The angry-est day of my life..

Friday. Good friday, it was a holiday, a supposedly perfectly fine day. I had booked a car, reserved tables at popular restaurants for lunch and dinner at Brighton, and planned a perfectly wonderful car trip down.

The trip was planned to perfection, collect the car at 11 sharp, drive down about 1hr 45 min, arrive for lunch at 1pm, spend an hour an a half there, before walking around The Lanes enjoying the atmosphere, the small cobbled streets, the shopping experience, before heading up to the Royal Pavillion for some touristy stuff, and ending the walkabout with a sumptous dinner at Gingerman's, supposedly the best restaurant in Brighton.

The trip was planned to perfection, but alas, unexpected things always crop up.

First the queue was very long. I arrived at 1030, expecting to collect the car by 11. But in the end I was at the counter at 12pm.

Then the bloody agent told me that I needed my passport.

I pointed at the booking voucher and said that nowhere is it printed I need my passport.

He went behind and spoke to his manager, then came back out and said that a proof of address will do, like a utility bill of sorts.

Does anyone go around with a utility bill of sorts in your bag or wallet? Well, I obviously didn't have a proof of address, and once more explained its not printed on the booking voucher. The voucher said to bring
- Printout of the booking voucher
- Driving license
- Photographic identification
Of which I had all of them. But they still wanted a passport or a utility bill.

I was angry of course, and I tried all sorts of means to convince them. Call my bank, I suggested, here's my friend's bill, I suggested. I'll pay more for my deposit. The manager refused to budge.

I asked her why she was so obstinate.

She said she'll lose her job if she allowed me to take the car.

I asked her, "do you think I'll steal the car?"

She said, in a very patronising tone, "I don't mean to be derogatory, sir, but there's such thing as theft."

F**king b*tch. It was an incredible feat I managed to keep my cool and not give her one tight slap.

I complained about waiting an 90 minutes just to get told that I don't have the documentation.

She said her agents have been working here since 8am.

I said thats their job.

She said don't interrupt. She said I held back her agent and I'm wasting their time when they could serve other customers.

I said I only held her agent for 5 minutes, and how long have they been holding me up?

She said she and her team have turned back many people without the proper documentation, that people like that have been wasting their time and holding the queue.

I said perhaps thats because it isn't properly specified that we need a passport or a proof of address. If that was so then everything would run smoothly.

She said that its specified in the terms and conditions.

I said it was fine print, who would read it.

She said its not fine print. Its 8 pages long.

8 pages long! who'll read 8 pages of terms and conditions to rent a car, I said.

She said if I read it I would have brought the documents.

Anyway, by then I was so exasperated at her and her obstinate logic that I decided to stop talking to her. Talking to her was like talking to a wall, except that this wall made your blood boil.

In the end we called off the whole trip. Went for lunch at west hamstead and walked around regent's park and camden town instead. I didn't get a refund of course.

I've never been so pissed with somebody in my life. Never been met with such rubbish customer service.

I swear I'll write in to complain. I'll keep up the complaints until something satisfactory is done. I don't even want my money back. I've got her name down. She's going down...