When I retire from UBS at the end of this month, I have been offered the option of taking my mobile number with me. This is of course very acceptable, so I completed and signed the form several days ago. However, there has been no response from Swisscom.
So i sent them a contact form from the Swisscom website the day before yesterday.
Still no response
So I rang them today. They told me that I have to ring my company as they have all my account details.
When I rang my company they asked me if I have completed all the formalities. I confirmed that. They said that after that it is not their responsibility and I have to speak to Swisscom.
So, back to Swisscom. Who wanted to put me back to my company again - but of course I was wise to that strategy by this time and stopped that, with the simple question: please forget my account and answer two simple questions: does Swisscom offer me a new Blackberry? And on what terms and conditions?
The man then checks my account (so, clearly my account had not even been checked till then!) and tells me that I can have the new terms and conditions as well as the new phone on the day after I retire.
This is totally incomprehensible, I tell the man. Can't you tell me, 3 weeks before the account is to start, what I have to pay? He replies, "Regretfully, no, sir". Can't I have the phone before then, but to be activated on that date? Again, "Regretfully, no, sir".
Nice man. But he must have to deal with questions like man every day. In fact, Swisscom must have to deal with questions like that each day.
They may thnk they are being very efficient from their own point of view, but they are totally inefficient from the viewpoint of the amount of salary they spend on people like that poor man dealing with people like me. They are of course totally inefficient from my viewpoint as a customer.
As it happens, I have to travel from the day after I retire. So my flight will have left Switzerland before the Swisscom shop opens. I have the choice of being without a mobile phone for the 6 weeks that I am travelling. Or of course going to a different supplier (and so having a different mobile number)
Neither is a very good for me as a customer.
I have to think about that one.
Any advice welcome.
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Thursday, 27 January 2011
The Picasso Exhibition in Zurich
Over the last 15 years, I have rarely had time to go to an exhibition of Western art.
A bit of a luxury, therefore, just before I retire, to visit the Picasso exhibition at the Zurich Kunsthaus a couple of days before it closes.
But very special to be able to see it, as the last exhibition of Picasso's work in Zurich was in 1932 (present at the exhibition this year in the form of black and white photos of the same works, though in a different order - which felt most strange).
My responses to the works themselves was very different from what I expected.
In no particular order, the works that struck me most were:
- Head of a Sleeping Woman (study of a nude with drapery) 1907 - which was captured more feeling than Woman's Head 1907 or Woman's Head 1908 (the latter might almost be regarded as studies for Head of a Sleeping Woman)
- Fountain by a Cloister (where the reflections on the water are radiantly rendered)
- Head of a Woman 1909 - this sculpture has the woman with a hairdo suggestive of a snake or dragon, though the fearful connotations were neutralised by the elegance of the face
- Suite des Saltimbanques - captures hopelessness and expectation equally
- Sketch for Salome 1908 - wonderfully radiates a dancer's energy
- Bathers with Beach Ball - one of the few "typical" Picassos that still impresses; actually, I found the whole of his Impressionist period uninteresting except historically; for example, the fragmented bodies felt curiously flat (though I suppose it better to dismember bodies on a canvas than in reality!)
- Abstraction (Head) 1930 - with its ambiguous shape that could be jaws, nose, mouth, head, ears...
- Jug and Bowl of Fruit 1931 for its formal and experimental dynamism
- The Drawing Lesson 1925
- Studio with Plaster Head. 1925 - a visual metaphor for worldly wisdom?
- The Bird Cage 1925 - the range of his experiments with tsimilar visual themes is fascinating
- Portrait of Paulo with a White Cap - which captures the child's innocence and diectness
Finally, seeing the originals versus the reproductions (for posters et al) is an interesting lesson in the exigencies of popular taste versus the sensitivity of an artist - the innocence and "littleness" of Paulo with a White Cap is lost and it communicates instead (because of being blown up in size) an abiguous surliness.
A bit of a luxury, therefore, just before I retire, to visit the Picasso exhibition at the Zurich Kunsthaus a couple of days before it closes.
But very special to be able to see it, as the last exhibition of Picasso's work in Zurich was in 1932 (present at the exhibition this year in the form of black and white photos of the same works, though in a different order - which felt most strange).
My responses to the works themselves was very different from what I expected.
In no particular order, the works that struck me most were:
- Head of a Sleeping Woman (study of a nude with drapery) 1907 - which was captured more feeling than Woman's Head 1907 or Woman's Head 1908 (the latter might almost be regarded as studies for Head of a Sleeping Woman)
- Fountain by a Cloister (where the reflections on the water are radiantly rendered)
- Head of a Woman 1909 - this sculpture has the woman with a hairdo suggestive of a snake or dragon, though the fearful connotations were neutralised by the elegance of the face
- Suite des Saltimbanques - captures hopelessness and expectation equally
- Sketch for Salome 1908 - wonderfully radiates a dancer's energy
- Bathers with Beach Ball - one of the few "typical" Picassos that still impresses; actually, I found the whole of his Impressionist period uninteresting except historically; for example, the fragmented bodies felt curiously flat (though I suppose it better to dismember bodies on a canvas than in reality!)
- Abstraction (Head) 1930 - with its ambiguous shape that could be jaws, nose, mouth, head, ears...
- Jug and Bowl of Fruit 1931 for its formal and experimental dynamism
- The Drawing Lesson 1925
- Studio with Plaster Head. 1925 - a visual metaphor for worldly wisdom?
- The Bird Cage 1925 - the range of his experiments with tsimilar visual themes is fascinating
- Portrait of Paulo with a White Cap - which captures the child's innocence and diectness
Finally, seeing the originals versus the reproductions (for posters et al) is an interesting lesson in the exigencies of popular taste versus the sensitivity of an artist - the innocence and "littleness" of Paulo with a White Cap is lost and it communicates instead (because of being blown up in size) an abiguous surliness.
Friday, 24 December 2010
textile company William H Schwiacher
I can't find any information on this company on the internet via any search engine
This used to be a company with very wide international operations! My friend Om Prakash Kalia's grandfather used to be their Agent in pre-independence India....
It is astonishing that such a huge company should disappear without any trace on the Internet!
If any of my readers can supply any information, I will be pleased.
This used to be a company with very wide international operations! My friend Om Prakash Kalia's grandfather used to be their Agent in pre-independence India....
It is astonishing that such a huge company should disappear without any trace on the Internet!
If any of my readers can supply any information, I will be pleased.
Friday, 5 November 2010
Vom Glück zu Arbeiten
Johannes Czwalina is one of the best-known top management consultants in Switzerland, and I received a copy of his latest book by this title (co-written with Clemens Brandstetter).
I find it well-researched, brilliantly put together, altogether excellent - and on a most important topic - specially so today. The book provides a historical perspective on the subject, looks critically at the factors militating against finding meaningful work (and meaning in work), and make recommendations regarding renewing a sense of meaning at work.
Warmly recommended!
Johannes Czwalina and Clemens Brandstetter, VOM GLÜCK ZU ARBEITEN, Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch, ISBN: 978-3-89981-235-0
I find it well-researched, brilliantly put together, altogether excellent - and on a most important topic - specially so today. The book provides a historical perspective on the subject, looks critically at the factors militating against finding meaningful work (and meaning in work), and make recommendations regarding renewing a sense of meaning at work.
Warmly recommended!
Johannes Czwalina and Clemens Brandstetter, VOM GLÜCK ZU ARBEITEN, Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch, ISBN: 978-3-89981-235-0
Saturday, 25 September 2010
Signs of the Times in Swiss Commercial Real Estate
Till a few years ago, it was extremely unusual to find a "To Let" or "For Sale" sign in Switzerland: demand outstripped supply.
Today, I have just come across a sign saying "To Let" on a huge building obviously built not long ago, optimistically (and now ironically) called "The Business Magnet".
Today, I have just come across a sign saying "To Let" on a huge building obviously built not long ago, optimistically (and now ironically) called "The Business Magnet".
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Disadvantages of Zurich and Geneva NOT being hubs in their own right
I have been saying for several years that "green" taxes will come, and of course they have come in various slow stages in some countries already.
The new “Air Transport Tax” which Germany is applying to flights from 1 January 2011will straightaway mean an extra payment of between EUR 8 and 45 per person per flight.
We will need to find out how many people fly via German airports to and from Switzerland, to calculate the total loss to the Swiss economy, first of the money being paid by Swiss citizens to the German government, and then of the gain that could have resulted if the money, from all those who would have travelled through Swiss hubs instead of German hubs, had come to Swiss coffers as a "green" tax payable to the Swiss government instead of to the German government.
Naturally, this does not take into account the time lost by Swiss citizens, and by non-Swiss people based in Switzerland, because of having to fly via German hubs.
The shortsightedness of Swiss leaders and citizens, which led to the death of Swissair, will shortly become apparent to all.
The new “Air Transport Tax” which Germany is applying to flights from 1 January 2011will straightaway mean an extra payment of between EUR 8 and 45 per person per flight.
We will need to find out how many people fly via German airports to and from Switzerland, to calculate the total loss to the Swiss economy, first of the money being paid by Swiss citizens to the German government, and then of the gain that could have resulted if the money, from all those who would have travelled through Swiss hubs instead of German hubs, had come to Swiss coffers as a "green" tax payable to the Swiss government instead of to the German government.
Naturally, this does not take into account the time lost by Swiss citizens, and by non-Swiss people based in Switzerland, because of having to fly via German hubs.
The shortsightedness of Swiss leaders and citizens, which led to the death of Swissair, will shortly become apparent to all.
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Self-Governance: Swiss versus Indian
My article titled "Self-Governance: Swiss versus Indian" is the latest in my "Guptara Garamagaram" series in The International Indian magazine (published from Dubai)
If interested, please see pages 72 & 73 at http://www.theinternationalindian.com/current_issue_flash.html
If interested, please see pages 72 & 73 at http://www.theinternationalindian.com/current_issue_flash.html
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