Tuesday, 4 March 2008

A Bad Decision 10.07.07

There are some days when it is very hard to face the day with a smile and today was just such a day. It was about 7.14am and we were embarking on another morning in the mad house, and with less than half an hour before Sam and I needed to leave the house the stress levels were already sky high. The phone rang and as soon as I heard Robbie's voice I knew he was going to tell me that Virgin had lost the Cross Country franchise. He was gutted and I was gutted for him. You could not find anybody who loves their job more than Robbie does and he takes a real pride in the service the company provides. To him it feels so unfair, and even now having had all day to make sense of it, I feel as if there will to be another announcement to say it was all a big mistake, but of course it's not going to happen.

I'm just an ordinary person, what do I know about trains - not a lot (but probably more than the DFT). However I am a woman and a wife so I know when the wool is being pulled over my eyes and I know a lie when I come across it. I also know that value and service is about far more than price. Another thing about being a wife, I can read between the lines, in fact looking at today's press release, I think my dog could read between the lines! To borrow a phrase from Jim Royal - customer service my ****!! Those chinless wonders at the DFT will have plenty of time to observe the consequences of their decision, but of course by then they will be meddling with something else that works to see if they can come up with another 'success' on the scale of Worst Late Western! If I could get my hands on those lame brains I would explain economics so simply that even they would understand. If you buy something from the pound shop you should expect to end up with tat!

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