The Sweet Service Award goes to Fatima Borez, the Events co-ordinator at Cape Town Tourism, for her help in getting my car wheel unclamped when I attended the Cape Town Tourism AGM on Monday evening. I had parked in the Cape Town International Convention Centre parking garage in a space with a yellow line, running late and grabbed the first space I saw. It was in front of a door, which had a threatening message stating that entry through the door would lead to prosecution, but this was not linked to the parking bay in front of the door. No warning was posted about the risk of clamping and the R500 release fee. Needing to get home, and not seeing any Convention Centre staff in the parking garage, and not having R500 cash on me, I looked for a Cape Town Tourism staff member to assist me. Fatima volunteered her services, found the Convention Centre’s Wilbur, who agreed to unclamp the wheel, after my apology to him. As the instruction had come from the CTICC’s COO, the ‘unclamper’ did not want to go against his boss’s orders. I went back to Fatima, and she found Arno, who is senior to Wilbur, and he agreed to unclamp the wheel. Throughout this hour-long ordeal Fatima remained calm and friendly, and kept me that way too, an absolute professional!
The Sour Service Award goes to the ‘6000 Miles from Civilisation’ Blog, whose writer had nothing better to do than to write a blogpost about the wheel clamping, displaying the most unprofessional and libelous ‘journalistic standard’, the blogpost being riddled with errors, stating that it had been a disabled bay and that my guest houses are ‘renting out self-catering accommodation’, quotes a maliciously false fabricated ‘eyewitness’ report (there was no one close to us), and then criticizes me for not reporting on the incident in the blogpost about the new advertising campaign for Cape Town Tourism. Trying to be controversial is one thing, but to be an blogger writing unresearched and unsubstantiated information (without checking the facts with me) is irresponsible, and damaging to the reputation of bloggers generally. In his ‘Disclaimer’ page, the owner of the blog writes: “Sometimes I just wake up one morning with a stinking hangover and a vague recollection of having been near a keyboard with a mischievous look on my face and my 17th beer by my side. I think you’d be hard pressed to say that anything written in that state would be representative of anything or anyone”! The writer admits that he was not at the Convention Centre, and wrote the blogpost purely on hearsay.
The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog. Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.
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Dear Chris,
was it not a parking bay for the disabled? If so I understand the clamping, because from my own experience I know how little respected the sign “Parking for disabled” is in Cape Town. Did you have the 500 Rand?
Hallo Dagmar!
You will read in my blogpost that it was NOT a disabled bay and that I did not have that much cash with me.
Schoenes Wochenende
Chris