Practice doesn’t make perfect in the world of the post office

IT is my belief that there are two kinds of people on this earth. Those who eat to live and those who live to eat. Spain’s elitist El Cellar de Can Roca Restaurant in Girona achieves the ‘Tickle the Taste Buds’ Best Restaurant award at Restaurant magazine’s annual shindig in London. 

Two other Spanish restaurants made it into the top 10. Take a bow and a biscuit as you pass the cookie jar.

Restaurants are welcome members of our service community. I do not want to even think about Costa communities without their restaurants. It would be nice to have a more imaginative and eclectic choice. 

I recall a family booking into a British holiday camp. Meeting a family unit departing the resort the husband was asked his opinion of the food arrangements. 

Such was the expression on the man‘s face, his reply that it was crap was totally unnecessary.

“Why didn‘t you go self-catering,” he was asked. 

“I did,” he replied.

Restaurants are like sayings; there are the good, the bad and the ridiculous. Many silly sayings do not hold up to scrutiny. Which one is to be believed? ‘Look before you leap’ or ‘He who hesitates is lost.’

The adage that I have lost all faith in is, ‘practice makes perfect.’ As we go about our day-to-day business, we see clear evidence that the opposite is true. Restaurants do not always produce food better than our own amateurish attempts. 

If practice makes perfect how is it that the worst drivers on the roads tend to be cab drivers? I used to be one, so don’t shoot the messenger. 

When visiting a post office I am reminded of the inanity of the fatuous ‘practice makes perfect’ saying.

Post office staff has done the same job day in and day out all of their working lives. So, why is it that whenever I am in a post office my first thought is the zoo’s reptile house? There is just the occasional lifting of an eyelid. 

Imagine if post office staff were serving at a busy Glasgow or Dublin bar. The language from the customers would be choice. Can you picture yourself tearing off a ticket to then patiently wait in a queue for 20 minutes or more to order your round? ‘First class or second class?’

Supermarket customers are no better. The woman in front of you waits patiently for her turn. You shuffle forward and her order is added up. At this point, the checkout tells her how much she owes. This is hallelujah time. “I pay? “

With a sigh, the life-long customer searches in her bag for the elusive purse. Finding it, she delves through cash and cards before deciding which to use. Needless to say, the expression on my face is priceless. The only thing that is.