The grumpy thread

[eddyramrod]

Shall we talk about benefits?  (Again!!!)

The story so far... I applied for Universal Credit in a somewhat last-ditch attempt to get some benefit, any benefit!, coming in.  I was approved, but told they can't send me any money because Lynne's state pension raises our household income too high.

So... couple of weeks ago they asked me to attend a Work Capability Assessment.  I did that, and the doctor who examined me agreed almost instantly that I'm not fit to work, at all.  Last week I got a message telling me they accepted that and would be sending me £432 on the 14th.  And implicitly, every month thereafter.

Thursday this week, a message arrives telling me they failed to assess Lynne's pension correctly, and therefore will not be sending me £432; not only that, it's too late for the first instalment, that's already gone out, so they are going to have to reclaim it.  How fucking cruel is that???

And then a text arrives from my bank telling me £432 has been paid in.

I think I'm allowed to be grumpy over this mess.

Meanwhile I have an appeal in for PIP.

FFS.
 

[HillmanImp]

10 hours ago, omegod said:

I can confirm that google maps does not work properly in New York, been sent on several wild goose chases this week, bit shit as I like it normally 

OMEGOD after getting lost earlier and knocking on the wrong door 

[meggersdog]

At home relaxing and there is a knock on the door. A large figure is standing at the front door. My nextdoor neighbour is a large gentleman, thinking it was him, I opened the door. Nope, this large gentleman had a strange accent, not Irish not English, an accent of someone you associate with dwelling in caravans. " I'm working in ( another road not far from here) and wondered if you needed any gardening doing"  I had a blitz on the gardens last bank holiday and the front is still fairly tidy. " I can see it's tidy but is there anything around the back "  well yeah there is a massive overgrown hedge  but I am working my way through that. Next it's "what about that old car"  There is a Puegeot 306 N/A diesel behind the front hedge that shat it's Lucas pump and has been there a few years . I have a Bosch pump to fit but it's one of those round tuit jobs. Then "those old slabs ( neatly stacked infront of the Peugeot) are they in your way ? I can get rid of them for you"  Eyes everywhere I just want to tell him to fuck off but he is being polite. Next up " I see you have old cast iron gutters , I can do your facias and gutters for £450-£500 . No I want be going up the ladders ( as he pats his large gut ) . My brother, he'll do it. Other people they want 1200 quid for that"  I ask him for a business card. " ah, I haven't got any with me but I'll call back tomorrow with some samples"  Hmm, we shook hands. 

Yeah very professional. Said his name was John . Before I let anyone work on my house I want to see proper contact details and proof of public liability insurance. " John's " brother is bound to be legit.  Think I might park the car on the road and not answer the door tomorrow. His eyes were everywhere so hopefully he spotted the camara on the wall. It's not connected to anything anymore but still looks good.

[Crackers]

23 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

"No, I'm in Palestine, trying to book squash lessons, duh!"

"Yes, you heard me right. Palestine!"

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Palestine,+Andover/@51.1675451,-1.6325752,2834m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x4873f097432d055b:0xb084e7dae9979507!8m2!3d51.1677884!4d-1.6215912

[Zelandeth]

5 hours ago, meggersdog said:

At home relaxing and there is a knock on the door. A large figure is standing at the front door. My nextdoor neighbour is a large gentleman, thinking it was him, I opened the door. Nope, this large gentleman had a strange accent, not Irish not English, an accent of someone you associate with dwelling in caravans. " I'm working in ( another road not far from here) and wondered if you needed any gardening doing"  I had a blitz on the gardens last bank holiday and the front is still fairly tidy. " I can see it's tidy but is there anything around the back "  well yeah there is a massive overgrown hedge  but I am working my way through that. Next it's "what about that old car"  There is a Puegeot 306 N/A diesel behind the front hedge that shat it's Lucas pump and has been there a few years . I have a Bosch pump to fit but it's one of those round tuit jobs. Then "those old slabs ( neatly stacked infront of the Peugeot) are they in your way ? I can get rid of them for you"  Eyes everywhere I just want to tell him to fuck off but he is being polite. Next up " I see you have old cast iron gutters , I can do your facias and gutters for £450-£500 . No I want be going up the ladders ( as he pats his large gut ) . My brother, he'll do it. Other people they want 1200 quid for that"  I ask him for a business card. " ah, I haven't got any with me but I'll call back tomorrow with some samples"  Hmm, we shook hands. 

Yeah very professional. Said his name was John . Before I let anyone work on my house I want to see proper contact details and proof of public liability insurance. " John's " brother is bound to be legit.  Think I might park the car on the road and not answer the door tomorrow. His eyes were everywhere so hopefully he spotted the camara on the wall. It's not connected to anything anymore but still looks good.

We get this at least once every few weeks round here.  Gets bloody old after a while.

[RoverFolkUs]

6 hours ago, meggersdog said:

At home relaxing and there is a knock on the door. A large figure is standing at the front door. My nextdoor neighbour is a large gentleman, thinking it was him, I opened the door. Nope, this large gentleman had a strange accent, not Irish not English, an accent of someone you associate with dwelling in caravans. " I'm working in ( another road not far from here) and wondered if you needed any gardening doing"  I had a blitz on the gardens last bank holiday and the front is still fairly tidy. " I can see it's tidy but is there anything around the back "  well yeah there is a massive overgrown hedge  but I am working my way through that. Next it's "what about that old car"  There is a Puegeot 306 N/A diesel behind the front hedge that shat it's Lucas pump and has been there a few years . I have a Bosch pump to fit but it's one of those round tuit jobs. Then "those old slabs ( neatly stacked infront of the Peugeot) are they in your way ? I can get rid of them for you"  Eyes everywhere I just want to tell him to fuck off but he is being polite. Next up " I see you have old cast iron gutters , I can do your facias and gutters for £450-£500 . No I want be going up the ladders ( as he pats his large gut ) . My brother, he'll do it. Other people they want 1200 quid for that"  I ask him for a business card. " ah, I haven't got any with me but I'll call back tomorrow with some samples"  Hmm, we shook hands. 

Yeah very professional. Said his name was John . Before I let anyone work on my house I want to see proper contact details and proof of public liability insurance. " John's " brother is bound to be legit.  Think I might park the car on the road and not answer the door tomorrow. His eyes were everywhere so hopefully he spotted the camara on the wall. It's not connected to anything anymore but still looks good.

Ring doorbells are usually pretty good at deterring this sort of thing

[Rusty_Rocket]

19 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Ring doorbells are usually pretty good at deterring this sort of thing

This.  We have visible cameras at work and I also have a CCTV system at home- just small modern cameras that don't look ott but are still easily spotted.

Visits have greatly reduced, John Smith and his brother (also John Smith) don't like being filmed.

[paulplom]

On 5/13/2022 at 9:09 PM, Remspoor said:

GM is a pile of poo. .

I've met @gm on numerous occasions and he's actually a nice guy.

[Remspoor]

42 minutes ago, paulplom said:

I've met @gm on numerous occasions and he's actually a nice guy.

Taken out of context quote....Very Sky news of you.

[New POD]

16 hours ago, meggersdog said:

At home relaxing and there is a knock on the door. A large figure is standing at the front door. My nextdoor neighbour is a large gentleman, thinking it was him, I opened the door. Nope, this large gentleman had a strange accent, not Irish not English, an accent of someone you associate with dwelling in caravans. " I'm working in ( another road not far from here) and wondered if you needed any gardening doing"  I had a blitz on the gardens last bank holiday and the front is still fairly tidy. " I can see it's tidy but is there anything around the back "  well yeah there is a massive overgrown hedge  but I am working my way through that. Next it's "what about that old car"  There is a Puegeot 306 N/A diesel behind the front hedge that shat it's Lucas pump and has been there a few years . I have a Bosch pump to fit but it's one of those round tuit jobs. Then "those old slabs ( neatly stacked infront of the Peugeot) are they in your way ? I can get rid of them for you"  Eyes everywhere I just want to tell him to fuck off but he is being polite. Next up " I see you have old cast iron gutters , I can do your facias and gutters for £450-£500 . No I want be going up the ladders ( as he pats his large gut ) . My brother, he'll do it. Other people they want 1200 quid for that"  I ask him for a business card. " ah, I haven't got any with me but I'll call back tomorrow with some samples"  Hmm, we shook hands. 

Yeah very professional. Said his name was John . Before I let anyone work on my house I want to see proper contact details and proof of public liability insurance. " John's " brother is bound to be legit.  Think I might park the car on the road and not answer the door tomorrow. His eyes were everywhere so hopefully he spotted the camara on the wall. It's not connected to anything anymore but still looks good.

I'll be getting three quotes, and then my landlord will check out their business solvency and qualifications, and permits, and insurance, and then the housing trust, will make a decision.  If you give me your business card, I'll see you get the request for quote pack. He probably won't deal with you if you aren't VAT registered or LTD company, but maybe whoever gets the job can sub it out to you. 

In short pretend that you don't own the place. 

[cobblers]

Spent all day lining out my van. When I started, I wasn't that happy with the carpet - I got "easy liner" which is a bit more stretchy than the usual stuff I use, but it's thin and a lot less durable. I should have just not bothered. 

6 hours later, I had the job 70% done when I stood back and realised it looked totally shit. The carpet is so thin it looks patchy and lumpy. Ripped the whole lot off and hoked it in the skip, and now I have loads of spray glue and fluff residue to deal with before I even get back to square one.

I don't have much spare time and it really bugs me to have wasted so much of it. 

[Rocket88]

I’m going to slowly eviscerate the next Facebook user who uses “breaks” instead of “ brakes”……..

[meggersdog]

10 hours ago, New POD said:

I'll be getting three quotes, and then my landlord will check out their business solvency and qualifications, and permits, and insurance, and then the housing trust, will make a decision.  If you give me your business card, I'll see you get the request for quote pack. He probably won't deal with you if you aren't VAT registered or LTD company, but maybe whoever gets the job can sub it out to you. 

In short pretend that you don't own the place. 

That is exactly what I thought. I asked for a business card yesterday but he hasn't returned. My landlord would insist on a quote with business details and VAT number.He would need to see public liability insurance and if the quote is acceptable then bank details as he only pays by BACS.

 I think John's brother John clocked the camera on the wall whilst he was sat in the van.

[mitsisigma01]

John and John will probably do you a favour and take away your car and anything else not bolted down though once they've sent their cousin John round to realign your security camera 😏

[artdjones]

5 hours ago, Rocket88 said:

I’m going to slowly eviscerate the next Facebook user who uses “breaks” instead of “ brakes”……..

The funny thing is I felt the same, then I started reading loads of Board of Trade railway accident reports from the 19th century, and found that back then it was usual to spell it breaks. The average Marketplace seller is fairly illiterate, though.

[High Jetter]

There was a breakaway movement, around 1870 when brakes came into fashion. Maybe...

[RoverFolkUs]

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/20139965.driver-arrested-driving-dangerously-a27-arundel-worthing/

Worn close to the legal limit no? Still a bit of meat left on that rim....

[Lankytim]

The bathroom has had a bit of a damp smell recently so I popped the side off the bath to have a look…

there seems to be a leak from these push together pipe fittings on the bath cold water pipe work, water is also getting behind the seal around the edge of the bath when the shower is used. All the woodwork looks mega soft now, there’s some staining on the ceiling downstairs too….

in every house I’ve ever lived in I don’t think I’ve been able to get a bath with a shower sealed up correctly. The pipe work needs to be replaced with copper fittings too but hopefully that should be more straightforward. Time to borrow dads plumbing toolbox and get some gas for his blow lamp! 

[Rocket88]

18 hours ago, artdjones said:

The funny thing is I felt the same, then I started reading loads of Board of Trade railway accident reports from the 19th century, and found that back then it was usual to spell it breaks. The average Marketplace seller is fairly illiterate, though.

Most Facebook market place users should probably be escorted by a bloke with a red flag… in case their “ breaks” fail…..

[Sheefag]

On 5/13/2022 at 9:16 PM, omegod said:

I can confirm that google maps does not work properly in New York, been sent on several wild goose chases this week, bit shit as I like it normally 

If it's an Android phone, download 'GPS Test', then clear and update A-GPS - problem solved.

[beko1987]

Was buying shit on ebay again, and most of the way through checkout when I got distracted. 

Somehow I now have a PayPal pay in 3 payment taken from my account, but no orders placed on ebay as it took me back to the login screen as Monzo said the payment had gone out, so I closed the tab... 

This is going to be fun to sort 😡 PayPal account isn't showing anything yet so I'll wait for tomorrow and see what catches up

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, beko1987 said:

Was buying shit on ebay again,

PM your address and I'll send you some of mine for free 

(Guess where I'm sitting right now!)

[Pieman]

7 hours ago, Rocket88 said:

Most Facebook market place users should probably be never allowed to use the internet or let outside in public.

FTFY, based on my experiences!

[MikeR]

our council is shite , this has been like this for months .....

but its worse than that now , the slabs are all dirty and the signs blew away , so they are now just a dark hump on a dark road ....

 

[crad]

2 hours ago, MikeR said:

our council is shite , this has been like this for months .....

but its worse than that now , the slabs are all dirty and the signs blew away , so they are now just a dark hump on a dark road ....

 

i thought councils farm this sort of work out to private companies (or am i getting confused w/ highway maintanence, and even then i might be wrong)

[horriblemercedes]

My sunglasses were in their case on the storage part of the dashboard. Somehow they came out of the case (I guess I didn't close it properly) and each lens has a nice scratched area at the peak of the convex part where it was resting on the hard plastic of the dashboard.

 

Very annoying. I think I'll try some kind of polishing but expect to be buying new lenses

[Bren]

On 5/14/2022 at 3:15 PM, meggersdog said:

At home relaxing and there is a knock on the door. A large figure is standing at the front door. My nextdoor neighbour is a large gentleman, thinking it was him, I opened the door. Nope, this large gentleman had a strange accent, not Irish not English, an accent of someone you associate with dwelling in caravans. " I'm working in ( another road not far from here) and wondered if you needed any gardening doing"  I had a blitz on the gardens last bank holiday and the front is still fairly tidy. " I can see it's tidy but is there anything around the back "  well yeah there is a massive overgrown hedge  but I am working my way through that. Next it's "what about that old car"  There is a Puegeot 306 N/A diesel behind the front hedge that shat it's Lucas pump and has been there a few years . I have a Bosch pump to fit but it's one of those round tuit jobs. Then "those old slabs ( neatly stacked infront of the Peugeot) are they in your way ? I can get rid of them for you"  Eyes everywhere I just want to tell him to fuck off but he is being polite. Next up " I see you have old cast iron gutters , I can do your facias and gutters for £450-£500 . No I want be going up the ladders ( as he pats his large gut ) . My brother, he'll do it. Other people they want 1200 quid for that"  I ask him for a business card. " ah, I haven't got any with me but I'll call back tomorrow with some samples"  Hmm, we shook hands. 

Yeah very professional. Said his name was John . Before I let anyone work on my house I want to see proper contact details and proof of public liability insurance. " John's " brother is bound to be legit.  Think I might park the car on the road and not answer the door tomorrow. His eyes were everywhere so hopefully he spotted the camara on the wall. It's not connected to anything anymore but still looks good.

Hope they do not return to move the pug and recalibrate your camera ....

[reb]

2 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

My sunglasses were in their case on the storage part of the dashboard. Somehow they came out of the case (I guess I didn't close it properly) and each lens has a nice scratched area at the peak of the convex part where it was resting on the hard plastic of the dashboard.

 

Very annoying. I think I'll try some kind of polishing but expect to be buying new lenses

I have the cheapest sunglasses I could find at Specsavers (made even cheaper with friends and family discount) and they live loose in the door pocket of the Volvo, somehow they've never got scratched. I need new ones soon though because they're an older prescription than my normal glasses and my normal glasses aren't strong enough. I'm expecting the bill for two pairs of glasses to be £LOL because I'm a wanker and only buy raybans now.

[dozeydustman]

On of my friends has taken it upon himself to police what people are posting on social media. I can understand certain subjects shouldn’t be entertained lightly on social media, but a video of parrots and budgies talking and acting like idiots for my brother to watch with his kids?

I think he needs to stop smoking the wacky baccy.

[juular]

On 5/14/2022 at 3:15 PM, meggersdog said:

At home relaxing and there is a knock on the door. A large figure is standing at the front door. My nextdoor neighbour is a large gentleman, thinking it was him, I opened the door. Nope, this large gentleman had a strange accent, not Irish not English, an accent of someone you associate with dwelling in caravans. " I'm working in ( another road not far from here) and wondered if you needed any gardening doing"  I had a blitz on the gardens last bank holiday and the front is still fairly tidy. " I can see it's tidy but is there anything around the back "  well yeah there is a massive overgrown hedge  but I am working my way through that. Next it's "what about that old car"  There is a Puegeot 306 N/A diesel behind the front hedge that shat it's Lucas pump and has been there a few years . I have a Bosch pump to fit but it's one of those round tuit jobs. Then "those old slabs ( neatly stacked infront of the Peugeot) are they in your way ? I can get rid of them for you"  Eyes everywhere I just want to tell him to fuck off but he is being polite. Next up " I see you have old cast iron gutters , I can do your facias and gutters for £450-£500 . No I want be going up the ladders ( as he pats his large gut ) . My brother, he'll do it. Other people they want 1200 quid for that"  I ask him for a business card. " ah, I haven't got any with me but I'll call back tomorrow with some samples"  Hmm, we shook hands. 

Yeah very professional. Said his name was John . Before I let anyone work on my house I want to see proper contact details and proof of public liability insurance. " John's " brother is bound to be legit.  Think I might park the car on the road and not answer the door tomorrow. His eyes were everywhere so hopefully he spotted the camara on the wall. It's not connected to anything anymore but still looks good.

The same happened to me the other day. Almost as if they follow a script.

He first offered to clean my roof (like I fucking care if the roof is dirty..) then it was the gutters, the soffits, etc.  I didn't just converse, I just waited until he was finished his speech and said a curt 'No'.

As I was shutting the door he eyed up my van and said "That's nice, is it for sale?". This actually made me feel really uneasy. Again, No wasn't good enough and he asked if the 240 is for sale.  "Nothing is for sale.".

I made sure to take loads of screenshots off the security camera and save the videos off it. 

The weird thing is that we live at the end of a cul-de-sac, and he wasn't going round the doors, he drove straight to mine.  Why?