Sometimes I wonder if I should just let the phone ring out. But then I think, well the number of lovely people I get to chat with far outweighs the number of crazy people who call, and the crazy calls always lead to good stories to tell at parties. And on blogs.
Ring ring
I finish what I'm doing and pick up.
"Good afternoon, Big Red L, Amanda speaking..."
"Is that the driving school?"
I affirm.
"Well I've got a complaint."
In all honesty, we don't get a lot of complaints. And it upsets me when we do get them, so I tense up. Tony's not here either, so I'm going to have to fix this on my own. I steel myself.
"Ok, what's the problem?"
"Well my mate is having lessons with your company, and we're not 'appy."
I would have known that this man was not happy just from his tone of voice. He's not exactly shouting, but he's not going to win any prizes for congeniality either.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Why isn't he happy?"
"Well, 'is instructor cancelled 'is test, and he makes 'im 'ave two hour lessons, which he ain't happy paying for."
I express sympathy, and ask who his instructor is.
"Michael."
We don't have a Michael. I ask, could he mean Martin, although I couldn't imagine anyone having a problem with Martin, because he's a sweetheart.
"Jamie! Do you mean Martin?"
The answer comes back no. I'm given a street name.
"He picks 'im up from there, yeah?"
I've never heard of the place, but that doesn't mean anything. My knowledge of the street names in Folkestone alone is pretty shabby, and seeing as we cover all of Kent, it's no help.
"Whereabouts is that?"
The man is getting annoyed.
"Cheltenham!"
Now my geography is bad, I'll admit, but I'm fairly certain that Cheltenham is not, in fact, in Kent.
"Are you sure he's having lessons with us?"
The man sighs exasperatedly. Clearly he thinks he is speaking to an idiot, and he is losing his patience.
"Yes, of course I'm sure! Red Driving School, yeah?"
I disagree.
"No, we're The Big Red L Company."
"Yeah, Big Red Driving School."
I disagree again.
"No, The Big Red L Company. We're completely different."
"Well can I talk to them then?"
"You'll have to call them and ask that, I think."
There's a pause, and then
Click, burrrrrrrr
I think I'll have a coffee.
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2 comments:
Brains....Dynamite?
It's a year since Amanda left for Belgium and this is no longer considered an isolated incident. What I really like is that this same company spends millions on tv adverts to recruit instructors and the good people of the UK call us 1st and we get to recruit them for free.
They should not have nicked our name! But I'm not complaining
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