there was an article in the paper by some bloke complaining about being ripped off by a vending machine. He paid his money, pressed buttons and nothing arrived. He rang the complaints number and by post was refunded 40 pence, plus he was given a voucher for £1 redeemable only through the purchase of more chocolate. In reality he received diddly squat. Tight bastards. But that's capitalism for you, we shouldn't be surprised.
The same thing happened to me on the Tube years ago but thinking it would be a waste of time I didn't phone complaints and as it turns out how right I was. In fact I remember the rip off staying with me as I fumed and fulminated. Being Mr Snappy a whole day tired me out but could I sleep? I could not, BECAUSE THE FUCKING BASTARD COMPANY STOLE MY MONEY. In retrospect I'm glad I didn't phone the number because a pissing £1 voucher would have set me off again. Grrr.
Is that it though? Is there nothing we can do? Are we destined to lose the choccy wars forever? Fortunately not. There's revolution in the air. Jesus, since 1989 there's been more revolution than in the previous 70 years. Although the tulip, daffodil etc revolutions have been extremely important, not least in demonstrating what happens when millions take to the streets, the resulting governments nevertheless remain firmly capitalist. The majority therefore also remain firmly ripped off, robbed, diminished. That however, is not the end of it. The anger does not go away and next time the demands will be for more and maybe, to paraphrase Pete Townsend "we won't get fooled again" Be wonderful if the big one kicked off over a choccy machine. A fanciful idea? The 1905 revolution in Russia kicked of when printers struck over payment for italics. If a tiny italic can start a rev then lets not be too sniffy about chocolate.
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