The grumpy thread

[The Moog]

Women bosses? I'm certain they're not all the same at all, but the two I've worked for have been absolute bastards.

 

They arent all the same, but out of 10 I have had 8 of them have been nightmares. Its often because they feel they have to be something extra to compete with blokes. 

 

Or maybe I am a shit employee who hates women .... nah cant be that ... I heart page three so I love women .... init 

[fordperv]

I am on the opposite of that out of 4 women bosses 1 has been a twat and that was only because I wouldn't do things asked of me by her that I deemed unethical and I'd class them as abuse of vulnerable people. Safe to say she got a nice envelope with my resignation in explaining the exact reasons and also those higher up than her were informed.

[Parky]

Am meeting the lady in concern tomorrow. Everyone else has an hour meeting, I have 10 minutes.....

 

Subtle.

 

Last boss was a nightmare. Only child to a very successful Dad. She flunked school and got 3 CSE's and ended up as a bank teller at 16. Never got over letting Daddy down and spent the rest of her life trying to make it up to him. 44, no kids, no partner. Was engaged twice but on both occasions they broke it off so I think she had a man hating thing going on. New boss on the other hand has it all, great house and wonderful kids (natch), the best of everything but still wants more and more and more.

 

Some people need to recalibrate what's important and I think she is one of those.

 

Anyway, have had two interviews for my companies biggest rival, both went well and am awaiting the date for the third and final which will hopefully be in a week or so. Fingers crossed everything aligns!

 

Probably tomorrow she will say she only needed ten minutes because giving massive pay rises and permanent contracts is a quick process. We shall see. Either way, can't control it so fuck it, I need a proper nights sleep!

 

Cheers for advice and sympathy y'all. That's why I like it here

[purplebargeken]

I've been lucky with women bosses. I meet up with one for dinner every couple of months. We've been doing that for the last 12 years. She has a lovely daughter and good husband. I get on well with them all. I used my last white 1500 TC for their wedding car

 

One female boss was a complete twat. Utter psychopath who was eventually 'encouraged' to fuck off somewhere else. Frickin nightmare. 

[fairkens]

I've not noticed much difference between male/female bosses. Some are twats, some aren't, it doesn't seem to have much to do with gender

[EssDeeWon]

Meant to be starting a new job next week but the contract has still not arrived despite them telling me they posted it to me last Friday!! So tomorrow I now have to schlepp across to the West End to sign and dot everything because of the incompetence of Royal Mail.!!

 

If it turns up Friday I cannot be held responsible for what I might do to the postman.

[Parky]

Whereabouts up west are you going to be working? Or at least meant to be working!

[MrDuke]

Iveco 'automatic' gearboxes. 

 

They're not automatic, they're 'automated manual'. Which means that when you're trying to pull out of a dodgy junction, there's a 2-second pause after you floor the throttle, while the 'box decides how slowly it's going to let the clutch out. It also means that when trying to maneuver in a constrained space, there's no physical way to crawl slowly - you have to rev the engine until it lurches violently, and pray that you're heaving the handbrake up hard enough to prevent it rocketing into the nearest car/house/person. Oh, and it has a clever* traction sensor which means that however gently you try to pull away from a gravel driveway, you will do the most obnoxious wheelspin, showering the householders garden/car/child with stones.

 

While I'm here, I may as well mention the 'handbrake-off' warning, which beeps relentlessly if you coast at less than 5mph (i.e. in any typical traffic jam on a downhill slope), which in fairness is less ear-splitting than the 'handbrake-on' warning which happens when you pull it up a notch. There is a magical point where neither warning sounds, but it involves keeping the handbrake within a 0.05mm parameter.

 

YOU NEVER HAD THIS SH1T WITH SMILEY TRANSITS FFS

[Pillock]

We've got those at work. One got written off when a driver saw a gap in traffic, pulled out, and went nowhere for 2 seconds in which time the gap disappeared. Nobody likes them, from the person who pays for repairs to the drivers.

[Angrydicky]

Yep, we've got those bloody Iveco automatics at work too. Agree with everything you said, particularly the delay in actual movement when you have a gap in traffic you need to jump into, and the wheelspinning on gravel as well. Quite recently I had to make a delivery on a busy main road, and rather than hold up traffic, I backed onto the customer's drive. Did the delivery, got back in the cab, looked right and saw the lights at the intersection had just changed to green and there was a line of traffic coming towards me in the distance. Off I went (not especially fast) the rear wheels spun hopelessly on the gravel drive, flicking all sorts of gravel towards the house as the thing attempted to get a grip.

 

The other thing, is 'our' ones have front and rear parking sensors which I'm personally not a fan of, but if they're working properly it's not too bad. However, on a couple of the vans they're faulty, which means: 

 

1: Stopped in a line of traffic, foot on the brake, gearbox in Auto/Drive. Car behind gets 'too close' for the sensor. Parking sensor starts screaming in my right ear (the speaker is above the drivers door).

2: The sensor screams the moment you engage reverse gear, and continues screaming for at least 30 seconds. Yeah, it's great having that sort of distraction while you're trying to reverse a vehicle with limited rear visibility.

 

And, why, on this latest generation of Daily vans have they deleted the sidelight position on the light stalk, meaning the sidelights are on all the time? 

 

My other gripe with them is the driving position is very poor, compared to a Transit or Sprinter anyway. The drivers seat doesn't go back far enough for me, and I'm only about six foot. I'd hate to be any taller and hunched under that bus-like steering wheel. 

[EssDeeWon]

Whereabouts up west are you going to be working? Or at least meant to be working!

 

Just off Tottenham Ct Road (near Goodge Street)

 

My last office was by KingsX St Pancras but I was hadly ever there, this new job will mean being in London every day though..

[MarvinsMom]

i'm guessing the side light thing will be because of the daylight running light EEC bullshit.

 

you know, those stupid fucking lights on the front of BMWhocares and shitty aldi's which make those poor unfortunates behind the wheel so very, very friggin' important.

 

years ago the fiendish hun made a big song and dance about saab and volvo's having their lamps on all the time, big fuss that then required the swedes to stop using them, only for the bosch now to make all new cars have the stupid friggin' things on.

 

stupid twatting chavvy things.

[cobblers]

Our lass has a Fiat 500 with the same kind of biffotronic electrically moron controlled manual gearbox, it really is absolute shit. There's a local steep hill near us that her car will only go up if you floor it, but then it does full smokey tyre burnout wheelspins all the way up if it's wet on the road. I made fun of her for doing it but have tried driving it up myself and there is no way to get up that hill in the wet without spinning the wheels in a mega way - If you ease off the throttle the car just stands still and slips the clutch til it smokes.

 

I got in my mums Audi expecting VW DSG to not be much better, but fuck me it's genuinely amazing. My next car will definitely have one, it's perfect.

[xtriple]

The NTGF came round today (as usual) with her dog, Flynn who is an airdale. I love dogs, all dogs, big, small or whatever, Flynn however... He's getting very at home here and decided that he was the boss and had a go at Chester yesterday so he wasn't popular.  Today, as he was coming down the path, Chester (bless him) was trying to get all his chewy bones in his mouth at once to get them away from the visitor. I helped him...

 

Anyway, he came in, ate the dog food, knocked over a vase of flowers spilling water everywhere, and then tried to get Chesters chew toys. When Jo left, having made strenuous efforts to make me change all my plans so I could walk with her instead of going to the park, she left the front door open and the garden gate.  Chester made a bid for freedom and ran across the main road...

 

Fortunately, he was a lucky little fat sod and there was nothing coming, but it could have been very different. Jo just let him as she was too busy with her fuckwit. She doesn't think and cares fa for anything other than herself.

 

She's GOT to go!

[MarvinsMom]

now you own a bentley you have a car with a really big boot........

[MrDuke]

I know I shouldn't really complain, as once I'm out on the open road it's a doddle (the semi-auto shift is way smoother than full auto and quite nice at speed) and the actual engines are quite impressive and torquey for their size. I also rate them as having the best ever turbo whistle as standard.

 

It's just immensely frustrating that our depot, which has the largest delivery area in the UK, is stuck with ageing 200k Dailys which have apparently never been properly serviced, smoke like bastards and have endless electrical glitches, while the stores located in Civilisation get spanking new Sprinters and Crafters every couple of years, despite covering half the miles that we do.

 

I suppose I should just keep reminding myself that I'm being paid to drive round the countryside for several hours a day, and stop whining.

[HH-R]

All automated manuals are thunderously shit, this is a tested and proven fact.

[HH-R]

Sick of BBC radio rabbiting on about the feckin' British Bake Off. Easily the DULLEST TV I've seen in my life, and I've watched an episode of "Eddie Stobart: Trucks and Trailers". Couldn't manage more than 15 seconds of it without nodding off. Still, it's a Godsend for insomnia.

[Cavcraft]

How come if I don't look at what I'm typing, then various letters get missed out and random words are joined together, yet when I look at the keyboard it doesn't happen?

Is there some sort of fucking qwerty fairy that steals your letters when you're not looking?

[RobT]

Just off Tottenham Ct Road (near Goodge Street)

 

My last office was by KingsX St Pancras but I was hadly ever there, this new job will mean being in London every day though..

 

Once you're settled Stephen, arrange an 'off-site meeting' and pop on the Northern Line to Stockwell as I work near there.  We'll go for a tool around in the Daimler.  This ropey old boozer nearby will provide a great photo opportunity, it's shut now so looks even worse (which is a bad thing obviously, another pub making way for overpriced housing).  There's always an assortment of shite parked near it, mostly old Land Rovers.

 

[Tetleysmooth]

All automated manuals are thunderously shit, this is a tested and proven fact.

 

Our latest auto Merc Axors 44 tonners are ok, but they have an 'economy' mode. Not good while driving along twisty lanes. A big 'E' comes up on the dash readout, and they're freewheeling, just ticking over. What bright effing spark thought that one up?? Going into a bend weighing 44 tonnes and no engine braking.

 

While I'm here, I'm now convinced that the Dartford Crossing traffic management are not happy unless they have a few miles of standing traffic on one, or preferably both, sides of the crossing. Coming back from my second job last night, Gillingham, Kent, to Thurrock, about half past midnight, I noticed the motorway matrix signs warning of congestion on the M25 between J31 and J2. I really thought they'd got that wrong, but nope, sure enough, miles of standing traffic. They were doing a bit of resurfacing at the tunnel approach and had coned the road off from 4 lanes down to 1, about two miles back from the works. Luckily enough, I knew of a bit of a dodge which took me virtually to the front of the queue. A tanker driver followed me. Felt sorry for the poor bastards at the back of that one though.

[MarvinsMom]

and I thought* that getting rid of the toll booths was supposed* to cure the traffic jams at the Dartford crossing?

 

how silly am I!! 

 

and since, in the kitchen I could burn water I cannot have Bakeoff slighted like that, it just amazes me off what other people can and do bake

 

now the likes of come prancing/pap-factor/Jesus fucking h Christ dancing on ice/Saturday evening "talent" shows, those are shit telly.

[DVee8]

This is what i got up to this morning.The front wing of the astra.
It was parked on the drive all night,so could only have happened at work yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

To say i am pissed off is an understatement. I have rang HR at work to get them to check the cctv in the carpark

[cros]

All automated manuals are thunderously shit, this is a tested and proven fact.

Correct. See above manual manual, they tried an A35 auto but who would want such a thing?

[dugong]

I thought the A35 James Hunt Megadong FlangePremium came with DSG?

[Louise2cv]

I just got a bollocking for using my phone at a small services. I wasn't on the forecort itself but parked up in the parking spaces and stood on the grass. Some guy came striding over waving a bit of paper and doing a cut throat sign. Phones are prohibited on Shell sites could I see the signs (pointing to a miniscule sign on the side of a gas bottle cage about 20m away). I was finished anyway but was a bit hacked off by his manner and gave a bit of a rude "yeah whatevs"

 

Anyway as I was driving out I passed him and a colleague parked on the forecourt next to all the pipes and vents where tankers deliver fuel. His mate was sat in his van with the door open ON HIS PHONE.

 

It's not like me at all but I stopped and said "your mate's on his phone too"

 

He came over all sweetness and light about it being OK in the van but wasn't it crazy they were starting to introduce a pay by phone scheme.

 

How dangerous is a phone at a service station anyway? Obv I don't use them while filling up but... in the shop? Over the road at the parking spaces? Bythe vac/air water machine?

 

ETA. I freely admit I was a bit of a knob in my reaction to his concerns, but I really didn't think I was in some kind of danger zone in the open air "over the road" from the forecourt.

[cobblers]

its 100% not at all dangerous. There's never been an explosion caused by a phone and the chance of one causing a spark that ignites vapour is a lot less than the car you just drove up next to the pumps etc etc.

[dollywobbler]

It's an actual phact* that petrol fumes would never enter the cab of a van, even if the door was open.

[dave21478]

A phone will never start a fire unless you start getting silly and stabbing the Lithium battery packs.

 

I think phones were banned on forecourts using the flaming inferno as a reason as it was less hassle than saying the likely truth - we want you to concentrate fully on transfering fuel without being distracted by anything and slopping it all over the floor.

[Louise2cv]

He did mention LPG specifically.