crankyI work in retail, and am not actually permitted to take holidays between Nov 25 and Jan 15. So after many phone calls I persuaded them into coming on 21st Nov instead. So I went through the long-winded proceedure that meant I could take the day off.
Then they sent me a letter to say they couldn't come on the 21st after all. So I had to reschedule my day off. My rescheduling also annoyed and inconvenienced my poor harassed under-staffed boss - but it had to be done as my central heating pretty much works as and when it feels like it - and with snow forecast on thursday I want reliable heating!
I was told the engineer would come by between 12 and 6pm. So I had to wait in for them. At 5:50pm they showed up.
They came in, and despite the fact that I was annoyed that I had waited in all afternoon for nothing (not their fault I know) I offered a cup of tea.
They accepted, and began setting up to look at the boiler.
Then they started packing up again equally fast.
???
They told me there were mouse droppings in the boiler - and then they couldn't back away fast enough.
So I explained that my cat likes to hunt, and although we are usually very careful about letting her in case she has caught something, my boyfriend had accidentally let her in with a live mouse about ten days earlier, and it had got away and hidden under the boiler and it had taken us a week to catch the bloody thing and get rid of it... so yeah, there were a few mouse droppings.
But the engineer started to leave anyway, and told me that when there was no evidence of mouse infestation they would come back and do the work on the boiler.
Infestation?!?!
I told them that there was no mouse, but they just drank their tea and walked out.
Great, so I wasted one of my precious days off just have to suffer with really screwed up central heating because they were freaked out by a tiny bit of mouse poo.
*stab*