Those BLOODY trains!!!!!!!

Hmmmmm …

No, that’s the wrong way to start this post, I think.

I’m thinking that the right word is …

Well …

Nothing else for it …

AAAAAAAARRGGHH!

Those BLOODY trains!

I ASK you!!

You may — or may not — remember that I said I had an interview, this morning?

In Chelmsford?

For a company called Appliance Warehouse?

I was heading off to it, this morning! On what was a wet, rainy, bloody miserable day, I’ve got to go to an interview. Still, it was one that I was fairly hopeful about, even though the company’s office was quite some distance from Chelmsford station.

And guess what happened … ?

The train — the 9•12am, that would’ve given me plenty of time to get there — got delayed.

DELAYED!

•••••

I …

WAS …

FUMING!

And, in the frantic ring-roundª to try and get a contact number for Appliance Warehouse — which was futile, as I couldn’t get one that was accessible from a mobile — I missed another train.

Now, as you can imagine, I was — and still am — MIGHTILY hacked off!

In part at myself.

After all, I could’ve salvaged the day, by making damn sure I had the contact number to let Appliance Warehouse know I’d be late, but was on my way.

Which was exactly what I’d done, a couple of weeks ago, when I’d had the interview at the Chelmsford Co-Op.

But I’m also annoyed that the train was delayed in the first place.

And also very much annoyed that — on getting back to Brentwood Station — I was point blank refused a refund.

What I’d been planning to do was get home — after getting a refund for the ticket — re-arrange the interview, go back to Brentwood Station and then repurchase a ticket for the relevant day.

Not the best compromise, I know, but at least it would’ve shown my prospective employer that I was capable of improvising around a set-back.

The refund was refused.

Or, at least, I was told to refer that complaint to National Express’ Customer Services department*.

Near enough identical, to my way of thinking.

I can’t help but think that going that route would lead to a bureaucratic run-around, that would’ve seen the passing of weeks, before I got any sort of cash back.

THAT’S the thing that’s really annoyed me: the £6•30 I spent on the ticket is a lot of money to someone on Jobseekers Allowance.

It’s meant that I’ve had to come home, and phone the chap who’s supposed to have been interviewing me, this morning, to let him know that there’d been problem’s with the trains, and that I’d not be able to make it into another interview until this coming Monday, at the earliest.

That’s when my next benefit check comes in.

I don’t think he was especially impressedº, going by the tone of his voice, but he did, at least, promise to try and phone me back with an alternative date.

Which he hasn’t done.

Can’t say I blame him.

After all, given the rates of unemployment in the UK, today, companies have their choice of prospective employees: ones that can actually make it to an interview stand a better chance of getting the job in question.

•••••

So, right now?

Right now, I am still angry about this morning’s events.

Like I said, earlier, in part at myself, for not thinking of a simple thing like taking a phone number along with me: which tells me that’s something I have to make sure of, in future.

But, BOY am I annoyed at National Express!

•••••

* By a chap who’s name badge identified him as ‘Nacer’ — or possibly ‘Naser’ — , if the quick glance I had of it was correct.

º I know — in his shoes — that I’d not be. To be frank, at the moment, I’m thinking I’ve blown my chances of either getting the job, OR another shot at an interview with the company. Especially as the interviewer hasn’t phoned me back.

ª Actually, I owe a BIG ‘Thank You’ to Sue, Ruth, Simon, Elizabeth, Maggi, Lorna, Anna and especially Gwen, Stef and Adrian, for trying to help out, finding the contact number.