HAVE just returned home, feeling both satisfied and upset. I basically just got back from sun-soaking trip, saved about 70 pounds, but the annoying thing is, I spent a lot of time reporting injustice and there was a corporate effort to cover up the injustice instead of tackling this injustice.

Let me explain.

Today at the till I was served by the same lady whom I reported before, after she had stolen one pound from me (in change) THREE TIMES IN A ROW…

Not kidding.

I’ve been trying to avoid her since then and when reporting her I said the goal wasn’t to get her sacked but to stop the stealing (it’s impossible to get such basic maths wrong “by accident” three times in a row).

Today I could not avoid her. She just sat in place of a colleague when I was in a queue (taking a colleague’s seat)… and did it to me ONCE AGAIN the same short-changing (one pound; same as always) along with the same excuse, so again I had to wait there for a boss to “correct” the mistake, then stood there at Customer Service to report the person (who already did this to me and is still there… and still up to the same old things). My assumption is that she can short-change (one pound) about 10 people per shift and then pocket a tenner without the register detecting an anomaly. Maybe she tips herself (bonus) that way… but at whose expense and at what cost to the reputation of the business, the time/patience/composure of the customers and so on?

But wait, it gets worse.

At first Customer Service turned down my request to report this worker or their stealing, in effect covering up for her. They decided to say all the managers were “at the/a meeting” (which I doubted, it’s just a classic excuse and that shop has about 10 managers on duty). I persisted, persevered, and only after (several other) further arguments they magically found a manager who could come out and pick the report. He seemed a little junior for a manager, but let’s not be too judgemental of appearances. They then made an excuse for why a manager becomes available when the issue becomes more of a nuisance or a risk. Why lie to the customer? Never lie to the customers. Whether the customer is “always right” or not, do not lie.

This is really awful and I said that if they have staff stealing from the shop, that’s one thing, but don’t steal from the customers. Pay them better perhaps; one man next to me at the till had a good joke about how “they need to make money”. He didn’t doubt this was intentional; it kept happening. It will probably keep happening unless I can avoid this cashier every time in the future. But what about other people? They might think it’s an accident or not even notice.

Businesses being apathetic to staff that steals is a very big problem. I’ve already spent about an hour (all combined) dealing with and reporting this issue. They don’t compensate me for the time and trouble; heck, it doesn’t seem like they even do anything with my reports, so what’s the point reporting it to them? Maybe even an external entity would treat this issue as too “low-value” to merit proper investigations. This means people can get away with a lot of cheating (or petty thieving) as long as it’s not “big enough”.

In hindsight, it was always hard to get a hold of a boss to report these issues too. It was slow, cumbersome, almost impossible – maybe by design. Maybe Customer Service people even get trained in stonewalling people.

The world is becoming a cruel place, not just to staff but also to customers.

‘ve taken a look at yesterday’s new numbers from ONS and it looks like deaths are still about 10% more than they should be.

Does the Labour Party plan to investigate the cause/s for this sharp rise in deaths?

Deterioration of services has reached truly unacceptable levels

‘m done. Really, done!

It’s not about unreasonable pricing or quality of facilities or… (they too are issues, but…)

After what happened in April [1, 2] and what has just happened again (today) I see no reason to ever book a train here again. Ever. Unless my life depends on it or something….

It’s over.

At 4AM we get an E-mail from Trainline: “your train journey has been canceled.”

NO explanation, no reason given, 2 hours’ notice!

Second time out of 3.

That’s 66.6% cancel rate.

Imagine having 2 out of 3 journeys that you book canceled at short notice (the first time it happened minutes earlier; there was no notice until we had physically arrived at the station).

Is it possible to get a refund? Yes. It’s not even a full refund (that’s Trainline’s fault). So we lost money, even after the refund. They keep the booking fees, ticket collection fees etc. What’s more, they ruin our plans , they frustrated relatives waiting for us to visit, they’ve wasted a lot of time, e.g. having to do lots of clicking and stuff to only receive a partial refund (outrageous, as they canceled it for no stated reason, breaking their side of the contract and promise).

So we dressed up and prepared in vain. The train got canceled. Why? They don’t even tell us.

British Rail has gone off the rails, at least based on the high failure (to meet schedule) rate.

This industry (yes, it has been privatised) may deserve the same boycott some airlines and airports deserve.

If the service is so bad, why pay them?

Stop paying them, this way they’ll get the message, reform may be imposed (e.g. nationalising the system; it used to be like that before it became all about greed).

I’m done with rail travel. Any further time wasted trying to play roulette (booking in the hope it’ll actually materialise) is risk of disappointed or, as happened last time, hours on phone, E-mail etc. And arguing with about 6 different people before a refund gets issued.

It’s not like I’m some Luddite or Amish or grumpy old man. If it was still reliable like before (never mind affordable, too), then fine. But the trust is lost. We’re breaking up. It’s not me, it’s you. I have no time or desire to deal with this nonsense anymore.