The grumpy thread

[Metal Guru]

When did petrol stations make selling petrol their side line function? Queued up today behind people collecting / off loading parcels for Evri or Yodel or someone. No separate counter, just the one where you pay for your fuel. Wouldn’t be so bad if it was just single parcels but there are people running businesses off loading loads of parcels, each one needing scanning etc . Obviously this has a knock on effect outside as cars aren’t moving away from the pumps very quickly.

Another fairly local to me, has now become a small supermarket for the village it’s in. No separate petrol only queue, So you now queue up behind people buying their week’s groceries ffs. This is on a busy trunk road too.

[IronStar]

On 19/07/2024 at 04:03, Metal Guru said:

When did petrol stations make selling petrol their side line function? Queued up today behind people collecting / off loading parcels for Evri or Yodel or someone. No separate counter, just the one where you pay for your fuel. Wouldn’t be so bad if it was just single parcels but there are people running businesses off loading loads of parcels, each one needing scanning etc . Obviously this has a knock on effect outside as cars aren’t moving away from the pumps very quickly.

Another fairly local to me, has now become a small supermarket for the village it’s in. No separate petrol only queue, So you now queue up behind people buying their week’s groceries ffs. This is on a busy trunk road too.

Enshitification of everything. 
Courier services that were supposed to deliver the parcel to you can’t be arsed to hire enough delivery drivers to get the parcel to you, and are giving vague delivery time details like “9-5 today, probably”. They moved things being reliably delivered to a more expensive tier, then farmed out over 50% of deliveries to vendors as it’s cheaper than fuel/vans/drivers. 
Vendors, in this case petrol stations as that’s a convenient place that has parking, seeking higher profit margins are not hiring more staff or opening more cash registers. What are you going to do, go to another one of the same up the road? Miss all the loyalty card discounts?  
Since covid lockdowns, next to no supermarket works 24h anymore here, and there used to be loads. So if you need a grocery or 5 after 9PM, guess what’s open 24/7/365? You’re at work until 5 and your village store works until 3PM on weekends, because guess who’s not paying for another worker/shift? Off to the petrol station you go!

There is only so much juice to squeeze out of an essentially closed system before only way to make more money is to make a service significantly worse. 

[Remspoor]

4 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

When did petrol stations make selling petrol their side line function? Queued up today behind people collecting / off loading parcels for Evri or Yodel or someone. No separate counter, just the one where you pay for your fuel. Wouldn’t be so bad if it was just single parcels but there are people running businesses off loading loads of parcels, each one needing scanning etc . Obviously this has a knock on effect outside as cars aren’t moving away from the pumps very quickly.

Another fairly local to me, has now become a small supermarket for the village it’s in. No separate petrol only queue, So you now queue up behind people buying their week’s groceries ffs. This is on a busy trunk road too.

Nothing wrong with multitasking. 😁

[IronStar]

4 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

Nothing wrong with multitasking. 😁

Why pay for 5 people when you can overwork one person to death, fire 4, pocket the difference and call it unfavorable market headwinds. That one person should be happy he didn’t lose his job as well! 😄

[Metal Guru]

2 hours ago, IronStar said:

Why pay for 5 people when you can overwork one person to death, fire 4, pocket the difference and call it unfavorable market headwinds. That one person should be happy he didn’t lose his job as well! 😄

There was actually 2 people “working” at this particular time. One dealing with a queue of at least 10 people, the other having a fag.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

I’m just glad we only have one customer running Crowdstrike.  However I am grumpy that we have a customer running Crowdstrike.

[jakebullet]

Mum is way more blind than I thought, and has been doing a good* job of masking it.

Went to a discount clothes place. I'm trying on some relaxed fit old man trousers, came out of changing room and she's vanished. Found her over the other side and she says "I just went to look over here and got lost". Ok, not familiar with shop, not that out of the ordinary.

Went to booths, which again she's not familiar with, but she's just browsing with me. She says "Shall we have some strawberries?". "Yeah, why not?". She then picks up a pack of diced beef out of the meat fridge. "Oh, this isn't strawberries, looks like them though"

If there is a god, he's a total bastard.

[Metal Guru]

3 hours ago, jakebullet said:

Mum is way more blind than I thought, and has been doing a good* job of masking it.

Went to a discount clothes place. I'm trying on some relaxed fit old man trousers, came out of changing room and she's vanished. Found her over the other side and she says "I just went to look over here and got lost". Ok, not familiar with shop, not that out of the ordinary.

Went to booths, which again she's not familiar with, but she's just browsing with me. She says "Shall we have some strawberries?". "Yeah, why not?". She then picks up a pack of diced beef out of the meat fridge. "Oh, this isn't strawberries, looks like them though"

If there is a god, he's a total bastard.

My Dad was like that too. That led to several falls ,broken  ankle and collar bone, but probably knocks to the head too which may or may not have led to dementia.

[MikeR]

went out to rescue New Pods wife today as her feet gave up walking in the heat  ...

no sooner stopped the car and opened the door for her to get in , and some bitch was behind us  leaning on her  car horn button 

hope to god one day she needs help and I can be behind her leaning on the horn button .

some people have zero patience !!

[sheffcortinacentre]

Correction some people are just twats.

[Lankytim]

The ongoing house revamp is… ongoing.

We've divided a bedroom onto two with a studding wall and need it skimmed, along with other remedial work on some walls including hacking back a wall to brick etc etc. 

Plasterer recommended on Facebook, quotes for the work, shows up, does half a day skimming one room and asks for payment for that day,  says he’ll be in touch about the rest of the work and vanishes into the ether, ignores messages but still updates his Facebook page. Clearly he doesn’t want to complete the job. 
 

This leaves us in limbo, we can’t decorate and we can’t get the carpets fitted, kids bedrooms are still stripped with beds and wardrobes  cluttering the rest of the house up. 
 

He’s also done some really annoying shit like plastering wall sockets and switches into the wall despite them being left loose for him to get behind. I work nights so wasn’t around to see him do this. I was an electricians labourer years ago and this was a major bugbear back then, if you took the sockets off altogether the plasterers would often just push the wires into the wall and plaster over them!

So we’re now way behind schedule and having to cancel other trades with no date to rearrange and two “dehomed” miserable daughters. 
 

Currently trying to find a new plasterer who isn’t a total cunt. 
 

(Had a chat with the plasterer as he was leaving and he’s a racist AF too, just for the cherry on the cake)

I think every tradesperson we’ve managed to get in has fucked us around one way on another, I just don’t know what we’re doing wrong.   I’m considering taking the next one hostage until the job is completed for the quoted price in the agreed timeframe. 

[loserone]

28 minutes ago, Lankytim said:

think every tradesperson we’ve managed to get in has fucked us around one way on another, I just don’t know what we’re doing wrong

Only get tradesmen off here, at least that way you'll know in advance if they're a cunt and or racist.  

 

I have given up and am doing everything myself* except gas plumbing and mechanicing

[Dyslexic Viking]

July is starting to become one of my most hated months of the year, the weather is either rain or extreme heat and to make everything even worse it is holiday time so the traffic is insane, to many people out etc.

I look forward to late August/September.

[Dyslexic Viking]

5 hours ago, loserone said:

am doing everything myself

I also do most things myself, I come from a background where this is normal so I find it abnormal/weird when people can't do anything.

[maxxo]

Bloody water stop valves

replacing the central heating tank valve today

turned water off to the whole house, nope, red handle snapped off the valve as soon as I tried to turn it, I mean properly bent and came off

alright well I’ll use the one in the loft, yes, turned the water off and then started leaking

ffs

did the job and managed to get it to stop leaking by tightening up the nut at the bottom

but still we’ve got water in the heating system now and functioning hot water again

also reckon the water level is a bit too high so I’ll faff on with that at some point

fucking hate plumbing

[MikeR]

the local park is holding a fair , its pissing down , the music is loud and in a resi area ... no sleep till late then ..

the fair is deserted apart from bare bellied  teenagers waving mobiles around and getting wet ,and getting charged for the fun of it ...

I had a brolly and kept on walking ..

[Remspoor]

20 hours ago, maxxo said:

also reckon the water level is a bit too high so I’ll faff on with that at some point

Would not worry about it. As long as it is below the overflow there is nothing to worry about.

[Aston Martin]

Those fucking Specsavers Cupras.

 

[cobblers]

 

Supposed to complete on a house purchase tomorrow. Our conveyancers say "Yes everything is sorted, we've been liaising with the other solicitors regularly, there's just one document we need but it's on the way to us, no worries at all"

Had the seller on the phone panicking saying her solicitors reckon they can't get in touch with ours and might not be able to exchange in time to complete tomorrow, obv she's got removals and everything booked.

Solicitors have had nearly 5 months to sort things FFS.

Someone's a liar, but I'm just not sure who. It's OK though - no stress guys -  it's only by far the biggest purchase we've ever made and all our life savings are tied up in this

 

[Urko]

On 20/07/2024 at 12:08, Lankytim said:

I think every tradesperson we’ve managed to get in has fucked us around one way on another, I just don’t know what we’re doing wrong.   I’m considering taking the next one hostage until the job is completed for the quoted price in the agreed timeframe. 

We have been very lucky that our main builder/joiner is fabulous, and he introduced us to the sparky who is also very good.

Our entire job has been fucked up by the flooring cunt though.

I do like to jobs myself, but draw the line at stuff I don't have the skillz for like plastering etc.

We are way behind schedule and massively over budget of course. 

[Urko]

On 20/07/2024 at 18:27, Dyslexic Viking said:

I also do most things myself, I come from a background where this is normal so I find it abnormal/weird when people can't do anything.

I don't think I will live long enough to learn plastering.

[wuvvum]

Mate has been redecorating his house recently, and the living room was plastered by his daughter (late 20s, hairdresser by trade).  She's done a bloody good job too.  She's one of these annoying people who can watch a YouTube video on how to do something and instantly be brilliant at it, whether it be plastering, tiling the kitchen, laying a crazy paving patio or fitting new suspension arms to her Audi.

I can't plaster to save my life.

[Markeh]

I'd love to know how you lot actually manage to get tradespeople in the first place.

I've rung about 8 or 9 different companies to get someone to quote for my driveway.

Not one has called back, showed up or even done anything. I'm close to giving up getting the job done.

[Zelandeth]

17 minutes ago, Markeh said:

I'd love to know how you lot actually manage to get tradespeople in the first place.

I've rung about 8 or 9 different companies to get someone to quote for my driveway.

Not one has called back, showed up or even done anything. I'm close to giving up getting the job done.

This.  A thousand bloody times over.  Why can I only click "agree" once?

Trying to get hold of anyone to do anything around here is utterly impossible.

Then when after years of struggling if you do manage to get hold of someone, and their company *appears* to have decent reviews, and has been recommended by someone, they turn out to be complete fscking cowboys and leave more work behind to be sorted than you started with anyway.

It is simultaneously utterly maddening and incredibly depressing as a home owner just trying to get things beyond his abilities sorted.

[wuvvum]

39 minutes ago, Markeh said:

I've rung about 8 or 9 different companies to get someone to quote for my driveway.

Not one has called back, showed up or even done anything. I'm close to giving up getting the job done.

Pop down to your friendly local caravan enthusiasts' site, I'm sure you'll find someone there willing to take on the work.  If you're lucky they might even throw in a dag as part of the deal.

[Markeh]

Posting that prompted me to finally try MyBuilder as recommended by a friend...

Well fuck me, I got two calls in 5 minutes, and someone's just been and quoted me, someone else is coming this week allegedly... I'm in disbelief.

[cobblers]

40 minutes ago, Markeh said:

Posting that prompted me to finally try MyBuilder as recommended by a friend...

Well fuck me, I got two calls in 5 minutes, and someone's just been and quoted me, someone else is coming this week allegedly... I'm in disbelief.

be very very careful! Any genuinely good tradesman would be busy enough, hence why they're usually so hard to get hold of. 

These sites often allow bad reviews to be deleted for a fee. Try and work out the reason they're on the site.

Years ago I got a few quotes for plasterers off there. One bloke was a 100% wrongun, more or less a crackhead. The next bloke was decent enough and he was just getting back into the trade after quitting working for someone else. He did a decent job.

The plumbers company near where I used to work were actual, genuine criminals and they got all their work through these sites. Company folded after one of the blokes got caught stealing from one customer, there was a massive fistfight and then one of them ran off with £60k out of the bank account that they'd saved for VAT. Remaining two guys started the company back up under a slightly different name, but one of them got put in prison for beating his wife half to death.

[Markeh]

20 minutes ago, cobblers said:

be very very careful! Any genuinely good tradesman would be busy enough, hence why they're usually so hard to get hold of. 

These sites often allow bad reviews to be deleted for a fee. Try and work out the reason they're on the site.

Years ago I got a few quotes for plasterers off there. One bloke was a 100% wrongun, more or less a crackhead. The next bloke was decent enough and he was just getting back into the trade after quitting working for someone else. He did a decent job.

The plumbers company near where I used to work were actual, genuine criminals and they got all their work through these sites. Company folded after one of the blokes got caught stealing from one customer, there was a massive fistfight and then one of them ran off with £60k out of the bank account that they'd saved for VAT. Remaining two guys started the company back up under a slightly different name, but one of them got put in prison for beating his wife half to death.

At this point it's this or sell the house and buy one with a driveway that's been done. I'm at that level of fed up with companies just not replying.

[Zelandeth]

35 minutes ago, cobblers said:

be very very careful! Any genuinely good tradesman would be busy enough, hence why they're usually so hard to get hold of. 

These sites often allow bad reviews to be deleted for a fee. Try and work out the reason they're on the site.

Years ago I got a few quotes for plasterers off there. One bloke was a 100% wrongun, more or less a crackhead. The next bloke was decent enough and he was just getting back into the trade after quitting working for someone else. He did a decent job.

The plumbers company near where I used to work were actual, genuine criminals and they got all their work through these sites. Company folded after one of the blokes got caught stealing from one customer, there was a massive fistfight and then one of them ran off with £60k out of the bank account that they'd saved for VAT. Remaining two guys started the company back up under a slightly different name, but one of them got put in prison for beating his wife half to death.

Yep.  See also the roofers we used.  Did what on the surface looked like a decent job for just long enough for them to fsck off into the sunset with our £30K and having completely vanished when we tried to follow up with a couple of warranty issues six months later.

That was through Trustatrader I think it was.

[High Jetter]

Personal recommendation is usually the best way, ask around