Reader’s Digest UK – August 2019

I

know I’m shouting because the

woman sitting next to me on the

bus has moved, and several

others are staring. “You can’t be

serious? Please, please tell me this is

a joke?” I ask as I put my head in my

hands. The well-spoken man at the

other end of the phone isn’t fazed by

my disbelief.

“No, sir,” he says, clearly holding

back his annoyance. “I assure you,

I’m very serious. Will you be paying

by credit card?” I’m not sure what I

can say to make it clearer that I’m

not going to pay, regardless of the

methods on offer. “Well, then you

leave us no option but to call the

police, sir.” I roll my eyes. Now what

am I going to do? I’m on my way

home from work and I really don’t

want to have to be sorting this all out

now. This is all Marina’s fault. For one

of the richest women in the world,

she’s very bad at paying her bar bills.

In many ways she’s very generous

with her unparalleled wealth. She

frequently goes into town and spends

vast amounts of money on friends,

family, or indeed anyone she happens

to meet along the way. As with so many

people with true wealth, she’s not

showy about it—in fact, you’d almost be

mistaken for thinking she was a

31-year-old living in a council flat,

receiving Disability Living Allowance.

Of course, you wouldn’t be mistaken;

you’d be absolutely correct. Marina

isn’t a millionaire. In fact, she’s in lots

of debt. But this doesn’t worry her,

especially not today when it appears

she went into a very famous hotel and

ordered £300 worth of champagne.

The sequence of events was becoming

clear as I listened to the man. After

she’d finished the champagne, the bill

came. She then looked in her purse

and, without batting an eye lid,

explained Dr Max would be paying

the bill, and promptly gave them the

ward telephone number. The baffled

This month Dr Max Pemberton’s work on the mental

health ward finds him footed with a £300 premium

champagne bill...

Highs and Lows

Max is a hospital doctor,

author and columnist. He

currently works full time

in mental health for the

NHS. His latest book is a

self-help guide to using

CBT to stop smoking

H E A LTH

50 • AUGUST 2019