Posts Tagged ‘Cork’

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Aggression

May 15, 2026

Crookhaven

The Surfer

The sun was shining for the first time in a while, so the young surfer guy decided to get out of bed, squeeze the surf board as best he could into his hatchback and head for Barleycove Beach in West Cork, which was supposed to be a great place for surfing.

He punched the address into his Sat Nav and off he headed.

All was going well until the Sat Nav told him to take a peculiar left hand turn off the main road onto a narrow country road with the suspicious grass in the middle that starts to whisper to you that maybe you have taken a wrong turn!

He heads up the hill and down a hill, up another hill and down another hill passing cattle in the fields and the odd house here and there. The narrow road goes on and on and he starts to pray that he doesn’t meet another car going in the opposite direction as there is no way either could get past.

He goes down another hill, passes the entrance to a beautiful ivy covered house and starts to climb another short hill.

The Dog Walker

A guy decides to make the most of the sun shiny day by getting out of bed, putting the lead on his beautiful dog and heading out for a good, long walk.

He decides to take the small country road, which is so narrow that it rarely sees any traffic, other than the very odd car of one of the few people living on this stretch, or the off farmer tending to cattle grazing in the area.

He goes up the hill and down the hill, enjoying the sunshine and the peace and quiet of this route and taking in the stunning views of the rugged, rolling hills that surround him.

He goes up another hill and down another hill with his loyal dog by his side enjoying the outing, stopping here and there exploring all of the different scents along the way.

He passes the entrance to the old brick ivy covered house that doesn’t look like it’s been used in quite a while.

A rare car comes from behind him, so he pulls his dog close as it passes by driven by a young buck with a surf board squeezed into the back. It’s a bit odd that the driver is on this road he thought as it isn’t a very obvious road to take to get to the beach.

Me, Dee, Honey and Maggie

Because it’s such a gorgeous day we decide to grab the two dogs, pack them into the car and head for Schull to do the coastal walk, watch the boating activities and pick up a few bits and pieces in the town.

We were in great form, busy chatting as we left the house full of the joys of this unexpected sun shiny day.

The Rest of the Story…

We drove down the hill to the junction, over the cattle grill and took a left up the hill on the narrow country road. We came over the brow of the hill and were met by a car driven by a young buck going in the opposite direction. There is no way of anyone passing each other so someone had to do the reversing back to a spot where they could comfortably pull in and let the other car pass.

The etiquette, as we had come to understand from driving in these parts is that the person driving up the hill is the person who does the reversing – the opposite can burn out a clutch very quicky, so this is the rule of thumb.

An exception might be when the person going down the hill is very close to a spot where they can pull in.

The young buck needed to do the reversing, and in any case he was very close to an entrance to pull into,

We both stopped and after a few moments he started to do the reversing, while being watched by the lad who was walking his dog.

Driving in reverse for more than a couple of seconds can be a bit challenging (the trick is to carefully use the side mirrors), but the young buck hadn’t quite mastered this skill and he was veering right and left, but still making slow progress.

It obviously got the better of him so he stopped and then started gesturing to me to start reversing. Me reversing back up a hill, a good distance from the nearest pull in spot was not going to work.

He was just about 50 feet from a place to pull in, but to be fair to him he probably hadn’t spotted it. Neither car was moving.

I decided to hop out of the car and walk towards him to explain where the pull in spot was, and either guide him back or offer to do the reversing.

Unfortunately he interpreted me walking towards him as being an aggressive act and instead of pulling the window down for a chat he started getting into one!!

I tried to explain that I was just trying to help, when at this point the dog walker decided to join in. He interpreted our interaction as two people arguing and decided to put his two big feet into the mix.

“Hey fella, just get back in your car will ya” he said in a hostile manner.

I was astounded at this hostility from both the young buck and the dog walker.

I explained that I was from the area, I knew the road and that the best place to pull in was just another few feet back.

“Fella, I’m from here as well – just get back in your car” the dog walker repeated with a fair dose of aggression.

Now I was hot under the collar – “Excuse me, who the hell do you think you are talking to?“

I was ready to get stuck in, not a bother. The lovely joyful mellow feeling of the day from just a minute ago had totally disappeared and I was pumped up.

Trying to count to ten I tried my best to assure the driver that I was just trying to help, but he was having none of it. “I will guide you back” I offered.

“I don’t need your fucking help” he said and once again I had the dog walker telling me in his condescending tone to “get back in your car”.

I couldn’t resist:“From the way you were driving you definitely need my help” I uttered as I walked back to my car.

“What did you say??” …I kept on walking.

The young buck did reverse.

I followed him, waved sarcastically to the dog walker and then I pulled into the entrance just a few feet back that I had been talking about. Both I and the young buck gave each other “loving glances” as we eventually passed, and we all went on our merry ways.

I noticed the sun had disappeared, just as our fabulous mood had disappeared and I could feel the anger and tension pumping through my body.

On the drive to Schull we chatted about the incident, and in all honesty it still hasn’t fully left me.

It concerns me how three strangers all going about their business on a beautiful sunny day can so quickly turn to aggression on a peaceful country road.

It also scared me how quickly I was able to flip to aggression – it wasn’t a bother at all, and that isn’t good.

What is it about our 2026 world that even on a beautiful sunny day we can switch from joy to aggression so easily? 

Calm down folks, calm down Greg

Greg

Greg Canty is the Managing Partner of Fuzion, a Brand Communications Agency in Ireland with offices in Dublin and Cork.

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The ones you go further for..

July 21, 2022

You know the different types…

The one you do everything for, they want extra and they appreciate nothing.

The one who trusts you to do what you promised, you do even more and they appreciate everything.

A meeting cancels and I have an hour free that I wasn’t expecting….

Which client do I want to give that extra time to??

This stuff is easy, we hopefully learn how to get the best from people as we go, it’s not rocket science!

Trust the professionals to do what they promised, be nice and say thanks

#WinHappy

Greg

Greg is a partner at Fuzion Communications, a full service Marketing and PR agency with offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

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Posted in Caring, Customer Care, Motivation, Personal development, Positivity | 2 Comments »

A very simple gesture of a handshake to diffuse a hostile situation

June 20, 2022

I was standing at the ATM on the South Mall in Cork and suddenly from behind me I heard a booming voice “Excuse me, excuse me”.

When I turned around it was a guy on a bike shouting at people to get out out of his way as he sped through.

One of the pedestrians quite rightly had an issue with this speeding cyclist who should have kept his racing for the road and suddenly the two of them were arguing.

The cyclist was way out of order so I jumped to the pedestrians defence.

“He’s right, what are you doing racing on the footpath?” I said.

Suddenly he’s in my face, a tall guy, one of these triathlon types, dressed in black from head to toe.

“What’s your problem, tell me, tell me-I was being polite, I said excuse me”

I responded “You were roaring, and besides, you shouldn’t have been cycling on the footpath”

He came closer to me and repeated what he already said. I repeated what I said and he repeated what he said, getting closer again. This was only going to escalate.

I looked at him and told him it was a waste of time talking to him if he couldn’t get the point about cycling on the footpath and I turned to walk away.

He came after me and once again he was repeating what he had already said “What’s your problem, I was being polite”

This was pointless …I looked at this tall guy, all fired up and from nowhere I found myself offering my hand to shake his. This could go either way, but it was one way of breaking the cycle (pardon the pun!)

He looked puzzled for a second and then met me in a handshake. I said “hey man, calm down, it’s a Friday”

He smiled and said “you are right, that’s what I call great conflict resolution! “

He then hugged me and said he probably shouldn’t have been on the footpath and we both wished each other a good weekend and parted ways.

My spontaneous gesture surprised even me, and I was amazed at how quickly it diffused something that could have easily turned ugly.

It turns out a handshake is hard to resist as we are programmed to treat it like a gesture of kindness or friendship – try it !!

Greg

Greg is a partner at Fuzion Communications, a full service Marketing and PR agency with offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

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Posted in Bullying, Caring, Communications, Cycling, Personal development | Leave a Comment »

Time to talk to the unvaccinated?

November 23, 2021

We are reading about the need for taking more care, not going back to the workplace, socialising less and the need for possible regular antigen tests to keep us safe. Fancy a stick up your nose three times a week?

We are reading about Covid sweeping through our schools with students and teachers alike falling with the disease.

We are reading about how the hospitals are under severe pressure with over half of the serious Covid cases being unvaccinated people who have fallen seriously ill and the other half being vaccinated people with underlying conditions. (92% of the adult population are vaccinated – the numbers are clear).

We know 100% that the hospitals are rammed with Covid patients and as a result normal procedures are being postponed and god love anyone who goes there with an emergency case.

We are also reading that the unvaccinated are a big part of the problem, allowing the disease to spread more and possibly mutate.

A restaurant or venue owner is obliged to ask customers for their Vaccine passport and proof of ID but they are not permitted to ask their own team members if they are vaccinated ..”invasion of privacy“.

Do we not have a duty of care towards our employees?

We are reading about huge protests in Rotterdam and Vienna as people are freaking out about the necessary restrictions that have been introduced – angry with the wrong people?

If more severe restrictions are introduced here, no doubt people and businesses will be freaking out and all of this will be aimed at NPHET and the government, who will only be doing this to keep people safe and our hospitals functioning.

Maybe it is time to stop pussyfooting around, enough of the “PC” stuff and if we want to get out of this Covid mess and keep our loved ones safe and our businesses open it is time to focus our messaging on those who have so far been unwilling to vaccinate.

Maybe not quite “boot in” but it is time to apply some real peer pressure because it is needed.

Instead of the various lobby groups pressurising the government, maybe it is time to start focusing on those members of the general public who are not playing ball and putting everyone at risk and our lives on hold and livelihoods at risk.

Instead of being angry at the government, maybe it is time for us to start talking to family, friends and colleagues and encourage them to keep us safe. (instead we are all dancing around them gently- it’s their right)

If the unvaccinated are the biggest part of the problem, let’s tackle this head on and stop trying to solve it by tinkering with other measures that won’t deliver a solution.

We’ve all seen the advert about wearing a seatbelt..

Greg

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion Communications who offer Marketing, PR, Graphic Design Podcast Production and Digital Marketing services from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

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Blurb….

September 9, 2021

Don’t you just love those emails you get from organisations who you have never heard of who come promising you overnight success if you just buy into their “magic system” .

They seem to think that they have cracked some secret code to automating your success in some way.

Here is today’s example..

Do you want to learn how you can grow your business, keep your sales team motivated and back up your intuition with real data insights, hitting your revenue goals each and every quarter? 

(Oh wow, I’m excited, I’d love to do all that !!)

Then join us at XXXXXXXX (with some respect to them I removed this – they are trying) on Tour! We will bring you the cutting edge in intelligent revenue management from experts in the field, so you can gain that key advantage to ensure your business reaches far beyond its revenue goals. 

You will discover how:

  • To hit your number quarter after quarter
  • You can leave the frustration that comes with disconnected data in 2021 
  • To accelerate your pipeline
  • The biggest gap in revenue operations is affecting your business processes 

Oh dear … irrelevant and pointless humbo jumbo, humbo jumbo, humbo jumbo and if you fall for it then good luck to you.

The gas thing, and adding some insult to injury is that in this GDPR world of ours, the local chambers that we are members of in fear of the GDPR police can’t give me the contact details for members (isn’t that why we join??) where we might actually do some mutual business and we still get these unsolicited BS communications from places we have no connection with…

There is no silver bullet, no magic wand to success other than hard work and doing the right things.

That’s my second “rant” blog post in a row, I better break out of this sequence quick !

Greg Canty 

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion Communications who offer Marketing, PR, Graphic Design and Digital Marketing services from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

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Posted in Business Planning, Marketing | 2 Comments »

Backing Brave and “Your Relationship Manager”

September 1, 2021

I just received a significant piece of correspondence from the bank I have been with for 40 years.

It was important, great, huge even, but it captures in a nutshell how far we have come from the bank where you knew your manager and there was a genuine relationship, to the one that exists today, which is nothing but a connection to an entity that just processes transactions.

My significant letter starts with..

“Dear Customer(s)..

Even though it was written to me this generic piece of auto generated crap didn’t use my name and tried to cover itself with an “s” in plural just in case the generic BS correspondence was intended for more than one person.

As well as the humbo jumbo in the middle section which did include a “thank you for your business” message there was some technical stuff with no effort at providing an actual relevant contact person if I had a query about any of it.

And then it signed off .., with a

“Your sincerely“

that’s another joke, this was auto generated.

and then the “person” who sent it.

“The Manager“ , no name, and no actual signature (does this possibly make this correspondence invalid?).

The only contact details on the letter was a phone number in Dublin – I can imagine how far I would get if I called the number and asked to speak to the person who sent me the letter.

I’m fairly sure I would get a “your call is being recorded“.

Oh, I forgot to mention what was included in the humbo jumbo, a pure classic..

“Should you require any further details or other AIB products please do not hesitate to contact your Relationship Manager at your local branch”

Hey AIB and everyone on this automation, bot, AI, less people drive, let’s stop pretending… this is not a relationship and no advertising campaign can rescue this empty BS.

Getting simple things like important correspondence right, even in an automated world might just make a difference.

Backing Brave?? …Maybe start with real people?

Rant over ..

Greg Canty 

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion Communications who offer Marketing, PR, Graphic Design and Digital Marketing services from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

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The slow and long road back to the office ..

July 13, 2021

“Oh…you want me to deliver the session in person, in Dublin?“

This was a simple enquiry to facilitate a social media strategy session to a group from an organisation and then provide some specific bespoke training on one of the social media platforms.

We were having the usual conversation except the only sticking point was that they wanted a full day session with their group and I was trying to discourage this.

I find that if you stay at training too long then people get tired and what they learn in the morning they end up forgetting in the afternoon. It’s best if they get a chance to slowly digest, process and try it out for themselves.

I normally suggest half day sessions, when everyone stays fresh and then allowing a week in between so that everyone can practice and then come back to progress further.

“It must be on the one day because we have the hotel booked” she said.

It was only then that the penny dropped and I understood why she wanted it on the same day.

This threw me as I hadn’t been faced with this in a long time and I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about it.

Ok, lets do it ..

As it turned out there was a mix up with the hotel booking on their end and the training was cancelled (after all that !!) and while I was disappointed a big part of me was delighted!

I wasn’t looking forward to the prospect and disruption of it.

Travelling and delivering training sessions in person was part and parcel of the last 10 years (pre Covid), but the truth of it is that I have been doing this from the comfort of my little home office (converted bedroom) for the last 16 months and it works really well.

It’s convenient for me and participants, I’ve tweaked my delivery for online and it works really well, it’s cost effective and it also means they get a fresh “Greg” who isn’t after driving for a few hours and all that goes with it.

The big conversation that I was having with myself was “how inconvenient and pointless” that travelling/in person/ hotel experience would be compared to the very convenient way that I have replaced it with, and with no negative impact on the learning experience.

However, I do love the face to face in person training and as a social creature I love the energy you get back from a “live” group and the special learning dynamic that can happen. This will always have it’s place but only when necessary.

I know my simple example of this in person training session will be replicated very soon with so many of those things we have all been doing in the course of our work while working from home.

People have had to take on board new work habits which are now deeply embedded and there are parts about these that are very convenient as well as being cost and life effective and they won’t want to give them up too easily.

We can all talk about hybrid but this could be a very slow and long road back to the office and we need to be really careful to preserve what is working because it is possible to get the job done and ….

Win Happy!

Greg

Greg Canty 

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion Communications who offer Marketing, PR, Graphic Design and Digital Marketing services from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

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Posted in Caring, Change Management, Family, Management, Motivation, Personal development, Social Media, Training | Leave a Comment »

Saying “let’s do it” when most of us just wouldn’t dare!

February 18, 2021

Ciara O'Toole - Going Solo on Lake Como

I’m sure we have all been away on holidays in a special place and you pass an auctioneers window and gaze at the houses for sale and think “what if“?

While it’s a nice dream, quickly after 60 seconds you rationalise and the dream is gone.

For me that place would definitely be Siena in Italy, and while I have had this idea for a while I can think quickly for a bunch of very logical and rational reasons why it just couldn’t work …maybe when I retire (isn’t that the easy way of dodging the thought? )

If Covid has taught us anything, it is that you can get your work done from anywhere, hasn’t it? Of course, there are other reasons why I can’t and it doesn’t take me long to list them in my head.

Ciara O’Toole, our very special friend and her husband gazed at that window in Lake Como and decided “lets do it“!!

She was just married, without a word of Italian, a house in Dublin with a big mortgage and a great career as a marketer…crazy idea Ciara!

What I love about her is her adventurous spirit, that ability to “go for it” without a strong safety net and hey, let’s see what happens!

In Ciara’s case lots happened, including a few nasty bumps and wonderful experiences but it has been and continues to be a great adventure!

Did I tell you she learnt how to fly a sea plane and wrote a book about the experience?

If you get a chance at all you might read her book “Going Solo on Lake Como” and maybe tune into the episode of the Win Happy podcast with this intelligent, funny, adventurer, marketeer, entrepreneur, author and pilot who tells her incredible story that is full of many twists and turns!

Let’s celebrate those who say “Let’s do it”, and maybe think about that being you next time you look at that window. 

Check out Ciara’s website by clicking on this link

Greg Canty 

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion Communications who offer Marketing, PR, Graphic Design and Digital Marketing services from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

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Posted in Creativity, Friendship, Holidays, Inspiration, Motivation, Personal development, Positivity, Publishing, Travel | Leave a Comment »

The man at the window

January 17, 2021

Working from home

And there he is..

He must have been there all along, doing exactly the same thing as me, day in day out for months, but it took the leaves to fall from the trees and the evenings to get shorter for me to notice him.

Late in the afternoon, just like me he switches on the light in the upstairs bedroom or “lockdown office” and I spotted him for the first time.

He is working from his house, upstairs in one of the bedrooms in the housing estate opposite me.

When we walk the dogs in the morning and in the evening you can see all of the neighbouring “offices” , the many people at work early in the morning and late in the evening at their new workplaces in bedrooms and on kitchen tables.

It’s as if many of the city centre offices have moved out to the houses in the suburbs with the exception that we can’t take a breather and walk around the corner to the coffee shop or head to the canteen for a cuppa with a work colleague. Instead we just walk down the stairs, put the kettle on, say hello to the dog (if you have a dog!) and come back to the desk.

I don’t miss the commuting time and I certainly don’t miss the costs associated with that, but I do think there is a quiet grind to this extended period of working from home that is probably chipping away at us, in ways that we don’t even realise.

For all of the time saved commuting and the brutal efficiency of meeting the team and clients on Zoom, for some reason I don’t seem to be more productive and when Friday comes I am fairly wiped out.

I read with interest the new proposal by government about remote working which has just been published, ‘Making Remote Work’, Ireland’s National Remote Work Strategy. The Strategy’s stated objective is to ensure that remote working is a permanent feature in the Irish workplace in a way that maximises economic, social and environmental benefits.

Somehow the word “remote” is quite a negative one and it’s literal meaning might resonate with too many of us at the moment.

I know that I don’t want to return to the way it was before, but I’m not sure what exactly I will evolve to.

I don’t know my work neighbour in the window across the way, but maybe some day I will wave and we just might have a coffee at the wall!

Mind your mind..

Greg Canty 

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion Communications who offer Marketing, PR, Graphic Design and Digital Marketing services from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

 

 

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Posted in Motivation, Personal development | 2 Comments »

Landing on the Zoom!

January 11, 2021

Landing on the moon

Happy New Year to you!!

As we start into a second full working week of the new year amidst a severe lockdown and an even more severe pandemic with outrageous Covid case numbers it looks like we need to remain on the Zoom for a while longer!

While we barely knew anything about this incredibly powerful communication tool this time last year and most likely had never used it, it’s amazing how quickly it has become a way of life.

Before this year I hated any visual meetings online, and part of that was the clunky software (I’m amazed how Skype never became more intuitive) and the unreliable performance.

I’m not sure if it was lucky timing, but when Covid sent us home in March it seemed to be Zoom or Microsoft Teams in pole position, and very quickly Zoom took a lead and became the standard, the easy one to use and before we knew it, the one most of us were using.

Even now, when I get an invite to a meeting or a webinar I find myself groaning when it is something other than Zoom, because now in this impatient age of ours we want to go click click click and we are in, 100% at ease and knowing what we are doing.

And since March, Zoom have been clever and we have seen better security and new features – I am now using it for meetings, and in Fuzion we have used it for events, training, webinars and workshops, complete with breakout rooms (another great feature), Q&A sessions and polls.

For training purposes alone it has been transformational – we quickly adapted and with a few little tricks of the trade (and humour) you can have a really engaging session with all participants.

I have also been using it for recording my podcasts and as long as the broadband is ok, it has been fantastic!

Making it work for you

Deirdre, the founder of Fuzion  wrote a really excellent blog post early on last year about online meeting etiquette, and it gives some great tips about how you present yourself online and since then I wanted to add a few more tips as we get into even more of the subtleties.

Your Name

When you join the online meeting make sure that your name is right (proper spelling, use capital first letter for first name and surname- even if you are using someone else’s account you can rename yourself on entry) and maybe even consider adding your company name.

If it is a meeting with people from a number of different organisations or departments then make it easy for the others.

Who is in the Spotlight?

When the numbers of participants are high during a meeting then “spotlight” the speaker/speakers as it makes it much easier to see who the speakers are and it makes the session more interesting – even when they are screen sharing you can see just them as they present, instead of everyone.

This is a great feature in Zoom.

Meeting Room message!

As part of the improved Zoom security measures most people will end up in a “meeting room” before being left into the session – there is a facility in your settings to customise the message people will see while waiting in your room. Why not customise and add a little humour!

Where are you on the screen?

My own team just throw their eyes up to heaven (or wherever they like to go!) when I start to ask them where I am on their screen, as part of a silly game we play to break the lockdown monotony. On a serious note I do believe that where you are on the screen can be important.

If you are on the top row (having followed all of the other tips about looking good etc) you are probably better off than being on the bottom row when it comes to being noticed and gaining attention.

The first on the Zoom call occupy that space, and as long as you don’t turn off your video during the session for some reason you will stay in pole position!

For all of the tips and tricks that we have spoken about, and for all of the Zoom learning that we should have on board at this stage I am still amazed how many presenters are still not set up properly and we end up looking up their nose for the duration of their presentation.

..make sure that’s not you!

If you do land on the Zoom make sure you make a great impression!

Greg Canty 

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion Communications who offer Marketing, PR, Graphic Design and Digital Marketing services from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

 

 

 

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