Journal Entries
Damned Burocracy!
Posted Nov 20, 2003
I was foolish enough to take out an advertisement in Yellow Pages, over 3 years ago now.
Foolish? How so? I mean, how difficult can it be?
Let me tell you the story so far....
As I said, I took out an small picture ad. in Yellow Pages, to get a bit of publicity for my newly formed Aromatherapy Business. I asked specifically for the phone number to be that of the clinic I was hiring rooms from, so as not to disturb my familly's privacy. My lads were younger then, and let's face it, even a genuine masseusse *can* get some very odd enquiries. I read the proofs and approved them. I arranged payment. I sat back and waited for the calls to flow in.
When the edition of Yellow Pages I was in came out, I found that they had printed my home phone number, rather than the clinc's. I was not very pleased, and complained.
Oh dear, they said... tell you what, as its our mistake, we'll run another advert in next year's edition, with the correct phone number, free of charge.
Nice and simple.
The following year's proof came through. It had the correct phone number and all seemed hunky dory.
Like fun.
The following year's edition came out. In glee and anticipation I turned to the Aromatherapy section. Advert was there none. Not a trace, not an indication of my existence.
Needless to say, I complained.
Oh dear, they said, that *is* a nuisence. Tell you what, we'll put you on the Net and Talking Pages as a temporary measure, and this time, we'll give you a full colour all singing, all dancing advertisement, twice the size you originally asked for in next year's edition, free of charge.
Oh, by the way, we'd like some money for the Net coverage and Talking Pages, please.
Excuse me? I said. You told me that was free - to make up for your 2 years worth of mistakes.
Oh yes, they said, silly us. That is free. Ah well, mistakes happen.
They surely do.
So from September 2002 through until June 2003 I submitted artwork and colour suggestions for this remarkable advertisement I was getting free of charge... I wrote, I submitted, I heard nothing. I received no acknowledgement I existed, and every time I rang, I got a differnet person, all with a wonderful telphone manner, and every single one of them, without exception apparently unable to follow up and provide any form of consistent customer care.
By September - again, getting near deadline, I rang up to see how things were getting on. I explained the circumsatnces. I gave them chapter and verse.
Oh dear, they said, we don't seem to have got anything sorted out for you - and it's too close to the deadline to get you into this year's edition.
Tell you what, we'll give you an absolutely huge advertisement in next year's edition. That's alright, isn't it?
No, I said. Actually, it is far from alright. I need an advertisement from you like a fish needs a bicycle - my business has folded. It has ceased to be. It is an ex parrot.
Oh dear, they said, that is a shame. Any idea why?
It could have something to do with the fact that I have had no advertising in Yellow Pages -apart from one with the wrong telephone number (I had moved since the first year's ad - which was why I particually wanted the clinic's phone number in the ad. in the first place) which you have been promising to rectify for the last 2 years.
Are you sure you wouldn't like a nice advertisement? We won't charge you.
No, I said, I want my money back, please and thank you.
So I have been writing and telephoning and hassling and complaining, and doing all the running for this huge great company that has so many employees and departments that simple communication seems about as likely as the existence of nonexistent things.
Can I get my money back? Can I hell as like! It is not company policy to give refunds. It doesn't seem like company policy to get something like a simple advertisement right in the first place!
So far I have received an offer of a one off special payment of £100 "as a goodwill gesture".
It would be more sensible if they simply returned the £300-odd I spent on the original (and incorrect) advertisement together with the £100 goodwill gesture. I might even be happy about the deal then.
I wonder which bit of the situation they are having trouble understanding?
Any ideas, anyone? Is it worth my while going to small claims court and making waves, or shall I be philisophical, take the money and limp off?
Frankly, I'm so angry and disappointed and downright frustrated that I, as a customer have been treated so appaulingly that I cannot think straight. I've always considered myself to be quite laid back and more than civilised and reaseanable - perhaps if I hadn't have been, things would have been different.
They probably wouldn't.
Discuss this Journal entry [408]
Latest reply: Nov 20, 2003
Back on the wagon... as it were.
Posted Oct 8, 2003
I am.. for at least 
.. 42hours and counting a non smoker, once again. This is brief note to remind myself not to start again, because I am worth far more than I seem to believe... after all, would I put my friends thru this form of misery? NO. My sons? NO (not even when they really annoy me) So why was I stupid enough to do this to myself?
Because I'm an addict. Because I'm a prat. And because I thought one wouldn't hurt. Well it did matey, so learn from this, and don't let me nag me again, because the next time I start I will be really, really annoyed with myself. (Currently, I am only vexed a bit, but we can go for annoyed if you want). Let us feel confident there won't BE a next time I start. It is no fun stopping, Zyban, cold turkey or whatever. I am sweating and cold. I am shaking and jittery. I still want to kill something and I have no reasen for it atall... except that I want to inhale a tube of dried leaves in my capacious gob and then cough my lungs up. Once I have stopped properly I can resume my normal, sunny counternanced way of being. I will stop biting peoples heads off if they smile at me, (not that many people HAVE this last couple of days.. I appear to have a neon sign over my head saying 
off, I don't want to be friendly) Infact, people have been avoiding me... I cannot THINK why! My kids have got their earplugs in and their tin hats on. I have told my friends, smokers and non smokers alike I am going to be antisocial this week and avoid all contact with anybody. Nothing personal, but I like them all too much to be vicious tongued with them... its hard enough to be civil to the lads. Perhaps I should utilize this frustration and remonstrate with a couple of organizations who have treated me shoddilly? Ooooh! YES!
I daren't go near the Nicotine Craving thread... there's bound to be some smug perisher out there who isn't having any trouble or angst, or I will see lots of encouragement; I don't "DO" encouragement or sympathy or ever so there there there.. I find it a foreign language, and I find it hard enough to accept "nice" on a normal day to day basis. I shall only cry and then get cross at myself for being a wuss if people are nice... so be warned... DON'T! Infact... I think the best thing I can do for the next 48hours is just shut down all communications. I will be able to cope much much better once this wretched drug - and that is what nicotine IS, its a drug - is out of my bloodstream. Its only another... 48 plus..5 and a half equals..53and a half hours....lets not figure out the minutes and the seconds shall we, its too too depressing. Its not positive either.
I tell you what, let's go and remonstrate with Yellow Pages! Yeah!
Because they DESERVE some verbal nasties and a bit of righteous anger!
(which is another story, and one I shall recount another day).
See you all over the weekend, better tempered, I hope.
Discuss this Journal entry [2]
Latest reply: Oct 8, 2003
Back on the wagon... as it were.
Posted Oct 8, 2003
I am.. for at least .. 42hours and counting a non smoker, once again. This is brief note to remind myself not to start again, because I am worth far more than I seem to believe... after all, would I put my friends thru this form of misery? NO. My sons? NO (not even when they really annoy me) So why was I stupid enough to do this to myself?
Because I'm an addict. Because I'm a prat. And because I thought one wouldn't hurt. Well it did matey, so learn from this, and don't let me nag me again, because the next time I start I will be really, really annoyed with myself. (Currently, I am only vexed a bit, but we can go for annoyed if you want). Let us feel confident there won't BE a next time I start. It is no fun stopping, Zyban, cold turkey or whatever. I am sweating and cold. I am shaking and jittery. I still want to kill something and I have no reasen for it atall... except that I want to inhale a tube of dried leaves in my capacious gob and then cough my lungs up. Once I have stopped properly I can resume my normal, sunny counternanced way of being. I will stop biting peoples heads off if they smile at me, (not that many people HAVE this last couple of days.. I appear to have a neon sign over my head saying off, I don't want to be friendly) Infact, people have been avoiding me... I cannot THINK why! My kids have got their earplugs in and their tin hats on. I have told my friends, smokers and non smokers alike I am going to be antisocial this week and avoid all contact with anybody. Nothing personal, but I like them all too much to be vicious tongued with them... its hard enough to be civil to the lads. Perhaps I should utilize this frustration and remonstrate with a couple of organizations who have treated me shoddilly? Ooooh! YES!
I daren't go near the Nicotine Craving thread... there's bound to be some smug perisher out there who isn't having any trouble or angst, or I will see lots of encouragement; I don't "DO" encouragement or sympathy or ever so there there there.. I find it a foreign language, and I find it hard enough to accept "nice" on a normal day to day basis. I shall only cry and then get cross at myself for being a wuss if people are nice... so be warned... DON'T! Infact... I think the best thing I can do for the next 48hours is just shut down all communications. I will be able to cope much much better once this wretched drug - and that is what nicotine IS, its a drug - is out of my bloodstream. Its only another... 48 plus..5 and a half equals..53and a half hours....lets not figure out the minutes and the seconds shall we, its too too depressing. Its not positive either.
I tell you what, let's go and remonstrate with Yellow Pages! Yeah!
Because they DESERVE some verbal nasties and a bit of righteous anger!
(which is another story, and one I shall recount another day).
See you all over the weekend, better tempered, I hope.
Discuss this Journal entry [5]
Latest reply: Oct 8, 2003
A Year Ago today...
Posted Sep 20, 2003
A Year ago today I finally quit smoking... a 25 year habit, and at its heyday, 60 roll ups a day. And I stopped. It wasn't easy, and it certainly wasn't my first attempt at stopping - I'd had plenty of practice, believe you me. But I stopped. And a year ago today I had gone thru the first 4 days of utter hell a nicotine addict has - it takes 96 hours for all the nicotine molecules to go through the blood stream, and I felt every single one of them dying. Its to my sons credit that they can duck and dive, and are remarkably mature and understanding of a middle aged mother's vageries that we still have a good relationship. I was Bitch on legs for about a month.... but I didn't smoke, and they were even more proud of me than I was that I'd stopped. Son no. 2 even stopped himself six months ago because he reckoned if I could quit smoking, then it wasn't impossible that he could, too. And I was a very tolerant non smoker - my eldest son still puffs happilly away, and The Man is a smoker, and I have no axe to grind against either of them. I was an adict, remember? And you can nag and pontificate all you like, but a smoker will smoke regardless until he/she WANTS to stop. So I don't bother nagging, and the smell and taste of the fags doesn't offend me. Its a nice set up.
OK.. onto today. Not only am I a non smoker, I am a car owner. I have a ratty old Renault 19, an H reg with a mere 70 thou on the clock
which I love dearly. It's not flash, and it's not got mod cons like air conditioning, or air bags, but it generally gets me from point A to point B with a minimum of hassle. The body work is good, and - thank God - it has a good sterio system that I can footdown to along the motorways. The engine is tended lovingly by a competent mechanic
and I should have been able to get another 10 years out of that car, easy.
HOWEVER... I do not have a garage. I have a residents permit that enables me to park in parking bays within the town I live. And some
unmitigated b******s broke into my car today, in broard daylight, trashed the contents, banjaxed the steering column trying to hot wire it -they even had the cheek to use my jumpleads from the boot, if you don't mind! And the only reasen they didn't lose my car was that the starter motor had packed in, and the car was waiting for the mechanic
to put it on his trailer and wave his magic wand (or whatever mechanics DO) to get it working again. I asked son no. 1 to get my fold up bike out of the boot this afternoon, and he came back white and shaking to tell me the bad news. A sixteen year old, full of street cred and apparently hard as nails, shaking and vomiting with pent up nerves. I could kill the little beasts that did that to my car for that alone... upsetting my son. But I could kill them even more for my own weakness. I went straight to the lads tobacco tin, rolled two hefty rollies, handed him one and lit us both up. I went straight to the ruddy fags! Damn them, damn them and damn me too for being such a wretched wuss! I didn't turn to the ciggies when I got a phone call from the local constabulary telling me my son had been arrested for joyriding a few months ago... Ididn't turn to the tobacco during any other of the umpty threbble emergencies I've had in the last year... so why now? I think its just the fact that I was so so damned proud of myself that I'd lasted a year without the demon ciggies that today seems such a failiure.
And now I've gotten all that off my chest, I'm going to have another one, just to convinve myself they're foul and I DON@t really want to smoke.
And I shall start stopping again from tomorrow morning.
What a lousy day its been
Discuss this Journal entry [55]
Latest reply: Sep 20, 2003
Define "Tidy"
Posted Aug 25, 2003
I am not one of natures tidy creatures. I don't get orgasmic about neatly arranged cupbaords and my idea of nothing to do is sorting out one's wardrobe into colour/seasonal sections. I like to think I have a life. But I do like a semblance of order - and nine times out of ten I know roughly where things are.
So far, so good.
I have mislaid a letter I need to reply to - it won't blight my life if I don't, but I feel it is a courtesy to cancel the hospital appt. to which it pertains so some other poor, misbenighted sap can have the NHS inflict - oops! sorry, help them. And so began a bit of a cull of papers, that have been "filed" on a little used work surface in my kitchen. It is little used, because thats where I keep all my bits of paper I need to respond to at some point. It is a handy place. Well, I culled; I have disposed of the equivalent of two oak branches into my local paper bank. I have discovered immortal bits of writing I've been meaning to edit for the last... um.. 3 months?
At least. I have found all sorts of interesting information I meant to act on, and have begun a new file of "Useful bits of paper" (DON'T tell me I can put it on the PC.. I expect I can, but if I can't riffle through it with my hands I don't trust it. I think the appropriate term is Technophobe. Or is it prat?). HOWEVER, I have run out of shelf space, so it has now become necessary to cull the bookcases a little to make room for the new files... or.. hell, now I'm half way through, perhaps I'd better just put up another shelf?
So now I need to go to the loft to search for wood.... and then to another set of storage to find the necessary screws, rawlplugs and polyfilla - all vital components in my lexicon of shelf putting upping. Especially the polyfilla. Ah.... and the plasters. H'mm
none in the first aid box, but never mind, once I've sorted it out and culled a bit more.... and put in another little shelfette in the first aid cabinet... then perhaps, just perhaps I can find my debit card - which I put down somwhere quite safely the other day, withdraw some cash and get round to the chemists to buy some before they close for the half day.
And then, maybe I can't.
And all this because I wanted to find a letter.
I'll give up now, I think. I have just found a diary - I'm good at diaries, if nothing else. An end of May entry has just informed me that I have already cancelled the hospital appt. Small wonder I couldn't find the wretched letter! I'd obviously culled it the last time I had a blitz on the house....
Ah well, there's still a bit of plastering to do I guess.
Discuss this Journal entry [72]
Latest reply: Aug 25, 2003
Moving On
Researcher U226093
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