The grumpy thread

[vulgalour]

There's hard sell, and there's hard sell.  There's this driveway salesman who is super aggressive and desperately DESPERATELY wants to do our shitty drive.  To be fair, our drive is shitty, no argument there.  I do want it done, we have had quotes, and we can't afford it.  Most companies are like "no bother, here's our card, good luck with everything."  This guy is different.

Today he pulled up alongside me at the traffic lights and asked me if I had thought any more about getting the driveway done.  Who even does that?  That's insane.

Anyway, joke's on him because when we do get it done we'll be making a point of not using the company he works for now.

[horriblemercedes]

14 hours ago, HillmanImp said:

Is every racist thinking its okay to publicly be racist these days? 

I was down the pub tonight having a couple of pints and chatting to a couple of blokes at the bar and within 5 minutes they're complaining about Muslims and Pakis. 

I called them out on it and they genuinely looked surprised. 

I'm sure it never used to be like that. 

Like my mate said, they probably thought I was a fucking massive racist being white, bald, overweight and dressed like a chav.

However I'm a gammon in disguise. Ch-ch-ch-cha-cha-cha-cha

But 10 yrs ago I could talk to people in the pub without them banging on about how much of a cunt they are.

Even if they were racist they knew it was unacceptable to be a racist so kept quiet. But now its full on all 'muslims are scroungers' right to your face. 

Its fucking Facebook echo chambers etc making people think they have a legitimate point of view isn't it. 

Its probably because 90% of normal people don't post their shit on Facebook 'news' articles so the balance ofvl the cunts that do makes it look like every cunt is racist and they think its okay.

I've found myself involved in occasional conversations like that. When challenged, I usually get a reaction of massive surprise, as if to say, "you're white so why don't you agree with me?"

 

[wuvvum]

14 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

If you ask them to elaborate on any "point" they make they will most likely not be able to, because it's quite often a predetermined script with no meaning that gets recycled 

That seems to be a very common thing these days - with people in general, not just racist pub bores.  Nobody seems to be able to analyse information and form their own views anymore, everyone is just plucking their opinions oven-ready from social media, which means that there's no real reasoning behind them and if you try to probe they're unable to back their position up with any arguments.  If you're lucky they'll give you a confused look and change the subject, if you're unlucky they'll get angry and call you some kind of -ist or -phobe.  It's quite depressing.

[Metal Guru]

2 hours ago, wuvvum said:

That seems to be a very common thing these days - with people in general, not just racist pub bores.  Nobody seems to be able to analyse information and form their own views anymore, everyone is just plucking their opinions oven-ready from social media, which means that there's no real reasoning behind them and if you try to probe they're unable to back their position up with any arguments.  If you're lucky they'll give you a confused look and change the subject, if you're unlucky they'll get angry and call you some kind of -ist or -phobe.  It's quite depressing.

It’s all the fault of woke people , fluorine in the water  and West Oxfordshire District Council.

[Supernaut]

[Zelandeth]

5 hours ago, vulgalour said:

There's hard sell, and there's hard sell.  There's this driveway salesman who is super aggressive and desperately DESPERATELY wants to do our shitty drive.  To be fair, our drive is shitty, no argument there.  I do want it done, we have had quotes, and we can't afford it.  Most companies are like "no bother, here's our card, good luck with everything."  This guy is different.

Today he pulled up alongside me at the traffic lights and asked me if I had thought any more about getting the driveway done.  Who even does that?  That's insane.

Anyway, joke's on him because when we do get it done we'll be making a point of not using the company he works for now.

We get so many cold callers and card-leavers around here, my answer pretty much invariably is "Thanks for interrupting our dinner (because it's always either at the crack of dawn or in the middle of dinner time).  By knocking on the door you've just guaranteed that I'll never use your company. Cheers, bye!"

I tried being really nice about it for the first five years or so, but my patience ran out several years ago.  We did have a sign on the front door specifically stating that cold callers weren't welcome until a year or so back when some bugger nicked it.

It's especially annoying as trying to actually get reputable tradespeople to DO anything around here is near impossible.  99% of the ones who knock on the door we've found though if you look them up on Companies House, hey look they don't exist as a company!  Given that one of us is involved in the financial industry at a significantly high level that we can be, and indeed have been audited, we need to be very careful to keep our noses clean - so need to be quite careful to ensure that everything is above board and has a proper paper trail or it could entirely come back to bite us on the arse four years down the line when we've completely forgotten who it even was that we had in to repair our guttering or paint the fence.

[Markeh]

6 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

I've found myself involved in occasional conversations like that. When challenged, I usually get a reaction of massive surprise, as if to say, "you're white so why don't you agree with me?"

 

Had this happen in the shop the other day. Old chap in front of me at the till, kept asking for various things, checking of lottery tickets, getting some scratchcards, that kind of thing. Cashier is doing all this perfectly fine and asking to clarify a couple of bits or telling him that this one wasn't a winner, he's won x amount here, etc. Every time she spoke to him he asked her to repeat it, then when she was turned away looked at me (the only other white person in the shop) and made a comment like 'ridiculous, isn't it?' or 'speak english!' thinking I'd approve. There was a knowing look between myself and the cashier along the lines of "what an utter dickhead". The chap was quite slow sorting his stuff out when leaving so we ended u pleaving at the same time. As we get outside he starts going on about everything being ridiculous, coming over here, all that crap, clearly thinking I'm approving of what he said. Disappointed I could only manage a 'Not really... if you don't like it use another shop' and muttering under my breath as I walked away, rather than telling him precisely what I thought.

[sheffcortinacentre]

Tsk ageist!

[Spurious]

I've been completely puzzled as to why my windscreen wasn't cleaning right. Always leaving a grimy haze after using the screenwash. 

I initially thought as the car had been parked on the road for the last five days, it was a result of the salt wagon going up and down the road. The rain last night had cured it. Or so I thought. 

Used the screenwash again today and it started hazing up again. Then I figured it out. It was diluted adblue in the wash bottle. I'd mixed adblue for screenwash in the dark shed last week, both in grey bottles. I'm an idiot. 

 

[Chas4545]

Quiet rant.

Racism, agism, sexism etc were always there, but fb insta twit etc have given nasty people a voice, the ability to hurt people at a distance , and they have got used to not being immediately punched in the face.

This has lead the nasty people to think they can get away with it all the time.

Same can be said of demanding people who think its ok to want the world to be how they want it,  or even demand that the world be the way they want it.  This world is a far worse place now we have social media.     We would all do the world a favour if we challenge each other when we see something stupid. 

Nobody is saying "dont be so daft " any more to rediculous behaviour.

We all need our friends and nice relatives to tell us when we are being stupid.

But of course criticism isnt allowed any more.

The world has many people with narcisistic personality disorder, about 1%  of the population. Go on social media and you will find them easily.

[goosey]

Not being Racist but I can’t understand why the French and Germans who assemble the machines the company I work for sell can’t use dowty seals or copper washers on hydraulic fittings, they instead choose to cover the thread in paste and wind them in till they bottom out and send the machine to us anyway even though it leaks. Spent the last hour swapping mild steel hoses and fittings to stainless Steel as they claim they can’t be bothered to source stainless 

[Yoss]

14 minutes ago, goosey said:

Not being Racist but I can’t understand why the French and Germans who assemble the machines the company I work for sell can’t use dowty seals or copper washers on hydraulic fittings, they instead choose to cover the thread in paste and wind them in till they bottom out and send the machine to us anyway even though it leaks. Spent the last hour swapping mild steel hoses and fittings to stainless Steel as they claim they can’t be bothered to source stainless 

Don't worry, that's not racist, it's xenophobic. Joking, don't hate me. 

[hairnet]

Promised kiwi pron

@Parkydidn't deliver 😛

[wuvvum]

5 minutes ago, hairnet said:

Promised kiwi pron

?

[Dyslexic Viking]

I got a lot of wet snow so spent several hours removing snow today and am half dead. I've had enough of winter now.

I hate snow.

[andy18s]

Winter is over here.Baba Marta has spoken,the Storks are returning from their winter vacations and the forecast is warming up.

[Markeh]

My work situation is somewhat problematic at the moment (getting tons of shit flung our way and being expected to deal with it with a smile). While I greatly appreciate being invited out this evening with a number of friends, one of whom is a manager (not mine) who is happy to have honest and helpful conversations about how to progress despite all this crap, where I'm going wrong and where I'm doing things right, I'd rather have those discussions in work or just after work - not at a time when I'm trying to bloody forget work and then proceed to keep thinking about it all bloody night - if that didn't completely kill the mood and make me want to go home, stumbling over a kerb and twisting my ankle certainly did!

[GrumpiusMaximus]

9 hours ago, Markeh said:

My work situation is somewhat problematic at the moment (getting tons of shit flung our way and being expected to deal with it with a smile). While I greatly appreciate being invited out this evening with a number of friends, one of whom is a manager (not mine) who is happy to have honest and helpful conversations about how to progress despite all this crap, where I'm going wrong and where I'm doing things right, I'd rather have those discussions in work or just after work - not at a time when I'm trying to bloody forget work and then proceed to keep thinking about it all bloody night - if that didn't completely kill the mood and make me want to go home, stumbling over a kerb and twisting my ankle certainly did!

On the other hand, you can build a fort in your living room out of old laptops.  So there's that.

[Markeh]

4 minutes ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

On the other hand, you can build a fort in your living room out of old laptops.  So there's that.

I'll have you know it's called Fort Latitude

[GrumpiusMaximus]

2 minutes ago, Markeh said:

I'll have you know it's called Fort Latitude

Is it next to Fort Inspiron?

[Zelandeth]

Well that's annoying.

Not the end of the world by any means, but annoying.

[jakebullet]

Seen a roadman* come out of one of the maisonettes near Mrs's flat wearing a balaclava, walking up the road looking in all the parked cars. Not remotely suspicious there you chav wanker. 

[sheffcortinacentre]

Why do knob jockies think it's hilarious to nearly have an accident????

Had one today reverse out of their drive looking forward causing me to brake & swerve then when they realise what's just happened just look at me & burst out laughing????

Wish I still had the F-350 at times like this.

[Parky]

On 3/18/2023 at 1:37 AM, hairnet said:

Promised kiwi pron

@Parkydidn't deliver 😛

Parky has new phone to contend with and ridiculously busy week.  Its on the list

[hairnet]

5 minutes ago, Parky said:

Parky has new phone 

give it to the kids

 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

What's this?  A flat tyre?  Bugger.

Good thing that last time I got my tyres replaced, I asked if they could put one of the worn ones on the spare rim as it still had some life in it.  Even better, I still get exactly the same tyres:

Even better, when I took it to my normal tyre place (Invicta Tyres in Wincheap, Canterbury) they said they could repair it as it was just a screw through the tread.  £16 and a few minutes later, it's back on the car.

So grump to grin, really.  Plus the VW hand jack is an actually decent design - which makes it all a lot easier getting the spare on in the first place.

[Remspoor]

Does this come with a free blue light too?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11877291/New-app-turns-smartphones-dashcams-soon-able-detect-SPEEDING.html

[MikeR]

just changed a tap washer and washed the bathroom down at the same time ..

normally the tap has a shut off valve that operates when the head is removed , not this time , some shite got stuck in it and guess the rest ..

concerned it was broken down stopcock rubber , I then tested the stop cock but all was well

[High Jetter]

6 minutes ago, MikeR said:

just changed a tap washer and washed the bathroom down at the same time ..

normally the tap has a shut off valve that operates when the head is removed , not this time , some shite got stuck in it and guess the rest ..

concerned it was broken down stopcock rubber , I then tested the stop cock but all was well

Supataps? Not seen one of them in a while.

[MikeR]

3 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Supataps? Not seen one of them in a while.

yep , the washer always wears out on the cold tap !!