The grumpy thread

[vulgalour]

Princess was due to be taxed on Saturday but it looks like this will not now be happening. Admiral, in their infinite wisdom, decided not to make a note of my instruction over the phone (I know, do everything by e-mail, you'd think I'd've learned by now) that I didn't want to renew as I was going with Adrian Flux and automatically renewed my insurance policy WITHOUT TELLING ME. So today I found I was £87 lighter and feeling both angry and relieved that I'd put the money aside and hadn't incurred any bank fees as a result. At least Admiral were reasonable and actioned an immediate refund, but only because I have a policy with Adrian Flux that takes over from theirs and they sent out my NCB declaration straight away for me too, which was welcome as AF need that. Now, I'm just waiting for AF to fuck up because it seems to be my lot that every insurer I'm with does something to screw me over in one way or another along the line.

 

The biggest gripe I have with this is what it does to my plans. I've been looking forward to taking the Princess to the next RR meet, particularly since we're now at a much nicer venue than we were, and seeing friends without having to rely on other people to get me there. If I'm very lucky the refund will be in my account on the day of the meet and I'll be able to tax the car, but I'm fully expecting that will not happen which in turn cocks up what was going to be a good night out. Oh well, maybe the road tax refund from the DVLA will clear in time (unlikely, obviously) and help me out, that would be nice.

[wuvvum]

Can you not write a cheque? They usually take a few days to clear, which should allow time for the refund to show up in your account.

[vulgalour]

I do not have a cheque book. Doesn't matter, I'm hoping that all these spanners that keep getting thrown into my works can be collected and used to supplement my tool kit.

[autofive]

engine for sale on ebay last week

 

I message the seller to ask if they would be willing to strap it to a pallet and drain the fluids

 

YES - says he

 

I win the auction, pay for the engine, send a message to the seller to ask what day would be best to send a courier

 

get a reply, two days later, saying as its half-term hes going away with his kids and could I arrange courier for thursday

 

I arrange, and pay for, pallet courier

 

9pm tonight I get a phone call from the seller saying that the courier company has contacted him with requirements needed and he says hes not sure if it will be ready, and he doesnt want to stay in all day waiting for courier then starts to moan at me - " you shouldnt bid on things you cant pick up"

i remind him of my message and his reply, he suddenly has to go

 

 

what an arsehole

[Danblez]

engine for sale on ebay last week

 

I message the seller to ask if they would be willing to strap it to a pallet and drain the fluids

 

YES - says he

 

I win the auction, pay for the engine, send a message to the seller to ask what day would be best to send a courier

 

get a reply, two days later, saying as its half-term hes going away with his kids and could I arrange courier for thursday

 

I arrange, and pay for, pallet courier

 

9pm tonight I get a phone call from the seller saying that the courier company has contacted him with requirements needed and he says hes not sure if it will be ready, and he doesnt want to stay in all day waiting for courier then starts to moan at me - " you shouldnt bid on things you cant pick up"

i remind him of my message and his reply, he suddenly has to go

 

 

what an arsehole

 

There are a lot I aresholes about. I would generally think the majority, but how nice is it when you deal with a like minded sole who goes the extra mile to make things right!

 

Hold on, not sure this is in the right thread!

[eddyramrod]

every insurer I'm with does something to screw me over in one way or another along the line.

 

Don't take it personally, they all do it, it seems to be the entire reason they exist.

 

Meanwhile, in a pub...

 

"Alright mate?"

 

Call me old-fashioned if you like (I'll take it as a compliment) but is that any way for a spotty teenage bartender to greet a total stranger, clearly old enough to be his dad, who has just walked into the pub for the first time ever?

 

No, of course it isn't, and I really should have taken summary action at that point. But I didn't. We stayed, ordered a meal and (soft) drinks, and waited.

 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand waited.

 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand waited.

 

Finally, with no attempt at an apology, the meals arrived. Mrs R had ordered a steak, medium. We'd been waiting long enough for her to have eaten a well-done one by the time this arrived, but it wasn't even medium, it was rare, to say the least. My gammon, on the other hand, had clearly been ready for the last half-hour, sitting on the pass waiting for Mrs R's meal to accompany it out. If I hadn't pre-paid, we would have been out of there before the meals came out, and that would have been the most sensible course of action by a long long way.

 

I spotted the pub on Streetview while we were still in Cyprus, taking virtual tours of Barrow to familiarise ourselves with the town. It looked clean and modern, if maybe a bit soulless. One of those places that's all about the grub, with a playbarn for the kiddies, you know the sort of thing. Driving around Barrow in the flesh, I found it again, and it looked closed. The windows and signs were dirty, the shrubbery was unkempt even allowing for the season (autumn). I assumed it was closed. A couple of weeks ago a workmate was telling me it was no such thing, it was open, meals were two-for-one and he generally enjoyed it. So last Wednesday we decided to give it a try, as we were out and it seemed the right time.

Last Thursday I went into work and made sure we had been to the same place he was talking about. We had. I told him.

We won't be going there again.

 

How much does "Good evening sir" cost a company? How much does the lack of it cost?

[Spiny Norman]

You should pop up to a Scotoshite meet at the Broadwater Farm carvery. Dinner fit for a king for £3.99, served up by the lovely* Helga.

[autofive]

every insurer I'm with does something to screw me over in one way or another along the line.

 

Don't take it personally, they all do it, it seems to be the entire reason they exist.

 

Meanwhile, in a pub...

 

"Alright mate?"

 

Call me old-fashioned if you like (I'll take it as a compliment) but is that any way for a spotty teenage bartender to greet a total stranger, clearly old enough to be his dad, who has just walked into the pub for the first time ever?

 

No, of course it isn't, and I really should have taken summary action at that point. But I didn't. We stayed, ordered a meal and (soft) drinks, and waited.

 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand waited.

 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand waited.

 

Finally, with no attempt at an apology, the meals arrived. Mrs R had ordered a steak, medium. We'd been waiting long enough for her to have eaten a well-done one by the time this arrived, but it wasn't even medium, it was rare, to say the least. My gammon, on the other hand, had clearly been ready for the last half-hour, sitting on the pass waiting for Mrs R's meal to accompany it out. If I hadn't pre-paid, we would have been out of there before the meals came out, and that would have been the most sensible course of action by a long long way.

 

I spotted the pub on Streetview while we were still in Cyprus, taking virtual tours of Barrow to familiarise ourselves with the town. It looked clean and modern, if maybe a bit soulless. One of those places that's all about the grub, with a playbarn for the kiddies, you know the sort of thing. Driving around Barrow in the flesh, I found it again, and it looked closed. The windows and signs were dirty, the shrubbery was unkempt even allowing for the season (autumn). I assumed it was closed. A couple of weeks ago a workmate was telling me it was no such thing, it was open, meals were two-for-one and he generally enjoyed it. So last Wednesday we decided to give it a try, as we were out and it seemed the right time.

Last Thursday I went into work and made sure we had been to the same place he was talking about. We had. I told him.

We won't be going there again.

 

How much does "Good evening sir" cost a company? How much does the lack of it cost?

 

 

write a google review naming and shaming

[RedSparrow]

^^ +1

Also, go on tripadvisor.

[retrogeezer]

I've complained for far less than that at restaurants, usually get an apology and maybe free puds or something. Only when a complaint is necessary though.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I have found these dismal levels of service are spreading, in fact I have even encountered them at home on occasion. I usually write a stiffly worded letter of complaint to Ms_ba11s demanding an apology, which has so far TOTALLY FAILED TO MATERIALISE

[cort16]

You should post your complaints on wifeadvisor.com

[shedvan]

When complaining at a restaurant its advisable not to accept replacement foods or free whatever. That is unless you have a hankering for the good old fashioned taste of jism in your food.

 

One particular episode comes to mind when I was working in a pizza parlour and the cleaning of the electric fly-trap happened to coincide with some luckless harness lurching in and his order of a large pizza

[TimothyClaypole]

Royal Mail, the new pricing is just out of all reason.

 

1.028kg in a smallish box, £8.90 for just 1st class, recorded would be over £10.00 - so being Ebay/Paypal I'm open for a molesting having no tracking on it...

 

I use TNT sometimes and that is only £10.83 through Interparcel and that's any weight you can manage to pick up or fit in a box etc.

 

I only paid that today as I'd stuck £4.50 in unfranked stamps on it that I peeled off parcels at work. When they started using those sticky labels to print postage was a black day for my stamp collecting.

 

 

Are Yodel any good as they quote £4.89 for upto 2kg's but I think you have to drop them off at the local off licence or butchers or something, then a bloke in a beat up Zafira with no insurance throws it over a fence etc. ?

[autofive]

royal mail prices have become silly since april

 

100g -500g is now the same price

 

parcels have to be weighed and measured, and then extra for tracking info that is useless when you want to make a claim

 

I use 'interparcel economy' (which is UPS) for everything - theres free tracking, claims are easy, and payed into your bank (royal mail give you stamps WTF?) and picked up from your house or work

[Rover414]

Rover attracted no attention until it went on the axle stands and had it's face removed. "Can I take that for scrap mate?". Err, how about FUCK OFF twat.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Watch it, it'll disappear while you're at work

[Rover414]

I was thinking that, luckily it's blocked in by the C1 and currently there is always someone in the house. Do they patrol the streets waiting for the opportune* car to come up?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

very much so

[Junkman]

The decline of the coffee culture.

 

This is a major piss off for me. Since the total demise of the tea culture about a quarter century ago, one has to do with coffee.

Now even this is under threat.

 

There are those seemingly omnipresent coffee dispensing machines everywhere you go. At work, at the train station, at your local tyre dealer, whatever.

No matter what you select from these, regardless which buttons you press, you always get the same unidentifiable mix of fair trade diarrhoea and bath foam.

 

OK, so you say why do I use those machines and don't get me a coffee in one of those newfangled chain coffee shops that now are next to each chain phone shop?

Well, because they piss me off even more. I have a passionate dislike for chain franchise operations on a general principle, but in addition, the shit they sell is in no way better than what you get from those stupid machines, only with the added nuisance that you now also have to cope with what nowadays probably is called a hot drink preparation engineer and her/his artificial friendliness courtesy of some fuggin customer care training made in USA. Holy shit. It goes like this:

 

HDPE: What can I do for you?

Me: Selling me a fuggin all included holiday in fuggin Tadzhikistan, ffs, because that's most likely what I came into a fuggin coffee shop for.

HDPE: Would you like a Filter, Espresso, Espresso Strong, Americano, Americano Classic, Cortado, Macchiato, Latte, Latte Macchiato, Cappuccino, or Mocha?

Me: Whatever is closest to a coffee, ffs.

HDPE: So, an Americano?

Me: (No offense to our American forum members intended) Well, similar to beer, America is actually the last place I'd turn to in order to get a decent cup of coffee.

HDPE: A Filter then?

Me: OK, go for it.

 

And now usually comes the pinnacle of all stupid questions:

 

HDPE: Which flavour?

Me: What?

HDPE: Which flavour?

Me: Beef Goulasch???? Ffs, do you have it in coffee flavour by any chance?

 

After this comes the next standard paragon of the customer care training, for which I could kick someone's teeth in:

 

HDPE: Ohkayyyy...

 

This fuggin drawed out OK you get all the time now, am I really the only one who finds this utmost annoying?

 

Me: Well, ta.

 

And now comes what brings me to the brink of murder in affect:

 

HDPE: YOU ARE WELCOME. HAVE A NICE DAY.

 

Waaaah! Where's me axe? Where's me chainsaw?

 

In ye goode olde dayse, I could walk into any greasy spoon cafe, could rely on the waitress being grumpy as fugg, which added some much appreciated consistency and regularity to my life, and got a decent cup of fuggin unfair trade coffee, without being interrogated for ten minutes. May these times rest in peace.

[RedSparrow]

I learnt a long time ago to just ask for a small filter coffee. ie a normal coffee.

[shedvan]

Either you were very fortunate in the calibre of your greasy spoon or you could be applying a thick coat of sepia to your recollections Junkman.

 

My recall of the old days in greasy spoonland was that it was some foully bitter instant coffee drek in a polystyrene cup.

 

However you only had to pay 30p for it as opposed to £3.70 so perhaps that balances out

[skattrd]

Fucking cats.

I got used to their footprints all over my cars. but last week one of them shat on the roof of the boring, and this week they have have ruined the car cover I put over the Lancia. I am not happy.

Does anyone have any experience of these ultra sonic deterrent things? ... They seem to cost about the same as the car cover I now have to replace

[cort16]

My sd1 now won't come out of first gear. The box can be a bit slow sometimes but now it just sticks in first and revs it's nuts off . It's doing my fucking heads as its been one thing after another since I woke it up at the start of April .

I've a horrible feeling its going to be another summer if no use for it if this keeps up.

[sporty-shite]

Fucking cats.

I got used to their footprints all over my cars. but last week one of them shat on the roof of the boring, and this week they have have ruined the car cover I put over the Lancia. I am not happy.

Does anyone have any experience of these ultra sonic deterrent things? ... They seem to cost about the same as the car cover I now have to replace

 

Get some zoflora disinfectant and dilute it as per instructions in a trigger spray. Spray it all around the area in question and it'll keep them away nicely.

[Junkman]

My sd1 now won't come out of first gear. The box can be a bit slow sometimes but now it just sticks in first and revs it's nuts off . It's doing my fucking heads as its been one thing after another since I woke it up at the start of April .

I've a horrible feeling its going to be another summer if no use for it if this keeps up.

 

Change the fluid and it'll work as new.

[Cavcraft]

Don't knock the Post Office too much, they've turned things round and are making money now. Mind you strangely* enough there's also talk of them being flogged off, which I'm absolutely certain has nothing to do with a sudden jump from loss to profit.

[retrogeezer]

They could make money by charging the large distributors a proper fee instead of hiking up what they charge the general public time and time again.

 

I just bought a Cavalier Haynes manual from Amazon - £1.87 delivered to my door. So they are sourcing it, storing it, picking it, packing it and sending it for half the price it would cost me just to post it.

 

Same thing for a battery for the key torch thing, 1st class to my door - 95p.

 

Still, at least these big companies aren't avoiding tax in the UK eh!

[Richard]

We'll miss the Royal Mail when it's gone, and it'll be gone quite soon.

[Negative Creep]

Take your break too late in the day after having supposedly taken too long on a bathroom break earlier in the day? That's enough to get a verbal warning.

 

Leave at least 5 minutes early every day and sit there using your mobile in full view despite it being a disciplinary offence to have it on the work floor? That's fine, we'll overlook that.

 

 

One of those scenarios applies to me, one to the teenage blonde girl I sit next to. Can you guess which is which?