In 2022, I had a landscaper who said that waste removal would be carried out within a week of the job being completed.

A month went by, and no collection occurred. The landscaper seemed to be nigh untraceable bar a mobile number, an account on a trader finder website, and a flyer. Having had no response to polite messages, I left a message saying that neighbours were grumbling and considering reporting it to the council as fly-tipping. (“Fly-tipping” is when sizable amounts of waste are left in unauthorised places. And there’s a possible £400 fine where I live.)

I then pointed out that if the council got involved with the issue, guess whose details would be handed over?

Guess who responded within thirty minutes, blaming [the global health crisis] followed by forgetfulness?

The waste was in the back service lane and therefore on public ground. My only concern was that the council may say that it was still my responsibility. In the UK, the onus is on the original owner of the waste, so even if you pay someone and they dump it in the wild, you’re still liable.

I called the council to double-check the liability. Yes, it was fly-tipping, and yes, it was my problem. I then left a message for the landscaper informing him that I would be changing the positive review I had left, reporting him to Trading Standards, and following through on any other actions necessary if the waste wasn’t removed that day.

I was going to be out around £200 to get rid of the crap; there was too much of it to dispose of gradually.

However, later that day, the waste disappeared, and the landscaper reimbursed me for it! The usual stories were trotted out, but I think having his glowing review removed may have made something hit home.

Related:
Tipped To Be An A**hole, Part 4
Tipped To Be An A**hole, Part 3
Tipped To Be An A**hole, Part 2
Tipped To Be An A**hole

A few years ago, my mother-in-law and I were returning home from somewhere. The road we were on had a left lane merging into the right, so we had the right of way. All of a sudden, this car merged into our lane and all but forced us off the road.

Here’s the kicker: it was a car driven by [Popular Insurance Company]’s agent.

My mother-in-law was driving, so I snapped a picture of the driver’s license plate, and she sent it to customer service.

It was our word against the agent’s. We didn’t have a dashcam, so we couldn’t record it. Were we wrong?

I worked as a nurse in Germany until 2017. People see nurses as “a**-wipers” or waiters, using the emergency button for every little thing.

I remember a young, fit girl who came in for a routine check-up; she was physically okay. She used the emergency button because her napkin fell down, etc. Her friends came by and tried to give me a huge order of the coffee that they wanted.

Of course, you can’t just ignore the emergency calls; you always have to go check. It took sooo much time away from the real work.

Related:
Why Nurses Should Rule The World, Part 22
Why Nurses Should Rule The World, Part 21
Why Nurses Should Rule The World, Part 20
Why Nurses Should Rule The World, Part 19
Why Nurses Should Rule The World, Part 18

Sometime in the first year or so of insanity (the global health crisis), I went to get some kind of test done at the hospital. Of course, because of social distancing, there were only so many chairs in the waiting room, and the rest had papers on them. I took a seat.

A lady came in after me. She looked around, saw that there were no available chairs… and decided to sit on the table next to my chair!

Fortunately, she was called to register quickly, but I couldn’t believe it.

I am in the UK, where we have universal healthcare under the NHS (National Health Service). Honestly, it’s pretty brilliant, and it should never go away. Sadly, because it’s free healthcare, it does have a tendency to create some entitlement with some patients — a very small minority, mind you, but they do stand out.

My department does dialysis. This can be a long and boring procedure for everyone, but it is a life-saving one, and it’s not something you can schedule at your convenience like a spa or salon appointment.

Sadly, I get so many patients who do this! They seem to think they can just not turn up, and after we call them — not them calling us! — they say something like, “Oh, yeah, I couldn’t make it today. I’ll swing by tomorrow, thanks!”

No apologies, and no reasonable excuse, and with the complete expectation that we would be able to accommodate them whenever they felt like coming in — because they know that we have to accommodate them or they pretty much die.

I’m not saying I would ever turn a patient away — I wouldn’t dream of it, and it’s not what the NHS is about — but I do wish we could start fining patients or something when they decide not to show up to a procedure that we have put aside time and resources for. The moment it starts hurting their wallet, even just a little bit, you know most them of them will suddenly be “available”.