Government offices

Much of my spam is now in Mandarin, but here’s an interesting excerpt received from across the pond this morning:

In some Government offices the clerks, upon arrival in the morning, have to sign their names in an “attendance book”. This book provides space for signature, time of arrival, and “remarks.” Ten minutes after the hour and official draws a red line under the last arrival’s name, and all those coming subsequently are expected to furnish an explanation of their tardiness in the “remarks” column.When a real “London particular” occurs the number “below the line” is legion; the first of them writes: “Delayed by fog,” and the rest scribble a “ditto”.One morning — a foggy one — Mr. Jones became a proud father; but even this only caused him to be about eleven minutes late. Proudly he wrote in explanation: “Wife had twins,” which was followed in due course by the usual string of “ditto’s”. My mother and I were standing at he check-out in the supermarket as the cashier scanned the things we bought. When the price of a bottle of orange juice was scanned as $4,, my mother said “It’s only $3.95.”The cashier stopped wheat she was doing and disappeared down one of the aisles to check the price. she soon returned and said that the price was $3.95. When she handed my mother the change, a five cent coin rolled onto the floor. Much to my amusement, as the cashier bent over to search for it, my mother said “Oh, don’t bother, it’s only five cents.”

Trevor @ 1 April 2004 10:04 AM

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