The rice was better today but still a bit hard. I had to add water a few times during the cooking process. It seemed sort of okay by the end so I stopped but I should have kept going with the water adding.

Continuing the working out too. The pain seems a bit worse in my left arm now. And I get a slight pain in my right arm too. Only when I extend the arm. It was much harder getting to 300 reps today. All part of the process, though. It's an indication that it's working.

And 15 big ones are coming my way via a gift card from Sainsbury's. I complained about a staff member.

I thought long and hard if I should complain because I've seen this guy many times, it's an old man, and it's my go-to shop. But on the other hand, he was insulting. I have a responsibility to complain.

So I wrote to Sainsbury's corporate headquarters:

Hello. I went to the (local) Sainsbury's today at 11.00. The cashier was a gentleman with short white hair, glasses, and a distinctive Scottish accent.

I gave him what I thought was a voucher. He looked at it and said, "Sir, this means that you paid less. Green means that you paid less, brown means that you paid more."

He was condescending but I said, "I'm sorry" and took the slip back.

Then he continues, "Simple rules for" and he stopped himself but the ending is clearly "simple people."

I recently moved to Scotland. In my experience, this programme where you get a voucher if you would have paid more in Asda or whatever doesn't exist in England. Also, in my few months of shopping at this Sainsbury's they only give you this slip if it's a voucher.

I sympathise with this guy. It's perhaps not a job that he wants to do. But we all have to be civil to each other, particularly those working in customer service. There was no need to be insulting. I'm always polite to people who work customer service and I expect the same.

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So I got a fairly lengthy, personal reply. It contains some of the usual corporate buzzwords but they apologised and said if I send them my address they'll send a giftcard. I don't know if that means a Sainsbury's giftcard or what.

I don't do this for the giftcards, though. I enjoy because it's my responsbility to complain. When I experience aberrant behaviour by an employee of an establishment I'm patroning, I have a duty to report it.

I suspect that it's a cultural thing. My friend pointed out, while I was complaining to a manager of a cinema about rowdy kids, that "English people don't complain." I took it as an insult and said, "This is why the service is so terrible here" but she didn't mean it as an insult. She was just stating a fact.

Another example, I regularly complained about an obnoxious work colleague to my pseudo-employer. She said, "I keep you two separated as much as possible. I don't know why you keep complaining. What else can I do?"

I said, "I don't expect you to do anything. These are complaints."

The very notion is totally alien to people in "Great" Britain. They just accept being shit on. And indeed, this is why the service is so poor here.

Jobs in customer service are among the lowest paid and I take no pleasure in making these complaints because I know that people probably don't like their jobs. But there's other work out there. You don't enjoy working with the public, I fully understand. Then find a job more suited to your skillset. They're out there.

And it's not like I'm going around telling people to go fornicate with themselves. I'm always as polite as I can possibly be with customer service people because I know how crappy their jobs are. So if you still want to give me the business, I'm going to complain. Nothing will be resolved globally but at least that worker might be told that you shouldn't be doing this. And that's enough for me.