Well said Snoopy, The kind of advice I dish out myself that is!
But why, oh why, do we the general public have to declare war on virtually every service we use because they take liberties and treat us as fools?
From banks to funeral directors, shops to insurance companies, government departments to florists, everyone seems to see us as prey.
Far from existing as services, competing to make our lives easier, they assume the universal profile of ignoring every rule in the book and rooking us for as much as we have, some will even push us into debt to steal our money, and no one does anything about it.
Oh sure, there are laws made to cover us and consumer associations abound from every corner of the country to fight our corners but who drags out the heavy artillery every time a company duffs you for 50p or forces you to rack up premium line complaints.
We all know them, the inept numpties or brain dead spottys that can't add up or perform a simple task and we think of them as too stupid to live. Think about it. Would they be employable assets it they were that dumb? Of course not! They would be booted out on their third complaint. Make no mistake, they are toeing the company line!
So It becomes obvious that the irritating, obnoxious, profoundly idiotic staff we have to deal with invariable reside at the end of a premium complaints or service termination line put there deliberately to give us the run-around until we can't afford to talk any more or collapse in exhaustion defeated. Nobody can win an argument with an idiot so that's why they are there.
If any of us denied the law, committed the frauds and extortions, thefts and deceptions, lies and bullshit on others as they do to us, we would be banged up as criminals and rightly so. Every time someone snaps and involves the professions who coldly tell them they are breaking the law, they simply say "Sorry, our staff didn't know about that law" and they get away with it time and again. Even the supermarkets do it with false labeling and flogging stuff past its sell-by. Consumer protection is now an industry in it's own right, and yet there is no need for it, the law covers just about all of it. The problem is that they just ignore it and hope we are too dumb to know about it or too timid to complain. Can you imagine the amount of undeclared income - say BT - would have if it routinely overcharged each of their customers 50p in every bill?
The present government has passed 26,500 or so laws in the last 10 years and it seems nobody can be bothered to abide by any of them, except the public who constantly seem to end up in trouble over plastic swords, or their tax disks in the wrong place in the windscreen or shouting abuse at idiots on the phone that offer double glazing at bedtime.
Are the laws only intended to apply to us? Are we regarded as so stupid that anybody feels it is a foregone conclusion that we will be robbed, the only question is by how much? Why are we obliged to be as learned as solicitors, exercise infinite patience and wisdom and be determined and courageous adventurers just to buy a pint of milk?
We have to be aggressive and knowledgeable and not a little shrewd and intuitive in all of our dealings with everyone day after day. BT makes a fortune from people listening to 'Greensleeves' and occupy themselves in writing complaints and threats on an everyday basis just to avoid being robbed.
It is little wonder everyone is so bloody grumpy.
