Sideswipe
Outrageous complaints
1. A guest on a walking safari in Africa couldn’t cope with animal droppings, so guides had to clear the path ahead.
2. Patient complained he couldn’t sleep overnight as all the staff were having a party. Ward manager checked the time and found all staff were actually dealing with a cardiac arrest in the bed next to his.
3. At a restaurant I worked at some guy ordered a curry and managed to get an oily stain on his white shirt from eating poppadoms. He demanded we pay his dry-cleaning bill.
4. A parent complained they had seen me, a teacher, eating at a fast food chain. They said that as a healthy school and it set the wrong example. It was the summer holidays and they were in there too!
5. I used to work on a checkout, and once broke my arm. It was set in a cast so I had to do everything one-handed. A customer complained I was slow and lazy.
6. My in-laws sent a complaint letter to a restaurant because they ordered a fish finger sandwich and when it came it was fish fingers in between two slices of thick bread. Apparently, it didn’t say on the menu it was a bread sandwich, and they had a roll with their soup so there was far too much bread.
7. I work in a real estate agency and upset a client because I wouldn’t show them a house. It wasn’t for sale and it had never been listed with us. The client just walked past it and liked it.
8. I was checking reviews for a luxury hotel and a woman gave it one star because someone touched her leg on a snorkelling trip arranged by the hotel.
9. A letter writer in the local paper complained about noisy church bells on a Sunday morning. They wanted to start a campaign to ban the bells. They had just moved to a house opposite a 250-year-old church. (Via mumsnet.com)
Empty nest happiness
Most surveys of parental happiness have focused on those who have children at home and tend to show that people with kids are less happy than their child-free peers because they have less free time, sleep and money. But according to a new study in New Scientist, having kids makes you happier, but only when they move out, which suggests parents are happier than non-parents later in life, when their children move out and become sources of social enjoyment rather than stress.
Speedy thinking helps neighbourhood
A speedometer in Amsterdam raises money for the neighbourhood. Every driver that passes below the speed limit of 30km/h raises €3 ($5.18). Money raised is invested in community projects.