I used to hate it when businesses got too chummy, then I met Alan | Adrian Chiles

The man who brought my Amazon package had already handled half a million jobs. He still seemed to be enjoying himself

I have always been against the use of names and personal stuff in commercial transactions. And by that I don't mean someone addressing me by my first name or anything like that; I am on about that business in Starbucks when they demand you identify yourself so they can write your name on a paper cup. For some reason, I have all sorts of problems getting across that my name is Adrian. This might be my accent, which I am told makes my A" sound like an I". You would be amazed how many different spellings there are of my name. I have taken to calling myself Tim, to avoid confusion.

Boden catalogues used to annoy me, too. They would put the models' names next to the photos, which were of no interest to me, and also their favourite film, song, sandwich or whatever. I am not sure if they still do this because I never bought anything from Boden in protest.