THE pressures of modern life are getting to us.

For some, the answer is to hide one’s intellectual light under a bushel.

A friend who visited a drive-in restaurant – it might have been McDonald’s, I’m not committing myself – paid a £4.20 bill with a fiver and a 20p piece.

“What’s this for?” asked the clerk.

“This way, you can give me back £1,” said my friend.

“I’m going to have to speak to the manager,” said the clerk.

The manager came out and told them that the restaurant ‘didn’t do that kind of thing’.

Didn’t do what kind of thing?

The clerk then gave my friend 80p back in change, and all was well with the world.

In similar vein, a lady in Hertfordshire visited their local fried chicken restaurant and asked for ‘minimal lettuce’ in her taco.

The person behind the counter said they’d only got Iceberg.

The following exchange is said to have taken place at Luton Airport. Surely not.

Our correspondent was checking in when she was asked: “Has anyone put anything in your Šbaggage without your knowledge?’’

To which she replied: “If it was without my knowledge, how would IŠ know?’’Š He smiled knowingly and nodded: “That’s why we ask.’’

We are all guilty of not thinking things through.

Here’s an example of that from a car dealers’, again allegedly in Hertfordshire.

“When my husband and I arrived at our local dealer’s to pick up ourŠ car we were told the keys had been locked in it,’’ said a woman.

“We went to theŠ service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the driver’s door.

“As I watched from the passenger side I instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked.

“‘Hey,’ I announced to the mechanic, ‘it’s open!’

“His reply was: ‘I know. I already did that side.’’’