The grumpy thread

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Cakes go dry when stale, biscuits get soggy.

And not because they're in a public school dormitory.

[Talbot]

[Yoss]

Just found this tied to a lamppost on my delivery. Don't try reading it, I'll summarise. 

 

It's about proposed 20mph speed limits in Southampton. It covers a big area as you can tell, most of western Southampton in fact. The 20 limit itself is not the main grump here, a lot of the above are small residential roads where you would struggle to reach 30 anyway. Although Shirley Road is the main bus route to the western side of Southampton and Hill Lane is a lovely straight wide road that has The Common on one side and big well spaced houses on the other so that seems daft to me. 

The grump is in the small print at the bottom that says any objections should be sent to the relevant address within 21 days of this notice, i.e. the 23rd of December, and sure enough the letter is dated 2nd December. This notice was printed on standard photocopier paper, not laminated or protected in any way. There is no way this notice has been here since the 2nd of January let alone the 2nd of December, it obviously hasn't been there any longer than since it last rained, in fact it has started raining again now so I imagine it is slowly dissolving as I write. 

I doubt any objections would make any difference anyway, they've decided they are going to to do it and that's that but they could have at least gone through the motions of doing it properly. 

[High Jetter]

The validity of the notification process could be questioned, shirley? (pun intended). Might hold things up enough for more people to object. As you say though, unlikely to make a huge difference in the end.

[hairnet]

5 hours ago, Talbot said:

It says "cake" right there on the packet!

levenshulme is 150% not posh - they wouldnt know what cutlery and crockery were

 

[Bren]

Dropped my e60 at the dealers today just after 8am. Was told it would be here all day.

By 1750 I had heard nothing. So I went - most of the admin staff were leaving. Explained why I was there and that nobody had called me.

A member of staff told me the boot floor needed " work" and that the repair to the cable had been done. The word " welding" was mentioned as well as waiting on a part.

E60's dont need welding. I have no idea what is going on.

[Remspoor]

4 hours ago, Yoss said:

Just found this tied to a lamppost on my delivery. Don't try reading it, I'll summarise. 

 

It's about proposed 20mph speed limits in Southampton. It covers a big area as you can tell, most of western Southampton in fact. The 20 limit itself is not the main grump here, a lot of the above are small residential roads where you would struggle to reach 30 anyway. Although Shirley Road is the main bus route to the western side of Southampton and Hill Lane is a lovely straight wide road that has The Common on one side and big well spaced houses on the other so that seems daft to me. 

The grump is in the small print at the bottom that says any objections should be sent to the relevant address within 21 days of this notice, i.e. the 23rd of December, and sure enough the letter is dated 2nd December. This notice was printed on standard photocopier paper, not laminated or protected in any way. There is no way this notice has been here since the 2nd of January let alone the 2nd of December, it obviously hasn't been there any longer than since it last rained, in fact it has started raining again now so I imagine it is slowly dissolving as I write. 

I doubt any objections would make any difference anyway, they've decided they are going to to do it and that's that but they could have at least gone through the motions of doing it properly. 

When I lived and worked in the area back in the late 70s Shirley Road use to have a national speed limit. I recall that may be this was dropped to 40. With hindsight the national limit may have been a bit too high for such a road.

When i worked in road design, not national highways more estate roads, it was a thing to design a road with the intended speed in mind. ie straight roads = higher speeds. 20 is  just too slow for this road.

[chaseracer]

The Zanussi has collected a puncture in the left rear.  It is a Bridgestone runflat in 225/50x18 flavour.  No spare, obvs.  I'm glad I was sitting down when I found out the price.

TWO HUNDRED AND ELEVEN PORTRAITS OF BRENDA.  

Fitted, so that's OK* then.  

[hairnet]

9 minutes ago, chaseracer said:

The Zanussi has collected a puncture in the left rear.  It is a Bridgestone runflat in 225/50x18 flavour.  No spare, obvs.  I'm glad I was sitting down when I found out the price.

TWO HUNDRED AND ELEVEN PORTRAITS OF BRENDA.  

Fitted, so that's OK* then.  

flash bugga gonna flash

[mitsisigma01]

19 minutes ago, chaseracer said:

The Zanussi has collected a puncture in the left rear.  It is a Bridgestone runflat in 225/50x18 flavour.  No spare, obvs.  I'm glad I was sitting down when I found out the price.

TWO HUNDRED AND ELEVEN PORTRAITS OF BRENDA.  

Fitted, so that's OK* then.  

How much are 2 non run flats 🤔

[adw1977]

7 hours ago, Talbot said:

It says "cake" right there on the packet!

It was decided in court (I kid you not, there's a VAT difference between chocolate covered cakes and chocolate covered biscuits) in 1991 that Jaffa Cakes are indeed cakes.

https://www.astonshaw.co.uk/news/jaffa-cake-tax/

[mitsisigma01]

Whatever they are , one packet just ain't enough ....

unless 

 

[PicantoJon]

43 minutes ago, mitsisigma01 said:

Whatever they are , one packet just ain't enough ....

unless 

 

I'd have a crack at that! 

[hairnet]

48 minutes ago, mitsisigma01 said:

Whatever they are , one packet just ain't enough ....

unless 

 

 

 one packet usually lasts about 30 seconds

i was given the long tube that happens at xmas

i thought there were 3 packs in it - nope theres four - thats how off me food i am they usually be gone in a coupla days

 

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, adw1977 said:

It was decided in court (I kid you not, there's a VAT difference between chocolate covered cakes and chocolate covered biscuits) in 1991 that Jaffa Cakes are indeed cakes.

https://www.astonshaw.co.uk/news/jaffa-cake-tax/

So glad you remembered that, thanks.

[Zelandeth]

Ugh, just had to send a fairly sternly worded email to the company who had been doing our roofing work.

Having basically vanished into the aether in mid November, they just emailed me the invoice for the completed job (all £31.6K of it).  However there are a whole bunch of things they've not finished yet.  

Maybe they'll be apologietic and just crack on and sort it...I'm not going to hold my breath though.  While I'm prepared to be pleasantly surprised, I'm *expecting* this to turn into a complete farce.

[goosey]

Tonight I’m Staying the night at a Hotel just me and the wife as the kids are at the in-laws, just gone down to the restaurant to have Tea and a Company I worked at 7 years ago are having their Christmas Party in one of the Function Rooms and have pretty much booked most of the rooms in the Hotel for the Staff. What are the bloody odds ? 

[doug]

Recent Skoda and Hyundai adverts are boiling ma pish.

Sent from my SM-A127F using Tapatalk

[chaseracer]

32 minutes ago, doug said:

Recent Skoda and Hyundai adverts are boiling ma pish.

Quite.  NOW they want the name pronounced differently?  Just build my feckin Octavia...! 😁

[adw1977]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

Ugh, just had to send a fairly sternly worded email to the company who had been doing our roofing work.

Having basically vanished into the aether in mid November, they just emailed me the invoice for the completed job (all £31.6K of it).  However there are a whole bunch of things they've not finished yet.  

Maybe they'll be apologietic and just crack on and sort it...I'm not going to hold my breath though.  While I'm prepared to be pleasantly surprised, I'm *expecting* this to turn into a complete farce.

Well they have 31,600 incentives to get it done, so I would say you're in a pretty strong position. 

[richardmorris]

27 minutes ago, adw1977 said:

Well they have 31,600 incentives to get it done, so I would say you're in a pretty strong position. 

I wouldn’t hold my breath. 

[HarmonicCheeseburger]

2 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Ugh, just had to send a fairly sternly worded email to the company who had been doing our roofing work.

Having basically vanished into the aether in mid November, they just emailed me the invoice for the completed job (all £31.6K of it).  However there are a whole bunch of things they've not finished yet.  

Maybe they'll be apologietic and just crack on and sort it...I'm not going to hold my breath though.  While I'm prepared to be pleasantly surprised, I'm *expecting* this to turn into a complete farce.

Pay them using Zimbabwe dollars they can take and convert. Sure may have to hire a few 18wheelers to deliver payment but worth for the flair.

Hoping you get it sorted though.

[New POD]

11 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Ugh, just had to send a fairly sternly worded email to the company who had been doing our roofing work.

Having basically vanished into the aether in mid November, they just emailed me the invoice for the completed job (all £31.6K of it).  However there are a whole bunch of things they've not finished yet.  

Maybe they'll be apologietic and just crack on and sort it...I'm not going to hold my breath though.  While I'm prepared to be pleasantly surprised, I'm *expecting* this to turn into a complete farce.

That would be a short email*

Please don't invoice for work not done, otherwise we will assume you are attempting to commit fraud and contact the police. 

If however, this is a genuine mistake, and you wish to discuss actually finishing the job, please send me your plan of action with dates. 

I am happy to provide a list of what hasn't been completed, should you wish to inconvience me further. (You should know what's not been completed, and should be telling he when you are going to complete it) 

 

* I'm sure other people will have different ways of approaching things, and happy to learn from others, but this is my work persona when contractors and suppliers don't do what they quoted. 

[fairkens]

When people you contract with as part of your job don't finish a job to your satisfaction you threaten to call the police? 

Okaaaaaay then

 

 

 

[sierraman]

I think you’ve just highlighted why many trades just prefer contract work than dealing with the public. 

[chadders]

We've had a load of work done over the years on our existing house. Invariably more work was needed than originally envisaged as hidden problems arose once bits were removed.

A face to face discussion or a phone call always worked when we had a query. That way you can find out if there's been any misunderstanding on your behalf, after all no one is perfect. 

I suppose your approach depends on how much you want to piss them off versus having the work completed. Mine was the latter. 

Having run a number of finance departments if I'd received an email like the one NewPod quotes I'd assume that the office junior had had a massive caffeine overdose and was trying to impress one of the female clerks.

 

 

[Zelandeth]

Apparently they want to have a telephone conversation to "explain everything to me."

That doesn't sound at all ominous.

[cobblers]

make sure you have 999 dialled ready on the other phone

[Zelandeth]

8 minutes ago, cobblers said:

make sure you have 999 dialled ready on the other phone

Well the first time we had work done I did literally have five of them turn up at the front door and threaten to kick my head in and burn the house down if I didn't pay up immediately...

So that's how low the bar is for things to be an improvement.

[cobblers]

jaysus!