Howzat?
The collapse of Farepakand the Christmas Club is a shining example of what not to do when people give you money…use it for something else than it was originally intended. It’ll go wrong at some point, especially if you haven’t a clue what you’re doing as the trained, or should that be untrained chimps, at Farepak have shown and rightly deserve the good kicking all of their loyal customers want to give them. Although I suspect as often happens in situations like this the guilty will escape with maybe a bit of light bruising or possibly a scuffed knee.
I’m not a Farepak customer but I have met Sir Clive Thompson who chairs the parent company European Home Retail, when was the Chief Executive of Rentokil. Sir Clive probably doesn’t remember but every summer the exec board would challenge the staff to a game of cricket, Rentokil staff had a very amateur team who played other local clubs and as I was spending the research piece of my MSc there I blagged my way into the side. Because of my girth, a relatively safe pair of hands and no fear of throwing myself at the ball I was voted Wicket Keeper…you can probably guess the rest. Second or third delivery Sir Clive clipped a thick edge straight to yours truly. I don’t even think he got off the mark…
I left later that summer research project complete and the mystery of mould on CAA treated timber was still that…a mystery, but you know what? Sir Clive never came and waved me off.
Harsh perhaps, but when I saw these people whining about Farepak pissing their Crimbo savings up against a proverbial wall, I had but one thought… why didn’t you put the money in a building society? They won’t send you a 3rd-rate hamper or a box of crackers, but you can take the money out and buy those things… or Kerplunk, perhaps fags and lager. Not a difficult concept.
Are you free for a few matches in Australia this month? We’ve got a few lads going over to have a knock with the Aussies and it would be very helpful to have a safe pair of hands!