As I said on yesterday's blog, we enjoy nothing more in this office than a good old debate on the issues of the day. Topics range from X Factor through to Barack Obama and yesterday we hit on the subject of honesty. Craig (above) told us how he and Jenny went for a meal at a very nice restaurant at the weekend. When the bill arrived, Craig paid £30 of it with some gift vouchers that he had been given as a present. The waitress took the balancing cash but left the vouchers on the table. As Craig and Jenny left the restaurant they reminded the waitress of the vouchers and were seen out of the premises by an extremely relieved and grateful young lady. Not much of a story I know. You would have all done the same of course. But that's how yesterday's debate arose. When Craig related his tale a majority of the office staff here said that they would have kept the vouchers.
This sort of argument has arisen here on a number of occasions and debates have stemmed from all of the following:-
You open your car door in a supermarket car park and put a dent into the adjacent car. Do you a) Leave a note with all your details on the damaged car windscreen? or b) Drive off and park as far away as possible?
The local cash machine is dispensing twenty pound notes instead of ten pound notes. Do you a) Phone the police and notify them of the problem in the meantime telling other customers the machine is out of order? or b)get in the queue and phone all your mates to get down as soon as possible with all the cards they've got?
The restaurant forgets to charge your for the wine you had. Do you a) notify the waiter of his mistake? or b) pay the bill and walk away smiling?
If you answered all a)then you are probably Craig, Jenny or Phil here at Instanta but if you answered all b)then I won't name any names but you know who you are.
I don't want to sound like a pontificating old fart but when we get to the stage where the majority answers b) we are getting towards the time when in Thatcher's words there really is " No such thing as society". I honestly believe that the best philosophy in life is "Do as you would be done by". When a situation arises put yourself into the position of the person who has been wronged and ask yourself what you would like to happen. If you stick with this I think you will find that in the long run you will benefit. Imagine this apocryphal headline.
WAITRESS RAPED IN ALLEY
Police were searching today for a vicious rapist who left a young woman badly beaten in a dark alley. Instead of taking her usual taxi home after working late, the victim (26) had walked home from her job as a waitress in a local restaurant after being fined £30 by her employer due to forgetting to collect £30 of gift vouchers from a customer.
OK it may be an unlikely consequence but every action has a consequence. If we all start thinking of the consequences maybe things will get better for us all.
I just got the quarterly statistics from CESA. Many of the members of our trade association (Catering Suppliers)report their quarterly turnover figures to an independent collator who produces a report.Nobody knows anybody else's figures but we all get a picture of the industry whole. Having looked at these stats, I can only remark "bloody hell!!!!" and would just ask if the last catering manufacturer in the country would please switch off the lights.
It's Wednesday and that can only mean one thing "Orange Wednesday" and half price at the local cinema. This week it's Frost/Nixon. Not too sure about this one but don't fancy any of the others. We might struggle next week as, after being spoiled for choice for a few weeks, the releases of critically acclaimed films seem to be starting to dry up. Mind you we've still got "Doubt" "Benjamin Button" and a few more due in the near future.
Finally on a very sad note, it is three months to the day since 13 year old Ayesha Ibrahim Duhulow was stoned to death for the crime of adultery after being raped. This monstrosity has gone unpunished. When is the world going to take a stand against the oppression of women in the name of Islam? The Taliban is now destroying girls' schools in Northern Pakistan. Instead of becoming doctors and teachers these poor girls can now look forward to a life of subservience to a load of stupid idealistic morons. Thank God I'm an atheist.
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