....waiting yet again for my landlord to turn up, as promised on each occasion I might add, to make some repairs. This is the sixth day of waiting and thus far he is very conspicuous by his absence!
He used to be good, I phone if I had a problem I couldn't resolve myself and he would be here, in a flash, but no longer. Nowadays it's akin to extracting blood from a stone trying to get him here.
Most jobs I or PG do ourselves, we never charge him for parts, as we could, but this time the problem is plumbing, or more specifically the fact that I collect about two litres of water from a pipe under the kitchen sink each day, my understanding is that the water should be exiting the system via the tap, not a joint! I don't like plumbing, or rather I don't like messing it up, particularly as we live on the first floor with some other poor unsuspecting soul below us should I cause a flood.
And so, many calls later and on the sixth promise of a visit, here I am waiting again. Forgive my cynicism but I'm not giving good odds.
Why oh why can people not just call and say if they can't make it, it's not rocket science.....even I could show the guy the intricacies of a telephone!
Thursday, 12 January 2006
Wednesday, 11 January 2006
Challenge accepted
I'll probably live to regret this but when I posted a few days back that I had managed to meet the challenge issued to me to post here every day for a year two people, Melissa and Shephard, challenged me to make it two years!
So, for good or evil I accept the challenge to get a post here everyday heaven help me again until 31st December 2006. Same rules as before, the 'how's why's and wherefore's' don't matter, I just have to get the post up somehow each day.
....and you thought you had escaped so much drivel! You thought wrong.
Oh and Melissa, Shephard, backatcha guys, I am offering up the same challenge to you. Any takers? ;o)
So, for good or evil I accept the challenge to get a post here everyday
....and you thought you had escaped so much drivel! You thought wrong.
Oh and Melissa, Shephard, backatcha guys, I am offering up the same challenge to you. Any takers? ;o)
Tuesday, 10 January 2006
Really, honestly, I promise......
....that if I owe you an email I will get to it. Life has seemd more hectic than hectic this last week but at last I have three days off the day job and some catching up is well overdue. Honest guv. I promise I will get to it all.......
Monday, 9 January 2006
Now this is revenge!
In the news today, as story of a mouse and a house. I shouldn't cheer or laugh but I did, I can't help but feel little or no sympathy for the owner of the house and cheer loudly for the mouse, who unwittingly caused the ultimate revenge to rain down upon the perpetrator of such unkindness!
Sunday, 8 January 2006
Saturday, 7 January 2006
STOP! ....I wanna get off.
That is today I am talking of, today I would like to stop and get off.
If I were asked to compile a list of the top twenty crap days in my life, today would surely be in there somewhere.
It began yesterday afternoon in fact and just carried on into today, progressing steadily downhill. Yesterday I managed, despite getting toward two years in the blogosphere thus far 'incident free' to have two fellow bloggers call me a 'moron'. Both in comments, both completely unconnected. The first because I made a mistake with something and despite my attempting to rectify that mistake and apologise, and the second, purely because the individual concerned didn't like my only mildly expressed opinion. It begs the question quite how insulting he/she might have been had I said it how I really saw it!
So I was somewhat narked, the first incident quite upset me but I let off steam to a friend and that was that.
This morning I woke having only had three hours sleep. I never sleep well on a Friday night, it's the knowing I have to be up at 5am that does it.....or rather the fear that I won't be to be more specific. It was one of those mornings where the well oiled routine somehow didn't work quite as it should. The milk in my coffee was sour, the cats got under my feet and my car breaks seized again, though this is only the first time this winter, so perhaps I should count myself lucky in comparison to last year.
And so I stumbled into work at the very last moment (I hate doing that), hot and bothered and tired....to be met with some sad news about someone whom I care, and which others of our number seem to consider only good fodder for malicious gossip. What is it about other people's misfortune and sadness that some find so amusing? My hackles rose still further.
The day continued, it was a maniacally busy one, my hip was giving me serious gip (yes, I am old enough to have an arthritic hip thankyouverymuch) my head hurt and all I wanted to do was slope off into a corner somewhere..... but no chance. It took four, not the usual two of us, to fend off the customers on our little customer service 'box'....four people barely fit, we were tripping over each other, we were each trying to deal with a multitude of problems at any one time, there were queues of moaning, irritated people constantly, the EPOS software played up, the whole computer system attempted to crash completely, threatening to disable everything in in it's wake if it succeeded and gradually I had that horrible, sinking feeling that what usually runs like clockwork, well mostly at least, was spiraling rapidly out of control before my very eyes.
On and on it went, no let up. What it was specifically about today that made it fall so badly apart I don't know, a mad day at work is usually more entertaining than the slow ones but today I just lost the plot somewhere amid the madness, today I just wanted to slope off and snivel for a while, but of course I didn't......well, it just wouldn't be seemly would it!
Much chocolate is now in order I think.......
If I were asked to compile a list of the top twenty crap days in my life, today would surely be in there somewhere.
It began yesterday afternoon in fact and just carried on into today, progressing steadily downhill. Yesterday I managed, despite getting toward two years in the blogosphere thus far 'incident free' to have two fellow bloggers call me a 'moron'. Both in comments, both completely unconnected. The first because I made a mistake with something and despite my attempting to rectify that mistake and apologise, and the second, purely because the individual concerned didn't like my only mildly expressed opinion. It begs the question quite how insulting he/she might have been had I said it how I really saw it!
So I was somewhat narked, the first incident quite upset me but I let off steam to a friend and that was that.
This morning I woke having only had three hours sleep. I never sleep well on a Friday night, it's the knowing I have to be up at 5am that does it.....or rather the fear that I won't be to be more specific. It was one of those mornings where the well oiled routine somehow didn't work quite as it should. The milk in my coffee was sour, the cats got under my feet and my car breaks seized again, though this is only the first time this winter, so perhaps I should count myself lucky in comparison to last year.
And so I stumbled into work at the very last moment (I hate doing that), hot and bothered and tired....to be met with some sad news about someone whom I care, and which others of our number seem to consider only good fodder for malicious gossip. What is it about other people's misfortune and sadness that some find so amusing? My hackles rose still further.
The day continued, it was a maniacally busy one, my hip was giving me serious gip (yes, I am old enough to have an arthritic hip thankyouverymuch) my head hurt and all I wanted to do was slope off into a corner somewhere..... but no chance. It took four, not the usual two of us, to fend off the customers on our little customer service 'box'....four people barely fit, we were tripping over each other, we were each trying to deal with a multitude of problems at any one time, there were queues of moaning, irritated people constantly, the EPOS software played up, the whole computer system attempted to crash completely, threatening to disable everything in in it's wake if it succeeded and gradually I had that horrible, sinking feeling that what usually runs like clockwork, well mostly at least, was spiraling rapidly out of control before my very eyes.
On and on it went, no let up. What it was specifically about today that made it fall so badly apart I don't know, a mad day at work is usually more entertaining than the slow ones but today I just lost the plot somewhere amid the madness, today I just wanted to slope off and snivel for a while, but of course I didn't......well, it just wouldn't be seemly would it!
Much chocolate is now in order I think.......
Friday, 6 January 2006
I hang my head in shame
I have a confession to offer up this morning, my head is hung in abject shame, I should perhaps be manacled in stocks and pelted with rotten tomatoes, ridiculed by all!
What is my sin, this despicable, heinous crime of mine? I sat and watched, purposely I might add, this was no accident, the first episode of Celebrity Big Brother , the whole issue, one and a half hours, I can't even prove repentance by having switched off within the first half hour....
I watched it all, start to finish, every last moment, I have no excuses!
What makes it worse is that it was appalling, the word 'celebrity' where applied to this particular bunch of contestants is somewhat inappropriate, they are a bunch of 'has beens' and Z listers. Save for perhaps what might be considered by some the voyeuristic ratings pull of persuading Michael Barrymore to take part, the others are not anything remotely approaching names of high celebrity calibre, very much the reverse......Rula Lenska, Pete Burns, Traci Bingham and Jodie Marsh to name but a few.
But there was worse to come, the final death knell sounded loud and clear for me with the entry of the final 'celebrity', George Galloway. Need I say more, my punishment was complete, to give that man any kind of access to air time or exposure is bordering on the obscene!
What is my sin, this despicable, heinous crime of mine? I sat and watched, purposely I might add, this was no accident, the first episode of Celebrity Big Brother , the whole issue, one and a half hours, I can't even prove repentance by having switched off within the first half hour....
I watched it all, start to finish, every last moment, I have no excuses!What makes it worse is that it was appalling, the word 'celebrity' where applied to this particular bunch of contestants is somewhat inappropriate, they are a bunch of 'has beens' and Z listers. Save for perhaps what might be considered by some the voyeuristic ratings pull of persuading Michael Barrymore to take part, the others are not anything remotely approaching names of high celebrity calibre, very much the reverse......Rula Lenska, Pete Burns, Traci Bingham and Jodie Marsh to name but a few.
But there was worse to come, the final death knell sounded loud and clear for me with the entry of the final 'celebrity', George Galloway. Need I say more, my punishment was complete, to give that man any kind of access to air time or exposure is bordering on the obscene!
Thursday, 5 January 2006
Bloggers are nice!
Yes, I'm going to blow our own trumpet.
We bloggers, I consider, can be a nice bunch, we may be a little odd, a little obsessive from time to time but nice seems to also be a trait of many in the blogosphere. Not for the first time, someone out of the blue and who I don't know very well, thought of me, or more specifically Tilly yesterday and made the effort to brighten our day. It was a small thing but it's the little surprises that count.
Janine of Reflective Musings was out and about in her native Saskatoon, Canada when she noticed a road sign, took the time to take a photograph and mailed it to me. Thanks Janine, I'm still amazed when people so far away take the trouble to do little things like this.
Yes, we bloggers are a nice bunch. :o)
Tilly thinks we should move!
We bloggers, I consider, can be a nice bunch, we may be a little odd, a little obsessive from time to time but nice seems to also be a trait of many in the blogosphere. Not for the first time, someone out of the blue and who I don't know very well, thought of me, or more specifically Tilly yesterday and made the effort to brighten our day. It was a small thing but it's the little surprises that count.
Janine of Reflective Musings was out and about in her native Saskatoon, Canada when she noticed a road sign, took the time to take a photograph and mailed it to me. Thanks Janine, I'm still amazed when people so far away take the trouble to do little things like this.
Yes, we bloggers are a nice bunch. :o)
Tilly thinks we should move!
Wednesday, 4 January 2006
A small trail of destruction
She may look all innocence and peace but believe you me Tilly has far from grown out of her predilection for living life like a manic bag of frogs!
In just the week since we returned from our Christmas trip away her catalogue of destruction has increased dramatically to include yet more casualties. There are more curtains with 'track marks' and pulls, a torn bed sheet, the result of trying to apply her brakes way too fast, a broken vase, a bonsai tree looking somewhat 'ragged' through her constant passion for it as a dietary supplement, more scratches on my now almost beyond redemption leather computer chair, a storage basket minus a handle, apparently seagrass is a tasty tidbit for teething kittens, a constantly soaked corner of the kitchen carpet from her incessant attempts at high diving off the counter tops into her water bowl and a very old and precious teddy bear with more tufts of fur removed than over forty years of ownership had managed!
Her claw ends have been clipped, much to her annoyance, she currently 'enjoys' quite regular spells of 'time out' in the hallway and she has been subjected to the odd stern talking too here and there.....but does she care?....does she hell, she puts her head on one side, looks the disciplinarian hard in the eye and begins to purr at a decibel level of a large tractor!
Oh, and I still get woken at an unearthly hour each day having my chin or hair chewed! God love her!
In just the week since we returned from our Christmas trip away her catalogue of destruction has increased dramatically to include yet more casualties. There are more curtains with 'track marks' and pulls, a torn bed sheet, the result of trying to apply her brakes way too fast, a broken vase, a bonsai tree looking somewhat 'ragged' through her constant passion for it as a dietary supplement, more scratches on my now almost beyond redemption leather computer chair, a storage basket minus a handle, apparently seagrass is a tasty tidbit for teething kittens, a constantly soaked corner of the kitchen carpet from her incessant attempts at high diving off the counter tops into her water bowl and a very old and precious teddy bear with more tufts of fur removed than over forty years of ownership had managed!
Her claw ends have been clipped, much to her annoyance, she currently 'enjoys' quite regular spells of 'time out' in the hallway and she has been subjected to the odd stern talking too here and there.....but does she care?....does she hell, she puts her head on one side, looks the disciplinarian hard in the eye and begins to purr at a decibel level of a large tractor!
Oh, and I still get woken at an unearthly hour each day having my chin or hair chewed! God love her!
Tuesday, 3 January 2006
Dear customer......
......I feel it only right and proper that with the increasing evidence that despite showing no physical signs of having suffered a heinous blow to the head or other physical injury you are presenting with an apparently retail specific form of amnesia I remind you kindly of a few points.
Christmas: Christmas is a time of good will to all men, I believe that this term is a generic one and was intended to refer to all of mankind, the consequence of this is that it includes womankind. Because I am smaller and less of a physical threat to you it does not automatically invite you to choose me to take your life's frustrations out on. I assure you, it is not my fault your offspring stayed out too late last night against your wishes and inhibiting your sleep and then came home drunk at age fifteen, that your dog was sick on your newly laid carpet or that your wife suddenly suffered a 'headache' when you least wished her too. It does not mean you may use me as a verbal punch bag, poke me, prod me, throw things at me or spit in my face in your anger that your chosen item for purchase it out of stock or has in some other way displeased you!
Opening times: Please note, our changes to opening times are clearly displayed on the doors and counters over the festive period. We are not feeling blessed at working throughout this time so please don't moan so incessently that our hours are shorter than the norm and I might at this point make a polite request that you cease to call us before we have opened, or after we have closed, only to be told such and persist in expecting us to carry on serving you regardless. We too have homes to go to.
N.B. Please resist the temptation to use the general enquiry line as your own personal shopper, how about considering the possibility that if you got off your fat rump and came to select your own goods it may help in the post Christmas pud excess weight issue!
Refunds: Yes, our refund policy is clearly stated in bright colurs on the reverse of your receipt...which incidentally we did give you, you subsequently lost it, that is not our responsibility. It states that you may have a no quibble refund or exchange (your choice) within 28 days of purchase, if the goods are returned to us in resaleable condition and with your receipt....that applies to you too. There is not a special dispensation clause for you because the dog ate it, it's 'somehwere' but you can't find it, your husband/mother/auntie/son has it, you have been away on darkest Africa for six months or you 'forgot' to return the item for two years. No we can't re-sell it in that annhilated condition and no the next customer doesn't want it second hand!
Don't give me the old hogwash about 'I must refund you because it is an own brand product therefore you must have purchased it with us'....live in the real world please, do you have any idea how many people pick something off the shelf and then walk directly to customer sevices for a refund? It's the oldest form of retail theft in the book and whilst I am sure you would never do that sir and I would never suggest such a thing, thives don't these days wear a stripey jumper and carry a bag on their shoulder marked 'swag'.
N.B. The law does not entitle you to a refund in any other instance than that of faulty goods or those not fit for the purpose. We will however offer you a no questions, full refund if you adhere to the above conditions, this is however a goodwill gesture, not a legal obligation.... don't try to fight me on this one, I know the law on the subject I promise you. Threats carry no weight, trading standards don't scare me and I will happily get the manager to speak to you sir/madam, he is more than welcome to deal with your nastiness and he knows retail law just as I do.....oh and he's bigger than me so your intimidation tactics won't wash there either.
Abuse: Abuse in any form won't win you your battle, I have learnt over many years to tolerate being shouted at, insulted, threatened and physically man handled, I will not shout back, I will not insult you back, I will still smile at you..... I have had the psychology lessons. I can make you feel much smaller than even me and remain the epitome of manners. If you are polite to me I will help all I can, if you are rude I have already closed my mind to you and you can go to hell, no deal. My job description requires that I tolerate your ill mannered behaviour but at the point you resort to oscene language or physically threaten or touch me I can ask you to leave, if you don't I can have you removed forcibly.
Tills: If you find yourself in a queue I will do all that I can to alleviate the problem quickly but I only have nine till lanes...... once they are all mannned I cannot invent more, much as I may like to.
EPOS: EPOS system breakdowns are not my fault, I don't rig my tills in the morning to break down purely to annoy you and if your bank declines your card payment I cannot access your bank account and fix it for you. You might like to consider that you are over your overdraft limit rather than blame me.
Closing time: When I make an announcement over the tannoy that we are closed it means just that....we are closed! I have already given you warning of this for the last half an hour at five minute increments and at high volume, don't tell me you didn't hear it, I am infamous for my loud voice even without the electronic enhancement. Closing time is not the moment at which to choose to place a complicated order and on a Sunday it is a legal requirement that we close on time, we are not trying our best to ruin your day intentionally.
And finally a question that has long confounded all of us in retail: What in God's name posesses or motivates you to be queuing at the door at 8am in the snow on a bank holiday? Do you really have nothing better to do?
*This post is also reproduced here.
Christmas: Christmas is a time of good will to all men, I believe that this term is a generic one and was intended to refer to all of mankind, the consequence of this is that it includes womankind. Because I am smaller and less of a physical threat to you it does not automatically invite you to choose me to take your life's frustrations out on. I assure you, it is not my fault your offspring stayed out too late last night against your wishes and inhibiting your sleep and then came home drunk at age fifteen, that your dog was sick on your newly laid carpet or that your wife suddenly suffered a 'headache' when you least wished her too. It does not mean you may use me as a verbal punch bag, poke me, prod me, throw things at me or spit in my face in your anger that your chosen item for purchase it out of stock or has in some other way displeased you!
Opening times: Please note, our changes to opening times are clearly displayed on the doors and counters over the festive period. We are not feeling blessed at working throughout this time so please don't moan so incessently that our hours are shorter than the norm and I might at this point make a polite request that you cease to call us before we have opened, or after we have closed, only to be told such and persist in expecting us to carry on serving you regardless. We too have homes to go to.
N.B. Please resist the temptation to use the general enquiry line as your own personal shopper, how about considering the possibility that if you got off your fat rump and came to select your own goods it may help in the post Christmas pud excess weight issue!
Refunds: Yes, our refund policy is clearly stated in bright colurs on the reverse of your receipt...which incidentally we did give you, you subsequently lost it, that is not our responsibility. It states that you may have a no quibble refund or exchange (your choice) within 28 days of purchase, if the goods are returned to us in resaleable condition and with your receipt....that applies to you too. There is not a special dispensation clause for you because the dog ate it, it's 'somehwere' but you can't find it, your husband/mother/auntie/son has it, you have been away on darkest Africa for six months or you 'forgot' to return the item for two years. No we can't re-sell it in that annhilated condition and no the next customer doesn't want it second hand!
Don't give me the old hogwash about 'I must refund you because it is an own brand product therefore you must have purchased it with us'....live in the real world please, do you have any idea how many people pick something off the shelf and then walk directly to customer sevices for a refund? It's the oldest form of retail theft in the book and whilst I am sure you would never do that sir and I would never suggest such a thing, thives don't these days wear a stripey jumper and carry a bag on their shoulder marked 'swag'.
N.B. The law does not entitle you to a refund in any other instance than that of faulty goods or those not fit for the purpose. We will however offer you a no questions, full refund if you adhere to the above conditions, this is however a goodwill gesture, not a legal obligation.... don't try to fight me on this one, I know the law on the subject I promise you. Threats carry no weight, trading standards don't scare me and I will happily get the manager to speak to you sir/madam, he is more than welcome to deal with your nastiness and he knows retail law just as I do.....oh and he's bigger than me so your intimidation tactics won't wash there either.
Abuse: Abuse in any form won't win you your battle, I have learnt over many years to tolerate being shouted at, insulted, threatened and physically man handled, I will not shout back, I will not insult you back, I will still smile at you..... I have had the psychology lessons. I can make you feel much smaller than even me and remain the epitome of manners. If you are polite to me I will help all I can, if you are rude I have already closed my mind to you and you can go to hell, no deal. My job description requires that I tolerate your ill mannered behaviour but at the point you resort to oscene language or physically threaten or touch me I can ask you to leave, if you don't I can have you removed forcibly.
Tills: If you find yourself in a queue I will do all that I can to alleviate the problem quickly but I only have nine till lanes...... once they are all mannned I cannot invent more, much as I may like to.
EPOS: EPOS system breakdowns are not my fault, I don't rig my tills in the morning to break down purely to annoy you and if your bank declines your card payment I cannot access your bank account and fix it for you. You might like to consider that you are over your overdraft limit rather than blame me.
Closing time: When I make an announcement over the tannoy that we are closed it means just that....we are closed! I have already given you warning of this for the last half an hour at five minute increments and at high volume, don't tell me you didn't hear it, I am infamous for my loud voice even without the electronic enhancement. Closing time is not the moment at which to choose to place a complicated order and on a Sunday it is a legal requirement that we close on time, we are not trying our best to ruin your day intentionally.
And finally a question that has long confounded all of us in retail: What in God's name posesses or motivates you to be queuing at the door at 8am in the snow on a bank holiday? Do you really have nothing better to do?
*This post is also reproduced here.
Monday, 2 January 2006
Back to normality.....
....whatever that is!
As a child I adored Christmas and new year, though quite why New Year was of any interest to me I don't really recall but as the years fly by I find myself somewhat less enamored of the whole performance.
That said I enjoyed Christmas immensely this year, three whole days with my family and to share a Christmas with my nieces was a treat indeed but as for new year, that always just strikes me as a 'non event', nothing really happens and mostly we all have the usual up's and down's in any given year, nothing great to celebrate and hopefully nothing too dreadful to mourn.
As a rule I show willing and at least stay up to see the new year in but this year, a few heavy days at work and PG working all evening meant I stumbled into bed before the allotted hour. PG arrived home some tiny time before Big Ben did his thing (is Big Ben a him I wonder?) and woke me up to say 'Happy New Year'..... and that was it. Some party animal me eh?
Can we all get back to some semblance of normality now please?
As a child I adored Christmas and new year, though quite why New Year was of any interest to me I don't really recall but as the years fly by I find myself somewhat less enamored of the whole performance.
That said I enjoyed Christmas immensely this year, three whole days with my family and to share a Christmas with my nieces was a treat indeed but as for new year, that always just strikes me as a 'non event', nothing really happens and mostly we all have the usual up's and down's in any given year, nothing great to celebrate and hopefully nothing too dreadful to mourn.
As a rule I show willing and at least stay up to see the new year in but this year, a few heavy days at work and PG working all evening meant I stumbled into bed before the allotted hour. PG arrived home some tiny time before Big Ben did his thing (is Big Ben a him I wonder?) and woke me up to say 'Happy New Year'..... and that was it. Some party animal me eh?
Can we all get back to some semblance of normality now please?
Sunday, 1 January 2006
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