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Arkwright - The Independent Voice
Thankfully there is a safety net in place in our society for those who genuinely fall out of work or cannot work, but this week I was approached to conspire with one of those who are “working” the system and have no intention of seeking gainful employment - some people have no shame. I’m used to people shoving sponsorship forms under my nose because they think I owe them, having once bought earplugs or a verruca sock from me, but when a Job Centre form got thrust at me this week with the line, “Just sign this to say I’ve been looking for a job and all that rubbish” I recoiled.
I declined as politely as I could but that wasn’t good enough; the “applicant” pressed me saying, “I’ve got to say I’ve been looking for work, it doesn’t matter to you so just sign it.”How wrong he was: it does matter very much to me because I, and other taxpayers, have to pay for him to sit around watching daytime TV.Again I declined politely while the words “You scrounger” stayed at the back of my throat. There was me feeling awkward, in my own shop, for standing my ground in the name of what’s right while he barefaced fiddled the system.
Slipping standards
There’s no doubting standards are not what they were and when business mergers happen changes are inevitable. One of my favourite suppliers seems to be suffering from post merger cutbacks and has installed an automated answering service, that in itself would be fine if it worked but it clearly doesn’t.Having received no goods a week after sending a faxed order I phoned and was treated to their “Your call is important to us” recorded patter several times over before I opted to leave a message on their voicemail. No one called back so I rang again and thankfully didn’t wait too long for a human voice to respond. The explanation for no acknowledgement to my earlier call was because no one knew what voicemail was accepting “all” the messages and “lots of people had mentioned it” but it seemed doing something about correcting the situation wasn’t really on the agenda.“So how about my fax sent at the weekend ready to be acted on first thing Monday?” The offered explanation was the cleaners must have cleared up before any one came into work on Monday.What? Don’t get me wrong, the person I spoke to was pleasantly helpful and promptly dispatched my order but this is an international company who have voicemails to no one and extremely efficient cleaners who clear orders from fax machines? Usually you’re lucky if a cleaner simply hoovers, flick a duster around and empty wastepaper bins. Perhaps a good news story of someone doing their job above and beyond the call of duty!
In the wrong shop
I was reminded this week why I have never regretted passing up the opportunity of becoming a doctor, dentist and above all a vet. In truth I never actually had the opportunity of becoming any of those things because, as my parents would testify, I was far too lazy at school but what luck that was. It may be winter and there may be colds about but do people no longer carry hankies? Children and adults sniffing, not once but continually – absolutely horrible! I hover round the shop with a box of tissues remembering the ditty “When you’re dancing with your honey and his nose is rather runny, don’t thinking that it’s funny, ‘cos it’s snot”. Doctors and dentists are welcome to all the sniffs, coughs and toothache.However, the dog with bad breath has to be the ultimate turn off. An adored canine was swept up into its doting owner’s arms as she entered, thus avoiding the usual “OK if the dog comes in?” said with a rhetorical lilt, but it meant dear Fido’s halitosis was now only a foot away from my face. This is a sports shop not a poodle parlour. Everything has its place but for animals it’s not here in my shop!
There are so many cons doing the rounds these days I’ve even begun to suspect friends and colleagues.When asked to confirm my full name, address and date of birth in an email from our Chamber of Commerce Company Secretary I wondered if someone was impersonating him, particularly as it showed my occupation as a Reatiler Proprietor. I emailed a cagey reply, he responded by saying he imagined reatailers could have a lot more fun than retailers but probably not as much fun as one of our financial colleagues who the membership file had listed as a Bonk Manager. Some people have all the luck!
