Leaning heavily on her walking stick as she hobbled into a shopping centre on a wet and windy day, great-grandmother Peggy Harden was planning to step into the warmth of a store before taking off her rain hood.Oh, you just know what’s coming, don’t you?
But before she had the chance the 84-year-old was approached by a security guard who ordered her to stop concealing her face.Still, one rule for all, eh?
He told the arthritic pensioner that the centre had a 'no-hoods' policy for security reasons and the fur-lined hood on her waist-length brown jacket broke the rules.
Oh. Wait:
Mr Harden, a retired Debenhams department store manager who also uses a walking stick, said: 'There were lots of youngsters in there who were actually wearing hoodies but he came up to us.'Well, of course. He probably figured he could take you and your husband, if it came to it, and ih he disarmed you quickly enough.
Rumours that Phil Woolas immediately issued a statement supporting ‘our very brave men and women putting their life on the line to protect our shopping centres around the country’ could not be confirmed…
It seems the PR department is equally staffed by room-temperature IQs:
A spokeswoman for the Grand Arcade shopping centre yesterday apologised for upsetting Mr and Mrs Harden - before claiming the ban was down to 'health and safety' rather than security.Eh..?
Health and safety? Did they say that just because it's the boilerplate excuse every one of these pointless wankers reaches for when someone asks what the fuck were they thinking of when they dreamed up some of these petty rules? What the hell sort of H&S problem is keeping a hood up? Dangerously restricting your peripheral vision and risking turning round to be mildly surprised by someone you weren't aware of? Fucking hell!
ReplyDeleteI really don't think I can take much more!
ReplyDeleteFind that Security Guard, re-educate him but, if he does it again, sack him and his "trainer" and throw them both naked to the feral hoodies on his Manor.
ReplyDeleteThe H & S Executive is itself getting pissed off with this sort of nonsense which brings its usually valuable work into disrepute. All manner of quasi-public organisations hide behind H & S which is why it entered a team into the UK Conker Championship this year and last.
They do release press statements now and again but " Not really a problem " attracts little attention from the media.
When any JobsWorth uses that excuse, the response is, to plagiarise the Science Museum's Climate Change Compo, "Prove It".
ReplyDelete"Health and safety? Did they say that just because it's the boilerplate excuse every one of these pointless wankers reaches for when someone asks what the fuck were they thinking of when they dreamed up some of these petty rules?"
ReplyDeleteI expect so. With their fingers crossed, and muttering 'please please please don't ask 'why'?' under their breath...
"I really don't think I can take much more!"
I'm beginning to wonder just what it takes to rouse the people of the UK too...
"The H & S Executive is itself getting pissed off with this sort of nonsense which brings its usually valuable work into disrepute."
You can't blame them, can you? A pity they don't start taking out defamation lawsuits!
"When any JobsWorth uses that excuse, the response is, to plagiarise the Science Museum's Climate Change Compo, "Prove It"."
That's no doubt why Mr Safety (For Myself) picked on an elderly woman, whp would be far more compliant with 'authority' than a younger person.