The grumpy thread

[EyesWeldedShut]

8 hours ago, myglaren said:

Sometimes as a satnav and mp3 player in the car.

My old phone lives in the glovebox and is our mp3 player - bluetooths though a Chinesium dongle to the radio - couple of thousand tracks set to random but there's a few playlists if needed. It will satnav using Google or Apple maps but my tourettes and blood pressure prefer using an atlas and/or memory mostly. (Satnav retained for final stages of unknown destinations where previous recce with Google StreetSpy has not been 100%)

My 'real phone' often stays at home as I'm usually accompanied by a doom scrolling family member should we need to (God forbid) make a phonecall or some other life changing functionality like saving thirty seconds by pre-ordering a McDonalds. (In true life-balancing karma that saved thirty seconds is negated by the artery hardening saturated fats then consumed?)

7 hours ago, Sigmund Fraud said:

So far, there has always been an alternative way to get things done.

Ditto on this - I guess there's a degree of FOMO involved for some people though? Trouble is that they are then fecked if the forget/lose/discharge their smartphone - self reliance is now digitally based?  
There's also now an expectation that we have, at the very least, internet access and that seems to be morphing into the SmartPhone - e.g. RyanAir have a £55 fee for airport check in if you do not do so online prior to travel - I can see the online bit shifting to 'app based'.

Back to my gifferdom, thank you for reading.

[goosey]

No hot breakfast at the Hotel where I’m at today as the Chef didn’t turn up 😢

 

first world problems 

[barefoot]

After about five years of Nokia dumb, I had to buy a smartphone last year to put my Download tickets on. It wouldn't let me put two on my wife's. I've now retired from the festival but my new phone only pings for calls and texts. 

[Merryck]

11 minutes ago, barefoot said:

After about five years of Nokia dumb, I had to buy a smartphone last year to put my Download tickets on. It wouldn't let me put two on my wife's. I've now retired from the festival but my new phone only pings for calls and texts. 

My phone's been on silent for at least the last 10 years.

If it made a sound I'd be horrified.

[mercedade]

Some interesting innovations - I like the idea of a smart phone that only does the things I want 

https://www.thelightphone.com/lightiii 

Whilst the gamblers amongst us might hand over control to an app that only unlocks your phone if you're near a physical 'key'

https://getbrick.app/

[Yoss]

A friend at work is not online at all, no computers and a basic mobile for texts and calls only. 

A couple of years ago Royal Mail stopped issuing physical pay slips saying we had to download an app. He has been protesting ever since and we all seem to agree that not issuing somebody with a payslip whether digitally or papery must surely be illegal but he hasn't got anywhere yet.

He's been told that not being online is 'lifestyle choice'. But he argues that having to pay £300 a year (based on a rough estimate of £25 a month for internet access) cannot be right but he hasn't got anywhere yet. He's been to the union and Citizens Advice who both agree with him but Royal Mail still refuse. It's not like it would cost them anything to post one out because they are Royal Mail FFS. 

Just to wind him up further I took part of my pension early last year. You can do this when you're 55. Okay so you might get slightly less overall but I figured it's better in my bank account than theirs as the way things are going the company might not exist in five years. And neither might I for that matter. But every month I get a pension statement through the post and it is identical to our old payslips so I find it highly amusing to tell him I've got a payslip. Every month. 

[EyesWeldedShut]

1 hour ago, Merryck said:

My phone's been on silent for at least the last 10 years.

If it made a sound I'd be horrified.

Mine rang yesterday - I froze. Turns out the wee 'silent' switch had got knocked off. It was worth it to watch the other staring at me as I failed to answer it, I could feel them urging me to go for my pocket. These guys get whiplash if their phone makes any sort of 'ting'. Why is that?
Anyways - some London number - no idea who and they never left a message. Oh dear. How sad. Never mind.

[Yoss]

6 minutes ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

Mine rang yesterday - I froze. Turns out the wee 'silent' switch had got knocked off. It was worth it to watch the other staring at me as I failed to answer it, I could feel them urging me to go for my pocket. These guys get whiplash if their phone makes any sort of 'ting'. Why is that?
Anyways - some London number - no idea who and they never left a message. Oh dear. How sad. Never mind.

My current phone has a thing where it flashes up suspected spam caller and a big stop sign in red. No idea how it works this out but when I keep getting calls from Barnsley on a number very slightly different from the one that rang me yesterday its probably right.

I don't cut them off, I just let ring as long as possible. I figure if we all do that they'll spend a lot more of their day listening to a ringtone and have less time to bother other other people. 

[Metal Guru]

22 minutes ago, Yoss said:

My current phone has a thing where it flashes up suspected spam caller and a big stop sign in red. No idea how it works this out but when I keep getting calls from Barnsley on a number very slightly different from the one that rang me yesterday its probably right.

I don't cut them off, I just let ring as long as possible. I figure if we all do that they'll spend a lot more of their day listening to a ringtone and have less time to bother other other people. 

99% of spam calls are on my lane line. I’m getting rid of it this month, so problem solved.

[IronStar]

Chronically online, glued to a smartphone here for a different perspective. 

I'm turning 30 this year. All my friends work different shifts, and a lot of them have moved abroad or to different cities. Many have kids. We no longer have time to meet up in person as often as we'd like to, but we still deeply love and care for each other, so we have group chats. The longest-standing one is turning 10 this year, and the amount of shit said there, life events, celebrations, disasters, and support that happened on there is enough to fill a lifetime or 3. We had a chat about it, and despite not seeing each other all that often anymore, we still feel very close and deeply connected to each other thanks to it, and we feel that all the others are there for us any time we need them, a single message away. A friend got banned from Facebook a few months ago for $RANDOM and there's a real sense of void left without him there. Needless to say, we're in touch much less with him as he's not on there anymore.

Same with other friends / friend groups. Life happened everywhere, but my phone is constantly buzzing as someone wants to share something with me / group.

Other functions? Satnav? Check. Music? Check. Calendar? Check. Credit card? Double check, I didn't pull out my physical ones for a loooong time. Loyalty cards? Check. Home control? Check, most of the things at home are smart. Camera? For almost all intents and purposes, check. I have a DSLR if I really want to do something that's not a snap. General internet browsing? Oh yes!

Next to all knowledge of the world is a pull a phone from my pocket away from me. Most of the entertainment as well. I work in the IT industry, and the only time I use a laptop or any other form of desktop computing is whilst I'm at work. Why bother, when my phone does everything the laptop does, in a more convenient form factor with a battery that lasts longer?

If I can concentrate almost everything I need for my (digital, and at this point in general) life on a single device as opposed to having to do with 25 different cards / devices / things, it would seem really daft not to. We live in an ever-accelerating world, and getting most of the things done as conveniently and as fast as possible is an important part of day-to-day life for me, as I can do more in less time.

When we get to a point where there's a better interface device than a smartphone, I'll be the first in line. 

[Remspoor]

18 hours ago, meggersdog said:

I employ a part time mot assistant, a single mother who works during school hours.She has three children in full time education. Previously the social were paying towards her rent and that was it, no free school meals no help with anything else. She has now been forced onto universal credit but because of her hours she has to have an interview and sign on. First couple of times she has had to take time off work.I am not paying her to sign on so her wages are down. They have now agreed to a telephone interview and this is my grump.

We don't have avery good mobile signal here so my assistant gave them the works number. So today I answer the phone to an 0800 number. As usual I answer with the name of the company. "err, what" I repeat the name of the company "oh, I was told to ring this number by a person"  Okay well I am a person so who did want to speak to. ( for the purpose of this let's call my assistant Jane) . " I want to speak to Jane"  sure who's calling " I AM NOT GIVING YOU MY NAME" erm, sorry "it's got nothing to do with you." she shouted . Oh says I " look it's a business matter with Jane and nothing to do with you"  with the phone in hand I went into the workshop and found Jane. Holding the phone near my face I loudly inform Jane there is some arsey woman on the phone for her.

WTF a not very civil, civil servant. If I am paying someone by the hour then taking them away from their work to answer a phonecall   has a lot to do with me.  

I feel sorry for your tester too. she has to deal with that sort of person to get some financial support. I hope she manges to get past the Rottweiler.

[MorrisItalSLX]

19 hours ago, meggersdog said:

I employ a part time mot assistant, a single mother who works during school hours.She has three children in full time education. Previously the social were paying towards her rent and that was it, no free school meals no help with anything else. She has now been forced onto universal credit but because of her hours she has to have an interview and sign on. First couple of times she has had to take time off work.I am not paying her to sign on so her wages are down. They have now agreed to a telephone interview and this is my grump.

We don't have avery good mobile signal here so my assistant gave them the works number. So today I answer the phone to an 0800 number. As usual I answer with the name of the company. "err, what" I repeat the name of the company "oh, I was told to ring this number by a person"  Okay well I am a person so who did want to speak to. ( for the purpose of this let's call my assistant Jane) . " I want to speak to Jane"  sure who's calling " I AM NOT GIVING YOU MY NAME" erm, sorry "it's got nothing to do with you." she shouted . Oh says I " look it's a business matter with Jane and nothing to do with you"  with the phone in hand I went into the workshop and found Jane. Holding the phone near my face I loudly inform Jane there is some arsey woman on the phone for her.

WTF a not very civil, civil servant. If I am paying someone by the hour then taking them away from their work to answer a phonecall   has a lot to do with me.  

This reminds me of a time I’m not proud of at work some years ago.

I answered the phone and a woman with the roughest, gravelly voice asked to speak to Shane. I put the phone down and find Shane outside having a fag, I tell him there is some old bag on the phone for him and he heads inside to take the call.

As it turns out, the woman on the phone was Shane’s wife.

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, Yoss said:

A friend at work is not online at all, no computers and a basic mobile for texts and calls only. 

A couple of years ago Royal Mail stopped issuing physical pay slips saying we had to download an app. He has been protesting ever since and we all seem to agree that not issuing somebody with a payslip whether digitally or papery must surely be illegal but he hasn't got anywhere yet.

He's been told that not being online is 'lifestyle choice'. But he argues that having to pay £300 a year (based on a rough estimate of £25 a month for internet access) cannot be right but he hasn't got anywhere yet. He's been to the union and Citizens Advice who both agree with him but Royal Mail still refuse. It's not like it would cost them anything to post one out because they are Royal Mail FFS. 

Just to wind him up further I took part of my pension early last year. You can do this when you're 55. Okay so you might get slightly less overall but I figured it's better in my bank account than theirs as the way things are going the company might not exist in five years. And neither might I for that matter. But every month I get a pension statement through the post and it is identical to our old payslips so I find it highly amusing to tell him I've got a payslip. Every month. 

HMRC state:

Quote

You must give your employees and your ‘workers’ a payslip on or before their payday.

and, sadly, also:

Quote

Employers can choose whether they provide printed or electronic (online) payslips.

https://www.gov.uk/running-payroll/payslips

[EyesWeldedShut]

5 hours ago, Yoss said:

I figure if we all do that they'll spend a lot more of their day listening to a ringtone

They don't - that's the trouble. I've done call centre work - running an automated software dialler (we called it 'the dialler' ) - that gets setup with a list of customers/targets/whatever using inhouse data (e.g. we were into Collections so we'd setup something like (1) all accounts delinquent more than 180 days (2) located in Glasgow (3) not called in the last four weeks).
You then get  team of agents ready and flick the switch - the dialler will ring out and, if the phone is answered, pass the call to the first free agent.
The agent (usually) has a bit of a delay between getting the call routed to them and the account coming up on their screen - so you'll get a bit of waffle before they launch into their sales pitch or monetary demands.
A wily customer will spot the lag between them going 'Aye? Whit issit?' and  the agent talking to them so hang up. If they do then the number goes back into the dialler but they'll likely not pick up a second time.
Decent dialler setup will pause outward calls if there's no agents free so that the list gets worked through. I guess pure sales calls would just not bother with that.
You can also obfuscate the number you are calling from - we did that as folks quickly learned that calls from 0987654321 were folks after their money - hence you'll often see very similar numbers popping up on your screen.

[wuvvum]

7 hours ago, IronStar said:

Next to all knowledge of the world is a pull a phone from my pocket away from me. Most of the entertainment as well. I work in the IT industry, and the only time I use a laptop or any other form of desktop computing is whilst I'm at work. Why bother, when my phone does everything the laptop does, in a more convenient form factor with a battery that lasts longer?

I have to disagree with this bit.  I fucking hate typing anything more than a few words on a touch screen.  Give me a proper physical keyboard any day.

[Spiny Norman]

4 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

I have to disagree with this bit.  I fucking hate typing anything more than a few words on a touch screen.  Give me a proper physical keyboard any day.

This.
And a decent 14-15" screen I can actually read....

[IronStar]

25 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

I have to disagree with this bit.  I fucking hate typing anything more than a few words on a touch screen.  Give me a proper physical keyboard any day.

Matter of preference / getting used to. I can probably type faster on the phone with predictive text than on the laptop, but slower than on full size mechanical keyboard. I’m an early adopter and spend ages typing on it though. For the record I’m not even fastest in my friend group. 😄 I’ve seen people using speech to text, but my primary language is Serbian so that’s a hit and miss with it.

As for convenient form factor, it fits in the pocket rather than a bag, and I can use it while walking / cooking / doing next to anything, so it will always get points compared to something I need two hands and preferably a desk to use.

[Popsicle]

Mrs P's Qashqai, well I say Mrs P's but number one child seems to be always in it these days, has a wheel bearing type noise coming from the ns front, as I can't be arsed it was booked in at the friendly local garage that does what I'm too idle/incapable of doing. Got a call around midday telling me the bearing is fine but the gearbox is at fault 😒. Sigh not sure if its worth bothering with anymore.

I trust the garage and I get decent rates with them. The clutch has been getting heavy so probs needs doing too. He said if I get a used gearbox he'll fit it and supply/fit a new clutch and flywheel for £600, so better than I thought, but still its a 14 year old 170k odd mile Qashqai at the end of the day - decisions, decisions.....

[MikeR]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

I have to disagree with this bit.  I fucking hate typing anything more than a few words on a touch screen.  Give me a proper physical keyboard any day.

thats why I like my chrome book , its like a 11 inch android phone with keyboard , dam big battery as well ..

[camryv6]

On 23/07/2024 at 16:39, meggersdog said:

I employ a part time mot assistant, a single mother who works during school hours.She has three children in full time education. Previously the social were paying towards her rent and that was it, no free school meals no help with anything else. She has now been forced onto universal credit but because of her hours she has to have an interview and sign on. First couple of times she has had to take time off work.I am not paying her to sign on so her wages are down. They have now agreed to a telephone interview and this is my grump.

We don't have avery good mobile signal here so my assistant gave them the works number. So today I answer the phone to an 0800 number. As usual I answer with the name of the company. "err, what" I repeat the name of the company "oh, I was told to ring this number by a person"  Okay well I am a person so who did want to speak to. ( for the purpose of this let's call my assistant Jane) . " I want to speak to Jane"  sure who's calling " I AM NOT GIVING YOU MY NAME" erm, sorry "it's got nothing to do with you." she shouted . Oh says I " look it's a business matter with Jane and nothing to do with you"  with the phone in hand I went into the workshop and found Jane. Holding the phone near my face I loudly inform Jane there is some arsey woman on the phone for her.

WTF a not very civil, civil servant. If I am paying someone by the hour then taking them away from their work to answer a phonecall   has a lot to do with me.  

As an MOT tester myself i would never take a phone call during an active MOT ?

[louiepj]

I assume that means I'm not going to receive my 10 litres of 20W50 and two cans of engine flush for £14.87 then?  Sigh.

I have also had to just ask for refund on two carousel oil orders.

[adw1977]

12 hours ago, IronStar said:

I can concentrate almost everything I need for my (digital, and at this point in general) life on a single device as opposed to having to do with 25 different cards / devices / things

Doesn't that mean you are comprehensively stuffed if that single device gets lost / stolen / broken?

[IronStar]

17 minutes ago, adw1977 said:

Doesn't that mean you are comprehensively stuffed if that single device gets lost / stolen / broken?

Yet to happen in 15+ years of ownership of multiple devices. Everything is backed up to the cloud as well, so getting unstuffed is a matter of getting another device, logging into a single account, and pressing restore backup. Oh, calling the mobile provider to get another sim card issued / qr for e-sim if I can’t retrieve it from the previous device as well. I still cary physical debit/credit card, just in case.
If I can’t afford to replace the lost / stolen / broken device or the cloud is no longer there, there’s a significant problem with my life (option 1) or the world as we know it is probably going the way of the dodo (option 2). There’s also always one of the previous devices that wasn’t given away sitting in the drawer at home in case I need a device immediately and I’m close to home, but as I said, this has never happened yet.

 

Edit: I have a device of fruity variety, so it’s worth next to nothing to a thief as it can’t be unlocked, lost can be tracked down by find my assuming I can get access to Mrs Star’s phone or my laptop. 

[meggersdog]

11 hours ago, camryv6 said:

As an MOT tester myself i would never take a phone call during an active MOT ?

No tests were undertaken when the phone rang so no "please do not distract the tester" occured.  Answering the phone is one of the reasons I have an assistant..

[maxxo]

re smartphones,

i fucking hate having one, i get that it's useful sure but it's mostly a glorified camera these days

if i need to make a phone call then it's on the landline with pretty much no exceptions

i hate smartphone culture, i refuse to use QR codes

oh and 95% of my internet access is done via a PC which has a proper keyboard and is actually useable

that's why i use my sisters cast off iPhones, they're free and i'm not paying stupid amounts for a mobile phone

basically it's a camera and a device for surfing the net whilst having a poo

going on holiday in a week or so and i'm tempted to not take it

[EyesWeldedShut]

I've just astounded myself when searching for my missing smartphone to confirm a spend online that the thing was actually in my pocket all the time - that's unusual  

Tbh - I did a lot of pukka (boring, science) research into smartphones/smart fridges and shite like that 2017 - 2019 and it was apparent that big companies were viewing it as sales leverage/the way forward. A lot of the stuff we looked at was 'meh' e.g.

fridge with camera + barcode scanner = less food waste (but hassle, tricky to get right, fun to experiment with tho')

but a company guy looking at it would see
fridge with camera + barcode scanner + online = less food waste automatic restock/sell more stuff/upsell recipe ingredients blah blah

It is how the world goes around these days, sell tech to those that want it and hope the rest follow (if you want to go all TALC on me - I'm a total laggard/non-adopter - and that includes cars  )

[myglaren]

Just been in Asda, something that rarely happens and is always a disappointment.

Woman at the exit waving a huge Q-code placard to take a survey and win £100.

[Bren]

EE.

My wife has just swapped our providers - gas electricity and phone . We will still be with EE but paying less for a better package. We were told that we would have to pay for ending the contracts early and this would be reimbursed by the new provider and that we needed to send the final bill to them - we would have to pay first. Not a problem except there was no bill - they just attempted to take £400 by DD and wife now has no access to her account with them so we cannot see the final bill.

[jakebullet]

Idiot sister in thick as pig shit shock, news at 10!

She's stationary at traffic lights yapping on phone to Ma about this horse that had a really big shit. She gets hit up the arse and shunted forwards. Got to go somebody has just crashed into me.

10 mins later she phones back.

He was a nice young man. His car was fucked up! But there's no damage to my car at all.

Did you get his details?
No! Why would I?
Not even the number plate?
No! Why would I?

Hmmm, let me count the ways.

Your expert* diagnosis of no damage turns out to be wrong when you try to open a door.
You find your neck / empty little head starts hurting tomorrow.
Your insurance company wants to know why you've not reported the accident you had where you reversed into the poor man's car and injured the 5 people in it. Followed by driving off.

Well she hasn't got any evidence anyway! That's because the dashcam I bought you is in a drawer and not in the window of your car... 

[EyesWeldedShut]

8 hours ago, myglaren said:

Just been in Asda, something that rarely happens and is always a disappointment.

Just had an Asda delivery, something that happens weekly and is always a disappointment.  
(Actually - it saves me about 2 hours driving into town plus maybe minimum an hour trolling around the shops - not that bad tbh)

Todays grump from here - Feckin' Sevel builds (1) caged bolts (2) extra long fixings fitted to #1 (3) salt on the roads.
1 + 2 + 3 = two hours feckin' about to pull the front bumper/grille off a Boxer - FFS!