The grumpy thread

[Talbot]

I've tended to stay in independent hotels.  Pubs-with-rooms, that sort of thing.  Much more interesting than Premier inns, where you could be *anywhere*.

 

When you get an evening meal, bed and breakfast for sub-£80, and the equivalent at a Premier inn is over £120, and you've done that literally hundreds of times....

 

Grr.

[Split_Pin]

People moaning about the weather:

 

"Oh it's so miserable outside".

 

"I wish it would just go away".

 

"All this rain".

 

It's WEATHER you utter bunglecunts AND it's SCOTLAND.

 

I REALLY wish these moaners would just sod off and go and live somewhere that suits them rather than tripping over their pus all the time.

 

How about they actually pull their heads out of their arses and look at the news, where it has recently been reported that there is a serious drought affecting South Africa just now. What do you think of that?

[DodgeRover]

We should immediately gather up all this rain and send it to South Africa?

 

Suns shining now and I'm gradually drying out the clothes that got soaked half an hour ago.

[HillmanImp]

I REALLY wish these moaners would just sod off and go and live somewhere that suits them rather than tripping over their pus all the time.

 

How about they actually pull their heads out of their arses and look at the news, where it has recently been reported that there is a serious drought affecting South Africa just now. What do you think of that?          

 

You ain't selling it to me. I'd rather stay over here and moan about the rain.

[chaseracer]

We should immediately gather up all this rain and send it to South Africa?

 

SHITE AID...?

 

"It's auction time, and there's big need to be afraid..."

[Captain Furious]

I've tended to stay in independent hotels.  Pubs-with-rooms, that sort of thing.  Much more interesting than Premier inns, where you could be *anywhere*.

 

When you get an evening meal, bed and breakfast for sub-£80, and the equivalent at a Premier inn is over £120, and you've done that literally hundreds of times....

 

Grr.

 

That is true actually, a few years ago I was travelling every weekend for about 6 months in my last job, one week would be up in Scotland, next week could be down in Newton Abbot, or anywhere inbetween.  Some mornings i'd wake up and have to think for a moment where I was, because it was identical to every other weekend.

 

After all of it, come pay review time, my manager didn't seem to think that spending 20 weekends in a row away from home for the company counted as any sort of going "above and beyond" and we got the same miserly 1% or whatever it was as everyone else.  I didn't consider this a reasonable commitment from the company, if putting my entire life on hold for them wasn't enough then nothing ever would be, so 8 weeks later he was holding my resignation.

 

Some valuable lessons learned, commitment and dedication gets you nowhere, there is one time and one time only when you're in a position of power to negotiate terms and conditions, and that's the day they make the initial job offer.

[robinmasters]

I'm a carpenter we still do an interesting mix of metric and imperial.

Anyway come Brexit we will be throwing off our metric shackles and going back to feet and inches, pounds, ounces and proper tons!

I'm not a carpenter, but when I do make stuff from wood I think/plan imperial, roughly convert, then measure metric.

[fordperv]

SHITE AID...?

 

"It's auction time, and there's big need to be afraid..."

It's auction time we buy the shite thats in dismay

And in cannock the chod is plenty, we can share a smile of joy

[danthecapriman]

I'm only 33 and I work in imperial. Metrics just a load of foreign gibberish! I was taught metric at school, and like most things they taught (or tried to!) I forgot it all after I left and did it the way I want to!

 

Most stuff I work with is all imperial and Whitworth anyway so it makes more sense for me.

[Vin]

I've tried working with imperial and teaching myself, but I just find it antiquated nonsense. I just end up going back to metric, which is what I work with everyday, as that is what the construction world uses...

[danthecapriman]

I've tried working with imperial and teaching myself, but I just find it antiquated nonsense. I just end up going back to metric, which is what I work with everyday, as that is what the construction world uses...

Most of the stuff I work with at work is ancient! Electrical connectors etc in BA, WW nuts/bolts, AF etc etc. It's old British equipment from the 50's 60's 70's and even earlier. I was working on an old transformer the other day built in 1937 for instance!

The newer stuff is all metric of course, but it being new of course means it's not due any sort of maintenance. Yet.

[DodgeRover]

I've tried working with imperial and teaching myself, but I just find it antiquated nonsense. I just end up going back to metric, which is what I work with everyday, as that is what the construction world uses...

Eh, ever tried asking for some 47x96mm timber? No its always 2x4,3x9 etc sheets are 8x4 etc

[tooSavvy]

DTCM..

 

I was watching a vid of the delivery - by rail/road - of a Ferranti transformer to Dinorwig.

 

.... Nuts! (probably Whitworths)

 

 

TS

[Vin]

Of course the construction industry is metric. Yes you probably do ask for a sheet of 8x4 or a length of 4x2, but it is not sold and supplied as such.

 

A sheet of 8x4 is supplied and sold as a sheet 1220 x 2440

A length of 4x2 is supplied and sold as a length of 50 x 100

 

You'll not find imperial measurements in a bill of quants or pricing documents or architect's drawings...

[danthecapriman]

DTCM..

I was watching a vid of the delivery - by rail/road - of a Ferranti transformer to Dinorwic.

.... Nuts! (probably Whitworths)TS

Yep, that's the sort of stuff I work on. Almost all of it is WW fixings and BA electrical fixings.

Ferranti, Fuller, English Electric, Long & Crawford, Bonar Long, Crompton Parkinson etc etc all old companies that probably don't exist anymore. There's shit loads of it out there still working perfectly though!

[cort1977]

Today's grump.  My cocking employers.

 

8 years I've worked for this company, and whenever I go away with work I have always minimised my costs.  Which has been appreciated. 

 

Appreciated how?  In better pay?  If not then you're seeing yourself off really.

 

I work for a big corporation and never think about trying to save them money for meals and lodging but always, always back up with a receipt.  Have worked at slightly smaller places in the past where some sour faced hag would try to query something and I would then play them at their own game and ask for the policy that shows a set limit per night or to be put on a per diem.  You would think it was their own money the way some of them carry on.

 

Don't be shy about it, they wouldn't agonize for a second if they needed to let you go.

[tooSavvy]

Yep, that's the sort of stuff I work on. Almost all of it is WW fixings and BA electrical fixings.

Ferranti, Fuller, English Electric, Long & Crawford, Bonar Long, Crompton Parkinson etc etc all old companies that probably don't exist anymore. There's shit loads of it out there still working perfectly though!

https://youtu.be/afvGStYT9xI

 

My mistake >> Ffestiniog Water Hydro plant (baby forerunner of Dinorwig)

 

 

TS

[Parky]

Appreciated how?  In better pay?  If not then you're seeing yourself off really.

 

I work for a big corporation and never think about trying to save them money for meals and lodging but always, always back up with a receipt.  Have worked at slightly smaller places in the past where some sour faced hag would try to query something and I would then play them at their own game and ask for the policy that shows a set limit per night or to be put on a per diem.  You would think it was their own money the way some of them carry on.

 

Don't be shy about it, they wouldn't agonize for a second if they needed to let you go.

Used to do the same at one of my old employers. Once did a three day overseas trip with the boss, his expenses were double mine as I flew with a budget airline, got the tube to the airport, and I called the hotel to negotiate a three nights for the price of two arrangement. Only difference was I arrived at 11.30pm whereas he arrived at 9pm.

 

So did I get a pat on the back? Nope, I ended up with a disciplinary warning. You see as I arrived late, the hotel kitchen was closed so no food was available. Starving hungry I helped myself to a Toblerone from the mini bar - all beverages or snacks other than water were verboten. The Toblerone cost 6 euros.

 

Compliance, HR, and Internal Audit were all involved in my case. The saving of £700 of costs was disregarded as the 6 euro spend on the choccie was a serious breach of rules. Shaking my head in disbelief I accepted it.

 

Next trip? Yup, business class flights, exec car to and from the airport, better hotel and all meals on room service. I spent as much as I could get away with according to internal rules. Even getting cabs when I could have walked, that sort of thing.

 

When I left, I bought the biggest Toblerone I could find for the compliance, HR, and Internal Audit teams. They didn't get the joke...

[danthecapriman]

https://youtu.be/afvGStYT9xI

My mistake >> Ffestiniog Water Hydro plant (baby forerunner of Dinorwig) TS

Brilliant vid!

Great to see that. Not a piece of PPE in sight on any of the guys shifting or installing it either.

 

That ones most likely a step up transformer if it's at a power station (low voltage up to high voltage for distribution), most of them are step down (high voltage down to low voltage) in normal substations.

Once it was slid onto its concrete base the pipe blanking plates on the end would be removed and the pipes to the cooling radiators fitted along with the radiator bank. Then they install the bushings (big brown porcelain insulators) that connect the busbars/droppers to the transformer, inside these connect to the three transformer windings.

There's a lot of work goes into doing all that.

 

The locomotive was an English Electric product too, a type 1 class 20 locomotive! Everything there was British built!

[Talbot]

Appreciated how?  In better pay?  If not then you're seeing yourself off really.

 

I work for a big corporation and never think about trying to save them money for meals and lodging but always, always back up with a receipt.  Have worked at slightly smaller places in the past where some sour faced hag would try to query something and I would then play them at their own game and ask for the policy that shows a set limit per night or to be put on a per diem.  You would think it was their own money the way some of them carry on.

 

Don't be shy about it, they wouldn't agonize for a second if they needed to let you go.

The cheaper expenses were all done when we were a small company, and it was noted and appreciate by the "board" (actually three of the blokes I worked with) and it meant that if I needed to modify my journeys to go and visit friends, or to stay out an additional night to visit my parents, it was never queried.  I even had several occasions where I got days / half days off in lieu of saving cash on expenses.

 

None of which is still true.  I wholly fit under a similar set of rules as Parky mentioned above.  Hence the Grump.

[tooSavvy]

... Fab vid, eh?

 

I was struck by the little girl, waving happily on the wall as train passes, "what was her life like since?"

 

[/sliding doors]

 

TS

[beko1987]

Sounds like the hoo hah we had at work yesterday trying to get 63p paid to a company who put a live order through our new website to test the worldpay compliance.

 

Yes, they want us to pay their 63p back (understandable) but our finance department require an invoice for this 63p, and we need our system to spit out a contractor invoice sheet. We cost the company many multiples of he 63p discussing it, then when the big scary finance bitch went us and the nice finance person worked out how to bodge it through. I suggested we sellotape 63 pennies to the post it note the lady bought down, but knowing this lady, I'd have had it shoved up my arse...

[Bren]

Capita in the shit. The next Carillion perhaps?

[Captain Furious]

For a while we had a travel management company we could book hotels through, this was pretty decent because you could book a hotel with a single e-mail and I didn't have to put it on my credit card.  But they used to try and get you to eat off the 'meal deal' menu.  Nu-uh.  The mixed grill with extra onion rings and 10oz steak upgrade is not on the meal deal menu, therefore no deal.  I used to put meals on my card and expense them separately, to be fair it never got queried, I always used to abide by the 1 alcoholic drink rule because I think that's fair enough, I don't expect the company to get me pissed, but as far as food is concerned i'm having what I want.

 

Then they sacked off the TMC so we had to go back to paying it upfront ourselves,  depending on workload this could amount to a not inconsequential sum of money - one month my expenses didn't get paid, my boss claimed it was because all the receipts were "all over the place" when he opened the envelope.  They weren't, because I was fastidious about numbering them all so they matched the number of the claim they related to and stapling them to the claim form, but still.  I said this is unacceptable that I'm having to incur credit card interest charges to have your expenses on there, I am not in the business of providing interest free loans to the company (I hadn't incurred any charges but there is a principle at stake)  They were going to provide me with a 'float' but in the intervening time I found a new job.

 

As said above, you'd think it was their own fucking money.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Capita in the shit. The next Carillion perhaps?

 

Maybe, maybe not

 

They'll still be Crapita, though.

[tooSavvy]

When I was installing Chip&Pin units we were issued a 'testing payment card' and we did a "live" ONE PEE payment and refund tx.

 

All hell broke loose (in a corporate sense) cos the banks [they make money from all this] decided the 3rd Party C&P client companies were costing them transaction costs with all us taking the PEE....

 

Contractually, we had to prove the kit worked - in front of the shop/pub/hotel staff - to get a signature.

 

Very much a Toblerone moment (wood vs trees) lolz

 

TS

[richardthestag]

.... But 'easing it a little bit' is still A Midgies Dick

 

TS

 

midges whisker or midgeewisker for us

 

slightly smoller measurement was a Gnats fart

[dave21478]

1 - Lounge lights have gone tits-up. They keep flickering on and off really fast, all perfectly in synch with a buzzing noise to be heard from the switch....easy fix, probably the switch has failed or the connections have worked loose and there is a bad contact. Except Ze Germanz that lived here before me have plastered over the edges of the fucking fascia plate so removing it is going to make a right mess.

 

2 - In a similar vein to above, I want to change the main light in the kitchen as its a fluorescent tube and despite how much I wish it were so, its no longer 1987 and it looks a bit pish. Except Ze Germanz fitted the entire light fitting up in the ceiling cavity and just left the two end bits sticking through wee holes in the ceiling so the tube is held tight to the ceiling...gonna have to bust down the ceiling to change it.

 

3 - Went to Le BetQ today and got a fuckton of oak kitchen worktops for a job. Strapped them down in the trailer and off I went. The load apparently shifted slightly and trapped the release handle for one of the ratchet straps so I had to cut the strap to get it off.

 

4 - Got to somehow get the above worktops up several flights of stairs tomorrow. Alone.

 

5 - Its fucking February already. It was Christmas about 20 minutes ago.

 

6 - Significant* birthday event is coming up soon and people keep asking what I want. apparently "to be left alone" isnt the right answer.

 

7 - If my credit rating didnt set of flashing lights and alarms like Homer Simpsons then I would have signed up for a leased modern this week - cant be hooped with old cars for the moment.....nothing is going particularly wrong with the fleet but some servicing needs done here and there and I just dont wanna.

 

8 - cant be bothered writing the rest.

[drum]

midges whisker or midgeewisker for us

 

slightly smoller measurement was a Gnats fart

Is a ba' hair imperial or metric?

[DodgeRover]

 

No. 1 is just a sign of spirit activity not dodgy electrics haven't you seen much TV lately?

 

No.2 Ze German who was here before,

he fastened a strip light upon the upstairs floor and carry on in a CavCraft style

 

No.4 don't even bother single handed offer a peasant a pack of Gauloises or similar to help you out, seriously you can't do that single handed even the 20mm ones are too much