Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[The Camel]

Did you hear about that guy who lost his wife and 5 (?) children in an arson attack in Leicester while he was in Dublin.

Obviously rushed to get back to England, turned up at Dublin airport and asked to change his ticket to get on the next flight.

Ryanair: "That'll be £300 sir".

Disgraceful.

Are they successful? Yes.

Do I use them? Yes (because if I want to get to Dublin and lots of other cities from a nearby airport I have no choice - I have to)

Do I despise them and their owner? Absolutely

I would prefer to pay treble and use a civilised airline.

But unfortunately I can't.

[RED-DOG]

I honestly cant remember the Tesco debate, though I have noticed I find myself agreeing with Tikay all the time so I presume I waited for him to post and then agreed with him but in a slightly more aggressive way. 

That's all you need to say Barry, stop right there.

You reading this, Tom?

You might find this sort of thing remarkable, but some of us have no problem seeing someone else's point of view, admiting we're wrong etc.

[The Camel]

Fortunately I get a choice with supermarkets.

If I've shopped at Tesco more than 3 times in the last 10 years I'd be surprised.

[Kev B]

Did you hear about that guy who lost his wife and 5 (?) children in an arson attack in Leicester while he was in Dublin.

Obviously rushed to get back to England, turned up at Dublin airport and asked to change his ticket to get on the next flight.

Ryanair: "That'll be £300 sir".

Disgraceful.

Are they successful? Yes.

Do I use them? Yes (because if I want to get to Dublin and lots of other cities from a nearby airport I have no choice - I have to)

Do I despise them and their owner? Absolutely

I would prefer to pay treble and use a civilised airline.

But unfortunately I can't.

I saw something similar to this where a jobsworth employee wouldn't back down and Ryanair refunded at a later date. Would the cost be recoverable through insurance ? Anyway this obviously doesn't eleviate the stress the fellow was under and the said employee should be strung up. Instances like this will occur in large business but the % is very small.

I'm off to Dublin on Friday for the IWF. Have travelled with Ryanair many times, always punctual . Does what it says on the tin IMO.

[tikay]

Did you hear about that guy who lost his wife and 5 (?) children in an arson attack in Leicester while he was in Dublin.

Obviously rushed to get back to England, turned up at Dublin airport and asked to change his ticket to get on the next flight.

Ryanair: "That'll be £300 sir".

Disgraceful.

Are they successful? Yes.

Do I use them? Yes (because if I want to get to Dublin and lots of other cities from a nearby airport I have no choice - I have to)

Do I despise them and their owner? Absolutely

I would prefer to pay treble and use a civilised airline.

But unfortunately I can't.

That's a horrible situation Keith, but it's a (very) high-volume business, & & in high-volme businesses frontline staff are not given discretion, as it makes their job more difficult.

I'd wager that a well-worded letter to the Office would be met with a better response. 

You also have to ask how that information came to be in the domain. Did the business leak it? That I doubt. Did the family try to bring prressure that way? Possibly. If people box me into a corner, I get very stubborn & obdurate, & I imagine you do, too.  I bet there is more to that sad tale than meets the eye, & two sides to it.

All volume businesses have to have rules. Make an exception, and a hundred others will try & exploit it. A chap next door got himself in a bad spot, & wanted his money back. I pleaded his case, & so they agreed, & refunded him. He promptly went on the Forum & told everyone he had got his money back, despite the rules. Guess what happened then.......

Rules work BOTH ways. Customers expect suppliers to deliver, exactly as per. That's a 2 way street.

Business is full of such anomolies. That story does not suggest to me that MOL is a despicable man. It suggests he has a very difficult task, holding a reasonable line when circumstances such as this arise. If it becomes known that he has done the decent thing, it could cost the business an untold sum. 

For all we know the family may have been refunded now. If so, it would NOT be in Ryanair's interests to let it be known.

Business is full of such anomolies.

If a poker player on Black Belt is aggrieved, falls ill after Registering or whatever, he can write to Lord Grumpy, & probably be given his money back. Not so much on 'Stars, or Party. It's so exploitable.

[tikay]

Did you hear about that guy who lost his wife and 5 (?) children in an arson attack in Leicester while he was in Dublin.

Obviously rushed to get back to England, turned up at Dublin airport and asked to change his ticket to get on the next flight.

Ryanair: "That'll be £300 sir".

Disgraceful.

Are they successful? Yes.

Do I use them? Yes (because if I want to get to Dublin and lots of other cities from a nearby airport I have no choice - I have to)

Do I despise them and their owner? Absolutely

I would prefer to pay treble and use a civilised airline.

But unfortunately I can't.

I saw something similar to this where a jobsworth employee wouldn't back down and Ryanair refunded at a later date. Would the cost be recoverable through insurance ? Anyway this obviously doesn't eleviate the stress the fellow was under and the said employee should be strung up. Instances like this will occur in large business but the % is very small.

I'm off to Dublin on Friday for the IWF. Have travelled with Ryanair many times, always punctual . Does what it says on the tin IMO.

It may SEEN like a "jobsworth", but Staff are given strict instructions, & are NOT given discretion, for the reasons I explained in my previous Post. It's wrong, & too easy - imo - to blame the low-level staffer. They are just doing their job, & do NOT have discretion. Discretion is trhe province of Upstairs.

All Customer Care Staff suffer from the same complaints, no job attacts more criticism, but they are just obeying rules which are there to help them do their job.

Enjoy Dublin, by the way. The Ryanair stands are less than 2 miles walk from the Terminal Exit. Aer Lingus have all the prime spots, but their punctuality is much much worse. You pays your money, & takes your choice.....

I feel a grumpy mood coming on, time for a nap. Man C kick off at 5.30, wanna watch that.

[redsimon]

Big stories on bbc news etc about 30 thousand tonnes of food wasted by Tesco in last 6 months.

Bad stuff but all the supermarkets do it and consumers are worse.

The biggest item wasted by customers is bread.

I can't remember the last time I threw a slice of bread away though I tend to use it for toast only and the loaf goes straight in the freezer

[Kev B]

Did you hear about that guy who lost his wife and 5 (?) children in an arson attack in Leicester while he was in Dublin.

Obviously rushed to get back to England, turned up at Dublin airport and asked to change his ticket to get on the next flight.

Ryanair: "That'll be £300 sir".

Disgraceful.

Are they successful? Yes.

Do I use them? Yes (because if I want to get to Dublin and lots of other cities from a nearby airport I have no choice - I have to)

Do I despise them and their owner? Absolutely

I would prefer to pay treble and use a civilised airline.

But unfortunately I can't.

I saw something similar to this where a jobsworth employee wouldn't back down and Ryanair refunded at a later date. Would the cost be recoverable through insurance ? Anyway this obviously doesn't eleviate the stress the fellow was under and the said employee should be strung up. Instances like this will occur in large business but the % is very small.

I'm off to Dublin on Friday for the IWF. Have travelled with Ryanair many times, always punctual . Does what it says on the tin IMO.

It may SEEN like a "jobsworth", but Staff are given strict instructions, & are NOT given discretion, for the reasons I explained in my previous Post. It's wrong, & too easy - imo - to blame the low-level staffer. They are just doing their job, & do NOT have discretion. Discretion is trhe province of Upstairs.

All Customer Care Staff suffer from the same complaints, no job attacts more criticism, but they are just obeying rules which are there to help them do their job.

Enjoy Dublin, by the way. The Ryanair stands are less than 2 miles walk from the Terminal Exit. Aer Lingus have all the prime spots, but their punctuality is much much worse. You pays your money, & takes your choice.....

I feel a grumpy mood coming on, time for a nap. Man C kick off at 5.30, wanna watch that.

Jobsworth may be a bit harsh but they do exist. Surely there should have been an upward chain of command that could have resolved this at the time, assuming the employee wasn't indeed a jobsworth.  

The terminal is fooking miles away but it gives me my pre Guinness session exercise. Have they opened the new terminal yet?

Enjoy your nap and footy.

[celtic]

Big stories on bbc news etc about 30 thousand tonnes of food wasted by Tesco in last 6 months.

Bad stuff but all the supermarkets do it and consumers are worse.

The biggest item wasted by customers is bread.

I can't remember the last time I threw a slice of bread away though I tend to use it for toast only and the loaf goes straight in the freezer

Feed the ducks!

[DaveShoelace]

Big stories on bbc news etc about 30 thousand tonnes of food wasted by Tesco in last 6 months.

Bad stuff but all the supermarkets do it and consumers are worse.

The biggest item wasted by customers is bread.

I can't remember the last time I threw a slice of bread away though I tend to use it for toast only and the loaf goes straight in the freezer

I think hands down my biggest financial 'leak' over the years has been wasting food. I've really improved over the years to the point where I'd say I am just 'normal' at it, but I think I'd have a slightly better car and had a few more holidays were it not for food wastage. Bread gets wasted a lot, but the biggest thing was poor strategising of sell by dates and having things go off without realising it.  

[rfgqqabc]

If a poker player on Black Belt is aggrieved, falls ill after Registering or whatever, he can write to Lord Grumpy, & probably be given his money back. Not so much on 'Stars, or Party. It's so exploitable.

Pokerstars sent me ~500$ when I had to leave mid-session to go to the hospital for appendicitis. Didn't even ask for a doctors note. Please don't compare Stars and Party! To be fair, I do rake quite highly on there but they were more than happy to email back, and forwarded their email to Stars.fr too

[tikay]

Jeez, I'm TERRIBLE at throwing away food that is not fresh. I rarely use more than half a loaf of bread (though I'm off bread at present), I get a fresh loaf & the ducks get the rest.

Same with grapes & bananas, I throw more away than I eat.

I've always felt a bit bad about it, but now I feel better, because I can blame Tesco. Excellent. Problem solved. It's Tesco's fault.

[Kev B]

I though you were napping?

I'm recently back from Vegas. I have a present for you from a visit I made. Funny you were the first person I thought of when I arrived.

BRB with it.

[redsimon]

Jeez, I'm TERRIBLE at throwing away food that is not fresh. I rarely use more than half a loaf of bread (though I'm off bread at present), I get a fresh loaf & the ducks get the rest.

Same with grapes & bananas, I throw more away than I eat.

I've always felt a bit bad about it, but now I feel better, because I can blame Tesco. Excellent. Problem solved. It's Tesco's fault.

If the ducks get it at least its being used

Do they sell grapes loose anymore? (confession I only shop at Tesco or Morrison's ). I find the punnets massive but I do get through them, though I had some go off after 3 days a few weeks ago.

[tikay]

Blimey, even rfqqfrtrgjjuyt is itt now.

It really exercises me, that I seem to have so many non-mainstream views on so many things.

It makes me wonder if I'm losing the plot upstairs, or becoming argumentative & crochety for the sake if it, like Tom.

I seem to see so much that is just "group thinking", lazy thinking or writing (me included, of course), & I feel a need to challenge it.

Customer Care staff everywhere get abused. It is a shit job, usually on minimum wage. I suppose angry people can't see that. Maybe these angry people have never had a job, & understood how tough it can be.

Or maybe I'm wrong, but Barry Crater always agrees with me, so I must be right. Yes yes, I'm definitely right.