Manners!

A couple stood before me in the shop this afternoon, having come to collect their computer which had been in for repair. The job had been done, at some discount as they are longstanding, though difficult, customers but the woman pulled her chequebook out of her bag with exceeding reluctance. The expression on her face was reminiscent of having teeth pulled without an anaesthetic.
Then they wanted to look at a flat screen monitor. Again they were offered it at £10 less than normal price.
"We're good customers. We've spent thousands of pounds with you over the years. Can you do it for thirty pounds less?" asked the man.
The argument that if we did that, there would be no profit in it at all for the business and that we do, after all, have to make a living cut no ice at all.
"Well, I can get it at that price from Argos," was the reply, followed by a rant on what good customers they are and how little appreciated that fact was. It was then pointed out to him that he has also had a lot of support (for issues brought about by his incompetence, but we won't go into that!). This also cut no ice and two disgruntled people stalked out of the shop.
I was left wondering what it is about some people that the more you give them, the more they demand, without a hint of gratitude or graciousness and, secondly, if they feel they get so little satisfaction from our shop, why do they keep coming back because, as sure as anything, they will be on the phone during the week, having messed up the system yet again and demanding free, lengthy consultations and advice. And, guess what, this time, they won't be getting it! The worm has turned!!

Red wine and keyboards

I have noticed recently that the spacebar on the desktop computer keyboard doesn't work properly. Inotherwordsitdoesn'tleavespacesbetweenwords! However, Keith to the rescue - he has fixed it. Not in the ordinary sense of the word, of course. Keith doesn't 'do' ordinary! His method of fixing was to tip a glass of finest Australian red all over it (well Australian red, anyway). So now, none of the keys work.However, not to be outdone, I retrieved another one from the cupboard under the stairs. (Doesn't everyone keep keyboards under the stairs?) And guess what! That one doesn't work either. Why? Well, it's had red wine tipped over it.You'd think he'd have learned by now, wouldn't you? It's white wine that does the trick!

Trees in autumn

Autumn in Westonbirt Arboretum, taken yesterday, a day of sunshine -hurray!!

Just follow the destructions!

I popped down to Bristol today to bring Dad an early Christmas present, a printer/scanner. Set it up, correct leads present, driver disk present, went through the motions only to find that the scanner was showing an error message and refusing to play ball. After over an hour, during which time the dratted thing came perilously close to being hurled through the window, I gave in and called my personal helpline, Keith.
"Have you unlocked the scanner?" was the mild enquiry.
"What do you mean?"
"Didn't you read that yellow piece of paper at the side which said unlock the scanner?" was the reply.
"Oh........"
Machine is now fully installed and working like a trooper. However, what I want to know is why the error message which came up said 'Refer to documentation and call Service if necessary." Why couldn't it just have said, 'unlock scanner' or even 'please unlock scanner.'?????
Oh no, sorry, that would be tooooooo easy!!!! Grrrrrr!!

OFSTED cometh

I popped in to a local primary school this afternoon to deliver leaflets and letters promoting a forthcoming computer software fair we are going to hold there next week. The headteacher, a very pleasant man, mentioned that the school would be having an OFSTED inspection in January and detailed all the paperwork which had already been requested. I mentioned a neighbouring school which I knew had recently been inspected, one of the first to be on the receiving end of the new, so-called 'light touch' inspections, the object of which is to be more user-friendly to the schools and be less disruptive to the daily routine.
"Oh, yes," said the Head, "I was talking to the Head there the other day. He said he was grilled in depth for 15 hours altogether."
Bearing in mind that a new-style inspection in a small primary school, such as we were talking about, would last only 2-3 days, that means the 'grilling' would have lasted about 5 hours each day, and that's before they started on the co-ordinators, deputy, support staff, lesson obserations etc. How on earth was that Headteacher supposed to do his normal work with 5 hours being taken out of his day? Light touch, eh?
Oh, and the Head I was talking to, obviously very committed to the pupils in his school, is eagerly looking forward to being able to retire.
I wonder why???

Welsh wildlife

We had a quick spin around the local countryside yesterday afternoon and came across at least half a dozen pheasants. For once, I managed to get a reasonable photo of one of them, but only a rear view!

A squirrel

I quite often catch a glimpse of a squirrel when I take Lucy for a walk around the lake and now that the leaves are falling, it's a little easier to see them. Today, I had my camera at the ready and, after a few unsuccessful attempts, managed to get this one. Although it's a bit dark (I haven't had time to doctor it at all), it's my best effort - trust me, look carefully, there really is a squirrel up there in that tree. Only a grey one, I'm afraid, but you can't have everything!
If you want to bore yourself silly with more autumn pics, have a look at my Webshots page.
There's a new autumn album there, which I will add to as and when.