Once upon a time

Sit back my friends and I'll tell you a story.

Once upon a time there was a shop called Hardly Normal who often send out beautiful glossy brochures selling all manner of wares with a promise of high end customer service. There also lived a fair maiden named, hmmmm, shall we call her Princess Carol. Yes that's right, Princess Carol. The fair maiden princess was excited because the time had come for her to buy her DSLR.

She went along to the big Hardly Normal store in the city by the seaside. The princess was full of wonder as the big doors opened and swallowed her up inside. Brochure in hand she went to the counter because she knew the exact DSLR she wanted. Alas, the big bad wolf of a salesman said "I have just sold the last one, but we can order a new one for you and it will be in by next Friday. We'll call you". With that Princess Carol laid down a deposit and although a bit dejected she knew by the following Friday she would have her coveted DSLR.

She waited and waited for her call on Friday but it never came. When she finally rang to ask the big bad wolf at Hardly Normal growled that the shipment had not come in. Another Friday passed and despite a further two calls, the big bad wolf grudgingly rang her back a few days later. Same story.

Princess Carol had done her homework and asked if it would be possible for a stock transfer to be done from a sister store. The big bad wolf looked a bit surprised at that. Hmmmm, that might take actual work on his part. But he said it could be done. He'll call the fair maiden.

Yet another week had passed and Princess Carol had actually done more homework and was able to find a stock of 6 of the exact cameras at a nearby Hardly Normal Store, which incidentally she didn't know existed and had she, she would have driven an hour there in the first place. The big bad wolf tried to bluff her and said he couldn't find any available and we'd have to wait for the shipment. When the fair maiden told the wolf of her discoveries at the other store, the wolf said he'd try.

In the end Princess Carol got more and more dejected, the Hardly Normal kingdom had her deposit, the big bad wolf kept making up more stories and yet another month went by. The Princess at this stage had had enough. She rolled up her sleeves and went in for battle, demanded her deposit back, and told the big bad wolf in a not so quiet voice that she's never had such bad service in her life and would not step foot inside the store ever again. Oh and there may have been a parting shot along the lines of "there's no wonder Hardly Normal stores are shutting across the country if people are getting service like this" as she flung out the doors never to return, deposit in hand.

The princess was sad. Until this week, when she went shopping again and got exactly what she was wanting.

And the Princess will definitely live happily ever after.