A lose-lose situation

Today was one of those days...

It started as any other normal, boring, annoying, mundane day at work. Phones ringing, customers queuing, stupid people asking stupid questions, me trying to keep it courteous and professional and thinking that two more days of work and then I'll be enjoying my coffee and ciggies while surfing the net and doing the things I love.

Anyway, ten minutes before I finished and was time to go home, a couple of customers, a young lady and a not-so-young man, sat down on my desk and the girl gave me her card.  

I asked her to confirm her address and she did, and then when I saw the date of birth on our system (it was 1955) she confessed the card was her mother's.

I said to her that unfortunately I could not discuss the account with her and if there was a way to contact her mother and I could give her all the information she wanted. However, because she tried to tell me that the card belongs to the highest level of benefits, I informed her that this is not true, the account is on level 2, two levels away from the highest one.  But I could not give her any other information.

The asshole who happened to be her brother, said "And why can't you give us the information?"
I answered politely that we can only give information to the cardholder due to data protection.
He started arguing that data protection is one thing and identity fraud is another, and many other horse shit such as "If they deliver a card to my property by accident, this card belongs to me". No you bozo, this card belongs to the person whose name is on the card!
Of course I didn't call him bozo as this would be an insult to the bozos.
I said to him I don't want to argue and I would call a manager to speak to him, but, as  sodding Murphy's law had it, the managers were all serving other customers.

I politely explained that it is a business policy not to discuss details of the account, to anyone else but the customer and asked him "how would you like if someone was asking details about your account?" As a major ass hole that he was he replied that this card is not someone stranger's but his mother's. Yes, Sir Fuckface, but what if your mother doesn't want you to know how many points are on her card and comes back to me tomorrow and reports me?


The girl was also quite bitchy and was insisting that the card was on the highest level and was asking which transactions were added to the card in January. It was like I was speaking to deaf, dumb and dumber. I repeated I can't give this information.


The bloody managers were unreachable and now it was way past the end of my shift. This conversation was going nowhere. They were stubborn assholes and thank god I had witnesses, a queue of customers and my two colleagues, who saw that the fuckers were actually abusing me. 


At the end the dumb bitch murmured something like "we will take this matter to the Head Office "  (yes please see what the hell info you're going to get out of them) and they eventually got the fuck out of my face and I could finally go home.  By that time, I had become a nervous wreck.


When I went to the back office to pick up my coat and bag, the only manager I could tell my little story of pain was LB, the little bitch manager from my first blog post (go read it :D) who now I know for sure she despises me as much as I despise her.


Because not only didn't she sympathise with me, she told me off as well!
She told me off because I informed the dumb bitch of a customer that the card was not on the highest tier.  I explained to her that that was the only info I gave, and she told me off again! I shouldn't have said even that. At the same time her face was morphed into that of a hyena's, she usually has this expression when she is talking to me.
She didn't even have the decency to look at her clock and see that these wankers had kept me half an hour after my shift ended!

I was saved by the bell as her phone rang and when I got my stuff and I was passing next to her I said to her "Thanks for the support!"
I really did!!!! I hope the little bitch doesn't sack me.

What a bitch of a day. It's good to know I can come in here and rant, swear and write my guts out, otherwise if I expect to find any compassion at work I would go mental!

Coolness cont. and Docklands walk

Happy Woman's Day!

After many days of blogging hiatus (due to overtime and me being ill and grumpy) I am back!

The results for the Cool post (see below it's not late to add your comment!) are in.
I asked many people at work, family, friends, people on the streets, at the pubs, in the public toilets (ok, not really at the last three places...)
Anyway, the results I got varied. First of all, my lovely follower France from FranceRants wrote a comment that Eminem is cool. Well, indeed he is! I'm not crazy about his songs, but I love Stan and I think he's pretty cool too.
A few colleagues told me being able to succeed is cool. I agreed. And I added
"painlessly"!
My sister told me that Clive Owen is cool. My nephew thinks Jason Statham is cool.
My best friend thinks her husband is cool. And my goddaughter thinks Madonna is cool.
I agreed to all of the above!

The conclusion is that everyone has their own definition and perspective of coolness.
I noticed that not a lot of people have mentioned women, except Madge.
Quite disappointing. Aren't women cool?  Keira Knightley seems quite cool to me.

So be cool and enjoy your coolness, no matter how you define it, that's what I say!
____________________________
Today was a glorious sunny, warm day in London.  I was lucky to have a day off, so I decided to grab my iPod and go for a walk.
I have downloaded a podcast called "London Walks", which every time takes me to places in London I didn't know they existed. Today I decided to follow him down the Docklands, a once ill-reputed area full of druggies and prostitutes. Now it's considered hip, trendy and cool (there we go) as it is by the river, with gorgeous converted wharfs and houses.

It is quite easy from where I live to get to the Docklands and extremely pleasant too.
I take a bus (from the same bus stop where Samuel Guidera was stabbed, where people have laid dozens of flowers - it is quite moving) and go to Lewisham to take the Docklands Light Railway (DLR). I adore riding on the DLR it is like a mild roller coaster ride and the views are spectacular, especially as we approach Canary Wharf.

So I managed to get a front seat (the DLR trains have no driver!) and take pictures along the way.

I arrived at Shadwell station and put the podcast on.  For the first time after a very long time I had such fun!  I got lost a few times, because Richard Wright (who is a priest by the way) who does these podcast walks really fast and he goes to one place while I'm still at another.
So a couple of times I missed a turn and I had to go back, pause, rewind, replay the podcast until I got synchronised with him again.

I didn't mind while it was daylight, but after some time I was looking for a street called Rainer street and could not find it! Well, that got me annoyed! I walked up and down the same road twice, I went into streets and there was no sign, there was no one around and it was getting dark.  After I came out of a small street to the same street I was before for the second time (I was going around in circles with no results) I decided to try my Blackberry GPS. I input "Rainer Street, Docklands, London, UK" and the reply was "No Result"!
I started to get a bit desperate.  I tried again with "Rainer Street, London, UK" and boom! It gave me the directions. I finally found it, I went in put the podcast on again, only to find out that Mr Wright just wanted to show us a building in the street and then he walked back to the main street I was before! Thanks a bunch, I've just lost 45 minutes and now it's dark.

All this time he was saying that we are going to walk along the river.  I had not seen the river as yet.  I came to a gate that was leading to Thames Path, but because it was after sunset they had closed the gate and I couldn't go to see the river view, which he described as amazing. Boohoo!
I decided there and then to call it a day. I will do part II another sunny day, and maybe when my mom comes.
I took a bus to the nearest DLR station and started my way home. I had taken plenty of photos and I really had a great time, but maybe I should have started earlier (lesson learned) so that I could enjoy the whole walk. And next time, I'll carry a map as well!

Here is the slideshow from the pictures I've taken. If you'd like to read the comments I wrote about each picture you can go to the photostream on Flickr.

The Definition of Cool

It's been in my mind for days now.
What is the definition of cool?
What are the properties of being cool, the properties of coolness?
For me it's something that exhumes in your posture, your body language and the way you behave. Something mellow, mature, easy-going, calm, sophisticated, attractive all put together.  Something that shows you are successful but you are o.k. with it.  Something that other people see and want to be, to follow, to become associated with.
Something quite difficult to describe. You know something or someone is cool the minute you see them.
Being cool and trying to be cool are two completely different things...

Who is cool? Quentin Tarantino is cool. Morgan Freeman and Samuel L. Jackson. James Franco has become trendy and cool. Noel Gallagher (not Liam) from Oasis is Brit cool...

Can a woman be cool without being described as cold?
Uma Thurman is quite cool.

Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's was the epitome of coolness...

Here's some other persons and things I think they are cool:

• Robert De Niro
• Al Pacino
• Grace Kelly 
• The way some men light their cigarettes is cool (and sexy!)
• Soho in London is very cool
• Mods were and always are cool
• Some tattoos are cool
• Calling instead of texting is cool
• Modesty is cool
• A good sense of humour is very cool
• A Mini is cool
• Nerds and geeks are the new cool thanks to shows like Chuck
• The utter coolness for me: Johnny Depp!

I am very curious to find out what and who do you think is cool.
I will post and discuss your views in my next post.

Murder most horrid

Life is not all about ha ha hee hee, let's rant about music and the tortures at work.  When something really horrible happens it brings a shock to the system and you stop and think.  Then you realise you're nothing but a grain of sand that at any moment you'll be swept away by the wind and nothing else matters any more...

Last Saturday night my nephew was at the centre of London and he was going to take the last train and come at my house to stay for the weekend.  He called me at around 11 pm and told me that he was going to a party instead and he would stay at a friend's house in Waterloo.  He was going to come to my house on Sunday.  On Sunday morning, he called me and told me that there were no trains coming to my station, because on Saturday night there was a murder near my station.


I was horrified.  My first thought was that it's not safe anywhere anymore and my second thought was how lucky that my nephew didn't come last night or, and I cringe to the thought, it might have been him...
While I explained an alternative route to my nephew, I went closer to the station to see what's going on.
There were at least two police cars blocking the road, the bus stop was not working and the whole block with the little shops was surrounded by police ribbons.  The feeling seeing this can only be described as chilling.

This is a photo I picked on the web
showing the cars on the crime scene

I went back home waiting for my nephew and googled the event. Here's what I learned:

Samuel Guidera

Samuel Guidera was a young teacher living just few blocks down from where I live and studying History and Politics at the University of Greenwich.  Last Saturday night he was watching football with friends and when he took the train back to our area, went to our local "corner" shop, bought maybe a couple of beers and was going to visit a friend who lived in a small road 200 metres away from the station.  On the way to his friend's house he was stabbed.  The police attribute the murder to a robbery.  


The whole thing freaked me out.
This didn't happen somewhere far away from where I live.  This happened exactly where I live. I go to that corner shop almost every day.  The murder spot is only a few metres from my station and from my house.  Most terribly, last night I finished work late and took the train at 21:25 and I was at my station at around 21:45.  If that had happened a week from yesterday I may have been a witness to the crime, or if I was the unlucky one, it could have been me.

Our local corner shop where I go almost every day.
Samuel can be seen shopping from the CCTV cameras.

Last night when I came out of the train there were many police officers handing out flyers about the murder and asking each and every one of us if we were on the same train last Saturday.  It was then I realised how early this murder happened, it wasn't at midnight or at 2 o'clock in the morning, it was at a time where a lot of people are coming back from work, or the pub and walk around the area.  I spoke to a policeman and said that I heard about the case but unfortunately I didn't see anything as I was at home.

My area in general is not considered one of the best in London.  I bought my flat here because the street I live in is full of beautiful houses, with middle class families as residents, and a church opposite my block of flats.  The station is five minutes walk and it has great connection with London.  Most importantly, my best friend lives a ten minute drive away. I knew it was kind of a dodgy area, but I've been living here for ten years and I was never disturbed except the usual teenagers hanging about the station and asking for a cigarette.  I was once slapped on the head in succession by four children on bikes, but I was never scared or worried. 

After last week I am quite scared and horrified.

I am also thinking Samuel's family and the poor lad himself, a young man who just started to have a good job and was probably full of ambitions, wanting to finish his studies and succeed in London, the city in so many people's dreams for a good life.  He was going to a friend's house to spend a few pleasant hours, unaware that his life would be cut short.

Flowers at the crime scene
where the young teacher lost his life.
R.I.P. Samuel

You can read the whole story in this article from BBC News and in a more recent article from a Local News website.

Please, if you know something help the police investigations by calling 
020 8345 3734 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111

Pet (Sound) Hates pt. II

Here is part II of my Pet Sound Hates. Oh, so help me God!!!

5.  Continuous canned applause in game shows.

Presenter: Let's play Wheel of Torture!!

Canned Applause

Presenter: Here is your first contestant: Sally from Buckinghamshire

Canned Applause

Sally turns the Wheel

Canned Applause

Sally: I would like an S please

Canned Applause

Presenter: Yes! There is one S.

Canned Applause.

Sally turns the Wheel again

Canned Applause

Sally: I would like an R please

Canned Applause

Presenter: Yes! There are two R's

Canned Applause machine explodes from overload.

*ZAP!*

4.  Speaking loudly on mobile phones. 

This is something that I believe everybody hates.  Among the various annoying mobile users I would distinguish two categories who are mobile exhibitionists:

a.  The businessmen who make all their business plans in the morning rush hour so everybody knows they are important with phrases such as "Send me an email with the spreadsheet", "Sell, sell, SELL", "Could we move the meeting at 11:00?" and other crap like that.

b. The girl who describes her shenanigans of the drunken night to her friend with phrases such as "So I was completely hammered and then we went to this other club and HE was there and he bought me another drink and we went to his place and I was wearing my strappy sandals so I said 'In yer dreams mate' and he rang me today and wants to meet again and I'm like 'duh' and he said ...." and on and on and on and in the speed of a machine gun, laughing out loud and speaking so loudly that the whole train/bus has turned around and is looking at them.  And for some reason they get angry if people listen to their stupid conversation.

I get such an immense pleasure when just one stop before my station we go into a huge tunnel for a minute and a half and these bozos start saying "Hello, hello?" and  stare at their phones, because the reception disappears just before we reach the previous station. He he he he!!!

3. My noisy neighbours

After a tiring day at work and travel full of unbearable noises I come home to relax.  Yeah, right.

I live in a block of flats and although most of the times it is very quiet, there is a devilish possibility that the noises may continue due to my noisy neighbours.

These consist of:

The 14-year-old girl right above me who just before midnight decides to crank up the karaoke machine and sing with her tone-deaf voice songs like "Bad Romance", "Papa Don't Preach", "Love Is All Around" and lo and behold "My Heart Will Go On".

Her parents have a fight almost every night while the daughter sings on Karaoke and sometimes the mother joins in after the fight to sing "I Will Survive"

On the flat next to the Karaoke Killers there is the crazy aerobics lady, who stomps on the floor while she thrusts her bum. I want to slip a note under her door and let her now that the 80's ended 20 years ago, do some Pilates, it's quieter.

There are occasional builders who will definitely ruin my days off at home.

There is a sculptor next door who bangs the chisel and the hammer, again during my days off when I try to relax.

I once started banging on the wall and shouted outside the window "STOP THE NOISE!"  It stopped for about five minutes and then started again.

Oh, will I ever find peace and quiet?

2. Rap Crap and Hip-Hop Flop

Don't get me started....The charts are full of them, the bars play them, cars pass by with their speakers in full blast and the bass making the houses tremble and my nephew listens to them religiously and tells me off for not liking them.  I think this music is full of stupid, horribly unmelodious, sample-filled, with lyrics full of swear words or words the artists invented to kill the English language, emetic videos, insulting titles (such as "F@#k the Police" by N.W.A.) and disgusting way to 'sing' erm... 'songs'.

And what's with the silly names of the artists? 2 Pac, Snoop Doggy Dog, Dizzee Rascal, Tinie Tempah, Mos Def, Dr. Dre, Ice-T, Jay-Z, T.I.... I, I, I!!! 

And by the way, how dare they call this shit R'n'B? Rhythm and Blues is the purest kind of music, deriving from the late 40's with shinning stars such as Otis Redding, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Sam Cooke and Percy Sledge and also developed to be the best kind of music this earth has ever heard, the Motown music.

The crap that today's artists compose, or shall I say just "produce" and play should be called S'n'R (Shit and Rubbish).

I could go on and on about them but I will finish by saying that when back in 1979 Sugarhill Gang released Rappers Delight it was a novelty and the song had melody, great lyrics and it rocked!!! After the end of the 80's most of the stuff that rappers released have been and continue to be pure trash.  This kind of insulting-our-ears music has made millionaires of the artist, producers (and their hos) and has created the gangsta culture which I also hate (although I have to admit that Gangsta's Paradise is a great song but I think that this may be attributed to the Stevie Wonder melody).

Honestly, if you want to see me become a nervous wreck play me any song of this genre.  I have left parties of good friends because the dj started playing crap music. 

1. Screaming children

And here we are at my number 1 pet sound hate.  The otherwise adorable children who will scream from the moment they wake up until they go to bed.

You know the ones, you've all seen them and heard them.  You are in a restaurant, on the train in the bus and there will be at least one screaming kid to ruin your day out. I'm not talking about a child talking, laughing, playing. These are sounds that are somewhat pleasurable to the ear if kept in a reasonable volume.  I am talking about the moan, the scream, the cry, the I-will-make-you-regret-you-took-me-out-of-the-house shriek, which would make Mother Theresa become like King Herod.

Sometimes the child is the devil's spawn, and the poor parents can't do anything about it, but sometimes it's also the parents' fault, because they don't give a damn if their child is uncomfortable about something and cry.

I have numerous examples, because as it is I am so lucky that I will meet one or two lovely cherubs every day on my way to work and back, but I will give you the one I remember most vividly.

I was at work on my desk and there was a queue of customers.  Second one was a mother with a girl of about 3 or 4 years old who was SCREAMING her lungs out as the mother had her standing and waiting in the line.  I remember myself as a child, I hated standing up and walking long distances I was getting very tired (by the way I never screamed, I was an angel!) so I sort of sympathised with the little girl, but I couldn't stand her shrieks.  The whole floor could hear her screaming and I thought the mother was being selfish and rude for allowing her daughter to be such a nuisance to everybody.

After I finished with my customer, who was tutting and sighing due to the fact that she couldn't hear herself think (none of us could), I immediately stood up from my desk and invited the woman with the daughter to come and sit in one of the other desks. Forgot to tell you, the friggin' woman was on the phone!!! (how could she hear?) So they sat down at the desk behind me and I gave the girl a paper and a pen to draw something and I also gave her one of our loyalty cards telling her that she could keep it and play with it.  I think the girl just fell in love with me because she shut up immediately, she started to draw and play with the card and we never heard her little voice again until they left.  So I believe the children need a bit of attention, a bit of manipulating in the good sense and a bit of love and understanding and they will be ok. It's not difficult and the parents will be making a huge favour to the rest of us who suffer by their angels' squeals.

My absolute nightmare is on the plane, it is by a rule that there would be at least one screaming child for the whole three and a half hours of my trip to Athens and back to London every summer. Rule!

Thank you Steve Jobs for the ipod! 

Concluding, I have a double message: the top part I have to repeat to myself and the bottom part is for all the noisy, annoying people with their rap 'music', screaming children, mobile phones, chisels, clicks and bleeps, karaoke machines and extra crunchy crisps:

WHAT IS YOUR PET (SOUND) HATE?

Pet (Sound) Hates pt. I

I always wanted to write rant about the noises that annoy me and now that I have a couple of minutes to spare, I thought it would be the perfect subject.

Because it's going to be quite a long post, here is the first top five from 10 to 6.
I am waiting for your own Pet Sound Hates too!

10. Snoring 

You are tired, you hit the pillow and two seconds after you are in the loving arms of Morpheus, the person next to you starts snoring.  Honestly, who thought snoring is a good thing?  It is irritating for those who try to sleep and embarrassing for those who have it.  Cure it, already!

9. People eating crisps at the Cinema

The bag makes noise, the picking up the crisps makes noise and eating the crisps makes noise.  Need I say more?  Buy pop corn, it is quieter!

8.  The gzgzgz coming from other people's headphones.

Yes, I believe the devil has invented headphones with no noise reduction to destroy me!  I'm sitting on my train, reading my book and suddenly, it comes...from two seats away: Gzzgzzgzz-gzzgzzgzz.  It can drive me mad, especially when I have no battery left on my ipod so I can listen to my own music - which I keep in moderate volume so I don't get hateful stares from my fellow travelers.  

I know what I'm talking about.  I grew up in the 80's and the Walkman was the craze of that decade... I was a wild teenager, listening to my Madonna and Depeche Mode in full blast on those old headphones that barely touched my ears and all I can remember is my mom looking at me with wide eyes full of disapprovement.

I'm all grown up now and I can totally feel her.  I hate listening to other people's gzgzgzgz through their headphones.

7.  Mobile phone key clicks and beeps.

There was a girl sitting next to me at our staff area where we go to relax and all she did for the whole damn break was to text like a maniac and she had the key sound ON!!! Honestly, I wanted to take her mobile off her hand and shove it in her mouth.

It's very simple: you go to Settings-->Sounds-->Key Sounds--> and you select NONE! Otherwise everybody is going to hate you.

6.  Mobile phone music players

What is worse than the music coming from headphones and mobile phone clicks?  The devilish combination of both: the mobile phone music players.

A very frequent phenomenon in London buses - especially where I live in South East London. The "youffs" who usually put their music through their phones should all be banned from public transport.  They put on some awful hip-hop, dubstep, shitty kind of "music" (using the term extremely loosely) in full volume, which sounds even more terrible through the little speaker of their mobiles.  I got in a fight with one of them once but I reluctantly backed off as I was scared that he would pull out a knife and stab me or something similar.

Part II coming soon...

An update for this blog.

Hello World!

Sorry I haven't been around for such a long time. I've been really busy and I had very little time to blog, to my dismay. I have to find the time, even to write a small paragraph and rant about something, LOL.

Weeell, have a look at the page.  I've added a Facebook page so you can ''all'' (!!!) go and like this blog, a Networked Blogs link to follow on Facebook and a nifty little gadget that shows my visitors from around the world.  Take it easy guys, one by one, you'll all get a piece.
You can also add me as a friend on Facebook, if you dig to read my outbursts during my crazy days.

Just to make things clear: I am not an unsociable saddo that has no friends. This is a brand new FB profile and page, hopefully it will accrue more followers and friends soon.

I love the whole social networking thing, all I wish is that I had more time to dedicate to it, as I am in awe of what some fellow bloggers have accomplished.

So here we go, I will be more consistent with my posts and hopefully it will escalate into something beautiful and I will meet lots of interesting people to share my ideas and rants with.

For the moment, I bid you goodnight and have a great rest of the week until we meet again.

Oh! The Humanity...

Time for a rant.
Rant for people who are so detached from real life that they don't know their own address.
Rant for people who are so filthy rich that they can't see beyond their perfect world.
Rant for people who think that us, honest workers who serve them, are their slaves and not real human beings.

I am talking of course about a category of customers who come, ruin my day and go back to their meaningless lives.

Case Study No 1: The Ignorant Billionaire.
Me: Hello, how can I help you today?
TIB: I would like to know how much I've got on my card
Me: Of course.  Could you please confirm your name and current address?
TIB: My name is XXXX.
Me: And your address?
TIB: Erm... which one? I have many...
Me: The one you submitted when you registered.
TIB: Switzerland?
Me: No
TIB: Monaco?
Me: No
TIB: Saudi Arabia?
Me: No. To help you, in the UK.
TIB: In Belgravia?
Me: Could you confirm your full address please?
TIB: .......................SW1
Me: Sorry madam, I need the full address
TIB: I don't remember! (irritated) I've got so many....!
Me: Could you please confirm your date of birth then?
TIB: I'm not going to tell you my date of birth!
Me: It's right there in front of me. For security reasons you need to confirm it.
TIB: (confirms D.O.B. behind gritted teeth) You shouldn't ask these questions.  they're private.
Me: Here is your balance madam. Anything else I can do for you today?
TIB: There, was that so difficult? Why do you ask all these questions?
Me: Because, how would you like if I would divulge this information to someone else? We have to make sure it is you that asks questions about this account.
TIB: Of course it's me? Who else would it be?
Me: :O :S :X  :) (jaw drops, frowns, says nothing, smiles...) Thank you! Have a lovely day!

Case Study 2: The Filthy Rich Complainer
Yesterday I was in charge of emails. We received an email from a customer, who in a nutshell (her email was five paragraphs!) said the following:
Dear Sir or Madam
I am writing to complain that you sent me a statement on the 31/12/10 showing that I had 50000 points, giving me £500.  When I came to spend them last week, they were not there. If you don't rectify this mistake, I will never shop in your store again.


In which I replied:
Dear Madam
According to our records, you spent your points on the 1/1/11, one day after this statement was issued. You used them in the Ladieswear department for a transaction of £4,800. Sincerely....etc.


I mean, come on! If I had bought something for £4,800 in one transaction and used £500 off my loyalty points, I would remember it, right?  But some people are so filthy rich they don't care how much they spend and they don't even remember.

Case Study 3: The Ironic One
Some people don't realise that business have their own rules.  Our loyalty program is a little bit complicated and we remind our customers of the rules in every communication.  One of the rules is to bring in their receipts on the same day of purchase if they want their points added.  That's the rule, a bit harsh I know, but there are reasons behind it, but we are quite flexible and add receipts from all times, as long as they are from the same year.

A lady came to me today with receipts from 27th of December 2010.  That's not only a month ago, but from the previous year.  I mention it to the customer, I inform her that she now will be able to use the points the following year because she missed out on the automatic conversion of the points which happens at the end of the year and she gets all grumpy!
TIO: What? Next year? What sort of stupid program is that?
Me: thinking (It's the same one you signed for when you registered for our card. But do you ever read our communication? Do ya? No, of course you don't)
Don't worry, madam.  I will add them for you so you get your points. They will be added on to this year's points.

I complete the transaction, asking her how she's been, being polite, calm, smiley, professional.
At the end I thank her and she sort of thanks me with a grunt, and you know what she said?
"Thanks! You'll see me again next year!!!"

Meaning, "I'll do what I want, I will not follow your stupid rules and I will bust your balls for eternity".
Suits you, then. You're the one who would have to wait for a whole year to use her points.

And these are only 3 of the thousands of lovely custys we have every day. I have told my teammates that we should all gather our stories and write a book!

More to come, stay tuned.