Customer service plus a challenge if your daft enough.

What happened to good old customer service here in the UK? that`s if ever there was any to start with.
Just over the last couple of months a few things have happened.

On one of my trips to the hospital recently I was on a bus to the hospital when all of a sudden the bus turned into the yard of the bus garage/depot and the driver switched off the engine and we sat there for 10 minutes in silence. Now i had a pretty good idea what was going on as an intermittent buzzer could be heard as we traveled along. Suddenly a mechanic appeared around the corner with a water can and topped up the radiator. Driver starts up no buzzer and without a word off we go. Now surely he could have stepped out of his cab when we first stopped and just let everyone know what was happening. Customer service, passengers pay the wages treat them with some respect.

Had a problem with my phone a week or to back so fair enough the call is free and after pressing 1 for this and 2 for that unless you have some other problem then of course you press 4 not 3. So having pressed several numbers thinking I`ve ordered a Chinese takeaway/to go and they will answer soon for my address I patiently listen to the music after being told to hold, why can`t I just sit and wait? do I really need to hold onto something? Then a click and a voice, I`m through! yes! yes!....NO.
The recording tells me the queue is long and if I press another button I can use the priority queue and be put through quicker............................they will charge me 50 pence.
Put the priority 50 pence call answering staff on the normal queue and give everyone a fair chance. It`s called customer service. In case your curious it was EE.

Now I do have a sweet tooth and Peanut M and M`s are for me hard to resist.
Jaq is shopping at Tesco on-line and bless her asks me if I need an MM fix. There are three sizes, and sorry U.S. readers these in grams so just pretend it`s ounces and it will all work fine. First pack is 165g for £1. Second 330g for £2. All fine double the quantity for double the money although you might expect a small price reduction for buying the larger bag. The third pack is 300g for £2.25. Less quantity for more money. How many folk do you think grab the more expensive bag without checking the weight thinking it`s going to be the bumper weight best buy.
A short time ago they had limited edition bags, world cup if I remember, on sale alongside the standard pack. Same weight but 50% extra price.
Customer service means you get charged fairly but then do they care......no.

I remember when Jaq and I were back in the U.S. for a while getting her visa sorted and we were in the supermarket shopping. Something was say $2 each or two for $3. Jaq picks up one and I said get the two it`s a better deal. No says she we only need one and it will be half the deal price at the checkout. Now UK readers know that one item would have been at the high price but in the U.S. it was reduced to the offer price at the checkout. Now that is customer service.

This box which appears to be made of  lead is in the churchyard of St. Mary`s Welton. Not quite sure it`s purpose it bears the date 1673 and is quite fancy. I did at first think the drain pipe entered it but you can see the pipe just empties onto the ground.
One gravestone tells of six year old John Hewitt who in January 1806 was lost in the fields and starved to death.

From the Leicester Arm by bridge 2 a walk through Weltonfield boat yard the footpath across the field leads to a lane into the village, about 30 mins walk.

 Destination the White Horse for a meal. No we did not take the Burger challenge and why anyone would is beyond me. But for sure this is minute compared to some stateside.
Try this 55oz if you need a challenge dude.
Some very strange food challenges here.


The food was good in a lovely atmosphere of an old thatched roof pub.







Can you imagine 7 pubs within one a third miles. Something that has fascinated me for a while and will blog it soon.