Systems Implementation
This is about the night German Shepherd guard dogs trapped me.
One time I had to implement a system at my client‘s client‘s base in Oxfordshire when I lived in London.
I didn‘t want to stay two nights so I stayed late at the user‘s office to implement the system till about nine o‘clock.
It was out in the wilds and I was told that there was a bed and breakfast in a village 10 miles away and I could get a taxi in the village.
German Shepherd Guard Dogs
As I was about to leave I saw a German Shepherd at the glass door looking in.
Yes, it and others were there as security dogs at night.
I‘m glad I saw it before I went out or I could have been mincemeat.
What to do?
How was I going to get out and over to the B&B?
Everyone else had gone home – except me and the German Shepherd guard dogs
Local Taxi Company
I phoned up Directory Enquiries and got a local taxi to come to the door to pick me up and take me to the village 10 miles away.
It came right up to the door and I hotfooted it as quickly as I could into the passenger seat and we were away.
The taxi took me to the village and right outside the door of the house where they do Bed and Breakfast.
Knocked on the Door
I paid the fare and then knocked on the door.
No answer.
I knocked again.
No answer.
I didn‘t have a Plan B and it was late now, nearly ten o‘clock, and it was wet and cold.
I knocked again.
Chain on the Door
I heard the security chain being put on the door and then it opened as far as the chain would let it.
‘Yes?’ said the old woman, peering out at me?
I‘m looking for some Bed And Breakfast and I‘m told you do it here.
The door slammed shut without a word.
No Plan B
As I said, I didn‘t have a Plan B.
What should I do?
It was getting late.
Village Pub
I walked up the road and saw that there was a pub in the village.
I thought I would have a pint while I thought about it.
Maybe the pub did Bed and Breakfast.
I asked and they didn‘t.
Predicament in the Pub
However, just as it was getting to closing time the boss came down to close up and they told him about my predicament.
He said that he knew someone else out in the country who might do B&B.
He phoned and they said they would and they actually came and picked me up.
It was a lovely farmhouse with a four poster bed and I had a great breakfast with eggs from the farm in the morning and they got me a taxi back to the workplace.
Guard Dogs Let Loose
I asked the client about the dogs and he said that everyone had to be out by 6 o‘clock as the dogs were let loose then.
He had forgotten to tell me.
It seems that there was a security guard on the premises but I didn‘t see him but it was he who let the taxi driver in and presumably rounded up the dogs.
Contracting Memories
That was a night to remember.
It ended up well but it may not have done.
One lesson to be learned from it is to always ask at interview where you will be working – or you may end up, as I was, trapped in the middle of the wilds in Oxfordshire with German Shepherd guard dogs between myself and the exit.
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