This cautionary tale about a late takeaway curry went viral because it had a lesson for us all
The estimable @mooseallain had a story to tell on Twitter and lots of people shared it because it had a twist and a moral at the end of it.
1.
I'm going to tell you a story that I'm afraid doesn't reflect well on me. But it's a cautionary tale and hopefully you will benefit from my telling of it. This happened yesterday.
— MꙬse Allain (@MooseAllain) April 18, 2018
2.
I was checking my bank statements when I noticed something odd. A couple of months ago I’d ordered a take away curry via curriesonline. It was a memorable occasion because there’d been… I wouldn’t say an altercation, but I’d been extremely annoyed.
— MꙬse Allain (@MooseAllain) April 18, 2018
3.
You see, the curry had turned up 2 HOURS LATE, despite the fact I’d phoned up several times and received assurances it was on its way. You can understand I was a bit miffed. The film we’d wanted to watch was long since ended. We eventually ate in terse silence.
— MꙬse Allain (@MooseAllain) April 18, 2018
4.
Anyway, this is by-the-by, except that it partly explains what occurred. I noticed only a couple of days later there was another transaction with the website. And this time it was for more than £300. I hadn’t ordered any more curry, certainly not that quantity.
— MꙬse Allain (@MooseAllain) April 18, 2018
5.
The only explanation was that they’d been equally annoyed with me (surely I’d been polite, if exasperated?) and taken money from my account! Unbelievable! My more rational mind realised it must be a mistake.
— MꙬse Allain (@MooseAllain) April 18, 2018
6.
But how? You don’t just accidentally transfer money out of someone’s account. Perhaps it was a glitch with the website. The only way to resolve it was to phone them up. If they weren’t willing to be helpful I was prepared to accuse them of… what? Stealing my money?
— MꙬse Allain (@MooseAllain) April 18, 2018
7.
If it came to that, yes. But let’s not be hasty. I found their number with some difficulty. They no longer seemed to be using the website I’d ordered through. This increased my suspicions. I dialled, quite angry again thinking about my previous encounter.
— MꙬse Allain (@MooseAllain) April 18, 2018
8.
At first it said number not recognised. Had the business closed, was it all part of a scam? I dialled again. No reply. And again. The same. Useless. By now I had resolved to drive down there and talk to them in person, assuming they were still in business.
— MꙬse Allain (@MooseAllain) April 18, 2018