Day 18

Had a bad day. A really bad day. It started last night, or this week even, I have been convinced that that book I have been reading, well, I thought the presentation was due in today. So I was stressing last night until quite late at night reading and making notes, and even this morning, so I got on the tube and by some miracle the alarm sounded, so I felt I had a legitimate reason right there, so I took my time and was half an hour late, I mean, big deal when all you need to do is get there on time to present your book, right? Wrong. I was late, not for my presentation but rather to some of the other people in my class, I made my excuse, not that it convinced or justified anything to anyone, but it got it off my chest. So I sat RIGHT IN FRONT of the teacher, which is actually not that much of a big deal, but still, when you're late, it's probably not the best space. So the I sat there listening to the other people making their presentation and then I asked the teacher "Can I please still present on the second hour of the lesson?" his response: "I thought you were supposed to present next week...?" me: "Oh right!...hmm", to which he said "However, one of the girls that was due to present this week is not here, so if you want to present yours now that's f..." me: "No no no no, I'm ok, if you think about it, I'll have more time to go over my stuff, *nervous laugh* yeah yeah, don't worry, woah *nervous smile* and here I was all worried in the tube and this morning" him: *you-are-a-slob smile* me: *please-kill-me-now smile*.

*sigh*

So then I headed over to the Department Manager to ask about my Erasmus application. She says that the Foreign Students department is what takes care of that sort of thing so she has emailed them (CCed to be more precise). So I had an hour to kill. I went to the bank.

I got a letter yesterday saying that my bank was going to charge me 8£ for a payment which was returned due to the necessary funds not being in my account. Trouble is, it's not a payment, it's a standing order that I set up every month to go into my own savings account, which is ALSO with them. So I went in and basically said, look guys, I didn't know I didn't have enough funds, this is my own account, it seems silly that you're charging me for something like this when there is no loss for you, there is no admin charges or other banks implicated, it's simply a matter of not having the funds at the time in that account! Plus, this is the first time this has ever happened, can you please refund me those charges?

After he noted down my details, he disappeared into someone's office, I presume that was his manager, he came back, shook his head again and said "well, it is really impossible for us to refund you the money..." and it sounded like he was going to say "but... I can do this or that". No Sir, nothing. He just stood there and told me that, "explaining", quite tautologically, that I was charged because there weren't enough funds, when I asked him what costs or admin fees the cost was supposed to cover he says "because there weren't enough funds", obviously. So the charge is for when you don't have enough funds, and because you didn't have enough funds, you were charged. Well done, Aristotle. Douchebag.

So that made the rest of my day shit. I came home, found two packages, opened the first one to find WHITE earphones, when I specifically ordered black - *sends angry email at the most useless shop I have had the misery to deal with: Zunethings.co.uk*. I also went to Holland and Barretts (I think that's the name) and bought a big pack of vitamin supplements and a book from the Book Warehouse for 2£ entitled "The Evil Empire - 101 ways that England ruined the World". It has been my therapy so far.

*breathes in, and out*

I am going to read this in a couple of months time and think "Gosh, was I really that petty". I guess at the moment any little thing is turned into a huge big deal, at least I am aware how insignificant these things are in the great big picture: a) I've wasted far more than 8£ on useless crap in the past. b) It's an honest mistake to swap the colour when you're not a big name trader like Amazon or something, I should cut them some slack I suppose. c) I should have known when my own presentation was :/