Origins Of Mr Twiddler

Member: Mr Twiddler

Some members may be amused by the tale and origin of ‘Mr. Twiddler’, the name I use on the Forum. I hasten to add that I have no connection with the asaid mentioned, other than by sight.

I recall a service call request from a cusomer who, shall we say, was ‘twopence short of a shilling’. On arrival of the engineer, the customer called out and asked the engineer to walk in. He opened the door and found that the customer was seated next to his wife on the sofa in the living room. At this point he nearly dropped his toolbox. The customer’s wifes exposed breasts were held in her husband’s hand, which he removed briefly to point to where the television was. He then resumed his activities while the engineer attended to repairing the set!

On returning to the workshop the engineer related the experience and said that the customer was twiddling for England and he thought that he was trying to receive Radio1. From that day on the said customers were always referred to as Mr. & Mrs. Twiddler.

Another engineer employed by a local TV rental company ‘Save & View’, was called out to a ‘slanting picture’ fault, caused by untightened scan coils slippage. On arrival, not having any experience of this ‘fault’, he removed a box of matches from his pocket and placed the box under one end of the cabinet. “There you are luv, the pictures straight now”. For some reason or another ‘Save & View’ did not trade for very long!

I remember calling on a customer and was pre-warned that the customer was very odd. I was greeted by the lady and her dog and was led into the sitting room where the set was. On the floor, from the front door to the set was a trail of newspapers. All the seats in the room were covered with dust sheets, I suppose in case I sat on one of them. I then removed the back from the set and the customer departed to the kitchen leaving the dog, I assume to watch me to make sure I didn’t leave the newspaper.

The repair was completed and I proceeded to fit the back but I couldn’t find the back screws. I searched all around even under the newspaper but to no avail. I then quized the customer who departed again to the kitchen, only to return with the screws. It was the dog, obviously it had been trained to keep the room tidy!