The phone rang startling me back to reality as I contemplated my predicament. I had just realized that the cheque I had written for the butcher earlier that morning may not be honoured. I had made an unnecessary purchase for the business the day before.I had gone on a compulsive -plum tomato-buying- spree.I thought it was too good to be true- I,d seen 14 boxes of fresh plum tomatoes being offered at a farmers market for a third of what they,d normally cost and when I found it was no gimmick, I,d bought the whole lot of them without thinking and now I have gone slightly over the allowed overdraft limit . That cheque WILL not be paid.My heart sank at the prospect of that happening. Robert the butcher will kill me. Praise to where it is due,my bank has been magnanimous since the recession. They have accepted to honour cheques when there have been insufficient funds in the account in so far as the agreed sum will be debited into the account within 24 hours of the cheque clearing.But there was no such grand plan of that happening tomorrow. I had no markets until friday . It was a wednesday. What,s a girl to do now? I worried.
"Kiru"? the voice at the other end inquired. "Yes" I answered.
"Robert,s been cheating you he,s been charging you an extra pound per kilo for the meat and chicken and sometimes we have delivered less meat and chicken than your order"
"For how long has this been going on and why now? why are you telling me this now"? I countered. recognizing the voice . It was Stuart, the youthful butcher,s assistant at my butcher,s. "You see I am leaving him soon so either way I have nothing to loose or gain but I thought you should know" My mouth turned dry with anger.Robert was not beyond reproach. On a few occasions when we have disagreed and I have gone to another butcher,I got a larger quantity than I would normally get from Robert for a similar order. But if I had an unexpected order for catering, Robert trumps any other butcher I know in terms of stock availability and prompt delivery .I also do not operate with a written list with my orders.It is not done in a methodical way . I keep it all in my head. . I have been known to wake him up in the middle of the night to amend my order!so that upsetting as this piece of information was, it could not have come at a better time for my predicament. I sighed with relief.The universe was looking out for me. I was going to milk this piece of news for all it is worth in terms of buying me more time to do some more catering and put more funds in the account before that cheque is paid in.I thanked Stuart and hung up.
I dialled Robert,s number. "Hello Trouble" he said. Don,t tell me you want more meat" . He joked."No I don,t " I replied angry that he could cheat on my orders and still feel no qualms about cracking jokes with me." Robert" I called clearing my throat "you have been cheating on my orders" "Don,t talk rubbish" He said. Who told you that"?" I weighed the meat and I am about 7 kilos short on what I ordered." "But you don,t have a weighing machine in your unit Kiru so how can you come to that conclusion" He fired back at me."What makes you think I don,t have a weighing machine" I asked. "Cos I know every equipment in your unit" he then proceeded to mention them one after another ;"one heavy duty microwave, two Williams freezers, one chest Freezer ".." Stop" I reprimanded him getting really wound up now that he thinks I have no proof and not wanting to reveal who my informant was.This wasn,t going as smoothly as I thought it might. I must have the upper hand I thought. I am the one who has been wronged. I am the customer and the customer is always right. I have to hit the nail on the head and tell him exactly how I want this issue to be resolved though I am not sure that I can trust him again or whether I will continue to buy from him. "Listen Robert " I said,my voice an octave higher than normal .I think this has been going on for a long time and that now you,ve been found out I must be compensated.Let,s start with the cheque I gave you this morning. I have now cancelled it. You must go back and revise the bill and come back to me with an offer as to how I am to be compensated."don,t cancel the cheque I will give you credit of some sort for your order next week" I told him there was not going to be any further order and that I cannot trust him anymore. He then seemed subdued and said he wanted to come and see me in my unit.
Two hours later, he arrived at the unit bearing two square shaped cardboard boxes containing raw meat."There" he said as he dropped them on my work top. I am sorry if you think I have cheated you . "You can come and talk to Stuart and the other guys and they,ll confirm that nothing like that is going on"...... Seems like I have to oust Stuart to get a confession from Robert but in the meantime I have a few days grace to worry about a probably reduced figure cheque!
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