The grumpy thread

[Rust Collector]

14 hours ago, Sunny Jim said:

I've been selected by the DVLA to complete a Motoring Survey. They've sent me it in English and Cymraeg so that runs to 10 sheets of A4 plus a pre-paid envelope to return it in.

The covering letter helpfully explains 

So why the juddering fuck didn't they just email me a link?

If you were randomly selected, then I’d expect that the reason these are posted out rather than emailed is that it’s likely the most accessible format if you take an average across all the recipients, and a postal database will almost certainly be their most comprehensive database for contacting service users.

I expect accessibility is weighted higher than what’s easiest and quickest when making communications, but then as a respondent you’re given an option of how to reply so that you can use the method most suited to you.

If it’s something which you had to apply to be held in a pool for, and you supplied your email as part of this, then I agree that it is daft to then send it to you by post.

[beko1987]

8 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

If you were randomly selected, then I’d expect that the reason these are posted out rather than emailed is that it’s likely the most accessible format if you take an average across all the recipients, and a postal database will almost certainly be their most comprehensive database for contacting service users.

I expect accessibility is weighted higher than what’s easiest and quickest when making communications, but then as a respondent you’re given an option of how to reply so that you can use the method most suited to you.

If it’s something which you had to apply to be held in a pool for, and you supplied your email as part of this, then I agree that it is daft to then send it to you by post.

It'll be the one time they send an email to a blind person and they complain to the papers about how the council isn't considerate to the needs of <insert disability here> that keeps them doing it. 

No human would have touched that paper, would have been out of the printer and straight into the envelope stuffing machine then dropped pre franked into the post tray. X 40000 or so😂

[horriblemercedes]

13 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

It'll be the one time they send an email to a blind person and they complain to the papers about how the council isn't considerate to the needs of <insert disability here> that keeps them doing it. 

No human would have touched that paper, would have been out of the printer and straight into the envelope stuffing machine then dropped pre franked into the post tray. X 40000 or so😂

Emails are no difficulty to the blind. Screen-reading software is very popular.

 

Letters in non-Braille formats are the problem.

 

[Rust Collector]

The accessibility issue I meant was access to the internet - I imagine that there are people who drive, who do not have ready access to either the internet or an email.

Seeing as by holding a licence or having a vehicle registered in your name means that you have supplied your postal address, sending communications by post means that you should theoretically not exclude any of your service users from receiving the communication.

[Sunny Jim]

It's a bit early in the day to be applying logic, reason or the needs of others to my grumps @Rust Collector! Time for another coffee.

[jakebullet]

Idiot sister is thinking* about getting rid of jeep because she nearly dumped it in a river trying to drive over black ice. So it's obvs a shit car when it doesn't drive on ice.

She wants a bini next. Countryman, or clubman or something, I wasn't paying attention. Something 4x4. Yes, I've already told Ma I know fuck all about them and don't want to know. Give her the advise of on the test drive try going backwards as well as forwards this time, and if possible exceed 5 mph.

[Sunny Jim]

I've completed the survey now and it was largely about whether you're aware of what services the DVLA offers online and where you get information about DVLA services from so of course @Rust Collectorwas right that it was imperative that they posted it out to get a representative sample.

New grump then: usually if I complete an online survey I get entered for a prize drawer - could they not have offered a month's tax free as a prize?

[Bren]

My 30 year old selmar turbo 12 battery charger has finally died.

[myglaren]

^ Nothing lasts any more.

[Sunny Jim]

^forts n prares x

[Remspoor]

4 hours ago, Bren said:

My 30 year old selmar turbo 12 battery charger has finally died.

I do hope you give it a great send off. When and where is the funeral and the wake?

[comfortablynumb]

Range rover of too many wheels became historic tax class on 1st January, so I retaxed it at the post office and got them to send the logbook to DVLA for me.

Of course, this means I haven't got it back.

Meanwhile @MVX11V has changed the private plate on the Jag I'm having off him, and has the logbook back in a week.

Bets on them trying to fleece me for another £25? 🙄

[MrBiscuits]

5 hours ago, Bren said:

My 30 year old selmar turbo 12 battery charger has finally died.

That's a good innings. I've still got a 4 amp Bradex (made in Bradford!) charger that was my dads. Must be 40+ and I suspect it's older than me.

[myglaren]

Radio at the local medical centre.  In for diabetes review.

First gassed by perfume of the first person who was supposed to examine my eyes,  Had to move to another room with a different operator once I could stop coughing and explain the problem.

Then waiting for the eye drops to take effect, local shite radio with lots of shite adverts and even shiter music, some grotesque boyband, One Direction probably.

Glad that is over for another year.

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, comfortablynumb said:

Range rover of too many wheels became historic tax class on 1st January, so I retaxed it at the post office and got them to send the logbook to DVLA for me.

Of course, this means I haven't got it back.

Meanwhile @MVX11V has changed the private plate on the Jag I'm having off him, and has the logbook back in a week.

Bets on them trying to fleece me for another £25? 🙄

Won’t it only be tax historic from April?

[High Jetter]

33 minutes ago, MrBiscuits said:

That's a good innings. I've still got a 4 amp Bradex (made in Bradford!) charger that was my dads. Must be 40+ and I suspect it's older than me.

I have one that's been used 24/7/362 for at least 34 years, powering a door latch 11 hours a day. Can't remember the make, but the case is metal.

[sheffcortinacentre]

1 hour ago, MrBiscuits said:

That's a good innings. I've still got a 4 amp Bradex (made in Bradford!) charger that was my dads. Must be 40+ and I suspect it's older than me.

Mines from the early 70s still working.

[MVX11V]

2 hours ago, comfortablynumb said:

Range rover of too many wheels became historic tax class on 1st January, so I retaxed it at the post office and got them to send the logbook to DVLA for me.

Of course, this means I haven't got it back.

Meanwhile @MVX11V has changed the private plate on the Jag I'm having off him, and has the logbook back in a week.

Bets on them trying to fleece me for another £25? 🙄

Lolz. If it makes you feel any better, the Audi one arrived in 6 days from my new mate Abdul... Wait...

[somewhatfoolish]

10 hours ago, Bren said:

My 30 year old selmar turbo 12 battery charger has finally died.

First check it's not the fuse. Even then don't bin it, put it in the AS car boot sale; someone with too much spare time can mither about with a soldering iron and replace the dead bit. There's a lot to be said for a dumb battery charger when the smart one has decided your battery isn't a battery and it's going back to sleep.

[Spiny Norman]

Today was new glasses day.

Tonight is headache night. Therefore tonight was also co-codamol and spiced rum night.

Probably not that much of a grump in the grand scheme of things really.

[New POD]

10 hours ago, myglaren said:

Radio at the local medical centre.  In for diabetes review.

First gassed by perfume of the first person who was supposed to examine my eyes,  Had to move to another room with a different operator once I could stop coughing and explain the problem.

Then waiting for the eye drops to take effect, local shite radio with lots of shite adverts and even shiter music, some grotesque boyband, One Direction probably.

Glad that is over for another year.

The apprentice who is sitting near me at work had to be taken into a room.and asked if he could stop using aftershave. 3 people had complained to the boss. We thought it better not to tackle such a sensitive subject directly with him, and anyway wanted to watch the boss's eyes roll when we cornered him. 🤣 He's got to earn that fat salary. 

[comfortablynumb]

10 hours ago, richardmorris said:

Won’t it only be tax historic from April?

Bit of a changeover, it was disabled class, and that ran out 1st January.

Yeah, would usually have been Apr 24

[comfortablynumb]

10 hours ago, myglaren said:

Radio at the local medical centre.  In for diabetes review.

First gassed by perfume of the first person who was supposed to examine my eyes,  Had to move to another room with a different operator once I could stop coughing and explain the problem.

Then waiting for the eye drops to take effect, local shite radio with lots of shite adverts and even shiter music, some grotesque boyband, One Direction probably.

Glad that is over for another year.

Headphones and nose plugs?

Not sure about the nose, but with headphones you'd be down wiv Der kidz....🤣

I can ignore adverts usually, but understand completely about people bathed in perfume 🤢

[Bren]

Just what you need on the way home from a nightshift - the sound of your rear silencer being dragged over tarmac.

Completely gone around the weld. I had to wrestle it off the rubbers - fortunately I managed to get it off without lying down. It's a good job I stopped when I did - it had jammed against the road and rear bumper.

This mondeo is going out of it's way to make me dislike it intensely.

[MVX11V]

Lucky you got to remove it though as I recall the mondeo was a little famous for dropping it's backbox and then shoving it through the explosive back bumper plastic when it caught the next bit of raised tarmac. Good catch.

[Morris 63]

17 hours ago, Sunny Jim said:

^forts n prares x

Shorts n spares?

[vulgalour]

Rebuilding the Princess head is reminding me why I hate working on engines.  It's all just such a tedious chore.  I've got the carbon wire wheeled off the valves and am trying to work up the motivation to lap the valves in.  I'll do it, I have to, I just don't want to.  If engine work brings you joy, more power to you, I much prefer doing the bodywork and upholstery stuff.

[myglaren]

5 hours ago, New POD said:

The apprentice who is sitting near me at work had to be taken into a room.and asked if he could stop using aftershave. 3 people had complained to the boss. We thought it better not to tackle such a sensitive subject directly with him, and anyway wanted to watch the boss's eyes roll when we cornered him. 🤣 He's got to earn that fat salary. 

In this case her perfume was barely discernible but enough to cause problems.

Womens fragrances are not much of a problem unless overdone, it is male pongy stuff that is the killer, especially Lynx.

Apparently it is aldehydes that I am allergic to.

There were a couple of times it started at work and there was no smell at all.  It was a secretary had come into the factory to speak to someone, the entrance was out of sight, as was the person she was speaking to and they were fifty yards from me in a very large building.  No idea what she was wearing but it was silent and deadly.

[myglaren]

5 hours ago, comfortablynumb said:

Headphones and nose plugs?

Not sure about the nose, but with headphones you'd be down wiv Der kidz....🤣

I can ignore adverts usually, but understand completely about people bathed in perfume 🤢

Not the adverts per se but the way they are announced, excited silly voices as though it was the most important issue in the world.  No idea what they were promoting.  Likewise with the dreadful music.

Not going around wearing headphones and looking like a dick.

Covid masks with charcoal filters help but it was too late, already gassed.

[MikeR]

17 minutes ago, myglaren said:

In this case her perfume was barely discernible but enough to cause problems.

Womens fragrances are not much of a problem unless overdone, it is male pongy stuff that is the killer, especially Lynx.

Apparently it is aldehydes that I am allergic to.

There were a couple of times it started at work and there was no smell at all.  It was a secretary had come into the factory to speak to someone, the entrance was out of sight, as was the person she was speaking to and they were fifty yards from me in a very large building.  No idea what she was wearing but it was silent and deadly.

we had a chap at work with the worst BO ever , he would wear a jumper in the summer in a hot office , we dropped lots of hints like air fresheners all over the office but being a thick skinned northerner he never took the hint .....  he never got a window seat so he could fester in his own odour rather than share it around .