Tuesday 23 August 2011

Revenge is a (Satellite) Dish Best Served Cold





Over the years I'm sure many of us have received rather irksome 'cold calling' telephone sales calls; we grit our teeth whilst trying to remain polite and end the call as quickly as possible; so this morning I found it rather amusing when my phone rang and this happened:

Sales Chap: "Hello, is that Mrs Ballet Bitch"
Ballet Bitch: "Yes, speaking"
SC: "Mrs Ballet Bitch, do you have a Sky or Satellite Dish for your Television?"
BB: "No"

What followed can only be described as stunned silence from the other end of the phone, followed by the chap repeating the question with a tone of total incredibility.

SC; "You DON"T have a Sky or Satellite Dish for your Television?"
BB: "No"
SC: "OK, bye......"click, brrrrrr.............

I know it's childish, but it a) made me laugh quite a lot and b) gave me a sense of enormous satisfaction; sometimes it's the simple things.......


BB xx



4 comments:

  1. Hi BB

    Not sure if this comment will ever see the light of day but I need to vent SOMEWHERE!

    I keep hearing comments in the popular press about how the Classical Arts, including Ballet, is on the decline... Well, I will be spending time in London starting next week and I just attempted to buy tickets online to a performance of the Royal Ballet - and all the worthwhile seats are SOLD OUT a week in advance - holy smoke!!!

    To quote a famous American author, Rumours regarding the Demise of Ballet is GREATLY exaggerated. GRRR!!!!!

    -- Jan in BC, Canada

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  2. Hi Jan,

    Were you hoping to see 'Beauty'? It must be said the the traditional full length ballets are still very popular; certainly at the ROH.

    It's always worth checking with the Box Office for returns on the day of the performance and, depending on your dance tastes, you may find this link helpful:

    http://www.londondance.com/content.asp?CategoryID=1436

    I hope you enjoy London,

    BB x

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  3. Good Morning BB

    Thank you for allowing me to sound off like that - it was late at night & I was getting more & more frustrated! Also, thank you VERY much for the link, next time I visit London (I'm planning to do a non-professional visit next year) I will definitely make use of it.

    What ended up happening was that I managed to get tickets to the BRB's performance of "La Fille Mal Gardee" at Sadler's Wells - which I enjoyed TREMENDOUSLY, the technical execution was superb, the Corps impressed me with their flawless co-ordination (I wonder if the BRB's ballet master is an ex-U.S. Marine Corps drill sergeant?) and the soloists (Carol-Ann Millar + Joseph Caley + James Barton) were fantastic. To give you an idea how impressed I were, take into account that my taste in Music and Ballet tends more towards the Dark Side, the Operatic Equivalent being that I'd 100% rather see a Wagner performance than a Gilbert & Sullivan... "La Fille" is sort of in the latter category for me, and I still I LOVED it!

    ("Sleeping Beauty" was already a 2nd choice, I was really hoping to see "Manon" but my schedule was such that I just missed the last performance - I thought, Well I HAVE to somehow see SOMETHING!)

    BTW, I was in London for almost 10 days & I forced myself to fit Work + Touristy stuff in as much as possible, I did visit the Royal Opera House to buy Music and DVDs - and there ran into a staff member whom I knew (!!!), who in turn put me into contact with an old schoolfriend who moved to England years ago and now is a big name in TV Production design.

    Small world, eh?

    Most Sincerely
    -- JN

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  4. Hi Jan,

    Sorry for the delay in publishing your post, it's all been a bit crazy of late, I'm glad you enjoyed London & Fille; it certainly is a quintessentially English Ashton ballet and very charming.

    As for the drill sergeant, you're not far wrong, I suspect most members of the armed forces would be quivering in their boots when faced with a Ballet Mistress/Master!

    Take care,

    BB xx

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