by Jo Meadows
‘No actually, he didn’t. What he told me to do was be careful around the likes of you. You older people seem to think that you have a god given right to verbally abuse younger people but, in the interests of good customer service, I should make sure I don’t offend you. Besides, it wasn’t me being rude. I think you know that, don’t you? You think because you’re in your seventies or whatever, you can say what you like. Well not to me you can’t.’
‘Be very careful or I’ll report you for what you just said. And by the way, I’m not in my seventies, you cheeky girl.’
‘Girl? I’m twenty nine, you silly old woman. Go away and leave me alone.’
‘How dare you? I don’t care what age you are, I will not be spoken to in that tone. I’ve a good mind to slap you and teach you some manners.’
‘Would you come with me please Madam?’
‘No I won’t go with you. Get on with your job and mind what I’ve said about the way you should treat your customers.’
‘I would like you to come with me; I’m going to report your threat to my manager.’
‘What threat? I didn’t threaten you; it was a figure of speech.’
‘Oops! Perhaps you should think more carefully about what you say then. I don’t call threatening to slap someone a figure of speech. You thought you’d get one over on me didn’t you? Thought you’d “tell me off” like a little school girl. You messed that up didn’t you?’
‘Oh don’t be so silly. I wasn’t trying to tell you off, as you say.’
‘Well, whatever you were trying to do, it’s backfired hasn’t it? I bet when you were planning to do whatever you were trying to do, you didn’t see this coming. Now, let’s go and see my manager; I’m quite upset. I feel a few tears coming on.’
‘What?’
The discussion with the manager was short and sweet. He reminded Georgina about what he’d said the other day and told her that the shop had a zero tolerance policy on threatening behaviour. He took her name, address and telephone number and told her that she was no longer welcome in the shop and would be asked to leave if she came in. If, after six months she wished to shop there again, she would need to apply formally in writing. As she’d made a threat of assault, as part of the complaint process, her details would be forwarded to the local police for their records. He then asked her to leave the shop and called a security guard to make sure she left the premises.
Georgina had been totally shocked. Once again she’d found herself outside the shop speechless, and this time, feeling as though she’d been assaulted herself. Inside, she was seething. She’d tried to protest and had become angry with the manager when he dismissed her side of the story out of hand. The assistant had put on the waterworks to great effect and all the focus had been on her as the aggrieved party; the manager had even called for another member of staff to comfort her. All the time, that awful girl had been smirking at her, out of the sight of the manager. The little bitch!
As she walked along the street, feeling angry, miserable and dejected, she called into a small corner shop for the two or three things she’d failed to get from the supermarket. She’d not been in the shop for a few years and was surprised to find it was run by Polish people. Oh well, she said to herself, I’m not walking all the way to the other side of town. This will have to do.
Picking up the items she needed, she went to the checkout. The young man behind the till spoke pretty good English but Georgina still had difficulty understanding him. ‘What are all those items over there?’ she asked.
‘Polish sausage and other things like meat and soup.’
‘Oh, do people actually buy them? They don’t look very nice.’
‘They’re very good,’ said the young man. ‘Good for you, it’s good food, you would like them.’
‘Oh, I don’t think so. I only eat good quality food.’
‘Nothing wrong with the quality. It’s very good.’
‘Well it might be alright for you but not for me, I have refined tastes.’
‘What do you mean? What are you saying? Our food is good.’
‘If you say so. I won’t be buying it. You foreigners should sell English food if you’re running a shop in our country. You should learn what we like and stock that. You’ll soon find that we English people have higher standards than what you’re used to and if you’re not careful, you’ll soon run out of customers selling Polish things.’
‘We’ve been here for three years now and we have a lot of English customers. They like our food and our shop. They are all nice polite people.’
‘Yes, I can just imagine who shops in here and what they buy. You mark my words; you’d be better off selling only English food for English customers.’
‘I think you are a rude person. If you don’t like our shop it would be better if you didn’t come in here. You are not polite.’
‘How dare you talk to me like that? I was only passing comment. I’m entitled to my opinion.’
‘You should keep your opinions to yourself. I don’t think you like people who are not English. The way you talk you are like a racist. I would like you to leave now and not come back.’
‘Don’t be so silly. What about my shopping, I haven’t paid for it yet?’
‘I will not serve you. Please leave now.’
‘I’m going but don’t think you’ve heard the last of this. You foreigners are all the same. You think you’ve got a right to talk to people how you like. This is our country and you should remember that.’
‘Please leave or I will call the police. We don’t want you in here.’
Georgina left the shop and walked home in a foul mood. What the hell is wrong with people these days, she thought. On the way she called at a garage and bought what she needed.
Feeling depressed and still very angry, she’d just sat down in her chair when the doorbell rang. ‘Who the hell can that be,’ she snapped out loud. ‘God, I’ve had enough today.’ She opened the door to find Peter stood there with a bottle of his wine.
‘Hi Georgie. I saw you coming up the road and thought you looked a little down. How about a pick-me-up?’
‘Hello Pete, you’re very kind but I’m a bit upset. I’ve had an awful day. I’m missing David and it’ll be a while before I get to go and see him again.’
‘A nice glass or two and a good chat will soon fix all that. I’m a good listener you know. Come on, what did you say the other day? You only live once. I know Dave pretty well, and I’m sure he’d rather you had someone to talk to than sitting here all on your own feeling down.’
‘Oh alright then, come in I’ll get some glasses.’
‘That’s the ticket.’
Chapter 23
David walked along the street feeling a mixture of happiness tinged with a little sadness. Georgina hadn’t phoned since she’d returned home. It had been several days and he’d still heard nothing. He wasn’t worried as such; he knew she was safely at home and would be managing fine by herself. He’d spoken to Lynnette about calling her but, after a long chat, he’d agreed that the onus was on Georgina to call him. He felt no remorse about what had been said and the ultimatums they’d given to her, after all, it had all come about because of her behaviour and the way she’d gone almost out of control.
Over the years he’d known that their life was far from normal. He’d always felt he had to watch what he said about everything. Sometimes Georgina would be fine and they could talk about anything but sometimes, she’d get upset and even angry about anything he said or did. She’d often called him stupid and useless and eventually he’d come to believe that, in some ways, he was. He knew he’d given up trying to fight his corner a long time ago, and he knew he was partly to blame for the situation he now found himself in. If only I’d been stronger, he thought. Anyway, what was that phrase? “We are where we are” and if this situation is to be fixed and we’re to find ourselves back together in some kind of happy state, then I’ve got to stay strong.
In many ways, he had
n’t felt so happy for as long as he could remember. Living with Lynnette and Leo and seeing Emily everyday was wonderful. Although it had only been a relatively short time, he felt his health was improving dramatically. He slept like the dead every night and woke looking forward to what each day would bring.
He smiled when his thoughts turned to what he was doing right now. Emily’s birthday was coming up and he was going to the shops on his own to buy her a present. Yes, he still needed his sticks, but he was walking far better these days and he felt strong enough and confident enough to make the trip on his own. He hadn’t quite decided what to buy but he’d had several chats with Emily and he had lots of ideas. Lynnette had told him not to go over the top and spend a fortune, but he didn’t care, Emily would get what she wanted, he’d make sure of that. He was really looking forward to her birthday. He’d also decided to get little presents for Lynnette and Leo to go some way to show a little appreciation for what they’d done for him. Yes, today was a good day.
At the cashpoint, David slipped in his card and withdrew the money he needed. Before he took the card back, he saw an option on the screen for a balance check. He never normally bothered about what was in the bank; Georgina had always seen to all that. Today, he thought, let’s have a look where we stand, it’s time I took a bit more responsibility for my finances and a few other things. Besides, I need to look at paying Lynnette a little towards my keep if I’m staying for a while. He hit the button and waited for the printout.
When it came and he looked at it, something didn’t seem right. He knew how much his pensions were and when they went into the bank and he also knew the approximate amount that Georgina normally took out to spend on the housekeeping each week. For some reason, taking into account the amount he’d just withdrawn himself, the amount on the slip seemed low. Although he wasn’t particularly worried and the amount wasn’t way out from what he’d expected, he decided to go into the bank and ask for a current statement.
‘There you are Sir, is there anything else I can do for you?’ asked the young lady behind the counter as she handed him the statement.
‘No, thank you, is there somewhere I can sit while I read through this?’
‘Of course. Please feel free to use any of the seats over there and take as long as you like.’ David thanked the young lady again and went over to the seats. As he read through the statement he noted there were far more transactions than he’d expected to see. He worked through them in sequence and knew immediately that most of them were routine. There were however, several transfers to an account in only Georgina’s name and, as all their finances had been pooled together since they were married, he found this to be very odd.
He approached the counter to ask the young lady if she could find out how long that account had been open, but then realised, that as the account was in Georgina’s name, she wouldn’t be able to tell him. He settled for asking for another statement from their joint account which went back further to give him an idea how long Georgina had been moving the money and what it added up to.
As he sat down to read this new statement he was amazed to see that Georgina had been moving varying amounts from their joint account to her own account for a very long time. When he added it all up he was shocked to see it came to thousands of pounds.
While he realised that he couldn’t do anything about it, he was embarrassed that he’d taken so little notice of their finances over the years. He’d totally trusted Georgina and had allowed her free-rein to do whatever she wanted. Why had she done it? What was she intending to do with the money? He had no doubt that if he asked her about it she would say she was saving it separately for some good reason or other and that it was going to be a surprise when she told him about whatever she was going to do with it; book a holiday or buy something for the house perhaps.
When he thought about what she’d done and tied it in with her behaviour over recent years, he came to the conclusion that she was taking the money as either a demonstration of her power over him or to make sure that when he was gone, she would have a tidy sum of money that was totally hers and that wouldn’t be subject to the normal rules of probate.
He thought back to the time when she’d accused him of stealing when he’d withdrawn money from the cashpoint without telling her. She’d even asked if he’d been doing anything else with money that she didn’t know about and, there she was, actually moving thousands of pounds into her own account for god knows what reason.
Although he couldn’t do anything about what she’d done up to now, he decided that he’d put a stop to it as soon as he could. After all, the only money going into their account on her behalf was her state pension; everything else was coming from his state pension and the pension he received from his years of working for one company. He wouldn’t deprive her of all the money; he would let her have enough to live comfortably until she came to her senses but he wouldn’t allow her to do whatever she wanted anymore. She’d soon come to realise she wasn’t going to have everything all her own way any longer.
‘Are you alright Sir? Is there anything I can help you with?’
David looked up at the young lady who’d appeared at his side. ‘Oh! No, I’m fine thank you. I was just going through this and checking it.’
‘Well if you need any help please let me know.’
‘I just got a bit lost in my thoughts. There is one thing actually. I’m only living here temporarily but if I need to open new accounts say, and move some of my money around; would I be able to that from this branch?’
‘Yes of course, another option is to set up online banking and then you could do everything from home. Do you have internet access where you’re staying?’
‘Yes, I’m staying with my daughter. She knows all about that I’m sure. I’ll have a chat with her and probably do it that way. Thanks again.’
‘You’re very welcome Sir. Please call in if you need any help with any of it, I’m sure we can get you all sorted out in no time. It really is very straightforward.’
‘Okay, I’ll do that, bye for now.’
‘Goodbye Sir, and thanks for coming in.’
David left the bank with a spring in his step. As he’d thought earlier, he didn’t want to deprive Georgina of all the money but if he reduced the amount she had access to without going over the top, she would get a shock and start to realise she didn’t have total control over him anymore. He could just imagine her face; she’d be fuming. That made him smile but then he had a little pang of guilt. He loved Georgina still, despite what had gone on, and in some ways these thoughts felt a little like he was after revenge. No! I’m not after revenge, he thought. I want my life back and I want to be happy with her. If she’ll come around great, and if she won’t then that isn’t to be. Be strong! You know it’s the best way.
‘I was starting to wonder where you’d got to Dad, I was beginning to worry. Is everything okay?’
‘Yes, thanks Lynnette. I got all my shopping so I just need to wrap Emily’s present ready for her birthday and I’m all done.’
‘What took you so long? You seemed to be out quite a while. Are you sure you’re alright?’
‘Yes, I’m fine. I had a great time out by myself. The reason I was so long is because I went into the bank to get a statement after seeing the balance in my account at the cashpoint.’
‘Is there a problem?’
‘Not a problem as such but there is something I’d like you to help me with if that’s alright.’
David told Lynnette about the account in Georgina’s name and how much money she’d been moving around without him knowing. He then told her what he wanted to do and she agreed to help him.
‘I really think this is the best thing you could do Dad. It’s funny but I’m proud of you for what you’re looking to do. I’ve known for a long time that everything wasn’t alright with you two but I’ve felt helpless and unable to do anything for you. Living here, so far away, I suppose it’s been a bit of “Out of sight, Out of mind”
and when we’ve come home after visiting you, I’ve felt a little ashamed that I haven’t stood up to Mum more. Not that it would have made any difference I suppose. We’d have just ended up arguing and achieving nothing. It’s a real shame it’s come this far but we’re doing the right thing now I’m sure.’
Lynnette asked him if he had all the contact information she knew she would need to set up online banking for him. Her Dad fetched all the documentation from his room. Georgina had brought everything she could think of with them, just in case, and when she left in a big hurry, she hadn’t taken any of it with her.
‘This is great Dad. With what you’ve got here I can set you up for online banking and open the new account you need. We can also arrange to transfer the payments from your pensions into the new account and set up the regular transfers of money back into your joint account so you can make sure Mum’s got enough to be going on with.’
‘Won’t the pension people have a problem with any of it?’
‘No, that’ll all be fine. We’ll make sure they have this address for any mail correspondence; you know confirmation letters and statements, that kind of thing. That’s the wonder of the internet, you can do almost anything online these days in no time, and it’s all safe and secure. What we’re doing is nothing unusual, as the girl at the bank said to you, it’s all very straightforward.
A little while later, they’d finished. David was all set up for online banking and had a new account in his name only. Lynnette had also arranged to have both his state and company pensions paid into it. She’d also arranged for a regular monthly payment to be made into her Mum and Dad’s joint account to make sure that her Mum had enough funds to cover everything she needed; utilities, council tax and shopping and she also allowed for a little extra, at her Dad’s insistence, so that her Mum wouldn’t have to struggle to make ends meet.
