I happen to be an English-speaker who lives in Finland. So I don't necessarily understand everything that goes on around me. I can usually figure out when somebody's getting angry, though...
I happened to stop by one of the local corner-shops this afternoon, intending to pick up refreshments for a bike ride. There were a few people ahead of me, including some guy with a lottery ticket. So I stood there with my snacks and drinks and waited.
Lottery-Ticket Guy was in a rather heated discussion with the retailer, who in turn was on the phone in a slightly heated discussion with someone on the other end. I couldn't work out what was going on, but I did hear the word "tietokone" - meaning computer - a couple of times. Since he wasn't getting what he wanted, I had to assume that the lottery-ticket-issuing computer was offline. Which means that no lottery tickets can be issued. Which LTG seemed decidedly reluctant to accept. We've heard this story before...
So I continued to wait. But the retailer didn't serve me either, even though I was making a simple purchase. The retailer told me something in Finnish, still on her phone, which I completely failed to understand. So I suggested trying English...
...and it turned out that the whole register system was down. They couldn't, according to them, make *any* sales until it was sorted out, and suggested I try somewhere else.
No, not even if I paid cash.
So I put the snacks back on the shelf and the drinks back in the fridge, and left.
I happened to stop by one of the local corner-shops this afternoon, intending to pick up refreshments for a bike ride. There were a few people ahead of me, including some guy with a lottery ticket. So I stood there with my snacks and drinks and waited.
Lottery-Ticket Guy was in a rather heated discussion with the retailer, who in turn was on the phone in a slightly heated discussion with someone on the other end. I couldn't work out what was going on, but I did hear the word "tietokone" - meaning computer - a couple of times. Since he wasn't getting what he wanted, I had to assume that the lottery-ticket-issuing computer was offline. Which means that no lottery tickets can be issued. Which LTG seemed decidedly reluctant to accept. We've heard this story before...
So I continued to wait. But the retailer didn't serve me either, even though I was making a simple purchase. The retailer told me something in Finnish, still on her phone, which I completely failed to understand. So I suggested trying English...
...and it turned out that the whole register system was down. They couldn't, according to them, make *any* sales until it was sorted out, and suggested I try somewhere else.
No, not even if I paid cash.
So I put the snacks back on the shelf and the drinks back in the fridge, and left.
Comment