(no subject)

With my Statto pay still not having showed up, and my aunt's funeral tomorrow, I wasn't best equipped for some stuffy fellow informing me that he wasn't going to do the last wave of the survey as he was too busy at work, evenings and Saturdays are "his time" so he wouldn't do it then, and he felt he'd done enough already. The pompous prick put the phone down on me before I was able to explain things. Headset hurling followed before I went up to get the call sheet printed to write my report. Paula asked what was up, but all she did was tell me it wasn't personal - I've been told that a thousand times and it doesn't help any - and not to get stressed. Bit late for that.

Thankfully, when I checked my bank account just now the Statto money was there.

(no subject)

I would, given half a chance, cheerfully wring the neck of someone at the Alliance & Leicester. Over the past week or so they've sent me nearly everything I need for my new account.

Nearly everything.

The one little detail that appears to have got lost in the post, or just forgotten, is my 8 digit customer ID. Which is pretty crucial to the whole operation. So I phoned their customer service line for people without 8-digit customer IDs to find the 5-digit phone PIN they gave me wasn't working. I tried their main customer service line, but you can't get past the automated intro and actually speak to a person without your 8-digit customer ID. Catch-22. So I was forced to try the other line again, enter my PIN and fail again, and speak to a girl from their security team. She promptly told me my PIN wasn't working because I'd 'blocked' it. I'd done no such thing, so I asked her how I did that, and she said I'd blocked it by using it on that line instead of the main service line. I explained about my lack of 8-digit customer ID, and she said she'd have to issue me a new customer ID and a new PIN and that I should have them in about a week.

What a lot.

(no subject)

We had a pre-funeral gathering at Aunt Jean's this evening to welcome the family members who've come from afar. The tone of the evening was generally cheerful, as we were all genuinely glad to see each other again and swap news. It was the first time I'd met my mother's cousin Ray; he kept us all entertained with little anecdotes about how when they were young, my mother and her cousin Pat used to fight over him (the ladies declined to confirm this), tales of his drink related exploits and waxing lyrical about his home town Saltburn. I had a nice long talk with Pat, whom I was meeting for the first time since the autumn of 2005, then joined my cousin Sam. Several of us were discussing films, and I mentioned that I'd have liked to see Slumdog Millionaire but had no funds for going to the cinema so would have to wait for the DVD. Sam hadn't quite made out the reason for my lack of cinema attendance so I explained that I have a massive credit card bill to pay and have just been reduced to a single part time salary - "I've had to give up going to footy, let alone the cinema." She straight away said she had the thing for me, and handed me a 'refer a friend' flyer for LoveFilm. She said that I'd be able to cancel after my 30 day free trial was up so I wouldn't have to pay a penny, but that if I do take out a £13.49 a month subscription and tap in her e-mail address as my referrer she'll get 30 free days on her sub. Might have to consider that (the free trial, not the paying subscription - sorry, Sam) when Slumdog Millionaire and Milk are out on DVD.