The grumpy thread

[SiC]

Not sure why anyone would want to completely disable windows update nowadays. Especially on a home machine that isn't under WSUS and someone employed specifically to check it all works. Yes they're a pain when it needs an update and reboot, but that's far less than having malware get on because of an unpatched zero day exploit.

[Pillock]

I've not changed group policy and mine just waits until I next manually reboot it to update...

[Slappy]

Sigh.... insurance....

 

Please bear in mind that it's only the 2nd time I'm purchasing a car, and the first time I've needed to significantly alter my insurance part way through the year (excluding address changes).

 

Rang last Friday, queried as to how much changing to my new car would be. I had all the details, so had some certainty. The only thing was that I wanted to put my current car onto a temp cover for a month with a renewal date of November. So I was quoted £57 for the premium increase including the admin fee, plus £80 for temp cover for the month, coming to £137. Fair enough.

 

Rang again last night to re-quote, but purely to swap one car on my policy for another, no temp period.... £117. How the thundering fuck does my risk increase by £60 in a week?!?! Market forces I was told. Little choice but to swallow it, as the current owner is stressing about the sale as her cover ceases today.

 

Needless to say that even if my present insurer is still offering best value for money come renewal time in November, I won't be staying with them...

 

My gf suggested that I cancelled my entire policy there and then, but I am wary of the consequences of doing that down the line in case as surely that would highlight me as a 'flight risk'

[rantingYoof]

Sometimes being honest while selling a car is really difficult.

 

You may* have guessed that I'm trying to sell my S60 at the moment. It's in superb condition inside and out but unfortunately has two flaws...

 

1 - non-functioning air conditioning

2 - slight flywheel rattle

 

Because I've driven umpteen miles to look at a car before after chatting to a seller and discovered something which would have fundamentally affected my decision to go and view it at the price it was advertised at (i.e. such as melted rear seats in an otherwise lovely S80 2.5T), I always mention anything that I would want to know before going to view a car in any advert I write.

 

Today someone rang me back (after ringing me earlier in the week) to say that their mechanic had advised them it would be £500 for parts plus more for labour to fix the 'broken flywheel on the Volvo' and so they were definitely not coming to look at it.

 

While I acknowledge the honesty (they could have just ghosted me), it's frustrating that my careful description of the issue and reassurance both in the advert and over the phone was translated to 'it's fucking fucked mate'.

 

Knowing how they can be, the clutch and flywheel are likely to last a good while longer, particularly if you are sitting at 70mph all day every day. Or, if you decide to tow a caravan with it through Devon it may last one holiday and then explode...

 

Sometimes I think it'd be easier to just advertise it without mentioning these things and let the potential seller sniff it out for themself. But while I don't want to be viewed in the same group as the seller who says 'it's got small problem but doesn't affect car in any way M8' when it's missing third and fourth gear, I also don't want to be viewed in the same group as those who say 'everything's mechanically spot on' when to a trained ear that small flywheel rattle indicates something isn't quite spot on.

 

Or maybe it's just a little saltily priced and I'm in denial...

[dollywobbler]

Know that feeling. It's why I hate selling cars.

[artdjones]

Sometimes being honest while selling a car is really difficult.

 

You may* have guessed that I'm trying to sell my S60 at the moment. It's in superb condition inside and out but unfortunately has two flaws...

 

1 - non-functioning air conditioning

2 - slight flywheel rattle

 

Because I've driven umpteen miles to look at a car before after chatting to a seller and discovered something which would have fundamentally affected my decision to go and view it at the price it was advertised at (i.e. such as melted rear seats in an otherwise lovely S80 2.5T), I always mention anything that I would want to know before going to view a car in any advert I write.

 

Today someone rang me back (after ringing me earlier in the week) to say that their mechanic had advised them it would be £500 for parts plus more for labour to fix the 'broken flywheel on the Volvo' and so they were definitely not coming to look at it.

 

While I acknowledge the honesty (they could have just ghosted me), it's frustrating that my careful description of the issue and reassurance both in the advert and over the phone was translated to 'it's fucking fucked mate'.

 

Knowing how they can be, the clutch and flywheel are likely to last a good while longer, particularly if you are sitting at 70mph all day every day. Or, if you decide to tow a caravan with it through Devon it may last one holiday and then explode...

 

Sometimes I think it'd be easier to just advertise it without mentioning these things and let the potential seller sniff it out for themself. But while I don't want to be viewed in the same group as the seller who says 'it's got small problem but doesn't affect car in any way M8' when it's missing third and fourth gear, I also don't want to be viewed in the same group as those who say 'everything's mechanically spot on' when to a trained ear that small flywheel rattle indicates something isn't quite spot on.

 

Or maybe it's just a little saltily priced and I'm in denial...

Chekhov says that there are only three roadsthat we can choose.If we choose the right hand road the wolves will eat us up.

If we choose the left hand road we will eat up the wolves.If we choose the middle road we'll eat ourselves up.You seem to be taking the middle road.

It's hard to be honest but any other way is worse.

In less philosophical terms I would advise a price reduction of £250.

[rantingYoof]

That's a level of depth I wasn't expecting but really like .

[chaseracer]

Chod and Chekhov, in the same post.

 

This place, etc.

 

[Frogchod]

Glad I read this, didn't know about it. Do a lot of our French holiday driving on roads where that will be in place. In the hills and mountains I doubt it'll be an issue, but 50mph on those lovely straight roads elsewhere?......

There are exceptions. You can still do 90 where there is a central divider (Armco ,concrete, trees etc)

Bizarrely three lane roads without a divider it's 90 on the two lane bit and 80 on the single lane.

 

Yes those long straight roads are boring at 80

 

The Frenchies still manage to crash on them though. Usually after 2pm. ..

[Parky]

Chod and Chekhov, in the same post.

 

This place, etc.

 

“The Nissan Cherry Orchard”

 

That quip is now appearing at the Alhambra Theatre Leeds as part of a farewell tour prior to retirement

[chaseracer]

[Angrydicky]

I don't know why anyone would even consider trying to sell old rammel anywhere but here. My last few car sales have been to shiters, and have been completely straightforward.

[bramz7]

Last car I sold to the public was the Brava and the guy hasn't taxed it in over a month. He also knocked down the price because of the faults in the advert...

[dave21478]

Hottest week on record since the Big Bang? 

Ideal time for a turbocharged dose of the shits.

[loserone]

Not sure why anyone would want to completely disable windows update nowadays. Especially on a home machine that isn't under WSUS and someone employed specifically to check it all works. Yes they're a pain when it needs an update and reboot, but that's far less than having malware get on because of an unpatched zero day exploit.

I lump these people in with anti vaxers.  One or two and they're a mild risk to themselves, but once they start to increase in number they become a danger to everyone.

[dozeydustman]

Had a barney with the wife last night (first one in 5 years of being together), woke up at half 7 in a mood and stomach aches. Mrs didn't remember anything of last night because of heat, wine and being tired.

 

Gutaches cleared, had breakfast, did some gardening, mood lightened.

 

Went to a friend's place for a charity fundraiser bbq. I collapsed and went all clammy skinned, delirious and puking. Taken to a&e by car, one round of blood tests later plus much water & electrolyte drinks, turns out I was suffering with hyponatremia, which is dangerously low salt levels in my blood. I have seriously cut down on salting my food, and eating not much apart from lean meat, fresh veg and fruit for the last 10 months has taken its toll. Being ridiculously hot and drinking mainly water for the last 3 weeks has over diluted my blood.

 

Got to now keep a salt intake diary and speak to my GP about it just in case there is something more serious with me.

[eifion]

Driving for a while this afternoon behind a brand new Mini (sorry MINI) with rear lights that lit up with a Union Jack pattern but a dampener on what was otherwise a pleasant run out in my 205.

[SiC]

Driving for a while this afternoon behind a brand new Mini (sorry MINI) with rear lights that lit up with a Union Jack pattern but a dampener on what was otherwise a pleasant run out in my 205.

Horrific aren't they? In terms of German automotive gimmicks, I much prefer the scrolling Audi indicators. Just.

[sierraman]

Quite honestly the clutch would be a turn off for most. Advertising it in bumtree I'd simply not tell them. Most of those turning up would be these 'experts' that know it all anyway. Seeing as they are 'pro' buyers anyway they ought to fucking know. Fuck em.

[SierraMikeHotel]

Big family barbecue tomorrow for the wife's birthday. That's the perfect fucking day for the fridge to break, isn't it?

 

In a really infuriating way, too: it works perfectly fine, but one of the hinges has failed in such a way that it refuses to shut.

 

Fortunately we have another fridge...

[SierraMikeHotel]

My brother-in-law has suggested a g-clamp but we don't have one that fits.

[xtriple]

Think I've had enough.

 

Yesterday, helped a neighbour by taking him to hospital, when we got there, he said he expected me to bring him home, which was not arranged, the dogs were in the car and it was HOT, so I didn't really fancy hanging around for an indeterminate amount of time. I gave him my number and said to call when he was finished and if I could, I'd come back and pick him up.

 

You would have thught I'd smacked him in the face.

 

So I hung around for the best part of an hour then had to go to meet my mate with wife problems, tried to ring neighbour but he didn't pick up. Rang again later to see where he was, still no answer.

 

Went and met mate, had a good chat about various relationship problems and his new dates he's been on (it seems 'Match.com' works), advice and man hugs given and then sat on the grass with dogs. A lass wanders over and starts chatting, pretty lass, nice dog, getting along fine, mate wanders off and sits alone for a few minutes then comes back, declares he's off and leaves, I tried to stop him/get him to sit and chat (this lass wouldn't sod off!) but he just went. Now he's not talking to me either! Apparently I'm a 'bad friend' and should be 'ashamed of myself'.

 

So I tried to do good things and now the very people I tried to help hate me.

 

To compound all this, I have plagued myself with 'bad' dreams ever since: basically me telling me what a c)))t I am and not worthy of friends at all.

 

Properly depressed today and just ready to hand my cards in.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

.....helped a neighbour by taking him to hospital, when we got there, he said he expected me to bring him home...

It's the sense of entitlement that would piss anyone off.

[STUNO]

Think I've had enough.

 

Yesterday, helped a neighbour by taking him to hospital, when we got there, he said he expected me to bring him home.

You would have thought I'd smacked him in the face.

 

So I tried to do good things and now the very people I tried to help hate me.

 

 

You need to give up being nice to people who don't appreciate help and well meant advice  

If someone gives me advice I don't want about something, I thank them then carry on being stupid/totally wrong .

[beko1987]

Yea thats out of order, I would have done the same tbh (unless they had made it clear they wanted me to stay and asked accordingly...) drop off, call me when your done and I'll come and get you etc. Don't feel bad Mr Triple

[dave21478]

Yesterday I found that internet and phone are down at work. You are supposed to use an app to diagnose the fault yourself these days but without internet how do you download the app if you are in the middle of nowhere with a gash mobile signal?, so those of you who know my fondness* for technology can already imagine my temper at this point.

After humpfing up to the top of the tower and waving the phone in the air I finally got the app, and trudged back down to where the modem is where after 5 minutes of "tests in progress, please wait" it said it didnt know what the fuck the problem was. 

Brilliant.

I found a phone number which led to a menu system but rather than the usual "press one for sales, press two to speak to the canteen dinner ladies, press three for billing...." you have to talk to the robot woman who uses voice recognition to completely ignore what you want and connect you to some department that will be no use. So after going through various combinations of "technical problem", "faulty line", "internet doesnt work" and so on, and getting replies like "we will connect you to online banking" and "you want to change your offer? we will connect you to sales..." it turns out that screaming "fucking cunt" at your telephone loud enough to hurt your own throat seems to transfer you to a person.

A few minutes later and the diagnosis is apparently a line fault somewhere in the area and it will be fixed sometime in the next three weeks. U FUKKIN WOT M8? Three weeks? They said as a goodwill gesture they would loan an "airbox" to access internet via 3g/4g, which is fuck-all use when the signal doesnt really work indoors, but whatever, maybe I can wedge it on a windowsill or something. Unfortunately this has to be collected from the nearest Orange shop which is a 40 minute drive away, so I braved the boiling heat and Saturday afternoon crowds to go into town.

You know those old-timey paintings of purgatory and the seven circles of hell and stuff like that full of people being ass-fucked by goat-headed demons and children being decapitated and folk disemboweling themselves? they are pretty much a realtime snapshot of the shopping centre on a Saturday afternoon on the first day of the summer holidays. I fought my way through the melee, into the Orange shop, waited fucking ages to get served, had the box thrust at me by the sour-faced slagbucket and fought my way back to the car, which had been keyed. Again. 

This morning I fired up this magic box and connected to it, where it asked for the security key...ok, whats the key? I scoured the box, the booklet, every bit of paper there is, the bottom of the thing itself...tried every combination of numbers I could find all to no avail.

Luckily its Sunday and the shop will be closed as I would right now be standing in the Orange shop again making a scene, because I have just seen that the key is printed on the inside of the things battery cover. That would have been embarrassing.

 

Anyway, it doesnt work worth a fuck unless you hang out the kitchen window with it, so all for nowt.

[Richard]

I was away on holiday from the 29th of June and arrived home at midnight last night. I checked my emails and found that I had been sent one on the 29th to tell me I'm going to be in Shetland all week, not coming back until next Saturday morning, when I have another job to do that I was told rather than asked about.

 

I am contracted to work from 8:30 to 4:30, and 3:30 on a Friday. We used to be told when nights away or Saturdays were coming up so we could discuss the best way to fit them in. Now it seems to just get booked in, and it's our responsibility to tell the work if we had any plans.

 

There's also the issue that I was guilt-tripped into cancelling the second week of my holiday because another engineer was going away and two of us can't be off at once- except somebody else has been given the week that I had to cancel.

 

It feels like the piss is being taken here and I'm about to send an email to the management with what I think are reasonable demands along the lines of

 

Give us a copy of the list of work that's generated at the start of each month. We used to get it, and it gave us some warning about overnights and Saturdays.

 

No overnight or Saturday work to be booked without consulting the engineer, preferably at least a week in advance.

 

If we say that we won't be able to fit in the jobs that have been booked in for a day, don't automatically assume we are being lazy and don't give us attitude when we don't get all the jobs done. I started at 5am one day in an attempt to get everything done because I had things to do in the evening and I still didn't get home until 8pm, and that was with no breaks. 

 

 

 

Are these unreasonable things to ask for? 

[Lankytim]

I think those Union flag rear lights on some Minis are pretty snazzy. Made me smile when I first saw them. No idea why they would upset anyone.

[Guest Hooli]

Because it's a german car and not a mini.

[Des]

Imagine the outcry if Reliant had bought the Trabant factory, did a re-design tripling size and incorporating 'snazzy' tail lamp assemblies in the shape of a rotating Swastika.