Roulette machines

I am intentionally writing this post a few months later than when I was originally going to write it. The reason being is that a few months after I wrote this post -

http://muksblogaboutstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/gambling-advertisements-payday-loan.html  ... -

- I saw a double page spread in the newspaper about the dangers of "fixed odds betting terminals" otherwise known as "FOBT's"which in turn are otherwise known as roulette machines. The word "fob" springs to mind and in The Oxford English dictionary the meaning is - 1. to cheat someone and 2 to put (someone) off by deception or trickery. Talk about irony.

Anyway, after reading the article, it was obvious that the reporter who wrote it, no way understood exactly how bad these things actually are. But is was almost as if they had read my post above and then decided to write about it themselves (I know they didn't do that but it is what it felt like). I wrote that post over 3 months ago and my point now being is that it seems like it's too late. Hence me writing this post now. As it is already too late for some people.

The point I am trying to make is that it should have been a double page spread in the newspaper about 5 years ago. In fact, the warning signs should have made not just a double page spread, but national front pages 5 years ago in 2008 rather than a page 12-13 double spread in 2013.

I want to write about this myself as this particular reporter, just like every other reporter that I have seen on this subject, whether it be on TV or any newspaper doesn't have any personal experience with "fixed odds betting terminals" whatsoever. In fact every single reporter I have seen ALWAYS puts in £100 to "test" these machines and then they "lose" it and then they think that they know them inside out and what it does to people.

These reporters are fucking hypocrites.

You cannot know about them unless you had proper personal experiences with them. Life changing experiences-which are never for the better after going on those machines. Not just £100 which was probably just given to them by whichever rich company they work for. It really isn't the same and they shouldn't even try to understand. So I am going to try and make everyone who may read this understand themselves INCLUDING any idiot reporters who may think that they have the right to write articles/do documentaries about them.

First of all, I want to point out that through no fault of their own, how non-gamblers are failing to realise the potential horror of what gambling can actually create. I'm going to do this by writing a few statements that have been said to me from some people I know. These statements are about other people that that they know and are just from the past few days:-

"I don't know where his money goes, but he keeps taking out payday loans and credit cards. But it's almost as if the money just disappears. He doesn't buy anything."

"He has 2 jobs, doesn't pay rent but I never see him buy anything. At first I thought he might be on drugs but he is far too healthy for that."

"He asked me money for new trainers but he works full time."

"How are they in debt? It doesn't make sense, they should have plenty of money as they have worked all their lives."

These are just some of the oblivious things a non gambler would say. For anyone that DOES or HAS gambled, the answers are all very simple:-

"They have no money because they probably gamble it all away."

It isn't a thing that would ever enter minds of people who don't gamble. It is like so beautifully oblivious that everyone that does gamble is probably jealous that they cannot have those innocent thoughts in their own minds. To have a flutter here and there in this day and age EVERYBODY who has a job would probably do. Something like the lottery or The Grand National (which I have won 4 times in the last 8 years which is crazy).

But to completely throw every single penny of your wages away for some people is an unthinkable thing to do. Unfortunately, for others, it is something that happens all too regularly. Mostly on these machines. So much money just into those machines that are now EVERYWHERE.

People cannot walk down the street without going past a bookmakers. Again, for non-gamblers, they probably wouldn't even notice them. There was one example a couple of months ago when I was with my friend and she wanted to put a bet on The Grand National. I met her and she wanted me to show her what to do and how to do it. We were on a main street in Manchester City centre. Her words were "I wonder if we will pass a bookies." My reply was "It's a pretty safe bet that we will." I know I know. The irony of the words used in that sentence too. We passed 3 in a 5 minute walk.

But why and how are there so many??

The roulette machines is why and how.

Bookmakers weren't nowhere near enough making as much profit as they are now before the machines were introduced. Now so many people are addicted to them or becoming addicted to them that bookies can afford to open more and more shops, hire more and more staff and feed more and more peoples' addiction. More bookmakers are opening just so they can have these machines. They are only allowed a maximum if 4 per shop. But they make that much money from them, that they can open a few shops just to have more machines. Even if there is a bookmakers already in a small town with (which would probably have a high unemployment rate), the same company of that bookmakers will if they could open another one just a few meters away.

For gamblers, every single bookies that opens is another place to feed their addiction. Some even believing that their luck might change going into a new place. This delusional thinking is all too common in gamblers. A new place. A new start.

It's not the way it works.

For none gamblers from the bookmakers point of view, it is another place for them to try and entice people to come in and thus ruin more lives. This is no exaggeration. This is what gambling does. Not that the bookmakers are intentionally ruining lives but it is what is happening. There are hardly people who are "controlled gamblers". There are people who never ever gamble, there are people who have a flutter once a year or so and then there are people who choose to throw their money away kidding themselves that they will get that "one big win" that will sort their lives out. This hardly EVER happens and those choice of words I know is wrong because to a gambler those exact words aren't "this hardly ever happens" but instead they are "so there is a small chance of it happening then".

And so they will keep going for that one big win that will change their lives, that will restore the balance of all the money that they have lost over the years. Not stopping to realise that they are throwing away a lot more money and never getting that big win.

So when does it end?

And how do the bookmakers entice people to come in? How can someone who is completely oblivious to everything about gambling and have such an innocent mind be persuaded to go into a betting shop in the first place? Why would they want to do that? What is the motivation?

The answer is money. Free money. Or the possibility of free money. Nobody would ever in their right mind turn down an opportunity for free money. It would be a ridiculous thing to do no matter how innocent your mind might be. Bookmakers will have "free tournaments" advertised in their huge windows which are always full size ones so you are literally seeing an advertisement that is the size of yourself and thus it is unavoidable and it would say something along the lines of "Free tournament on the machines. Come in on Saturday between 1pm-3pm for your chance to win £30 cash absolutely FREE." For somebody that doesn't gamble, why would you just pass up the opportunity to win money for free? You don't have to stake anything yourself. You just go in, you play the machine with free credit and see how much you can get it to on the game chosen by the bookmakers. You get an allocated time. If you get the highest amount out of everyone who entered the free tournament, you win free money. You have nothing to lose, right?

Wrong.

The whole point in these tournaments is because the powers that be of the bookies know full well how addictive these machines are. Giving away money is a long term investment of getting people addicted. And so claiming more victims. If someone who had never gambled won money for free, then they would most probably think that they could do it again. The same way a drug dealer would get people addicted to drugs. They make them as appealing as possible. Once the victim is addicted, they know they will then keep coming back.

Celebrities are shamelessly used to advertise/promote gambling. These fuckers don't give a shit about being a responsible role model for people. They just want to line their own pockets full of money whilst luring innocent victims to the world of gambling. to enter bookmakers who until a few years ago weren't making nowhere near the amount of money they make now due to the roulette machines.

It always starts small with the machines. Always. A couple of pounds here and there, oh I got a fiver now, I will collect that. It slowly builds. Within a couple of years that couple of pounds would have built to a couple of thousands of pounds. It is unthinkable for someone who is just starting to gamble on the machines or to the beautifully oblivious non-gamblers. I know that if they see people who put in £20 notes after £20 notes and do a maximum of £100 a spin on the roulette wheel, they would think that the people that were doing these spins were either insane or super rich. But they are neither in most cases. They are just addicted.

If every time someone put in £2 and collected £5, they would simply think "well that is just like me putting £20 and getting it to £50. The maths are the same." But it doesn't work like that. The machines are designed to take your money. They are designed to be addictive. They are designed to make you think that there is a chance of winning. Which there is. And that is where the problem is. The chance is always there. But it doesn't mean to say you are actually going to win. It just means to say you just actually THINK you might win.

Now I am not saying £2 is a little bit of money as for those that have lost everything, £2 can be a lot of money. But £2 compared to £100 IS a little bit of money. For example, after a couple of weeks of betting with just £2, those people would want to crave a higher adrenalin rush and so the stakes would go higher. But that is not where the downward spiral starts. The downward spiral starts the moment when anybody steps into the bookmakers in the first place. You have to think that the money you are going in with isn't yours anymore. It's as simple as that. Before you have placed a bet-that money that you are betting with ISN'T YOURS. It is gone. Yes you might win and then collect the winnings but unless you are one of those few people who does have a once in a year flutter then the money will always go back.

Another ironic and hypocritical thing is bookmakers seem to have small posters and leaflets advertising Gamcare. A helpline for problem gamblers. I think it is a legal requirement to have these. Like they make a fucking difference. The only time people would ring that number is after a  huge loss.

I have titled this "Roulette machines" and so in my opinion and probably most people if not all who play them, if you go on the roulette machines, that money of yours is gone forever. Yes you can win. You can put in £20 and get it to £50 and leave the bookies and then go to KFC and get yourself a large Godfather meal and stuff yourself with that. But guaranteed and written in stone is that you will go back to the bookies and play on them again. But you might win again. You might then decide that life is brilliant. You put in £40 and get it to £500. Easy money, You know after 23 came out that 32 would be the next number. You have seen it so many times so you put the maximum you can on that one number which is around £13.50p which will give you around £468 back. Wow. Let's take everyone for pizza tonight. You can do this all the time now. Or not every time. You can be sensible and go now and again and just hit a number like that and that will be that.

Only the next time you go, it doesn't work out. You put in £20. Nothing. You need to win your £20 back now, it doesn't matter if you won all that money the other day. If you won that much, surely then it is easy to win £20 back. So you put in another £20. That's goes too. And then another £20 and then another £20......oh wait, it just hit 23. Number 32 is going to come out next! It's happened so many times and that will get you your money back so you put £13.50p on 32. It goes "next door". It hit 15. So close. Another £20, another £30, you start sweating, you feel nauseated another £50 goes in. Another £50. Cash machine won't give you anymore money so you pay by card at the counter. And then again. And then...again.  Money is all gone. It just didn't hit your numbers. You hate yourself. You can't cry as you're too sick inside. You feel numb. But it doesn't really hit you. Not yet. You wonder how you will cope for the rest of the month. Rent? Bills? Food? What are you going to do? People are going hungry because of their addiction to these roulette machines.

For anyone who is reading this that has never been on a roulette machine before might find this difficult to understand. How can people be this stupid? What, to not pay your rent? Your bills? To not buy food? To waste money in machines? Don't be ridiculous, not many people are stupid enough to do this. What about unemployed people? How can they even afford, even think about going in a bookmakers and on these machines? How stupid must you have to be?

Again, it really isn't stupidity, it is an addiction. And there are people doing it every day. Addiction and stupidity are 2 different things. And soon enough it goes from being, rent, food, bills to rent, food, bills, credit card 1 credit card 2, loan etc.

There is a reason why the roulette machines are also known as "THE CRACK COCAINE" of the betting industry. You can lose £15,000 in an hour. Writing that even sounds weird to me but I have seen it happen so many times. People aren't just losing their money but they are losing their minds and their souls to these machines. I have seen people not going into work because they can't get off the machines. I knew one guy who was addicted to cocaine. He told me that the roulette machines "were much worse". Yet unlike cocaine, the machines are everywhere and so easy to access.

In 2001 it was scientifically proven that parts of the brain that respond to winning and losing money whilst gambling are the same that respond to cocaine and morphine.

Dopamine released from the brain is released when something pleasurable happens. If you were to know you were about to get sex for example or just the possibility of it, your brain would be expecting dopamine to be released.

So on the roulette machines say for example, with the 23 and 32 numbers coming out together or near to each other, (this is just one of thousands of examples of people thinking they can predict what number is next, but I am just using this one again) it lands on 23 and then if you believe the next number will be 32 your brain will expect this. If it lands on 32, your brain will release the dopamine making you feel amazing. If the next time, number 32 doesn't come out, the expectant dopamine isn't released and you can end up getting frustrated, irrational, disappointed etc. But then when something unexpected happens-for example, it just happens to land on a number where you have a lot of money on it, the levels of dopamine are much higher because you're not expecting it but the problem is that next time you will see what number came out before your number and your brain will tell you that. The dopamine neurons in your brain will want to see some kind of pattern or prediction but the problem with that is that there are no patterns on machines. People will THINK that they can work them out or see a pattern. People will ALWAYS say "this number will be next", "that number is coming out soon" and the worst one is "this number is due". Our brain cells are thinking that they will figure out a pattern or what number is next. IT WON'T. Yes you might hit a number you have most on because you thought it was coming out. That isn't you figuring it out and being really intelligent or clever like you have achieved something. The machine just let it happen. The human brain is wanting to see patterns that could favour you but it is impossible to KNOW what number is coming out next from a software. There might have been patterns in the past but if you think that these patterns will always happen then you actually ARE stupid and not just addicted. Maybe the machine is programmed to do this so if you hit a number with lots of money on then you do think you're intelligent and clever. It'll soon take your money back.

People constantly lose their money, go to the bank to get more and insist on going back on the same machine chasing their losses. Either because they think that their numbers are due, or that the machine is "due to pay out" or even because they are almost in what can only be described as a battle of wits against that machine. They think that they need to beat the machine. Only 1-your numbers AREN'T "due" as it is a machine and any numbers can come up anytime. Most likely, not the ones you have chosen and 2-it is a machine you are going up against. "Wits" don't come into play as much as you think they might do. The machine doesn't have a brain. It is just programmed to take your money. Some people then would change machine saying "this machine isn't paying" and think that they would be doing a clever thing by changing machines to pit their wits against that one. If you had any wits in the first place (along with willpower), you would simply just stay away full stop. As difficult as that is, it is THAT which is the most intelligent and clever thing to do. The only way to beat the roulette machines is to stay well away from them.

There is always a massive debate as to whether the machines are fixed or not. The amount of times you see people who have most of the wheel covered and maybe have one or two numbers with nothing on them and then the ball painfully landing on one of those numbers is all too common. You always hear "and they are supposed to be random". If it says that the number drawn is from a random number generator, then that is all well and good but then the question remains as to why does it screw so many people and why does it screw so many people so many times??

Well roulette is made so it has a house edge. Everyone knows that or should know that simple fact of the house edge. Something that only pays 35/1 when there is 37 numbers (including the number 0 or even 00 on American tables) OBVIOUSLY gives the house and edge. Any idiot can figure that out. The edge on a roulette wheel (European) with one "0" number is 2.7 which means that every £1000 gambled, the house would make £27. That is a plain and simple fact.

People sometimes say "oooh 7 black numbers in a row, it must be due a red". I have even seen someone complain to a cashier about that. Those kind of people are even bigger idiots than you can possibly imagine. Each spin it is under 50% chance for a red or a black. Each spin! If you were able to take the odds of having 7 black numbers in a row before the run of them, the odds would be different. But you can't do that. SO EACH SPIN IS A SPIN IN ITSELF. NOTHING IS DUE. NO LOW NUMBERS, NO HIGH NUMBERS, NO BLACK NUMBERS, NO RED NUMBERS OR ZERO OR ANYTHING. You have to be a total imbecile to think that something is "due".

But what about the roulette machines in bookmakers?? They constantly keep ruining people. It is supposed to be random! The ball is supposed to be from a random number generator! So why do so many people get screwed by covering most of the wheel and getting empty spins??

Let me explain my theory to this. I am not saying that this is right but it is just what I think:-

Let's just say for example, there are 1000 machines and there is one random number generator for all of these. At the same time, the machines have an "average payout" percentage on them. So how on earth can there be an average payout if the machines have to take a certain amount in the first place along with there being a "random number generator"?? It doesn't make sense. So let's say you did a bet which totalled to £20 and the number the ball landed on is 5 and you only had 20p on it, that would return you £7:20p but you would be down £12:80p but the machine would class it in its' programme as a "win" even though you didn't actually make any profit, it would still be classed as a "winning" spin. It wasn't a winning spin, but it was a win to the machine as it paid something and stays inputted as a win. Therefore, to get the percentages accurate on their takings, the random number generator would indeed be generating random numbers BUT it would be doing so by randomly picking numbers which have less amounts on them throughout the 1000 machines. Obviously on some of those machines the numbers could have good amounts on them, but this will be balanced by the fact that on most of the others, they won't. If you did a £20 spin and covered 20 numbers with £1, obviously any number you hit is a profit but it isn't going to keep giving you a profit every spin. Or even if it does a few times and you collect and go home happy, most probably, there is someone or some people somewhere else who have in total probably lost more than you won.

So in other words, winning numbers are generated on the total payouts being less than taken in.

Also if the machine is spun at exactly the same time as the one next to it, the same number will be drawn. It is all computerised and it is all designed to take more money. The odds are always against you on a normal roulette wheel in a casino and even though it can be classed as random in the bookmakers, they are also very much against you in the same way. But in any case like I said, being random and having an average payout doesn't make any sense. As the balls drawn are random, but the money being paid out isn't as it has to make a profit (if that is understandable).

I know that there is also the argument of "well if there is a percentage payout and a lot of people have lost, then there is a chance that it could be ready to pay out now."

Imagine a cocaine addict going into a place where it was available in 4 separate parts of the place. Imagine if within a 10 mile radius, there were 100 of these places. Imagine the cocaine addict somehow tracking all these places to find the purest cocaine that will give him the best high ever.

Not only is it impossible to do, but if a cocaine addict who needed a fix went into a place and saw it was there, he would take it. Not wait for someone else to use it first and then have some. That is the same with the roulette machines. If someone who is addicted to them sees one free, then that person will go on it. Not wait for someone else to use it first. And even if a person does use it and loses hundreds of pounds, that does not mean it is ready to pay out! Again, you have to be a total idiot to think that.

There has hardly been anything at all about the dangers of roulette machines. Apart from one TV show and a thing here and there in the newspapers. Nothing of note to really warn people about the dangers of them. The only people who warn people of the dangers of them are the people who have gone on them themselves. Unfortunately, those people are most probably still going on them, so even knowing the dangers won't make them stop.

These machines are the sole cause of more and more bookmakers being opened. Legally any one betting shop cannot have more than 4 fixed odds betting terminals. Believe it or not as I stated before, the bookmakers open shops mainly just because they can put 4 more machines there. Is there any other explanation for a small new certain company opening another bookmakers in my town centre when there is a massive one literally just 30 seconds walk away? It is purely so they can have more machines in one small area. And even though bookmakers are opening everywhere and making everything so much worse, it isn't just the gamblers that suffer. It is the people who care about them. Friends, families, lovers ALL have to be lied to.

Imagine telling your partner that you lost your whole wage in an hour. Imagine losing someone you really care about. Imagine working long and hard and then having to borrow money to pay for travel and food. Imagine having no job and wasting the little benefit money you receive. Imagine not being able to do anything with your friends and having to make excuses as to why you can't. Imagine lying all the time. Imagine feeling so empty that you can't even cry. Imagine stealing money to feed your addiction. Imagine feeling so ashamed of yourself that you want to commit suicide and end it all.

Each and every one of these things isn't imaginary. They are everyday occurrences ALL BECAUSE OF THESE FIXED ODDS BETTING TERMINALS.

There has been talk for a while that they will change them and make the maximum spin £2 instead of £100. Unfortunately, that isn't happening. But instead of that, the best thing that could happen is if THE SHIT GOVERNMENT THAT RUNS THIS COUNTRY DOES SOMETHING AND TAKE ALL THE MACHINES OUT AND GET RID OF THEM FOREVER.

I guarantee that if something doesn't get done now, there will be more suicides, more debt, more people suffering, more horror and then all those people who don't or have never gone on these machines will slowly realise what is going on, then wonder why nothing was done about it before.

You can bet on it.

Sir Alex Ferguson retires

The best manager ever in the history of football-born Mr Alex Beaton Ferguson now better known as Sir Alex Ferguson has retired from the management of Manchester United football club.

Sir Alex was appointed manager of Manchester United on the 6th of November 1986. I was 4 and a half years old at the time, just beginning to get into football and was just starting to become a "life long" fan of the sport and of Manchester United. He came to the club with one goal in mind-to knock the dominating Liverpool "off their fucking perch". One man. One mission. And I think it is safe to say-mission accomplished. 

His retirement was announced on the 8th of May 2013. Manager of a club, the same club for 26 and a half years. Will there ever be a manager anywhere ever in the world that achieves this alone?-No. Never.

It is such a strange thing because nearly my whole life he has been manager of the club I love and you kind of just think it will be forever. Knowing inside that that would be impossible as nothing can last forever The man is 71 yeas old for crying out loud and retirement was expected 10 years ago but now it has actually happened, I and probably a lot of Manchester United fans are probably feeling just a tad empty and even a little bit shocked even though retirement was and should be indeed be definitely expected. I guess what I am trying to say is that it is a change from the norm of what we are used to and now we don't know what is going to happen.

He wasn't just a manager. He was an icon, an inspiration and a father figure. 

His final game at West Brom was his 1500th game in charge.

The players over all the years under his guidance, I am going to go as far as to say all of them are probably thinking he was the best manager they had ever played for. The squads Sir Alex assembled over the years have just been phenomenal. They would have to be to win 38 trophies at one club:-

Premier League -             1992-1993, 1993-1994, 1995-1996, 1996-1997,
                                       1998-1999, 1999-2000, 2000-2001, 2002-2003,
                                       2006-2007, 2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2010-2011,
                                       2012-2013

FA Cup -                           1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004

League Cup -                     1992, 2006, 2009, 2010

FA Community Shield -      1990, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1997, 2003,
                                          2007, 2008, 2010, 2011

UEFA Champions League - 1999, 2008

UEFA Cup Winners Cup -   1991

UEFA Super Cup -             1991

Intercontinental Cup -          1999

FIFA Club World Cup -     2008

It was exhausting just writing that.

Apart from the amount of Premier League titles, the most noticeable thing to me is how few Champions Leagues Sir Alex won. For a manager as amazing as him, 2 does not seem right at all. I am sure that he feels the same about that.

All those years, all those trophies, all those players involved to win all those trophies-no I am not going to write every single player down but I am going to write my personal top 10 players ever - signings/homegrown. I am not doing 2 separate top 10s so this is my all-time:-

1. Eric Cantona

2. Peter Schmeichel

3. Roy Keane

4. Paul Scholes

5. Ryan Giggs

6. Cristiano Ronaldo

7. Nemenja Vidic

8. Bryan Robson

9. Ruud Van Nistelrooy

10. Japp Stam

Some noticeable absentees but maybe they made it into my best 11 players' team under Sir Alex. A formation of 4-4-2 which means some players in the above list may not make it.

                                                 Peter Schmeichel 

Gary Neville            Nemenja Vidic              Japp Stam                     Denis Irwin

Cristiano Ronaldo       Paul Scholes             Roy Keane                     Ryan Giggs

                                               
                            Eric Cantona                       Robin Van Persie

I know I know, I chose Ruud over Robin in my all time favourite players but chose Robin over Ruud in my all-time favourite team. It's because I think the combination of Eric and Robin in their prime would be unstoppable and Robin has only been with us one season so he didn't make the all time list which is of course is subject to change but not players who have played under Sir Alex. Strangely after writing this and choosing my selections, in a Sir Alex Ferguson special in The Manchester Evening News, this was the exact same all-time 11 APART from Robin Van Persie. They had Ruud Van Nistelrooy instead.

As you can see, there have been some stellar names who have played under Sir Alex and there are so many who haven't even been mentioned. Countless ones who under Sir Alex have become world class players. Players aren't just BORN world class. They have to be nurtured, guided, advised and brought up to BECOME world class. Under any other manager, I don't think half these players would have become as good as they are and gone on to achieve so much success. 

There have been countless managers who have tried and failed to dethrone Sir Alex. They might have done so for a bit, bit then Sir Alex always came fighting back. Managers like Jose Mourhino, Kenny Daglish, Arsene Wenger and to a lesser extent, Rafael Benitez and Roberto Mancini. 

The way in which he frustrated managers was just so unbelievable. Kevin Keegan losing it on live TV (and then losing the next game to United), Rafael Benitezs' "facts" speech and again to a lesser extent, Roberto Mancini recently claiming that he himself was the best manager in the Premier League. This is AFTER United reclaimed the title with 4 games still to go. 

Here are some of my favourite quotes by Sir Alex:-

"I can't believe it, I can't believe it. Football. bloody hell." (After winning the Champions League final in 1999
                                                                                        with Utd scoring 2 goals in injury time.)

"It would have been Sir Matt Busbys' 90th birthday
 today, but I think he was up there doing a lot of kicking."  (Another post match on that final.)

"They say he's an intelligent man right? Speaks 5 languages?
I've got a 15-year-old boy from the Ivory Coast who
speaks 5 languages!"                                                          (On Arsene Wenger.)

"If he was an inch taller, he'd be the best centre-half in
Britain. His father is 6ft 2in. I'd check the milkman."           (On Gary Neville)

"He could start a row in an empty house."                          (On Dennis Wise.)

"He was certainly full of it. Calling me 'Boss' and 'Big man'
when we had our post-match drink after the first leg. But
it would help if his greetings were accompanied by a decent
glass of wine. What he gave me was paint-stripper."          (On Jose Mourinho.)

"I remember the first time I saw him. He was 13 and just
floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a
piece of silver paper in the wind."                                      (On Ryan Giggs)

"My greatest challenge is not what's happening at the
moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool     (After Alan Hansen claimed he was 'past it'.)
right off their fucking perch. And you can print that."

"You must be joking. Do I look like a masochist ready
to cut myself? How does relegation sound?"                     (On Liverpool being title contenders in 2007.)

"If ever there was one player, anywhere in the world
that was made for Manchester United, it was Cantona.
He swaggered in, stuck his chest out, raised his head,
surveyed everything as though he was asking 'I'm
Cantona. How big are you? Are you big enough for me?" (On Eric Cantona.)

And here are some comments about Sir Alex:-

"I am director at United but I hardly do anything because
we are winning all the time and it is all down to Sir Alex
Ferguson."                                                                       - Sir Bobby Charlton

"Disappointed, shocked, sad. Didn't think THAT day
would be today."                                                              - Peter Schmeichel.

"What a privilege to have played under arguably the best
manager the world has ever seen."                                     - Michael Owen.

"You will never see anyone of his kind again. His standards
were so high. He was so demanding. Yes we had our ups
and downs. The way he treated me was like a son."           - Paul Ince.

"I will never forget the loyalty he showed me. Everything
I learnt, I learnt from the boss."                                          - Ole Gunnar Solksjaer.

"It's a sad day for Manchester United. It's a day we should
celebrate what he's done for Manchester United. It was
always going to come as a shock. Without doubt, the best
manager that's ever lived."                                                  - Dennis Irwin.

"He changed the mentality of every single member at that
football club."                                                                     - Gary Neville.

"As I have said many times before, the boss wasn't just the
greatest and best manager I ever played under, he was also
a father figure to me from the moment I arrived at the club
at the age of 11 until the day I left."                                     - David Beckham.

"The boss' work ethic, his desire to win and to make us
better players were unrivaled. Thanks boss."                      - Rio Ferdinand.

"Thanks for everything boss."                                             - Cristiano Ronaldo.

I am going to write one short conversation which always seems to be forgotten during The Champions League game in 1999 which should be remembered more. Not many people seem to talk about it, but it was with Brian Kidd after Manchester United equalised. You obviously can't catch it on the video but after Manchester United equalised, it was this:-

Brian Kidd -            "Let's revert back to a 4-4-2 formation."

Sir Alex Ferguson - "Hang on. Something's happening out there."



Those words!

Those words are awesome words. Why be content in just scoring the equaliser in injury-time? Why not just go for the win too?

Then there was this European cup:-

With all the passion, drive, hunger and ambition he has, it is so easy to forget that Sir Alex is 71. It seemed Robin Van Persie forgot here:

After winning his 1st league title with Manchester United:-



After winning his 13th title with Manchester United and the clubs' 20th in total:-




This is one of the best goals I have seen under Sir Alex. (The Ryan Giggs goal of course but I put the highlights of the whole game on because it was amazing.)



The guy was a born winner. Here is his total win/loss record with Manchester United:-

                                     Played    Won   Drawn   Lost      Goals     Goals    Win
                                                                                         For      Against   Rate (%)

Premier League	808	527	167	114	1620	697	65
First Division	225	97	70	58	319	227	43
FA Cup	120	80	22	18	230	93	67
League Cup	97	62	10	25	178	107	64
European Cup	202	110	52	40	352	186	54
Cup Winners Cup	13	8	4	1	20	8	62
UEFA Cup	8	1	4	3	8	9	13
Community Shield	16	4	7	5	22	22	25
European Super Cup	3	1	0	2	2	3	33
Intercontinental Cup	1	1	0	0	1	0	100
Club World Cup	5	3	1	1	10	7	60
Total	1500	895	338	267	2762	1359	60

What a lot of people don't talk about is what he did for the revenue in Manchester. The success of Manchester United is down to him and all that success has brought in so much money and revenue for the city of Manchester and the whole country. When I used to work in a hotel in Manchester, there were so many people coming from abroad to watch Manchester Uniteds' home games and the money they spent in the hotel, around bars/restaurants and places in the whole city would have been so much.

Thank you Sir Alex for turning Manchester United into the greatest club of all time. Thank you for the trophies, the years of entertainment and all the "squeaky bum time".

Manchester United and the whole of the footballing world will never ever be the same again.

Horrible bastards and nasty bitches

I like to think I have grown as a writer. But I think this post is going to be like my first few posts written when I started my blog. Although I did try not to swear in my first posts and if swearing does offend you-well you already would have looked away by now I guess.

There comes a time in peoples' lives-maybe more than just one time-maybe a few times which alcoholics could refer to as a moment of clarity. Where you see things clearly in what could be for the first time in ages. Or even for the first time ever. There are these moments that we may get in life. But a lot of the times, they are JUST moments. And moments pass. It's what  they do.

It is no secret that there are a lot of sick, disgusting, selfish people in the world. Who look out for nobody but themselves. Keep their own interests at heart. Looking after number one.

Not that there is anything wrong whatsoever with looking after "number one". People of course have to do what they think is best for them. But there is also a thing called "basic human decency".

And some people have none of this.

Recently I have gone through so much shit and I feel like I still am going through the shit. What isn't helping me get past it is people. The actual shitness of some people. And it is unbelievable-even though I know and I am fully aware how there are horrible bastards and nasty bitches in this world-it is still unbelievable that these people exist.

People who have religious beliefs will then say something along the lines of "God will see to them." or "they will all perish in hell."

Religious fanatics may even go as far as to say something like "their hearts are tainted, may The Lord have mercy on their souls." or "thou shalt be summoned to the deepest, darkest fieriest of hell where thou shalt be damned for all of eternity."

But those things aren't going to happen are they?

Strangely, in some cases, it is really fucked up who these sick, disgusting and selfish people actually are. Some are people you thought cared about you.

But then there is also the flip side of people who you didn't think cared about you who actually do.

The "eye opener", the "moment of clarity", the things that make you wonder and think like you have never thought before is often a result of tragedy or something really bad happening. Unfortunately that is what it takes.

But the results of that can either go two ways. You can either focus on the horrible bastards and the nasty bitches and all the sick, disgusting and selfish people in the world and then be sad, depressed and angry about everything OR you can focus on the good people in life. There might not be many-but you don't necessarily need many-and you can enjoy life, sleep better and have at least some kind of hope that maybe all isn't bad in the world.

Sometimes, the choice is just that simple.

Footprints (Poem)

I am not a religious person. I don't know if there is a God or not. But I read this about 2 weeks ago in a Holy book that is in our house and I thought I should write it. It is actually quite a popular prose which I had never read before with a couple of artists even writing songs about it. Absolutely AWFUL songs about it. This shouldn't be heard through song but just read so here it is:-

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with The God. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belong to him and the other to The God.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there had only been one set of foot prints. He also noticed that it had happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life. 

This really bothered him and he questioned The God about it. "God, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there was only one set of footprints. I don't understand why, when I needed you most you would have left me".

The God replied, "My precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of foot prints, it was then that I carried you".

Goodbye Dad

The past year or so, I always tend to spend a lot of time on my drafts and chop and change a lot of what I write.

Today is not one of those posts.

I am writing this and have postponed my drafts on my other posts.

My father passed away twelve days ago. A week before that he had a stroke and although he was talking that day, from the day after he just slept and didn't wake up. And then that was it.

He just passed away.

He was a year and a half away from retirement. People shouldn't have to work all their lives and then not be able to enjoy it.

We weren't that close. In fact, a lot of the times I actually avoided conversations with him just because I didn't want to have any. I guess now I will never get the chance to have any conversations at all.

I said to a friend a while ago that if me and my dad weren't father and son, we would probably get along better. Even though he was a City Supporter and I am a United one. I guess it was good for him that he saw City win the premier league once at least. And India winning the cricket world cup.

We argued a lot and he always put me down. As I did with him. But if I ever needed anything-if ANYONE ever needed anything, he would always be the first one to help. He was only 63 years old.

He had a lot of friends. A lot of work colleagues respected him and called him "Kaka" as it means "uncle" in Gujarati.

He will really be missed. Things like this make me wonder if there is a God. There probably isn't.

Rest in peace Dad.  I'm really sorry for being such a shit son. I will try and do better.

Social networking is more important then having friends.

Or so it would seem.

I don't think that there is a single person who would actually say "well actually, social networking is more important to me then having friends" but it's a thing that has happened. Social networking has BECOME more important then having friends and that is without most people even realising it.

People are constantly social networking. On the bus, (not just passengers but drivers too. Yes I have seen it with my own eyes-WHILST they are driving), whilst in work, whilst crossing the road and even when they are out drinking. I have seen so many people who I have gone out with that I haven't seen in ages now and again checking their social networking sites whilst they are with me.

This offends me.

I am not a boring person by any means. I am not a person without friends. The problem is that people without knowing are already so addicted to tweeting, or updating their status on some crap site like Facebook that it's almost a natural thing nowadays for people to forget how insane this actually is. And it is definitely NOT a personal insult if I am talking to someone and the conversation ends and then they check their status or whatever. It is more of the fact that people are seriously starting to lose their identities and individuality by becoming mindless drones. I have always liked people and are friends with those particular people BECAUSE of their individuality and uniqueness. Now they are becoming slaves to the social network.

One of the weirdest things is that people write about ANYTHING. As in the boring things that they are doing. They are not even bothered about hiding the dull. It is almost as if they want acceptance for every single thing they choose to write. No matter how pointless or boring.

Unfortunately it had now become a natural thing to go on the internet and talk to people via some kind of online way rather than meeting people and actually conversing and rather than doing some kind of activity with people. Not to say people aren't doing anything at all-of course they are, but it is happening less now.

And then comes the whole thing of why would you bother going to the effort to meet people when you can just talk to them over the internet. What is the point in making the effort to arrange to meet someone? You have to do yourself up, walk down the street, go to the place of meeting, check to see you're on time etc etc etc.

Is all this really becoming so difficult for people to do??

I CONSTANTLY get people asking me when I am going to "give in" and get a Facebook. I then CONSTANTLY tell them that I am against everything to do with Facebook as I think it is something that has ruined the way we live lives. It's not about giving in. I'm not fighting against it. It is just a thing that I do not agree with.

Most people don't really live at all. They just exist. Now it has gotten even worse with people actually choosing to not just socialise over things like Facebook, but they actually use it to be nosy, stalk other people and to even bully people. Countless times people have committed suicide because they were being bullied online. I have said this before but I don't think you can be bullied online as if someone was writing things about you on whatever social networking site you are using, you can choose not to read it! You can choose not to go on it! You can choose to switch off your computer, laptop, phone or whatever gadget you have and not bother with it! When I was bullied in school, and when all people are bullied anywhere ever-whether it be in school, college, work, anywhere in THE REAL WORLD, they don't have the option to just switch something off where it can be avoided. I understand the curiosity of wanting to see what people have written about you, but who cares?? Why has it become so important?? Why get upset about something some idiot has written about you when they wouldn't say it to you??

Anyway, back to the point, the other night, I saw four girls sat around one table, each one on their phone. Not one of them were speaking to each other. They were ALL on their phones. I thought maybe they were text messaging their other friends but they were spending way too long for that. They were all Facebooking. It was such a weird sight. Just try and picture it. Four girls, all dressed up with alcoholic drinks in front of them, all sat there for ages just on their phones and not talking to each other. It was so strange.

There seems to be a hidden addiction to that particular social networking site of Facebook. From what I have seen and said before, people are always on it. Even in work. They might put "bored in work." Again, who cares?? I'm all up for expressing opinions but with that-what is the point?

Children in school are constantly on social networking sites too. Studies have actually shown that since social networking sites became so popular, the average intelligence of a child has gone down. It distracts children from their education not just in school, but at home as well.

A lot of people seem to go on about how "there are games to play".

And??

Who cares if you get the highest score in something?? It is so pointless! It makes you stupid and a mindless drone. Do you really want to be a mindless drone?? There are a ton of films about zombies taking over the world, but we are actually becoming zombies ourselves. What would it matter if a bunch of people started eating each other if we are already having our souls sucked away from us.

The whole "friends" thing. I am not sure how it works, but you can make friends with people by clicking on some icon I am assuming. So you can make friends by clicking your mouse on your computer. As easy as that. Are these people really your friends?? Would they be OK if you called them at 4am in the morning to talk about life?? Would they even bother to answer the phone?? No. Probably not. These aren't people being your "friends", these are people who are just boosting their pathetic egos by disillusioning themselves that they have "friends".

Are people finding it difficult to make real human friends now??

Not only disillusioning themselves about having friends, but disillusioning themselves about who they actually are. If people aren't stalking someone (stalkers can have a field day through social networking sites), people are DESPERATE to try and look cool/good in their pictures and are DESPERATE for attention and for people to comment on their lives whilst always frantically updating their status in DESPERATE attempts to tell people about their lives. Why??

I read a straight to the point comment from someone about Facebook and it was:-

"I used to have a life. Until I got a Facebook."

Another thing is so many times I have seen people on a night out, far too busy posing for pictures which they will later put onto their social networking sites. Ask them afterwards if they had a good night, they will say something like "it was OK" but if they weren't so busy posing for their stupid pathetic pictures, they might possibly have had a great night.

People even post pictures of things like food. The food that they are eating. I would LOVE the opinion of someone who has never ever heard of any social networking sites on that particular matter of posting pictures of food. Imagine that. Someone taking a picture of a burger or something and posting it so other people can see the burger too. Instead of being thankful for having food on the table, they are broadcasting their food for others to see. It really is beyond belief.

I saw an amazing billboard advert for an alcoholic drink a while ago and the caption on it was "Update your status-get together." I thought that was so great to see a major alcoholic drink be advertised like that until one day, I saw the same billboard, but this time I noticed in small letters underneath it said "add us on Facebook". Talk about hypocritical. I was so disappointed.

Someone said to me the other day that with Facebook in particular, it is all about a "power thing". You can talk to someone without letting them know you were thinking about them. Their example was that if I liked a girl and had her number and I text messaged her, it would show her that I was thinking about her. Whereas if I saw her on Facebook, it would show she was online and I could say something along the lines of "just saw you online, thought I should say hello."

What utter bullshit.

I would WANT the girl to know I was thinking about her. I would WANT a girl to text me and show me that she was thinking about me! That is all part of the beauty of life. Where the fuck has this egotistical shit come from??

Birthdays and get togethers get missed by me because people don't bother personally getting in touch with me anymore. They just go on their page and say what they are doing and all their "friends" would know. What a shit way to invite people. Rather than calling them, having a chat and personally inviting them and telling them how much they would personally want them to be there, they would rather write it on a stupid website. My birthday now gets missed. Why? Because nobody cares! Unfortunately as well, sometimes, funerals get missed.

The whole point of this post is not me having some crazy rant. I just wished people would live lives and talk to people on a personal level. I know the whole argument is that if people live far, then it is such an easy way to keep in touch. I have known people to have moved to the other side of the world and they said that I should now get a Facebook so we can keep in touch. They already had my number, my Skype address, my email address. How I would have loved to even receive a letter in the post from them as they had my address too. How beautifully personal would it even be just to send an email??  I delete about 30 people a year from my phone. There is only so many times I can ring someone or text them or try and have a one on one conversation with them. People don't seem to do it as often anymore. They would rather check their social networking sites and kid themselves how popular they are rather than personal conversations. I guess talking on the phone or even texting/emailing is too much of an inconvenience. If they cannot be bothered doing that, well THAT is the problem.

That the personal connection between people is fading because of social networking sites.

And to think that a personal connection like that is hardly ever happening anymore actually makes me wish that real flesh eating zombies would invade us and save us from our pathetic selves.

The Hooker, The Thief, Goldilocks and the lost money

The title sounds like a dirty computer game or something.

About four and a half years ago, within the space of four months, I lost two jobs. My day and evening job. I was working in two places. Hard work, lots of hours but I had done that for a long time. (9am-5pm and then around 6:30pm-11pm). Now I can't even get one job, nevermind two.

Anyway, the first job I lost was at a gig venue where I had worked for over 6 years. For the first 5 years, I loved it, I was a supervisor, running my own little bar in the venue next to the stage. It was amazing. A lot of the time, it didn't even feel like work even though some nights it was so busy I almost collapsed through sheer exhaustion.

The last 16 months or so of my time there, we got a new bar manager. I have mentioned her before in my blog. "The Hooker":-

http://muksblogaboutstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/idiots-with-authority-part-2.html

That was my 17th post written two years ago. This is now my 71st post.

The Hooker got rid of a lot of people that she didn't like. Me and her didn't get on from the start. I knew my time was coming soon and she did eventually get rid of me. Unfairly. That was after demoting me from my supervisor position and making her boyfriend (who had a nose bigger then Pinocchios' on a bad day) a supervisor instead. Also trying to humiliate me as much as she could.

Not because we didn't get along but I voiced my concerns to a lot of members of staff, some who were my friends, some who were other supervisors and managers of how I thought she was stealing. In fact, I was CONVINCED that she was doing something dodgy. I didn't have any proof but had such a strong feeling. And it wasn't as if I accused others of stealing all the time. I knew a few people did. But this was to another whole new level.

Nobody took me seriously. Not one person believed me. Not even my own friends there. They all thought I was being ridiculous. I kind of assumed that someone told her that I thought this. That along with the fact that we never got along and we didn't like each other made her get rid of me. In some ways, it was a good thing because the hairy bitch had really made working there awful and so I was kind of glad to not be there anymore. But of course, that didn't stop the whole injustice of it all.

A few months ago, just after 4 years of my last day there, one of my former work colleagues there (note I didn't say friend) told me that The Hooker HAD in fact been stealing. She had been doing so for ages and it had amounted up to tens of thousands of pounds. The former work colleague didn't call me as soon as it was found out. Nothing like "Mukesh, you were right about The Hooker all along-she's been stealing money for years." But I got told when I bumped into this former work colleague. I couldn't believe it. Not the fact that she had been stealing as I had known that all along, but for the fact that after 4 and a half years, the truth FINALLY came out.

It's crazy to think that nobody believed me. I even stopped believing myself at the time which is the worst thing you can do. But sometimes not just with things like this but with ANYTHING, all you need is one person who believes in you and you can do anything. But this story is just an occurrence which is a lead up to how I unfairly lost my other job 4 months later....

It was just after the busy Christmas period. The day after Boxing day when the sales starts and for some reason in retail stores, people still somehow have a lot of money to spend. Though saying that, most of it may have been credit anyway...

ANYWAY, I was the only staff member who had worked Christmas eve, Boxing day and was also due in the day Boxing day. The dreaded sales day where customers not only go crazy, but also have a ton of returns where they "don't have a receipt as it was a Christmas present." Yep, the joy of retail.

The day before on Boxing day was also a day when people bought back Christmas presents. It was so busy and we took an amazing amount of money regardless of that. We still had money from Christmas Eve in the shop. All in a small safe. At the end of a really busy crazy hardworking day, the shop floor looked like a bomb had exploded in it. People in charge that day were our manager Goldilocks (he had long blonde hair), Jupiter (a really big fat lazy girl) and myself. When all the customers had left the store, Goldilocks asked me if I and the rest of the staff could "take care of the shop floor" whilst he and Jupiter counted all the money. I reluctantly agreed, even though I could have done with a sit down and would have been happy to count the tens of thousands of pounds, it was a wise move as Jupiter would not physically be able to actually do anything apart from sitting down (which was always the case with her). So for practicality, it was a good move. Although in saying that, I was the only person who was in the next morning. Two hours earlier than normal to set all the sale things up. 7am. Some idiot staff member would be starting at 8am to help me. Not that he would be much help anyway. Let's call him the turnip.

Apparently over the Christmas period, we had taken £45,000!! That was when the country was supposed to be deep in recession. All this money wasn't banked as all the banks were closed. All this money was put in a small crappy safe in the working stockroom.

A couple of staff went home whilst the shop was being re-made and the money was being counted. They were temps. Why should they care? There were 5 members of staff left.

After what seemed like hours, everything was done. The shop looked amazing, the money had all been counted by Goldilocks and Jupiter and we were all set to go. I was due back in the store in another 12 hours. I was the only one due back in. The other staff would be fresh from a nice day off. We didn't do any searches when we left as all retail stores are supposed to. Where there is so much merchandise and money. searchers were mandatory. What a mistake that was to not do the searches.

We had all just had exited the building when Goldilocks realised that he had left something behind. He wanted to take the cash counter home as he apparently had "lots of copper which we could use for change". As the banks were closed, for a couple more days, this made sense. But Goldilocks wasn't due in work the next day. Would he be dropping the change in work?? He went back in to get the cash counter whilst we all waited outside.

Goldilocks came back and we were all set to go home. My dad had come to pick me up as there was no way I was waiting for a bus in the freezing cold after that nightmare shift when I was having another nightmare shift the day after. I offered Goldilocks a lift as he lived on the way.

The next morning, I was 45 minutes late. I got there at 7:45am instead of 7am. Turnip was due in at 8am and was already stood outside the shop waiting to get in. I didn't apologise to him for being late. He was a turnip. I don't apologise to turnips.

Anyway, me and turnip rushed around...well, I rushed around, turnip was his usual static self and I tried to get as much done as I possibly could. The time went really fast. When you need time, it always seems to go fast. When it came to just before 9am, the turnip wanted to nip to the shop to get cigarettes. I went into the safe to get the tills out and count the floats etc.

I put all the tills out and waited for the turnip to get back from the shop. When he did, a load of customers came pouring into the shop. It got VERY busy with only 2 of us in. None of the sale signs were up and things were a bit out of control. That's what tends to happen when you stay in bed to have a lie-in.

Working with a turnip in a shop full of customers isn't the best way to start any day. It was going to be a very long day. At the time, I didn't realise just how much of an understatement that would be.

At about 10am (when it felt like it should be 3pm), the securicor man came to collect the money. The back doorbell rang. It was still really busy. It rang again. Too busy to leave the shop floor. Again *RING RING* OK OK I am coming. I didn't want to leave the turnip on his own on the shop floor but I had to get the back door. I rushed to it, opened it and was greeted by the usual gormless face of the man who had come to collect all the money we had taken the past few days. Every time that happened, I always wondered why I was being paid so little for all the amount of work I did.

Then came another *RING RING*. This time it was the turnip ringing from behind the tills signalling for help. As well as the gormless one, the turnip had no patience either. *RING RING* as if I hadn't heard it the first time. I told the gormless one to wait as the shop was busy. The gormless one gave me a gormless look.

I came back a minute later and opened the safe. The same safe I had opened before when I took the floats out...and there were no takings.

There were no takings! What the hell??

Were they there before when I took the floats out? I didn't even notice. They must have been? But the safe is pretty small so I would have noticed them surely? And if I didn't notice any money in there before why didn't I do anything?

So I turned to the gormless one. "There's no money."
The gormless one replied "It could have been taken by another security guard".
Yes he was as idiotic as he was gormless. "It is 10am. You are the first security guard here in 4 days."
Again no help whatsoever- "I wonder where it all is then?"

Then there was another "RING RING" from the turnip. The shop was littered with desperate people wanting some cheap bargains and I was needed. The gormless one went. I really didn't have time to think. The assistant manager would be on in an hour and a half. I would have to ask her. She was as useless as the turnip but she was the assistant manager whether I liked it or not. For some reason, she thought she was sex on legs. One time my belt had broke and I said "my pants are falling down" and she replied "is that because you have a huge hard on because I am stood next to you?" She wasn't sex on legs. She looked like a horse and in fact, when I first saw her, I knew her from somewhere and couldn't put my finger on exactly where it was. Then I realised where it was from. She had finished fourth in that years' Grand National. We shall call her horseface.

So for the next hour, the shop was so busy with "I've been waiting ages" and "Can you see if you have this in? How about that? Or what about that" and "Is that all my games are worth? I can get more on EBAY" etc etc shut the hell up etc.

At about 11am I rang horseface who had been on her days off (Christmas Eve and Boxing Day-the two busiest days in retail). Now she is one of those people when there is a crisis, she would just make things worse. I didn't understand half of what she said on the phone when I told her. It was just pure panic. When she came in, she first did her make-up. A thing I was used to. I then went in the back and we tried to figure out what could have happened to the money. She didn't even know how much there was and when I told her "£45,000" she nearly fainted. As little help as she always was "Have you checked the safe properly?" The safe was so small, you wouldn't be able to fit more than 5 chickens in. "How many bags were there?" I realised then that I hadn't seen any of the money as the night before I didn't count it and the morning after, I hadn't seen it. So I didn't know the answer to that. We conceded that we would have to call Goldilocks and also the area manager. That day I didn't leave the shop until 8pm.

What ensued after that day for 6 months was constant questioning, re-questioning, sleepless nights, even more questioning. The money was and yet to this day NEVER found. There were no cameras in the whole store which was stupid in itself. The store didn't report it to the police probably because of their own stupidity and not to give the store a bad name. That is the only reason I could think of why they didn't report it to the police which I only found out after I rang them myself to see how it was going. They didn't even know what I was talking about and when I explained to them, they just said "Why didn't you report it at the time?" They were just as useless as the people I worked with.

Could Goldilocks have taken it all the night before? Is that why he wanted me to be in on my own for an hour in the morning? To frame me as I would have no witnesses to back me up? Could Jupiter be in on it? Could the gormless one have taken it when I left him on his own for a minute? But then he would have had to know how to get in the safe. Was it possible for the turnip to have taken it? He wasn't in the night before but was the day after and he did go to the shop before the store opened. But he didn't go near the safe. So it was impossible for him to have taken ALL that money. But the powers that be didn't see it that way and I got made redundant because I didn't do a search on the turnip that morning when he went to the shop. Goldilocks got made redundant because he didn't do a search on the staff the night before. The gormless one made a statement saying that when he came to collect the money, he had never seen me before in his life. He had seen me about 50 times before at least. I didn't understand that. Why lie? Goldilocks and his girlfriend had a baby, went on holiday and bought a LOT of stuff. How the hell could he afford that?

It was an injustice. Somebody, somewhere had this money and I had lost my job because of it. But the point with this second story is that after the whole hooker stealing for years and the truth eventually coming out, I have always said and believed that with this story too-the truth will one day come out. It always does.