5 Exciting Things

I think I'll tell you about 5 exciting things that happened to me today. I've recently started a new temporary (whilst I continue to apply for other stuff) job at Harrods in case you didn't know and so far I'm quite enjoying it. Here's some of the things that happened today ...

1 I encountered my first out-and-out fraud case
Clearly I can't write too much about this due to data protection laws and what-not but I'll see what I can say. Basically I encountered a definite fraud for the first time. I was phoning a customer to verify his order so that we could authorise his card (just nod and smile if this is techno-babble to you) and for the first time encountered a customer who knew nothing of the order that had been place. When I told them which card the purchase had been paid for on I was met with the response, "but he doesn't even have a mastercard!". Clearly not a very good fraudster then, more like a prankster. Whoever it was it seems they'd obtained a legitimate name and address but then completely made up a credit card number to go with them. As if that was going to be successful. Not very professional (if you could ever call fraud "professional").

2 The Santa's Grotto had to be closed cos it was too busy
Not sure how this decision was received. Not so well I'd imagine. How do you cope when there's too many people to see Santa and people are getting annoyed by the crowds? Yep, close the whole thing so that no-one can see Santa. Oh well, I trust the relevant Harrods people knew what they were doing. If I was an excitable 4-year old though, hearing that I wouldn't be able to see Santa after all would not go down too well with me.

3 I had my first experience of giving a customer directions
Yep. I don't get many opportunities to do this as I work in an office just off the shop floor, but this afternoon as I was walking through the store I was asked where the teddy bears were. I was only too happy to oblige ... once I'd grabbed myself a store plan from a nearby desk to find out where the bears actually were!

4 There was a protest outside the store
I went out for a walk on the streets of London during my tea-break (like I do, cos I'm cool ;) ) and was surprised to see a smattering of protesters around the outside of the store protesting against fur. They had placards saying things such as "Stop the fur cruelty. Boycott Harrods." and were handing out leaflets. It was a rather small-scale demonstration: the protesters can't have numbered more than about 20 or so people and despite their best efforts to spread out, make some noise and hand out leaflets they were somewhat lost amongst the hundreds of people walking by the outside of Harrods. As I was walking towards some of the protesters the guy in front of me turned around saying "I'm not going that way - I'm wearing fur" and took a different route as he sought to avoid the protesters. Some of the protesters were dressed up as foxes. Interesting.

5 I momentarily took on the role of tour guide
On the train on the way into London this morning I was asked by a stranger what the landmark in the distance was. Overcoming the temptation to reply with some flippant remark like "Big Ben of course" I restrained myself and muttered that it was the new Wembley stadium. As the train got somewhat nearer to the stadium the 'askee' said "oh yes it is the new Wembley". Clearly he didn't believe me 100% when I told him. We exchanged a couple of humorous remarks about how it'll be a great stadium if it's ever finished. Then we went back to behaving in the way that us Brits always behave on public transport: minding our own business and pretending that nobody else exists.

So there you are, 5 exciting things that happened to me. Feel free to re-brand them as something like "5 vaguely interesting things that I wasted my time reading" if you wish. :)