| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 03/07/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 51 |
| Copyright: Other |
Mandy makes a bad call when she creates a real buzz by diverting her phone
A friend’s patience is tested when she starts receiving onetoo many telephone calls from some strange sounding men
Time to phone a friendThis week, Nigel, Jules and I had a very pleasant time at the Kuoni launch evening at the Carrington House Hotel, Bournemouth. Our colleague Kate was sadly unable to join us – being the daughter of a farmer, and a dutiful one at that, she had a hot date with the silage.
We were a little late, arriving to find the workshop in full swing with agents moving from stand to stand gathering information and frantically filling in their quiz sheets. A variety of prizes were on offer and were clearly having the desired incentivising effect. Also having the desired effect was the splendid meal that followed.
After our meal, we were invited to join in a game of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? To qualify, each table had to nominate a captain who, aided and abetted by table companions, held up a card in answer to the questions posed. Through this process of elimination, the candidate to face Kuoni’s version of Chris Tarrant, Andrew Lunn, was chosen.
Our table proved pretty hopeless. To succeed at this quiz, one really needed to know the minute details of the life and backgrounds of the Kuoni staff. We failed to pick out that Lyn in agency sales had previously been a nurse and that Heather Wyngate had more GCEs than her Kuoni colleagues. We never got past the starting post.
However, Richard of Javelin Travel, Christine of Crest Travel and Veronica of Farewise Travel won super prizes to Mauritius, Goa and Barbados without even having to phone a friend.
Our table saved face when Annette from Bath Travel in Poole won a goodie bag and her colleague Lisa won a week’s all-inclusive holiday. Yours trulydidn’t do too badly either, winning accommodation at any Rex resort.
It was a fun, informative evening and I am full of admiration for the representatives of the companies and tourist boards participating. Their enthusiasm seems never to wane and that’s the sign of professionals at work. Liz Warner and the Kuoni team have been touring the country with this particular event and I know they have faced up to all sorts of challenges. On the northeastern leg for example, their van broke down between Newcastle and Glasgow and they were eventually towed by an AA relay lorry. Their efforts are appreciated by us all.
Mad Mandy strikes again
For those of you who have been telephoning Mandy Nickerson of Bales Holidays on her mobile only to have it answered by Tricia Warwick of British Holidays, you can stop worrying – you’re not losing your marbles, you’ve just found yourself caught up in one of those magic Mandy mindwarps.
A technophobe through and through, Mandy inadvertently diverted her calls to long-suffering friend Tricia. This has been most revealing to Tricia who has by now received calls from a broad spectrum of people from near and far. When she started receiving calls from gentlemen asking for Miss Mandy she was startled and explained that she wasn’t Miss Mandy herself but she knows a woman who is. She was relieved to discover they were foreign dignitaries and nothing remotely sinister.
You may remember that Mandy began a fitness campaign this year and her quest to improve her fitness in time for the next London Marathoncontinues.
Her friends, however, worry she’s taking it all a bit far. She recently subjected herself to a detox programme, eating only fruit and veg and forgoing everything but water to drink. At the end of this austere regime, she and a friend celebrated with a glass or two of the hard stuff and it clearly went to her head.
Her senses somewhat dulled, she left her briefcase at her friend’s house. The friend kindly left the briefcase at the local newsagent’s in Barnes for Mandy to collect. Imagine how thrilled Mandy was to walk through the shop door to hear a man she had never met before announce “Ah, you must be mad Mandy.” You see, reputations go on before-
Kate nets a cheeky one
I’ve been on a course or two in my time and have yet to be advised as to how best to deal with rudeness. Kate found herself struggling with one client this week.
The client called in and asked for some Thomson baggage labels.
“Did you not receive some with your tickets?” asked a concerned Kate. “I’ll get your file.”
“Oh, I didn’t book it with you,” replied the client. “I booked it on the Net!”
Meanwhile, I was myself suffering at the hands of my clients’ spoilt brat.
The parents were pleasant enough and as they sat in front of me we began a civilised discussion of their family holiday requirements. It wasn’t long before a juvenile voice added its opinion to the debate.
“I must have a beach,” it growled. I looked up to a pair of hostile eyes embedded in a 12-year-old face. I smiled and nodded. The parents considered several options with which I’d presented them, a beach being neither here nor there in their grand scheme.
The little beast prowled around sighing and scowling at the time it was taking its parents to make up their mind. He was soon dispatched to buy sweets. He returned with these and steadily crunched and munched his way through them. The fix of sugar having revivified him, more ill-mannered interjections and outbursts followed. He was sent to look at the contents of a local sports shop but soon returned having failed to find it.
This was a matter of considerable regret to me as I was having trouble repressing the violence I felt towards him. His parents’ complicity in his bad behaviour was also beginning to grate and I prayed they would book Lefkas before I hurled their son through our window.
When they finally left, I didn’t know whether to feel sorry for the parents for actually having to go on holiday with such a horror or to feel they are getting their just desserts – as ye sow, so shall ye reap!