Little pick me ups
Sue Richardson, 52, from Ongar, found an unwanted stowaway in her weekly shopping…
Placing the delivery crates in the kitchen, my daughter Beckie and I dived right in. ‘Jammie Dodgers!’ I smiled, grabbing the pack of biscuits.
‘Perfect with a cup of tea,’ Beckie, 20, laughed.
Unpacking our Tesco delivery was a weekly event, and we were always excited when it arrived.
We weren’t the type to go to the supermarket, preferring our groceries to be brought right to our door.
I worked as a dinner lady, my husband Paul, 52, was a roofer, Beckie volunteered at a pet shop, and my other daughter Emma, 24, worked as a cashier.
None of us had the time to do the shopping!
But the kitchen was always chaos on delivery day. Our two dogs, Bear and Trouble, have to be held back from diving into the new food.
We also have four guinea pigs, a parakeet, a cockatiel, two rabbits and two terrapins, all of which were safely stowed away while we unpacked.
As I carried the last crate inside, Beckie stood outside, minding the four empty ones. Just then… ‘Mum!’ she shrieked. Racing to the back door, I found Beckie hyperventilating. ‘What’s happened?’ I cried. Beckie pointed to one of the empty crates. ‘Urggh! A rat!’ I cried. Sat in one of the crates was a big brown grubby rodent!
Nervously, I grabbed another crate and stacked it on top.
‘I don’t remember ordering that!’ I laughed. Poor Beckie was in pieces. She was terrified of rats. As she
calmed herself down by breathing into a paper bag, we wondered what to do with the furry stowaway.
‘He better not have been in with the Jammie Dodgers!’ I moaned.
Then I called my local Tesco branch.
‘You’ve delivered a rat!’ I cried down the phone.
An hour later, a delivery man pulled up with more food, flowers, and a refund.
He removed the rat crate and phoned us the next day to say that pest control had dealt with it.
I felt a little sorry for the poor thing – he’d only wanted a biscuit!
Nonetheless, we never ordered from Tesco again!