It’s been a challenging week so far. As you know B had one of her filthy nasty colds which I had to try and avoid picking up. Having just succeeded in that regard B passed it on to Weedy – this presented an even harder challenge to avoid as he has been off school and needing constant attention. 6 year olds don’t just lie in bed resting when they are off school with colds – they want to be cuddled and they want to play games and they want run their snotty germ-covered fingers all over Daddy’s laptop and iPhone.
And I have to avoid picking up infections! Well, so far so good.
I went to the local Londis to get some Calpol and a tin of Vaseline for under his nose – they had the Calpol (£3:39) but I couldn’t find the Vaseline so I asked the cashier man where it was. He pointed. I went. And there was a line of Vaseline tins stacked up behind a sticker saying Vaseline £1:35. Oh, and they had blue tins and they had green tins. I picked a green tin and went to the till.
He charged me £1:50 for the Vaseline. I pointed out that the sticker says £1:35. Oh that’s for the blue tin he said – it’s got Aloe Vera in it.
I said – but it’s under a label that says £1:35. There is no label saying £1:50. Ah, but Sir, if you look at the barcode you’ll see it’s different. But customers do not read barcodes! I protested. You are displaying a product at one price and charging me a different price – that is not right – You are wrong!
Im not wrong he said. You are wrong, he shouted back.
It seems that the age old adage of the customer always being right (especially when they are right) has gone out the window.
We engaged in a heated argument about this stupid tin of Vaseline until I stopped the argument, put my hand on the guy’s shoulder and said ” you know sir, if I had been in your position, for the sake of 15p I would have simply apologised for the mix-up, and offerred me the tin at £1:35 and kept your customers happy. Instead I am unhappy now, I am going home and I will tell my wife about this whole episode and you know what? – tomorrow I am going to blog about it on the Internet!”
And with that proud retort I marched out of the shop without either the vaseline or the Calpol and in a bad mood vowing never to go into that shop again.
And I ask myself Why? Why, as I am recovering from a major life-saving operation, am I even bothered? Why am I getting involved? What difference does it make?
It makes none.
By the way, I went down to convenience store next to the tube station and picked up the Calpol for a bargain £3:00 and the tin of Vaseline for … £1:35! Result!
Chopped Liver 