Bemused & Amused

Yesterday I checked my bank account and noticed that £122.50 had come out of my account. Upon checking further I saw that this was taken by the SIA, and it was the amount that they had rejected, as being not enough, when I first applied for my licence renewal. They had returned the cheque to me. I was confused as to why they would take this (lesser) amount out of my account and so I phoned them.
I was laughing my head off when I was told by the person at their call center that it was because I was paying for a second licence (the reason why I thought I was entitled to pay the lower amount in the first place). I explained the situation carefully to the person on the other end of the line and they checked and explained that, because my primary licence had now expired the other licence becomes my primary licence. Therefore, as I am applying for the (now) secondary licence it is half price! Does that make sense to you?
So, my advice to all people with two licences is:
When renewing your primary licence, if you are able to arrange it, let it expire first and then you can renew it at half price. Then, do the same with your other licence, which would then be your new primary licence. It saves quite a bit of money.
I don't know if I have explained that properly, but it is absolutely crazy, but that sums up the idiotic SIA quite well.
The end result is that I get to pay half price for my licence renewal, which is what I believed I should be able to do in the first place, but was told I couldn't. It is great news, but I could have done without the stress that I went through in the meantime!!
I would be ecstatic, but I am still over £300 short on my wages as my holiday pay has still not been put into my account. Hopefully it will be there for Monday, but I am not really expecting it to be as my employers are about as efficient as the SIA are!! To give an example of this, I ripped the shoulder of my (one and only) uniform jacket during the course of my duties about 6 weeks ago. I am still waiting for a replacement jacket. It's not even as if I am an unusual size!

Like I said, IDIOTS!