Prepare for the worst...

There's a well-known aphorism when facing a crisis, or preparing for some new encounter: Prepare for the worst, but expect the best.

Somehow I always manage to forget that last part.

We went excitedly to collect our newly framed pictures this morning. They looked very nice indeed, as far as we could tell with them swathed in bubble-wrap, and I left the shop thinking that I'd be happy to recommend their services. That was until we arrived home and unwrapped them. Because at least three of them are destined for the bathroom - a very well-lit room where the picture-hanging walls are perpendicular to the windows - we'd ordered them with non-reflective glass. It wasn't.

Quite apart from the fact that you pay quite a premium for NRG, we simply couldn't see anything of the picture when we held them up in position. Just a reflection of the windows. I took them back, and on the way there I was busy "preparing for the worst." In this respect I'm an absolute 100% true Brit. I *hate* complaining. I was imagining all sorts of confrontation - denial that we'd ordered them with NRG; claims that what was in the frames WAS NRG (I even took an example with me just in case, although I left it in the car as a backup, not wanting the guy to think I assumed he didn't know the difference); refusal to do anything about it since I'd already paid in full - all these things rattled round my head as I parked up and carried the seven framed pictures back into the shop.

I rang the bell for attention and the framer approached.

"I've got a problem."
"Oh?"
"Yes. We ordered these with non-reflective glass. It isn't."
"That'll be entirely my fault then. Leave it with me and I'll redo them and give you a call when they're ready."

As simple as that. No hassle, no argument, just total professionalism. The "best," in fact, that I should have expected.