I made a late night stop at the petrol station last night in order to get my diet coke fix. I find that drinking carbonated caffeine just before bed is vital in order to attain that feeling of exhausted insomnia that I’ve come to know and love. Ahead of me in the queue to pay was a woman who was trying to provoke the lady behind the till into a debate about the current high cost of fuel.
I don’t understand the reasoning behind things like that. It’s not like the poor beleaguered cashier has a hotline to the BP board of directors stashed under the counter:
“There’s a woman here in Huddersfield who’s complaining that it costs her nearly fifty pounds to fill up her tank these days sir. I think it might be time to reduce the costs to below £1 a litre againâ€
“Thanks Maureen, we’ll see what we can doâ€
It’s the same thing in fire safety lectures. Every year the NHS makes me attend one of these in order that they can absolve themselves of all responsibility when I accidentally burn down the hospital. And every year you can guarantee that half way through someone will start whinging about the 1996 European regulations on Fire extinguishers. These dictate that instead of the traditional collouring of red (water ) cream (foam) black (CO2) or blue (powder), all different types of extinguishers should all be coloured red, but with a small cream, black, or blue band signifying it’s contents.
The levels of distress and fury that people can whip themselves into over this issue is absolutely incredible. The legislation was brought in twelve years ago, but for some reason they seem to believe that ranting about it to a moonlighting firefighter in a drafty NHS training room is somehow going to get the regulation’s overturned. The worst thing is that these idiots inevitably make the session over-run, thus negating the only positive aspect of mandatory training courses – the possibility of sneaking off home early.
Mind you, the woman at the petrol station did have a point. Fuel prices are rather high at the moment. It was £1.07 a litre last time I filled up. But I’m certainly not going to embarrass myself by complaining to the petrol attendant about it. No, I’ll be far too busy complaining about the price of their diet coke to do anything like that. (“£1.60 for a two litre bottle?! It’s not like they have to pump it out of the ground! Get me the chairman of Coca-cola on the phone right now damnitâ€).
People need to get their priorities right especially when it comes to liquid black gold aka Coke. View all comments by Ed
I wish gas was £1.07 a litre (what’s that, $7.50/gallon?) here. Do you have any idea what that would do to the value of my 60 miles per gallon Prius?
Rattling the Kettle’s last blog post..The Best Restaurant in All of Austin View all comments by Rattling the Kettle
Dan you would hate it here. Fuel is dirt cheap but Diet coke is very expensive. This would make life much cheaper for most brits, but for you, it would mean bankrupcy.
I paid $3.60 for a 500ml bottle the other day (thats 1 pound 64)!!
And another thing, I am going to write a letter to hewlitt packard about the lack of a goddam pound sign on my keyboard!
Sam’s last blog post..Holding the Baby View all comments by Sam
It always amazes me how people will rage at somebody who can do nothing to solve a problem. If they just took that energy and used it to write a letter to someone who can ACTUALLY solve the problem, maybe they would get somewhere.
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Sam - sorry to use Dan’s blog comment section to convey this information - but there is a vast selection of alternate symbols, including the pound sterling (£), available to you if you can hold down the alt key and use the numeric pad on the right side of your key board (not all laptops offer this option) To get the pound sign, it’s alt. key + 156. View all comments by Lise M.
Some people just love to complain. It’s their nature. They think they’re on a soapbox and trying to change things. They just don’t realize how annoying it is. View all comments by jason
£1.07 - what’s that, about $430 US?
Avitable’s last blog post..Faith in humanity . . . lost View all comments by Avitable
People like to bitch. They don’t really care what about.
Miss Britt’s last blog post..I’ll give you $112 every 30 days with a smile View all comments by Miss Britt
No comment, I just wanted to type the £ sign. Wheee!
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Alt + 3 on a mac = £
I want to bitch about stuff. Why don’t you open the floor to discussion on things of little note that require no fuss. Those are the best things to get pissed about.
Have you had Coke Zero or Blak Coke (it’s like a coffee soda)? Just curious, since you are obviously someone who knows their cola.
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£55 to fill my car with diesel last week - but thats not the thing I complained about, oh no.
When I went to pay for it, or to be more accurate hand the man my Texaco company account card, he swiped it and told me it was invalid, “it cant be invalid” I proclaimed rather to loudly, “They only sent me it this morning” as indeed they had, hot out of the envelope it was, I’d only had the bloody thing for fifteen minutes and already it was invalid.
I had to pay for the diesel out of my own account - do you know how much it hurts a person to pay for company fuel out of his own account ?
When I stormed back into the office ready to give Texaco hell I noticed a little note on the bottom of the compliment slip that had arrived with the cards but been disgarded in the delight that accompanies company credit cards (ie “free money”) - the note read “Do not use card until PIN number is received under separate cover”
Bastards.
Gary’s last blog post..On playing golf… View all comments by Gary
my parents have one car that drives on LPG but due to taxes the price has gone from around 40cts a liter to 62 cts a liter in one year! Gasoline..is about the same price as in GB I think, expensive.
But..can’t you get a bunch of diet coke’s in a supermarket or something for..say ultracheap?
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Petrol lower than coke? Wow! At least I can get Coke in the US at $.99 per 2 liter as long as a wait for the sale (every two weeks or so). View all comments by Joe
Rather high!?
RATHER high!?
They’re bloody extortionate… etc. etc.
That’s the thing with these oil companies though, they know we’ll pay it - they’ve got us over a barrel.
Bdum tish!
Rol’s last blog post..Take A Chance View all comments by Rol
Ed – Indeed. I’m always amazed that the price of Diet Coke isn’t higher on the political agenda.
Rattling the Kettle – I imagine there would be rioting in the streets if the US had to pay the same prices for fuel as we do. Not that I disagree with placing tax on fuel mind you.
Sam - £1.64? £1.64??! I’d move back to England immediately.
Tracy – Yes, I’m always baffled by people’s need to shout at people so far down the chain of command they have no hope of changing anything whatsoever.
Lise M– Everyone just needs to cave in and buy a British computer. Mind you, my English mac doesn’t have a # key which is very annoying.
Jason – Whereas me, I like to complain about people complaining.
Avitable – Something like that. They have started giving away free wheelbarrows at banks here when you get your £ changed into $ so you can cart all the notes away.
Miss Britt – Well they shouldn’t do it in my presence damnit.
Jeff – I’m glad this blog was able to shine some light on your otherwise grey existence.
Whit – Coke Zero tastes too much like regular coke to me. I need my delicious chemical aftertaste you see.
Gary – I feel your pain.
Arjan – We looked into going lpg once, but couldn’t afford to get the conversion done.
Joe - $0.99? That’s 50p! I shall emigrate forthwith.
Rol – Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear. View all comments by Dan
Time to go to Methane vehicles. I bet the price of beans would go up after a Methane Fueled Auto is manufactured.
Mike’s last blog post..Attack of the Clones View all comments by Mike
I’ve got £ AND $ on my Mac. Yeah! And I can’t drive. YEAH! That makees up for the sinusitis or however it’s spelt.
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