It takes a lot to annoy me, when it comes to dealing with companies. OK, that’s a lie, there’s a Me Vs. The World category on this very blog! I have to deal with customers in my job and like to think I offer a good, friendly service. I sometimes have to deal with angry people, and it’s not nice. That is why I try to be pleasant to the person on the end of the phone, whenever it is me making a complaint… unless, of course, I know I am speaking to the person who is personally to blame, in which case, I turn into the Incredible Hulk – “raaar!”. The manager of Argos in Bath experienced my rage once.
Basically, I don’t get angry with people I ring, of those who call me, very often. The other day was an exception. I received a call from an unknown number. Stupidly, I answered it. Why did I do that? I NEVER answer calls from withheld numbers? If you want to speak to me, at least have the common decency not to hide your number. I answered the call…
Them: “I am calling about the car accident you had recently”
Me: “What car accident?”
Them: “I’m afraid I can’t tell you”
Me: “I haven’t had a car accident, what are you calling me about?”
Them: “I can’t tell you”
Me: (getting frustrated) “Why?”
Them: “Because of Data Protection”
This is when I got mad. The girl calling me – who I eventually got to admit was named Zoe, calling from First Call – was basically calling random numbers (by her own admission), asking people about their car accident, in the off chance they do reach some poor sod who has been unlucky enough to give actually been involved in such an event. It is extremely sneaky and should be illegal, if it is not already. I couldn’t even find a company relating to law firms called First Call, when I looked on Google. Therefore, either Zoe was lying to me (if that is her real name), or First Call are phoning people on behalf of well-known companies. Very naughty.
I asked Zoe to be put through to their complaints department. Unsurprisingly, they don’t have one. If they did, no doubt they would receive more calls than the 999 telephone line. I was informed that I would be taken off their “list”, although I bet it’ll be a matter of days before I get another call regarding my traffic accident, plane crash or dinosaur attack.
Really, this wasn’t Zoe’s fault. The poor girl must know she is pissing off every single person she rings. In fact, I would rather she do that job than sign on the dole. The people I take issue with are the owners and directors of these marketing companies. They must make loads of money. It should be the law, that if you want to open one of these harassment phone-lines, that you publish your personal contact details on the internet. Then, everyone you have annoyed with nuisance calls, can ring you at all hours of the night, and wind you up too!
I accidentally dropped my glass onto the desk, and in the process splashed my monitor with drink. Water and electricity work together OK, right?
I have an issue, which any man who shares a bed with his wife/fiancée/girlfriend will totally understand. It involves the duvet. When we fall asleep, Claire has one half of the duvet, I have the other. When I wake up in the middle of the night, I seem to be missing most of, or the entire duvet. Claire has either draped her body in it or wrapped the bottom of it around her legs. There is an argument on her part, that I sometimes steal her half of the duvet, too. This, of course, is total nonsense.
To try and fix this issue, we invested in a king size duvet. It is massive! When I went to bed last night, I thought I was going to get lost under the covers and wake up in Narnia. Either that, or boil to death from the heat its weight and insulation produces. What really happened when I woke up was that Claire had taken a large part of my half of the duvet – THE KING SIZE DUVET! Time to get my own sleeping bag?
I returned to work on Thursday, after almost four weeks off. By lunchtime, it was like I hadn’t been away at all. Despite me saying that I had remembered all my passwords, I simply could not log onto my email. It wouldn’t take my logon details at all! Admittedly, I do think it was my fault – I stupidly checked my email while at home and changed my password at the time; therefore forgetting it on my return to the office. However, I prefer to blame the ‘single sign on’ software, which is supposed to store your details – instead it kept banging in an incorrect password into Outlook, and therefore locking me out.
When I haven’t been at work, I have been spending my time, sitting on my bum, watching England struggle against Australia at the cricket. England won the first test while Claire and I were away on honeymoon, but since our return, normal service has resumed and they have become rubbish. I’m watching it right now – it’s awful. I do hope the Aussies are wearing condoms, as the England players will need protection while they’re getting fucked by them.
I was torn away from the television and sofa last night, as my Mum was celebrating her 60th birthday and was hosting a party for her family friends. I brought my new wife and we both thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Claire especially enjoyed the homemade sangria – almost as much as she liked my reaction to trying the sharp, strong beverage for the very first time. She videoed my facial expression, so expect it to go viral on the internet, should it ever find its way onto YouTube.
We have now been back in England for 3 days and are slowly adjusting to the cold weather! Holidays are supposed to refresh you, although we arrived home totally exhausted. It is only today, after two nights sleep, that I feel myself again.
I am still off work, but return to the office the day after tomorrow, after almost a month off! I’ll forget what it is like to do a job again, let alone my username and password to access the computers… sadly, this is untrue, and the logon details are engraved in my brain.
We have been catching up with family. This afternoon, my mum and sister are visiting, where we will treat them to presents we have bought on honeymoon and subject them to a slideshow of hundreds photographs we took.
Later today, we will be returning to the place where our romance first blossomed – Twerton Park. Bath City have already started preseason training, and tonight entertain former rivals, Newport County. We always seemed to beat Newport, especially at home, but now they’re better than us, I don’t know what to expect! While we were on honeymoon, we only missed one game – a friendly against Bristol City. I was dreading an announcement of Leeds United visiting Twerton, while we were on the ship – a scenario which would have resulted in me borrowing one of the lifeboats to get me back to Bath for the match! My season ticket also arrived, so I’m all ready for the first game, next month.
Claire has been busy washing all the clothes. There are loads! We both have two weeks each of clothing. Our front room currently looks like a school jumble sale, with piles of trousers, t-shirts and jumpers everywhere. I’ve also unpacked all my other things, cluttering the place with all the tack I bought abroad.
It’s funny how you miss certain foods while you are away from home. Yesterday, I ate a packet of Monster Munch crisps. They tasted amazing. Normally, I would eat them, while sat at my desk at work and think “Meh, these are OK”. As I haven’t eaten them for so long, depriving myself, I really enjoyed them.
You will have hopefully noticed the 15 blogs I have made since returning home – all complete with lots and lots of photos. These took HOURS to upload – no thanks to image hosts, Flickr, who are a pile of poo and somehow managed to lose lots of the photos I attempted to put onto the internet. I suppose it didn’t help, as I tried to upload about 600 photos in one go!
About Me
So you stumbled across my blog. No doubt after searching for something bizarre on Google. Before you hit that 'Back Button', why not stay and have a read for a few minutes?
If you are after a website which gives advice on how to hack an iPhone X, download the latest Steven Seagal movie, or view nudy ladies, you've come to the wrong place and may now press 'Back'.
However, if you would like a lifestyle blog, written by a 30-something chap, living in Bath (England), feast your eyes on this.
You won't discover how to copy PlayStation 4 games. What you will find is a blog, covering life in the West Country, the highs and lows of supporting two unsuccessful football teams, while sharing a house with a wife and rabbit.
All written by a man, somewhere on the sanity-scale between normal and eccentric.
