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Category Archives: rants

identity theft

15 Thursday Jul 2021

Posted by azahar in history, rants, sevilla, spain, tapas bars

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

history, sevilla, tapas bars

identity theftphoto courtesy of Gurmé Sevilla

You may recall when a few months ago I wrote about Bodega San José closing its doors after more than 80 years (the Bueno family took over the location around 1935). This was because the present owners of the building refused to renew the lease this year, presumably because they got a more lucrative offer. And here is the result.

Surely this is identity theft? Taking over a cherished family-run bar, doing a big reno, and then not only keeping the same name but putting “desde 1893” in your logo. This new bar (actually “desde 2021”) has nothing to do with the old one and is nothing like it. I’ve seen photos on their (new) FB page and it looks like your typical gastro bar inside. It’s irksome that they are staking claim to a history that was never theirs, obviously trying to profit from it. Not the first time I’ve seen this happen here, but perhaps the saddest one for me.

naughty nivea

02 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by azahar in rants

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

nivea, wtf?

nivea

Don’t you just hate when this happens? It took me years to find a nice light face moisturizer after I discovered Clinique was too “heavy”. Then I happened on this one by Nivea, which was not only perfect for my skin but was also way cheaper. Over the years Nivea has altered the packaging and even the ingredients, but it remained at the same price and just as nice. THEN I saw this today. They have not only swapped “marine minerals” for “magnolia extract” but also changed the size from 75ml to 50ml and – adding insult to injury – are charging MORE. Yet it’s basically the same thing I’ve been buying for about ten years now. WTF?

authentic tours

22 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by azahar in rants, sevilla, sherry, spain, tapas tours, we love tapas, wine, work

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

cooking tours, food tours, sevilla, seville, spain, tapas tours

swedish chef

*Rant Alert*… When I first started doing my Sevilla Tapas Tours six years ago there were two other guys also doing food tours in Sevilla. Roger and Sam. Seriously, that was it. Then a couple years or so ago, some chica from Triana STOLE my name (Sevilla Tapas Tours) and started using it all over social media, even buying Google Ads so she’d come out on top of searches. When I asked her why she was doing this, using an already established brand, her reply was to REGISTER my name. Previously another git in Malaga had likewise copied my tours and price lists (which do not appear online) so both of these losers had obviously sent me emails pretending to be clients, and had used their ill-begotten information to start their own tour biz. Whatever. I know who they are, and they are nobodies.

Fast forward to last January (2015) when I launched We Love Tapas and suddenly everyone with the ability to create a website was offering tapas tours in Sevilla. I’m not kidding, there are hundreds of them out there, including someone who chose to copy me after I told them of my new plans. And well, okay. I know my tours are superior. They just are. But that doesn’t mean they will end up at the top of Trip Advisor, simply because the scum often rises to the top with their unseemly methods of getting positive reviews, real or otherwise.

Do I care about that? Well, in terms of We Love Tapas it does pain me that my fabulous team isn’t getting all the TA love they deserve. But we also know we are in this for the long term. And that what we are offering is THE SHIZZ.

And then today happened. I had an interview with a fabulous young woman who I hope will become the next We Love Tapas team member. But as all my chicas are freelance, and also work elsewhere, I have to work around 3 or 4 different freelance schedules. I hope this will change very soon, but for now, it is what it is.

But imagine my surprise and dismay when I found out today that the fabulous young woman is also being “trained” to give cooking classes at yet another of these “unique exerience” tour guide companies.

I mean WTFUCKINGFUCK?? This is going too far.

For the record, I am an amazing cook, as anyone who has had the good fortune to eat at my home will attest to. But would I offer cooking classes to visitors to Sevilla? Well, no. One, because I am not a trained chef. And okay, you don’t necessarily have to be a trained chef to give a cooking class… but you sure need more than just one or two training sessions. If I ever did decide to give cooking classes I would research the hell out of the dishes I wanted to present, the history as well, the ingredients would become close to my heart and I would know where each item came from. Because THAT is what anyone paying good money for a cooking class is looking for, and it’s also what they deserve. This would take me, even with my already vasty experience in this field, at least a month or so. I would meet with chefs, I would source the best ingredients. In short, a tour guide with no cooking experience CANNOT be trained to give a cooking class or any worth in one or two quick sessions. Impossible.

I am so pissed off with this glut on the market of shit tours that not only offer shit tours, but they also treat their guides like shit. And the public is lapping it up because – hey! – they’re cheap, and these guys also have cute websites and know how to get (fake) Trip Advisor reviews. When I look at the Sevilla food and wine tours on offer these days I see about half a dozen that I’d consider worthy. Run by people who care, with experience. I’m presently working on collaborating with these people, as well as with the Tourist Boards in Sevilla and throughout Andalucía. There will always be tour companies whose main concern is making a buck. And hey, I am doing this for a living too. But let’s not make money at the expense of others who trust in us to know what we are doing, who are hoping for the best experience possible. I provide that. And I want to work with others who want to do the same. To hell with the rest of them.

blu-ray

14 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by azahar in gadgets, rants, retail therapy, television

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

blu-ray, gadgets, sony

After some surprising news from the gyno yesterday (I don’t have a cervix!) I felt so relieved to know that there was one less cancer-causing factor to worry about in my life that I decided to buy a blu-ray player. Yes, it makes sense.

Anyhow, was all excited about this new purchase (50 euros less than a slightly larger Sony model with WiFi I’d previously seen) until I got it home and discovered that it didn’t come with any connecting cords. WTF? I mean, bad enough there weren’t any cords in the box but why didn’t the salesclerk tell me this at the time so I could have picked one up while still at the store? And so, after a bit of delayed gratification while I went out to buy an HDMI cord I came home to set this baby up and… it doesn’t work!!!

I’ve tried everything but am pretty much stumped at the first step of any operation, which says “switch the input selector on your tv so that the signal from the player appears on your tv screen”. This doesn’t happen no matter what I switch. The only thing I’ve had appear on my tv screen is a notice saying there is no signal and that I should check my antenna. Huh? Maybe it’s the player? Or maybe I got a dud HDMI cord? Help?

infinitely irritating

29 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by azahar in blogging, rants, wtf?

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

infinite scroll, wordpress

WTF WordPress.com?? What happened to being the coolest free blogging platform in the universe?

First of all there was the annoying addition of unwanted advertising (unless you PAY WordPress to have it removed). And now this crap.

Infinite scroll.

Well, I don’t bloody want infinite scrolling and it seems I can’t get rid of it on this theme (that I know and love) and so will have to switch to some other theme that has a footer widget I can disable – Timethief has written this helpful blog post showing us how.  But according to this support forum thread that option will also be removed once all themes have been converted.

Since when did WordPress.com become Facebook, forcing idiotic unwanted changes on its users? Not only is infinite scroll irritating, there is that totally naff pop-up “advertisement” on the bottom, for the theme designer and for WordPress.com, that blocks the blog post.

I want out.

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