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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Action & Adventure
- Subject: Time: PAST/Present/FUTURE
- Published: 08/01/2018
Point Wars
I sat at the table nervously awaiting my interview, with who I am told, is the first person to make a fortune in two years while shopping in Sainsbury's. I can't wait to find out more.
I look up at the clock, the meeting was set for 5. It is already half past! Just as I am preparing to leave a figure approaches, he is wearing a new leather jacket, sunglasses, and a broach on his lapel. As we get closer I see it is in the shape of bee.
I get up out of my chair to greet him. He motioned me to sit down with a dismisive wave of his hand. I introduce myself as Gary Oakenfold, New Money reporter. ''Thank you for seeing me, Mr Delaney, before you go any further I'm sorry I'm late'' he apologizes. The traffic was so busy, what's all this buzz around little old me. I would learn later that 'buzz' was the first of many bee puns he would try and shoe horn into a 2 hour interview. I laughed lightly and looked down at my leather bag, eager to start.
Tell me Mr Delaney, I began, you are 37 years old and you have made a fortune in just 2 years! Can you tell me a bit about that? I expect him to launch and happily answer my questions, but he seemed nervous, almost uneasy. ''Well it was just an ordinary summers day in 2014 when I was in Sainsbury's doing some shopping as normal. When I reach the checkout my friend suggested rather than using my money, I should try using my pollen points. This concept was new to me! I have had the card 4 years and had been scared to use it for a long time, not knowing exactly how to use the card. I did as she asked, scanning the card, and used the points to pay for my shopping. I had accumulated so many that my entire shop was free! It was after this point that things went a bit crazy every time I went in the shop. I would scan my pollen card and got money off my shopping! Before I knew it, I was able to buy all sorts of things including the car I am driving.''
I admit not knowing what to expect from the interview with Mr Delaney. I was skeptical when my boss assigned it to me. I guess I had a pre-conceived notion of what a person who had made lots of money through some 'get rich' scheme would be like. However, this was different. His comment about a car stopped me in my tracks.
"You got a car using pollen points?!" ''Yes, it was a promotion. If you had so many points, you could get a car and that's what I've been driving ever since.'' I got up to leave. "Thank you Mr Delaney, I will type up my notes and give them to you for a final approval. 'Thank you' he said, smiling as he shook my hand.
I walked out of the restaurant, breathed a sigh of relief and got into my car. There was a gentle tapping sound, I did not know where it came from at first. I gradually realised that I was still bent over the steering wheel of my car. There was a man tapping on the side of my window. I couldn't work it out. I rolled down the window. 'Sir' he said, 'could you please move along, you can't sleep here.' Sleep? Had I been asleep? Had this all been a dream? I looked out at the building I thought I had conducted the interview in moments earlier. The place was completely gutted! What was going on?!
I gradually remembered the reality of the situation. The interview had been conducted 30 years earlier and I had come back here to see the devastation for myself. No one could of survived that, no one. When the article had come out back in 2018, about the first point millionaire, everybody had gone crazy in the matter of weeks, everybody wanted free things! They had formed orderly ques in the beginning but, pretty soon, the orderly ques had broken down. People began to push and shove to get to the front. There was so much pushing and shoving that eventually, there were men, women and even children being trampled on. Oh my god, the children! I shake my head to rid myself of the images.
Pretty soon, the world had run out of points and there was no more points to be had. But still people wanted more! When the supermarkets realised this, they opened as many tills as they could to help with the sudden floods of people who had come across from the self check-outs that were no longer working because the demand was too much. This had led to the media, calling the phase, 'Point Wars'.
I drove back to office, still stunned that I had re-lived the whole thing. Why had I gone back? I had wanted to see for myself I guess. I couldn't believe that the whole restaurant had gone up. There were groups now that wanted to wipe out all traces of the point system and go back to the old way of doing things. I got out of my car totally disillusioned. I thought my ears were playing tricks on me as I heard that familiar phrase from so many years ago...'unexpected item in baggage area'.
Point Wars(Christopher Long)
Point Wars
I sat at the table nervously awaiting my interview, with who I am told, is the first person to make a fortune in two years while shopping in Sainsbury's. I can't wait to find out more.
I look up at the clock, the meeting was set for 5. It is already half past! Just as I am preparing to leave a figure approaches, he is wearing a new leather jacket, sunglasses, and a broach on his lapel. As we get closer I see it is in the shape of bee.
I get up out of my chair to greet him. He motioned me to sit down with a dismisive wave of his hand. I introduce myself as Gary Oakenfold, New Money reporter. ''Thank you for seeing me, Mr Delaney, before you go any further I'm sorry I'm late'' he apologizes. The traffic was so busy, what's all this buzz around little old me. I would learn later that 'buzz' was the first of many bee puns he would try and shoe horn into a 2 hour interview. I laughed lightly and looked down at my leather bag, eager to start.
Tell me Mr Delaney, I began, you are 37 years old and you have made a fortune in just 2 years! Can you tell me a bit about that? I expect him to launch and happily answer my questions, but he seemed nervous, almost uneasy. ''Well it was just an ordinary summers day in 2014 when I was in Sainsbury's doing some shopping as normal. When I reach the checkout my friend suggested rather than using my money, I should try using my pollen points. This concept was new to me! I have had the card 4 years and had been scared to use it for a long time, not knowing exactly how to use the card. I did as she asked, scanning the card, and used the points to pay for my shopping. I had accumulated so many that my entire shop was free! It was after this point that things went a bit crazy every time I went in the shop. I would scan my pollen card and got money off my shopping! Before I knew it, I was able to buy all sorts of things including the car I am driving.''
I admit not knowing what to expect from the interview with Mr Delaney. I was skeptical when my boss assigned it to me. I guess I had a pre-conceived notion of what a person who had made lots of money through some 'get rich' scheme would be like. However, this was different. His comment about a car stopped me in my tracks.
"You got a car using pollen points?!" ''Yes, it was a promotion. If you had so many points, you could get a car and that's what I've been driving ever since.'' I got up to leave. "Thank you Mr Delaney, I will type up my notes and give them to you for a final approval. 'Thank you' he said, smiling as he shook my hand.
I walked out of the restaurant, breathed a sigh of relief and got into my car. There was a gentle tapping sound, I did not know where it came from at first. I gradually realised that I was still bent over the steering wheel of my car. There was a man tapping on the side of my window. I couldn't work it out. I rolled down the window. 'Sir' he said, 'could you please move along, you can't sleep here.' Sleep? Had I been asleep? Had this all been a dream? I looked out at the building I thought I had conducted the interview in moments earlier. The place was completely gutted! What was going on?!
I gradually remembered the reality of the situation. The interview had been conducted 30 years earlier and I had come back here to see the devastation for myself. No one could of survived that, no one. When the article had come out back in 2018, about the first point millionaire, everybody had gone crazy in the matter of weeks, everybody wanted free things! They had formed orderly ques in the beginning but, pretty soon, the orderly ques had broken down. People began to push and shove to get to the front. There was so much pushing and shoving that eventually, there were men, women and even children being trampled on. Oh my god, the children! I shake my head to rid myself of the images.
Pretty soon, the world had run out of points and there was no more points to be had. But still people wanted more! When the supermarkets realised this, they opened as many tills as they could to help with the sudden floods of people who had come across from the self check-outs that were no longer working because the demand was too much. This had led to the media, calling the phase, 'Point Wars'.
I drove back to office, still stunned that I had re-lived the whole thing. Why had I gone back? I had wanted to see for myself I guess. I couldn't believe that the whole restaurant had gone up. There were groups now that wanted to wipe out all traces of the point system and go back to the old way of doing things. I got out of my car totally disillusioned. I thought my ears were playing tricks on me as I heard that familiar phrase from so many years ago...'unexpected item in baggage area'.
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