"Fred Drake" wrote in message
...
A Wigan pensioner has been banned from every B&Q store in Britain
after complaining about being overcharged.

Ronald Helsby was given a refund after being charged £45 too much for
wood but was overcharged by £1.50 the next time.

The 67-year-old ex-builder said: "All I did was to ask the boy on the
till if his knickers were tight because he was going on and on like my
old lady."

--
Fred

With insulting behaviour like that, he deserved to be banned.
Regards Mike.



---
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Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
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In article ,
"Mike Cawood, HND BIT" wrote:
With insulting behaviour like that, he deserved to be banned.

Someone tries to steal from you and you're supposed to be polite to them?

--
*Marriage changes passion - suddenly you're in bed with a relative*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 09:09:26 -0000, "Mike Cawood, HND BIT"
wrote:

"Fred Drake" wrote in message
.. .
A Wigan pensioner has been banned from every B&Q store in Britain
after complaining about being overcharged.

Ronald Helsby was given a refund after being charged £45 too much for
wood but was overcharged by £1.50 the next time.

The 67-year-old ex-builder said: "All I did was to ask the boy on the
till if his knickers were tight because he was going on and on like my
old lady."

--
Fred

With insulting behaviour like that, he deserved to be banned.
Regards Mike.

No, he did not. He was wrong for being rude, sure, but he could
apologise and let that be an end to it. For B&Q to ban him from EVERY
store is so over the top it beggars belief. This is political
correctness/jobsworthyism gone completely round the twist. In any
case, can't we pass any fairly innocuous remark nowadays without
someone calling in the Gestapo? The remark he made sounds merely
sarcastic. Hardly what I'd call being rude the way true yobs can be
with their effing and blinding.

MM

"MM" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 09:09:26 -0000, "Mike Cawood, HND BIT"
wrote:

"Fred Drake" wrote in message
.. .
A Wigan pensioner has been banned from every B&Q store in Britain
after complaining about being overcharged.

Ronald Helsby was given a refund after being charged £45 too much for
wood but was overcharged by £1.50 the next time.

The 67-year-old ex-builder said: "All I did was to ask the boy on the
till if his knickers were tight because he was going on and on like my
old lady."

--
Fred

With insulting behaviour like that, he deserved to be banned.
Regards Mike.

No, he did not. He was wrong for being rude, sure, but he could
apologise and let that be an end to it. For B&Q to ban him from EVERY
store is so over the top it beggars belief.

How can you say that, do you know any more about this case than what has
been posted here or published in the media, if you don't how do you know
what was said by whom and why ?

This is political
correctness/jobsworthyism gone completely round the twist. In any
case, can't we pass any fairly innocuous remark nowadays without
someone calling in the Gestapo? The remark he made sounds merely
sarcastic. Hardly what I'd call being rude the way true yobs can be
with their effing and blinding.


There is being sarcastic or even rude about a company or store and there is
being 'personally' insulting to someone (who can't do anything about the
matter even if he wanted to) is another IMO.

On 11 Nov 2004 04:03:16 -0800, (Kevin) wrote:

A Wigan pensioner has been banned from every B&Q store in Britain
after complaining about being overcharged.

Ronald Helsby was given a refund after being charged £45 too much for
wood but was overcharged by £1.50 the next time.

The 67-year-old ex-builder said: "All I did was to ask the boy on the
till if his knickers were tight because he was going on and on like my
old lady."
So it wasn't because of the over charging, but the insulting
behaviour.

Its hardly a big loss to be banned from B&Q.

I wonder if they have sent his photograph to all the other stores?

--
Hiram Hackenbacker

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 10:25:46 -0000, ":::Jerry::::"
wrote:


"MM" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 09:09:26 -0000, "Mike Cawood, HND BIT"
wrote:

"Fred Drake" wrote in message
.. .
A Wigan pensioner has been banned from every B&Q store in Britain
after complaining about being overcharged.

Ronald Helsby was given a refund after being charged £45 too much for
wood but was overcharged by £1.50 the next time.

The 67-year-old ex-builder said: "All I did was to ask the boy on the
till if his knickers were tight because he was going on and on like my
old lady."

--
Fred

With insulting behaviour like that, he deserved to be banned.
Regards Mike.

No, he did not. He was wrong for being rude, sure, but he could
apologise and let that be an end to it. For B&Q to ban him from EVERY
store is so over the top it beggars belief.

How can you say that, do you know any more about this case than what has
been posted here or published in the media, if you don't how do you know
what was said by whom and why ?

This is political
correctness/jobsworthyism gone completely round the twist. In any
case, can't we pass any fairly innocuous remark nowadays without
someone calling in the Gestapo? The remark he made sounds merely
sarcastic. Hardly what I'd call being rude the way true yobs can be
with their effing and blinding.


There is being sarcastic or even rude about a company or store and there is
being 'personally' insulting to someone (who can't do anything about the
matter even if he wanted to) is another IMO.

I give up! It's pointless.

MM

On 11 Nov 2004 04:03:16 -0800, (Kevin) wrote:

Dewi wrote in message . ..
On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 03:48:30 +0000, Fred Drake
uttered:

A Wigan pensioner has been banned from every B&Q store in Britain
after complaining about being overcharged.

Ronald Helsby was given a refund after being charged £45 too much for
wood but was overcharged by £1.50 the next time.

The 67-year-old ex-builder said: "All I did was to ask the boy on the
till if his knickers were tight because he was going on and on like my
old lady."
So it wasn't because of the over charging, but the insulting
behaviour.

Its hardly a big loss to be banned from B&Q.

Maybe. But it's the principle of the thing. Such Draconian treatment
is the equivalent of B&Q applying its own form of ASBO across the
entire country. I just think it's excessive, that's all. Now, if the
Old Gentleman had gone there with a machine gun and taken out all the
staff, then they might well have a case...

MM

Mike Cawood, HND BIT wrote:

"Fred Drake" wrote in message
...

A Wigan pensioner has been banned from every B&Q store in Britain
after complaining about being overcharged.

Ronald Helsby was given a refund after being charged £45 too much for
wood but was overcharged by £1.50 the next time.

The 67-year-old ex-builder said: "All I did was to ask the boy on the
till if his knickers were tight because he was going on and on like my
old lady."

--
Fred


With insulting behaviour like that, he deserved to be banned.
Regards Mike.

If I were his wife, I'd ban him too.
--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
"Mike Cawood, HND BIT" wrote:

With insulting behaviour like that, he deserved to be banned.


Someone tries to steal from you and you're supposed to be polite to them?

You get a much better class of apology if you manage to be seriously
insulting without resorting to calling the oiks at the cash till silly
names. A nicely (in the old fashioned sense) worded letter to the
company directors usually prods the minions into action.

--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

In article ,
Kate Dicey wrote:
Someone tries to steal from you and you're supposed to be polite to
them?

You get a much better class of apology if you manage to be seriously
insulting without resorting to calling the oiks at the cash till silly
names. A nicely (in the old fashioned sense) worded letter to the
company directors usually prods the minions into action.

If you read my earlier post about complaining to a garage, their parent
company and the car maker, I'm not so sure. It will depend on how much
they value their reputation. Garages seem to believe they have every right
to rip off their customers.

Never had a problem with B&Q.

Bought a flat pack filing cabinet from Homebase (in the Sainsbury days)
and then decided I wanted a second matching one. But it was now
discontinued. Found a display one which I bought but found missing some
bits that would be hard to replace. The branch offered a refund, but no
help in getting the missing parts. Wrote to head office and got a complete
hardware pack for one by return and free of charge. That was excellent
service as I'd paid well under the list price for the ex display one which
was otherwise fine.

--
*How many roads must a man travel down before he admits he is lost?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Mike Cawood, HND BIT" wrote:
With insulting behaviour like that, he deserved to be banned.

Someone tries to steal from you and you're supposed to be polite to them?

- alternatively -

Someone makes a genuine error and you're supposed to be polite to them?

"Yes" IMHO

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Mike Cawood, HND BIT"
saying something like:

The 67-year-old ex-builder said: "All I did was to ask the boy on the
till if his knickers were tight because he was going on and on like my
old lady."

--
Fred

With insulting behaviour like that, he deserved to be banned.

Any more old women coming out, then?

In article ,
Lobster wrote:
With insulting behaviour like that, he deserved to be banned.

Someone tries to steal from you and you're supposed to be polite to
them?

- alternatively -

Someone makes a genuine error and you're supposed to be polite to them?

I read it as two lots of overcharging one after another. Genuine error
might be stretching it somewhat. But then we don't have the full story.

--
*Sometimes I wake up grumpy; Other times I let him sleep.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"MM" wrote
| The 67-year-old ex-builder said: "All I did was to ask the
| boy on the till if his knickers were tight because he was
| going on and on like my old lady."
| With insulting behaviour like that, he deserved to be banned.
| Regards Mike.
| No, he did not. He was wrong for being rude, sure, but he could
| apologise and let that be an end to it. For B&Q to ban him from
| EVERY store is so over the top it beggars belief. This is political
| correctness/jobsworthyism gone completely round the twist.

Looking at it from an employer's perspective, many employers now have
policies of zero tolerance of "abuse" of their staff. They have a Health And
Safety obligation to protect their employees from Stress and if they did
otherwise would probably find themselves on the wrong end of a sick pay and
compensation claim from the employee, especially if there was a repeat
incident from this member of the public.

Owain

snip

Far be it for me to throw the first stone. My spelling may slip
occasionally but not near as much as my 2 fingered typing. (S'funny, the
left hand is quicker than teh right.

Did you deliberately let your left leap to the e key before the right hit the h key?

On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 01:13:43 +0000, Steve Firth
wrote:

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I've not really had much experience of either. Most of my cars were not
bought from a dealer - and I usually do pretty well all the work on them
myself. But this time decided to treat myself to something rather
better.
I can only guess that most cars that go to main dealers for servicing
are
business owned, and no one cares whether the work paid for is actually
needed or done.

I stil recommend Swain & Jones in Farnham. They are good at servicing
and sales. Second to none on both counts in fact. When my Daimler front
seatbelt seized they repaired it FoC, gave me breakfast while I waited
for it to be done and when I offered to pay said "Heavens no sir, it's
safety related and we wouldn't dream of taking money from you."

That and the ever-present flowers for my wife and full valet with every
service set them apart from any other garage in the area. Way better
than the ****s who sold/service my wife's Mercedes.

Those touches, while nice, represent the reason why the dealer punetrf
more for their jbex. Fuel pump went out on our Ford van while we were
miles from home, and, not knowing good local mechanics, turned to the
dealer in Topeka. It "only" cost us 800 USZU to drop the tank and install
an arj one. Said repair should have, at a corner garage, only cost a bit
under six hundred. However, the corner garage would take three days to
get to it, and not cover the cost of a rental car. When the dealer
discovered the only fuel pump they had in stock didn't jbex, they hired us
a van at their cost, as they couldn't have gotten another pump in that
same day.
Better service, but it comes at a cost.
Over here, they've got a saying: "Good. Cheap. Fast. Pick any two."
Generally dealers get their service ohfvarff by offering numbers one and
three. Had we not gotten stranded a hundred miles from home, we'd have
chosen 1 and 2.


--
Lane Gray
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Gen
2:25
remove the .lead from my address

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Mike Cawood, HND BIT" wrote:
With insulting behaviour like that, he deserved to be banned.

Someone tries to steal from you and you're supposed to be polite to them?


So your theory is two wrongs make a right?

d

In article ,
distant wrote:
With insulting behaviour like that, he deserved to be banned.

Someone tries to steal from you and you're supposed to be polite to
them?

So your theory is two wrongs make a right?

No. A natural gut reaction to what might well have been a deliberate act.

Or perhaps you're perfect?

Perhaps I'm one in a million, but I could count on the fingers of one hand
the number of times I've been undercharged or given too much change.
The other? No idea, it's been so often.

--
*Money isn't everything, but it sure keeps the kids in touch *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 22:59:14 GMT, veritas wrote:

When I went to school, "it's" (possessive) had an apostrophe

so it stays

its = possessive (don't ask me why in this particular exception to the rule)

It's no different to his, hers, theirs, yours. None have an apostrophe in
them.

it's = it is

Indeed:-)

--
Mike T

On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 21:55:13 +0000, raden wrote:

In message , Rob S
writes
On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 20:20:46 GMT, raden wrote:

-BTW good is now obsolete, please substitute "wicked" in it's place

it's is now also obsolete (in that sentence). Please substitue with its.

When I went to school, "it's" (possessive) had an apostrophe

so it stays

[random crossposting neutered]

Good for you!

The day I come back here and everything is being written thus:

I h8 splnpls u ned y pls txt me 4 advc

or

J00 G4Y 5Y5T3M 5UXX0R5, MY 1334 C0MB1 5KI11Z 0WN5 J00 455!!!!

is the day I shoot myself.

Timbo

In message , MikeT
writes
On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 22:59:14 GMT, veritas wrote:

When I went to school, "it's" (possessive) had an apostrophe

so it stays

its = possessive (don't ask me why in this particular exception to the rule)

It's no different to his, hers, theirs, yours. None have an apostrophe in
them.

it's = it is

Indeed:-)

Hmm yes

I'm talking total ********'s's's's's's here aren't I
--
geoff

In message , Tim S
writes

The day I come back here and everything is being written thus:

I h8 splnpls u ned y pls txt me 4 advc

or

J00 G4Y 5Y5T3M 5UXX0R5, MY 1334 C0MB1 5KI11Z 0WN5 J00 455!!!!

is the day I shoot myself.

A few have tried ... they haven't lasted long

(writing, not shooting, that is)

--
geoff

Also sprach MikeT :-

It's no different to his, hers, theirs, yours. None have an apostrophe in
them.

Bloody punctuating rays!

--
Skipweasel.
In the beginning was the word.
And the word was Aardvark.

In article , "MikeT"
says...
On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 22:59:14 GMT, veritas wrote:

When I went to school, "it's" (possessive) had an apostrophe

so it stays

its = possessive (don't ask me why in this particular exception to the rule)

It's no different to his, hers, theirs, yours. None have an apostrophe in
them.

That should be "none has an apostrophe in it", none being a contraction
of "not one" - you wouldn't say "one of them are ..."

In message , Rob Morley
writes
In article , "MikeT"
says...
On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 22:59:14 GMT, veritas wrote:

When I went to school, "it's" (possessive) had an apostrophe

so it stays

its = possessive (don't ask me why in this particular exception to
the rule)

It's no different to his, hers, theirs, yours. None have an apostrophe in
them.


....different from, not to, please.

Differences diverge, similarities converge

Different from, similar to
--
Peter Thomas

"Rob Morley" wrote in message
t...
In article , "MikeT"
says...
On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 22:59:14 GMT, veritas wrote:

When I went to school, "it's" (possessive) had an apostrophe

so it stays

its = possessive (don't ask me why in this particular exception to the
rule)

It's no different to his, hers, theirs, yours. None have an apostrophe
in
them.

That should be "none has an apostrophe in it", none being a contraction
of "not one" - you wouldn't say "one of them are ..."


Are we going to move on to the frequent (mis)use of an rather than a by much
of the media - typically such as an hotel?

Subject: B&Q Bans overcharged customer
From: Guy King
Date: 25/11/2004 14:56 GMT Standard Time
Message-id:

Also sprach "Dave Mayall" :-

Sue the school then.

Is she related to Dai the Bread?

--
Skipweasel.

Didn't Dai the Bread live in a downstairs flat? And wan't his upstairs
neighbour, the Rev. Evans, known to all as Evans Above?

In article ,
says...

"Rob Morley" wrote in message
t...
In article , "MikeT"
says...
On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 22:59:14 GMT, veritas wrote:

When I went to school, "it's" (possessive) had an apostrophe

so it stays

its = possessive (don't ask me why in this particular exception to the
rule)

It's no different to his, hers, theirs, yours. None have an apostrophe
in
them.

That should be "none has an apostrophe in it", none being a contraction
of "not one" - you wouldn't say "one of them are ..."


Are we going to move on to the frequent (mis)use of an rather than a by much
of the media - typically such as an hotel?



Or one I have heard frequently on television...."all the corners of the
globe". This was a standard schoolboy joke in my day

And people who are 'looking' to do things, looking to buy etc. Ugly,
ugly lazy expression
--
Paul Mc Cann

Paul Mc Cann wrote:

Or one I have heard frequently on television...."all the corners of the
globe". This was a standard schoolboy joke in my day

I unferget hearing on the GI "and here they come, from all corners of
the globe, from Korea, from China, from Japan ..."

On Fri, 26 Nov 2004 05:52:17 UTC, Paul Mc Cann wrote:

And people who are 'looking' to do things, looking to buy etc. Ugly,
ugly lazy expression

Not to mention 'meeting with' others...
--
Bob Eager
begin a new life...dump Windows!

The message
from coj contains these words:
Paul Mc Cann wrote:

Or one I have heard frequently on television...."all the corners of the
globe". This was a standard schoolboy joke in my day

I unferget hearing on the GI "and here they come, from all corners of
the globe, from Korea, from China, from Japan ..."

+# Me in my small corner,
And you in yours.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/