Organ Grinders And Monkey's Come To Mind

Remember the old saying "I want to talk to the organ grinder, not the monkey." It was generally used to convey the fact that you wanted to make your complaint known to the head of an organisation not one of his minions. I was reading an article the other day that brought this phrase to mind.

The story evolved around Dorothy Jean Green, a 79 year old grandmother, and retired primary school teacher. Mrs Green took out a life insurance policy with Norwich Union in 1994, which guaranteed a pay out of £56,400 in the event of her death. But over the last six years Norwich Union have been reducing the sum insured, now down to £26,000. This figure was advised to Mrs Green in a letter she received last month, stating the new sum assured would be introduced unless she was prepared to face soaring premiums. Mrs Green tried to contact Norwich Union by telephone, but dozens of calls later and after three hours on the telephone, she was getting nowhere. A frustrated Mrs Green boarded a train at Peterborough and travelled 130 miles to the Norwich Union offices in York. She asked to see Mark Hodges, chief executive of the company, in person. Staff at the York office refused to let her see Mr Hodges, but she returned three days later with the same request. Office staff called the police, and Mrs Green was arrested and spent a few hours in the cells. After spending the night at a hotel, Mrs Green returned to the offices the following day. Again, the staff refused her access to the chief executive, saying Mr Hodges would not see her. In what can only be described as a stroke of genius, Mrs Green then contacted the police and reported Mr Hodges - as a missing person. During this final visit, Mrs Green, in an attempt to attract attention, stood outside the offices with a placard around her neck, on which was written Dorothy Jean Green. To avoid any further bad publicity and embarrassment, bosses at the insurance company finally agreed to reinstate the original amount of the policy. I take my hat off to this determined lady, she flushed out the organ grinders who were hiding behind the monkey's.