Re: Good Faith [long]
- From: sriddles@xxxxxxx
- Date: 1 May 2006 06:56:00 -0700
Yowie wrote:
It had been a crap day for both of us. At work at the monthly meeting this
morning, we've been told we're going to udnergo *massive* budget cuts. No
new staff, no new equipment, no upgrades to current equipment, all new
student sponsorship ended, all collaborations with outside organisations
ended, no travel (overseas *and* domestic) unless approved by the head
honcho himself, and consumables costs slashed to 25% of this year's budget.
"next its staff" says my boss. His boss - my manager - noticably doesn't
disagree.
After that, my boss nitpickingly reviewed my last month's work whilst
disagreeing with most of it. At home was no better, Cary assumed the lounge
was thirsty at least 3 times today, and didn't allow his Dad get *any* time
to himself by falling asleep on top of him and waking up any time Joel
moved. And, just to top it off, at 5pm, my boss said "we'll just get this
bit done" which would be OK except that it sbeen a crap day anyway, and
"this little bit" which, on a good day, would be 5 minute sof work, dragged
out to almost an hour.
Joel was near tears of frustration and exhaustion as i rang him to say I'd
finished, as Cary had been having a 'bad mood bear' day and had been 'a
handful'. I had a throbbing headache. Depsite being on a tight budget, I
thought some takeaway Thai from our favourite Thai restaurant would make the
remains of the evening easier to bear, besides which, neither of us were in
any mood to cook dinner.
I rang them, placed my order, and went to pick it up. But when I went to
pay, there wasn't enough money in my account. Now, I knew it was mistaken,
becaue the night before I had transferred $70 in there, and dinner was only
$44. Sheepishly, I handed over my usual credit card, not knowing - it being
the first of hte month - whether there'd be enough on there or not. Not
surprisingly, it came back 'not enough funds'. Not surprising, I thought,
given my day. I asked her to try my savings account again. Nope, apparantly
there sitll wasn't any funds in it. I explained how I had just put enough
money on there the night before. She kindly suggested that I go try a cash
point ATM, as sometimes the litle EFTPOS machines inthe shops don't get
through to the bank properly. She sympathised - it had happened ot her
before.
Off I toodled to the bank - and of course it had started to rain by that
time too. Apprantly my balance was exactly $0.00. This is of course
impossible, there's usually a random amount of less than $20 in there at any
time, because the lowest amount I can withdraw in cash is $20, and I know
damn well there was $70 plus a random amount of less than $20 in there the
night before.
I went back to the rstaurnat, looking sheepish. I withdrew the Credit Card
of Last Resort, cringing at the mere thought of using it for something so
grossly totally unlike an emergency, and knowing that I'll be paying 27.5%
interest on the purchase. But I didn't really have an other choice, as we
like this resaturant and did not wish to be blacklisted from the best Thai
restaurant within 50km. I handed it over, shuddering. Naturally, it was
rejected. I protested, saying it has at least $10,000 of credit on the thing
(I asked for a much lower credit limit on it, that was the lowest they'd
give me!). I was out of options. I didn't have $44 in cash, Joel didn't have
$44 in cash, and nor did I have anything on me that was even remotely *like*
$44 in cash that they'd accept. I felt like crying. I've never ever not been
able to pay for something I've ordered, and didnt' want to gyp the business
owners out of the value of hte meal - its not like they could sell it to the
next customer who came along.
All I could do was apologise profusely. I said I understood that i wasn't
going to get the food, but wanted to show them that it was a genuine
mistake, and something I deeply regretted. The lady said it was, OK, that it
happened to everyone. I couldn't help but blubber, though. She was nice
enough, but I felt aweful and embrassed and.... very annoyed at stupid bit
sof plastic too!
After leaving, sans dinner, I rang Joel on my mobile cell phone to ask him
once again if head any cash, and whether he could check via internet banking
if I had transferred the money to the correct account. No, he didn't have
the cash, and yes, the money had been transferred properly. He suggested I
try another type of ATM, so I did, suffering the $2.50 fee for using an ATM
that isn't in cooperation with my own bank, only to be told that I still had
$0.00 in there.
There was nothing I could do but drive home, empty handed, red-faced and
very confused and angry. It was jus the icing I needed on an already bitter
cake. The day could hardly get anyworse.
Just as I was crossing the level crossing, my mobile cell phone rang,
scaring the life out of me. I couldn't pull over straight away and by the
time I had got to a safe place to pul over , it had stopped. I saw that it
was Joel calling me, but as i tried to ring back, my phone conveniently
decided I'd run out of credit. Quite frankly, I'm surprised I didn't melt
the bonnet with the words that came out of my mouth, it wasn't so much
"potty mouth" as "giant sewage treatment plant mouth". Clearly, the Gods of
Chaos were still having fun wih this poor mortal.
I got home, and before I had even managed to turn the engine off, Joel came
out of hte house to tell me that I could go pick up dinner after all. Turns
out that the owner had heard the conversation I had had with the lady at the
counter, and recognised my voice as a 'regular'. Despite the fact I hadn't
given our home phone number with the order, she realised I was a regular
customer having a *very* bad day, and managed to find our home phone number
in the receipts from last month, and rang Joel whilst I was travelling home.
Joels siad that it was OK, that the owner knew who were were, and that we
could pay for what we owed next time we ordered.
Going back to pick our order up, the owner came out of the kitchen, and in
very broken English and lots of nodding said it ws OK, and even patted my
arm as I as expressing my gratitude and thanks in an understanding and
reassuring way. The lady at the counter asked for my name, address and phone
number, and the owner said 'no worry' and wrote them down for her from
memory instead of me having to give them again. I asked if I could leave
something as a 'marker', and I was 'no' again, "you regular, you OK" was all
the owner could say, but I have *never* been so grateful for the Good Faith
of people - strangers - who are willing to trust the Good Faith of myself.
If I thought it was appropriate to tell the world that her particular
restaurant was willing to extend credit to me, I would, but I realise thats
probably not something that ought to be advertised far and wide. But
goodness, I will be recommending them to everyone and remembering that
simple and kind gesture for a very very long time
I have no explanation for why the Credit Card of Last Resort didnt' work
(the company will get a peice of my mind tomorrow, when I have the patience
to navigate tehir phone menu system and then the patience to wait on hold
for an hour). The regular credit card was indeed over its limit, as I
thought it would be, as there is a chunk of direct debits that come out on
the last day of the month, and sometimes my fortnightly pay and the monthly
transactions don't quite line up. As for my regular savings account, well,
according to the internet, the transfer I'd made yesterday (a sunday) had
been debitted from my account, but hadn't yet been deposited into my other
account. It will be there tomorrow, of course, a day too bloody late. I
really hate that weird effect where I can take money out of an account 24/7
but have to wait for at least one full *business day cycle* for it to be
deposited. Stupid banks.
Tomorow, I'll go and pay my monetary debt of $44 to the restaurant. But I
really don't know how to repay their kindness, grace, understanding and
faith. We're figuring that perhaps a drawing by Cary with a simple
'thankyou' on it is about as personal, honest and down to earth as they'd
accept. But darn, don't I feel that we owe them somethng far far more
valuable than a 'mere' $44. I hope that I too can show the same good faith
to someone in a jam that they showed me.
Yowie
(apologies fo rthe typos - I just couldn't be *ssed trying to correct them
today)
(((Purrs)))))) I'm so sorry for your frustration. That was such a nice
(and rare) thing the restaurant owner did. It does restore your faith
in people a little, doesn't it.
Sherry
.
- References:
- [OT] Good Faith [long]
- From: Yowie
- [OT] Good Faith [long]
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