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€).
![[Post to Twitter]](http://allthatcomeswithit.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter.png){kind=icon}
Arjan (3)
Idaho Dad (3)
Jo Beaufoix (2)
Amanda Jane (1)
Erin (1)
Holmes (1)
James (SeattleDad) (1)
Kevin Spencer (1)
Oli (1)
Rattling the Kettle (1)
on Jan 14th, 2008 at 12:30 am
on Jan 14th, 2008 at 2:13 am
Rattling the Kettle’s last blog post..The Best Restaurant in All of Austin
on Jan 14th, 2008 at 2:21 am
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
on Jan 14th, 2008 at 3:42 am
Tracy’s last blog post..Our Tiny Little Foodie
on Jan 14th, 2008 at 4:08 am
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.
on Jan 14th, 2008 at 4:59 am
on Jan 14th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Avitable’s last blog post..Faith in humanity . . . lost
on Jan 14th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Miss Britt’s last blog post..I’ll give you $112 every 30 days with a smile
on Jan 14th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Jeff’s last blog post..Seeing right through Microsoft’s window
on Jan 14th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
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.
Whit’s last blog post..Prologue: Another Trip to Market
on Jan 14th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
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…
on Jan 14th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
But..can’t you get a bunch of diet coke’s in a supermarket or something for..say ultracheap?
Arjan’s last blog post..Meme
on Jan 15th, 2008 at 4:57 am
on Jan 15th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
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
on Jan 15th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
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.
on Jan 16th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Mike’s last blog post..Attack of the Clones
on Jan 17th, 2008 at 11:34 am
(un)relaxeddad’s last blog post..The Art of (Children?s) Parties, Part 2