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We left the old folks behind after lunch. Both of them 88 years old - my dad three weeks from being 89. They wanted me to take a photo of them before I left. "Last chance for a photo. Last time we'll see you," I joked, because that's the kind of funny joke I make. But I've been predicting my or my family's deaths for 40 years, every time I've left.
I'll get it right one of these days.
In reality I refuse to accept that any of us will ever die.
I don't want to tempt fate, but prove me wrong, fate, you stupid prick.
We needed petrol so I stopped at the petrol station on the edge of town and filled the tank. I bought lollies and treats for the journey and went to pay. As I queued the guy at the desk asked if I was pump number 7. I was. It turned out that the lady in front of me had accidentally paid for my fuel.
You'd think that there would be a simple way for them to pay the lady back on her card and then charge her the correct amount, but instead they were asking me if I could pay her the difference in cash. I told them I couldn't as I don't tend to have cash any more. "Could you get some out of the cash machine?" they asked, indicating it was outside.
As it happened I couldn't, as I didn't have my wallet with me and pay for everything with my watch, but it seemed insane that this was their solution. Reimburse the lady, get her to pay for the right pump and then I'd pay for my pump. But the system had marked my pump as paid now.
I thought I might get stuck here for hours, as my ice lollies melted, but as they phoned management to ask what could be done (this is the second time I've been in a business where they've been unable to give refunds for their own mistakes -
the other was in Pizza Hut on tour so there's clearly some huge trust issue between businesses and their employees). Eventually they made me pay for my treats in one transaction and then did a manual payment for the amount I had to pay for the fuel. I left the lady still waiting to have her issue resolved. I wouldn't be surprised if I get a letter in the post saying I left without paying for my petrol. So there may be some mileage in this yet. Pun not intended.
Give your staff the power to over ride their mistakes businesses. They shouldn't be relying on customers having to go to cash points to sort out their own errors.
A long journey home with various delays and diversions, though Catie took over the driving just before all the shit hit the fan. I was able to finish off both Nigel Planer's and Chris Tarrant's books, having discovered an app that does a decent job of reading out any text for you. Though it did pronounce Ade (as in Edmondson) as Addy throughout and occasionally when coverage was bad, the smooth English lady's voice would turn into a weird roboty man, like I was being catfished.
Both books were excellent though confusingly the actual Chris Tarrant rang me to check details for tomorrow's interview. The line was bad and I am not sure he really knew who I was and all he had was my name and mobile number. "Where are you?" he asked. "I'm on my way home from Somerset," I told him, almost adding that we'd got a bit lost cos the satnav was taking us a weird way. "No tomorrow, where's the interview? Also what is the interview?" Hopefully we'll have that sorted in time.
