Dove, I agree that many will have been meant ironically and a number of examples I read were clearly that, but I worked with a woman who went on holiday to Bali about 25 years ago. She said she wouldn't go back because "the place was hot and dusty, and there were poor people everywhere."
I put down my handbag in a shop yesterday and walked out without it - complete panic when I realised what I'd done but a very kind woman and her daughter had handed it in over the counter - phew! There's some lovely people about.
Not unrelated, I was in John Lewis not so long ago a person at the front of the queue got a bit flustered while paying and excused herself to the cashier saying she was having a ‘senior moment’. “No dear,” said the very pukka lady behind in a cut glass accent, “it’s a craft moment - can’t remember a f*****g thing”.
We leave our keys/bags/purchases/glasses/change at the cash desk - we’ve all done it - and walk out of the shop. If it happens in reverse it is called shoplifting.
I was at a cash machine outside my bank a few years ago. Nobody at the machine but I couldn't get my card in. For some reason, rather than just walking away to find another machine, I pressed the 'Cancel' button and a card was ejected. I grabbed it and went straight into the bank. There was a lady at the customer service desk panicking that her card had been eaten by the machine. I leant past her and handed the card to the staff member and asked if it might belong to this lady. It did, and she was very happy to get it back.
Why it hadn't been rejected or properly held is an unknown but the outcome could have been very different.
I was devastated when I broke one of my two remaining favourite teacups/mugs, had them for years and never found any suitable substitutes despite regularly checking shops and on-line.
Decided to have another look and found the very thing! Then saw an e-mail telling me I had won on the Premium Bonds! Easy decision - more teacups
"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." Sir Terry Pratchett
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👍 @Hostafan1
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
We leave our keys/bags/purchases/glasses/change at the cash desk - we’ve all done it - and walk out of the shop. If it happens in reverse it is called shoplifting.
Decided to have another look and found the very thing! Then saw an e-mail telling me I had won on the Premium Bonds! Easy decision - more teacups