Sunday 30 March 2008

You just had to be there.

No sooner was I out of the country than Bertie turned around and resigned. Well there I was off the island, safe in the thought that nothing could surely happen while I was away. But no, just my luck to miss 5 days that shook the world...well maybe rattled Glasnevin.

My phone burned as texts announcing the resignation peeped in, as friends and workmates wrestled to be the first to tell me the news. Somehow I felt the main purpose of the texts was to remind me that once again I had missed the scoop of the year. Left the scene of the crime so to speak before the crime was even committed.

Doomed to spending the rest of my days in the complaints department after missing such an important story I finished my week in deep depression. I couldn't bear to follow RTE 1 online as they covered the resignation on every show. It's just not the same, as they say, you had to be there, you just had to be there.

Bad Friday.

Apologies, sincere apologies and humble apologies to all the unfortunate customers who arrived at our Applegreen Station in Urlingford on Good Friday between 15.00 and 16.00hrs to find no room at the inn, so to speak.

Due to a slight mix up of times with our friends and excellent customers from Sundays Well rugby club, who stopped off on their way to Belfast for Chicken and Pasta, four Bus Eireann buses and a fleet of family cars all arriving at the same time adding to the usual swell of Good Friday travellers, a situation arose which led to some customers getting less than perfect service and in some cases being turned away!

Due to the sheer volume of customers on that particular day, at that particular time this went unnoticed by the manager who was in fact helping in the kitchen at the time. When the swell subsided and the manager finally became aware of the situation it was too late to rectify what was undoubtedly a frustrating experience for the affected customers.

Please accept the managers sincere apology for any inconvenience caused on what is anyway a stressful and hectic day to travel. Apologies especially to families with kids or other groups we were not able to satisfactorily on this occasion.

While we only received one complaint, it's clear that many people were affected on this day and we would also like to thank the gentleman who shared his experience with us and made us aware of the problem. Your feedback is vital if we are to continue to provide the level of service our customers are entitled to.

Monday 10 March 2008

More frequent flyer smiles?

Oh my God..as they say at the mall, and I thought last week was wild. What a weekend!
Manchester United out of the cup, Fergie nearly choking on his tennis ball size chewing gum. (that man must have jaws like Jaws). Chelsea out of the cup, Wily Kayode scoring the winner. Cardiff beating Middlesborough, Tipp drawing with Galway, one man down and a hurricane blowing and to top it off we are heading into the St. Patricks Festival week.

If all that was not enough the office dog decides to run again in Shelbourne Park on Wednesday night. Yep, the Flyer is drawn in trap 6 so watch out for him as he heads for the rails. I believe trap 3 is the danger this time out, but we can never underestimate the Flyer, especially if he gets a few of those sensational Applegreen coffees into him on the way to the track.

Will the Applegreen punters be smiling again on Wednesday night? We can only say a prayer to Saint Jude for them (the patron of hopeless cases) and hope for the best.

Sunday 9 March 2008

Even the dogs in the street knew...

What a week! Hillary (Clinton that is..), the comeback queen in America's presidential race, turns the tables on the pollsters and experts by rising from what seemed a certain political nosedive. Kevin Keegan keeps the momentum going by losing another game with Newcastle, Bayern (Munich that is..), sign Jurgen Klinsmann as new coach for next season and Ian Paisley opts out of the Northern assembly.

Down here in the complaints department I stay informed, God knows I have plenty of time on my hands. For a while I had the office dog as company but since he turned professional he doesn't have much time for me.

He didn't even tell me he was running at Shelbourne Park last Wednesday night. Half the office put money on him and won. By the time I got to the bookies I was a day too late. I suppose there is a difference between watching the news and actually talking to people. Whats the point in knowing all about the state of the world if you don't even know when your own dog is running.

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