Feeling Discriminated against?

I rarely manage to eat out, my stomach is rarely hungry and when it is I tend to just want something light so when a few nights ago my tummy was actually rumbling I decided to treat myself to some good old Fish and Chips at a Harry Ramsdens.

It was fairly busy when I got there however there was a full section they had closed off, 3 large tables for 6 people 2 booths for 4 people, 1 table for 3 and several tables for 2 that I could see (there was a section I could not see from where I stood).

The waitress took me to the middle of the room and pointed at a table that had people passing on both sides,  now to the average person this may sound insane but to me the tables were not suitable at all!

Let me explain, you see I struggle with people passing too close to me because of my claustrophobia, when they do get too close I end up pulling away and god help me if people pass on both sides.  It's not a nice experience for me  and removes the enjoyment of the meal when I am so focused on the people passing.

Then there is my dizziness that can also strike worse when there is too much movement on both sides or the fear that someone might catch me as they pass.  My Fibro in my arms and legs is so bad it hurts a lot and people banging into me really does hurt.

As a result I like to sit at a table that is open enough that I don't need to worry about my claustrophobia but something like a booth, where I can scoot in a little and bingo no worry about people passing and hitting me or getting to close, even when they pass they are at a sensible distance.  No anxiety!  I can eat!

I stood in the middle of the restaurant and politely asked if there was a different table, perhaps I could have a booth?  Or one of the doubles against the wall.  She told me no I had to take that table of the one behind it.

I was feeling a little uncomfortable at that point, I don't like to point out my illnesses, it's not a card I want to hold up and say hey treat me differently but when I have to I do end up explaining politely why I am asking but I find it very embarrassing.

The girl stood there still and said you can't take any of those tables because someone might come in that needs them.  At this point I started to feel discriminated against for two reasons!  1 because I was a solo diner and 2 because she was not helping accommodate my illnesses.

Now I can understand them needing booths during peak times, however there was 3 tables of 6 that they could bump a family of 4 onto, a section they had closed they could spill into if a coach party suddenly materialised.  Surely a customer solo or a family should be entitled to sit somewhere that they are comfortable with?  Anyone's money is as good as someone else's at the end of the day!

A lot of people were now staring at me at this point, I said to the lady I am sorry but neither of these are suitable, can I not take that double over there?  This was my biggest issue here, there was a double further back that was on the side and against the wall, I would have been alright there.  She told me no it was either of those or non at all.

Standing there feeling mortified, people staring and having opened up about my illnesses and odd requirements that I feel so ashamed of I simply shook my head and said then I will have to go and eat elsewhere, you are being so unreasonable, I do not see why I can not take one of the doubles down there!

This is where the corker came, she informed me they had a take away next door!  I could eat and walk!  Gee thanks, I just told you I need to sit, yes that's a suitable option my brain yelled! In reality I  politely informed her that was not a suitable option for me!

Suddenly she relented and offered me a triple table behind a barrier that was next to the kitchens - yes instead of a lovely view of the sea front I got to look at the kitchens, however I took the table because I could at least eat.

I sat down and felt thoroughly discriminated against, why am I not a valuable customer?  Why should I have to degrade myself begging and explaining everything just to get a suitable table?

Should it be legal to enforce single people into the least desirable tables purely because they are spending a single bill?  I mean at the end of the day, I ate a main meal, 2 drinks and a desert.  This came to the same price almost as if 2 customers and a child had a main course.  So the idea that it's monetary does not always add up!

I actually got a really sweet waitress who came over and had a quiet word with me about what was wrong with my seating, she had seen how long I was stood with the girl placing me.  I told her what had happened and she sent the manager over.  While he stood and said sorry I did not feel anything was addressed.

Have you ever felt discriminated against anywhere because of something?  How do you address it?  How does it make you feel?

I was so embarrassed, I felt like I had to lay myself bare to just be allowed to sit down.  Safe to say I will never be eating in there again no matter how nice the food was!

Covet Me - Were we all scammed?

So what is happening with Covet.me?  It's a question so many of us are asking and sadly there does not appear to be any good answers to our questions.  

If you were lucky enough to have not been caught out by the company you many not know what I am talking about, a few months ago a new site called Covet.Me came bounding through the blogging world promising gift vouchers for our favourite brands in return for sharing our favourite fashion items through their site on various social media sites.  

Many of us spent hour upon hour carefully choosing items to share with our followers on both our blogs and social media, we then chose tags that we knew would get the items shared and proceeded to add them to the various social media sites.  

It was very exciting, while the work took time it was enjoyable and I did see a lot of nice items that I could buy for gifts, but the most exciting was the prospect of the vouchers in return for our efforts.  It took me a while to get to cash out but I was so excited when I did.  I chose the one I wanted and I have to admit I even chose what I was wanting to spend it on.

The site promised they would only be a few weeks although there was a delay.  I waited and waited, weeks past and nothing!

I politely emailed, left messages on Facebook and tweeted their help pages, to start with I was told there were delays but I would get my voucher, they promised so I continued.  

A few ore weeks and I was told they had introduced security checks, this was causing more delays but I could understand that some people had been abusing the systems so I sat back and waited, again they promised on their messages that I would get my voucher. 

Two months past and nothing, I was then told that I had passed security and that I would be in the next batch, I was so excited and started telling people to have faith that things were moving forward.  

I feel like such an idiot now, its now been 4 months and no sign of my voucher, I have pretty much given in messaging them, I have no more faith in what they are telling me.  I feel extremely let down, taken advantage of and beyond guilty for sharing all this with my followers and wasting their time.  

I just wanted to take time out to say how sorry I am to anyone who followed me to use this site, I 100% believed in them. 

So what is happening now?  I know some people have reported the company to various places the ASA among others, I have seen posts from other bloggers whom like myself have pretty much given in.  They have vanished from social media, I have seen no replies nor anyone get a voucher in weeks. I think they have gone under if I am completely honest.  

Was it a scam?  I don't think it was, I think it was a site that got more popular than they expected but I do feel that it was badly managed when it did get too popular.  They could have made the vouchers worth a lot more or something to slow down payouts but I have no idea what they were really doing.  Was there even any security checks?  I don't think we will ever know.

I was going to report them to the ASA myself but upon seeing others had done so decided that there was no sense in doing so.

If I see anything further on social media I will update but I think the answer is that Covet is pretty much defunct and non of us will be seeing our vouchers :-(  Buy buy to my hair care products!  

Redbush Tea Competition Win

Redbush Tea Competition Win!

I do not win many competitions but when I do I am over the moon!  A few days ago I won on twitter with @RedbushTeaCo

I won a lovely selection of caffeine free Redbush Tea, which I can not wait to try.  I do not drink as much tea as I used to due to the caffeine content and have not actually realised Redbush was caffeine free so am quite excited to try it out but also excited with the concept of a cuppa I can have without it upsetting my tummy!

There was also a wonderful selection of books, I have to admit I have not heard of them before but appears to be a detective series, I am a keen reader so these will be read sharpish.  Actually can not wait to get stuck into them, but going to wait until my up and coming trip so I have something for the travel.  

Next is an absolutely lovely recycled note pad, its beautiful, there is a feather on the front, not sure what bird but the note pad looks so different, I love it! 

The top item is a small Redbush magnet, that's found a home on my photograph board, I can never have too many magnets!

Lastly my favourite item was the handmade Redbush exfoliating soap, I have to admit I had no idea they had other products, but as I was jumping in the shower this morning I gave this an outing immediately.  I have to say the colours were a bit boring, it looks like a block of frozen tea lol.

Not much to the scent however it had a lovely lather and the best thing was the soap really did provide an amazing exfoliation on my skin.  The scrub was hard but not too hard and plenty of it throughout the soap.  My skin was left feeling nice and clean but not dried out.  I can see this being added to my shopping list in future.  

I also need to check out what other products they have, I was very impressed with the soap and notepad so I need to do some investigating.  This is one of the reasons I adore entering competitions I find so many products that many times I would never have tried but that become part of my everyday life.  It's very exciting from the winning announcement through to getting to try out the products.  

Thank you so much Redbush Tea!  I will try and remember to update the blog once I get through the teas, I need some Soya milk first, I only have Rice milk in at the moment and its too thin for tea.