with chunky space-hungry plugs. Also, I wonder if wall-socket designers are thinking about moving the holes in the socket an additional two centimetres apart.

Anyway, the other nuisance with plugs is the extent to which they protrude, making it difficult to push desks or cabinets back. I came across these two designs at a friend’s office. The first one is acceptable, but is less safe than the one on the right. I always worry about people grabbing such plugs and accidentally touching the pins. Many devices these days do not have an ‘earth’ pin, and I always feel that they are dangerous. I have never understood why the authorities allow such plugs. The one on the left has a small lip which makes it a little easier to grab the plug when trying to pull it. The one on the right is safer because the user can grab the plug from the swivel handle. Mind you, I wonder when the whole plugging system is going to change. It’s about time that plugs were easier to use. Why not simple push and clip mechanisms, or magnetic types like those used by Apple? Why not a spring-loaded button that releases the plug from the wall, without the need to pull and tug. So many wall sockets are in awkward places, that it would make sense to have automatic release mechanisms. I am still amazed at the number of people who yang a plug from a wall before they switch the power off. It’s as annoying to me as seeing drivers change lanes without indicating.

A friend of mind disappeared under his desk to try to solve a computer problem. He has a lot of equipment, but still... whatever happened to the promise of plug and play? It does not bother him as much as it used to since he installed a desk reading lap which you can see if you look for it. He turns it on and manages his plugs. There must be a better way.

Of the dozens, if not hundreds, of gadgets that my family and I have acquired over the years, I do not recall any two having the same type of power plug. Why don't you conduct an audit of all the equipment you own, and you might find that each has its own protocols. Wouldn't it be a great idea if we had some standards in place. When I travel, I need to carry so many different types of cords, plus international converters! Imagine what my bags must look like under airport x-ray machines.

L’Occitane Shampoo

Jonar Nader — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:34:01 +0000

I am energised by colour and aroma. Equally, I can be turned off by bad smells and odours — big time. I happened to be at an airport and I finally succumbed to entering a L’Occitane store. Though neat and tidy, I had previously not understood the purpose of the store. All its products looked olde-worldy and unappealing in their design (even though they carry great charm and beauty in their own right).

Anyway, I had a sniff of a few products and immediately sank into the L’Occitane world. I began try a few of their products until one day I came across this shampoo. I use it as a body wash. I do not need its repairing qualtlites. Nor do I have dry or damaged hair. I just use this product in the shower because the suds it produces can be summed up in one word: delicious. The combination of ingredients, which I am told include the five essential oils of angelica, lavender, geranium, patchouli, and ylang-ylang combine to such a perfect degree that I literally have a bottle nearby and I sniff it like an addict. I left one bottle open in my bedroom, hoping that the scent would fill the room. That did not work so well, and now I wish that they would make a room-scent of sorts.

I have been purchasing the L’Occitane shampoo for all my friends. It is certainly more expensive than the supermarket shampoos, but this, to me, is not soap. It is therapy! I have no idea if it is repairing my hair. And I do not know if it is good to scrub over one’s entire body, but I love it. It scores ten out of ten.

Another similar product that scores full marks, and which is also yummy in every way (except the oral way) is this Frangipani body wash. Out of this world! I also sniff that like a user. Sounds sad. But it just is invigorating. It is Australian-made by Colonial Girl. All their products are stunning, and beautifully presented. It seems that their products are designed to be given as gifts. Indeed I do gift them, but I use them as my daily shower pick-me-up.

Speaking of smells, a friend of mine wears the Yardley April Violets Eue de toilette. Violets are so rare. In fact, this product is hard to find. When my friend managed to re-order hers from London, she purchased one for me, because I had always complemented her on her perfume. As you can see, my bottle is partially used. My friend said, ‘You obviously do not like that perfume. You have not been using it as much as I thought you would.’ To which I replied, ‘This scent is so up-lifiting, and so precious, that I dare not use too much of it for fear of never being able to find this bottle again. So I use it sparingly. I treasure every drop.’

Indeed, violets are humbling. I squirt a bit on my tee-shirt while working into the early hours. It keeps me going. Scents are my natural drugs. I am forever sniffing and squirting. If you can understand this about me, you will also appreciate why I am the first to dive away from an oncoming cigarette!