The grumpy thread

[autofive]

we are thinking of getting rid of our telly

 

as no-one really watches it, we are all on our PCs

[Mr Lobster]

I'd be quite happy to bin the TV. Got rid of Sky as I didn't watch it and have a Freeview box but it hardly ever gets used. Certainly if it broke I wouldn't be hurrying to spend a few hundred quid on another.

 

I have a friend who went out and bought an enormous tv, mounted on the chimney wall and it dominates the living room. I'd rather have a nice picture or sumfink rather than a huge tv taking over the room.

[Guest]

I have an enormous rear projection TV I bought years ago, but about all I use it for is to watch a tape/DVD maybe once a week. If I'm really pushed, I might half-heartedly watch an episode of Road Wars.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

I don't watch much television,and what I do watch is usually comes down an ethernet cable. But when I do watch, I want it to be on a massive screen. I might go the projector route next chance I get.

 

Actually, I quite fancy that - a living room with no visible TV set. Only problem is what to point the chairs at.

[M'coli]

Thank fuck, that's over. Now that 22 inconsequential guys have finished kicking a pig's bladder around field, can we have something important and interesting on the telly and radio please?

[Milford Cubicle]

Cathode ray tube = GR11 4 skinflints

[Cavcraft]

Skye Horse Transport, Powys, Wales:

 

Are all your drivers complete fucking dickheads who purposely swerve at people on roundabouts and undertake vehicles too? Or was it just the one fucking bellend by Whitchurch this morning?

[Cavcraft]

Sorry, re-post.

[M'coli]

Seems he has a doppleganger, Billy!

[Angrydicky]

I know we've had it before, but...CYCLISTS!

 

There is a brand new cycle lane running the length of Southend seafront, the majority of cyclists were using it so WHY THE HELL was there still one lycra-clad twat holding up the traffic for over two miles yesterday?

[Negative Creep]

My car is a pig to start in the morning, yet fires first time after sitting up all day at work. It turns over fine and is on the verge of firing but just won't. Any ideas?

[Angrydicky]

My car is a pig to start in the morning, yet fires first time after sitting up all day at work. It turns over fine and is on the verge of firing but just won't. Any ideas?

Could be damp. Check the distributor cap for cracks and replace it if you find any. Try spraying some WD40 around the distributor cap and leads and see if it makes any difference. I have to do this with my A35 periodically.

[Negative Creep]

Stupid question but should you spray wd40 in the dizzy itself or around the seal?

[Angrydicky]

I've always just sprayed it around the outside, but it probably wouldn't hurt to get a little bit inside the cap as well. Well that would be my first port of call.

[seth]

Silverstone:

 

What have they done to it?! I watched the last half of the GP yesterday, probably my first watching of F1 on the telly since half a race last year. I could hardly make out what part of the track they were on. Looks like they've decided to make it even more processional by adding more straight bits followed by curves that no one can overtake on. I think every overtaking move I saw entailed the car behind bashing his way through and there were bits of wing littering the course. Great!

[Station]

Think distributor tolerances are easier nowadays, I doubt damp would really affect modern ones?

[Station]

Working freelance kills me. I have no idea who I'm working for really, and while I'm getting offered work, it's usually lip service to keep me on the backburner in case something comes up.

For the past seven months, I kept getting offers 'in case something comes up we'll be in touch' off the same company. I got fed up in the end after another offer came up, and then it went dead for a month:

 

Hi,

Sorry to be blunt, but is this going to happen at all as I've received numerous emails from your company promising freelance work over seven months and then I don't hear anything back from you - at least we can be professional about it, if I'm not going to get offered any work then I'd rather not receive 'maybes' as I lost patience with typical games industry 'we might employ you, but probably won't get back' protocol 10 years ago.

 

Thanks

David.

And the reply:

 

Hi David I think you'll find the operative sentence in my previous email dated the 7th June was "may have some freelance work starting over the next day or so when I have more details I'll let you know". So did I let you know..NO..why?..maybe because the freelance work didn't come in..possibly..normal protocol for someone asking for work..hi steve did that work come in etc..but no, not David, he prefers to send insulting emails questioning how professional people are over a month later..and just the day after the freelance work did come in ...doh....bummer the next stage was probably a test piece to see I was up to the standard I said I was..not now though...

 

No, this isn't a 4chan forum user replying, this is someone representing the 'company'. I did some investigating and their 'company' 'HQ' is in fact a house. I thought my email sent was actually OK as I wasn't applying for work. I get the impression of high level of professionalism here.

[whitevanman]

Think distributor tolerances are easier nowadays, I doubt damp would really affect modern ones?

But its the Cortina NC is on about I think

[Guest]

Missed an parcel today, bit of a pain as it'll mean an evening trip down to the depot in Leeds. No bother though really, done it enough times to know the route and they're open late enough.

 

Only this time it isn't a trip down to the depot, it has been left with a local Post Office. "Great!" I think, only down the road. Look up the opening hours - 9:00am to 5:30pm! I'll be at work the entire time, how the hell am I meant to work around that? Bloody useless - no wonder they're getting shut down, no one with a job can get to the damn things.

 

Worst thing is when they leave it at a Post Office (which seems to be entirely at their discretion) it removes your ability to have it re-delivered or even just kept at the depot, so this parcel will be in limbo now whilst I plan an enormous logistics operation to move a parcel about a mile down the road to my house. This will probably involve me having to pay someone to go and get it, no doubt with extra costs because there were a dozen hatchet-faced old witches asking to withdraw their entire Post Office account and go on and on and on about bloody stupid old rubbish even though people are waiting in the queue and they've got things to do and they can't wait for you to just get the hell out of here oh just die already you rotten old bags!

 

Unlike most, I actually quite like the postal service and think it does a good job for the money. But I hate Post Offices. I can't actually go in Castleford Post Office anymore, the last time I went in there (to actually post something) there was a queue of about 30 of the most hopeless-looking people I've ever seen and I ended up openly asking why no one in this town appears to have a job. Not the most clever thing I've done, but mildly satisfying at least.

[M'coli]

This:

Hi,

Sorry to be blunt, but is this going to happen at all as I've received numerous emails from your company promising freelance work over seven months and then I don't hear anything back from you - at least we can be professional about it, if I'm not going to get offered any work then I'd rather not receive 'maybes' as I lost patience with typical games industry 'we might employ you, but probably won't get back' protocol 10 years ago.

 

Thanks

David.

seems quite reasonable, and gives good reasons as to why you are asking in such a manner. It reads as an e-mail from someone who has quite rightly lost their patience with a bunch of carrot-waving time wasters, whereas this:

Hi David I think you'll find the operative sentence in my previous email dated the 7th June was "may have some freelance work starting over the next day or so when I have more details I'll let you know". So did I let you know..NO..why?..maybe because the freelance work didn't come in..possibly..normal protocol for someone asking for work..hi steve did that work come in etc..but no, not David, he prefers to send insulting emails questioning how professional people are over a month later..and just the day after the freelance work did come in ...doh....bummer the next stage was probably a test piece to see I was up to the standard I said I was..not now though...

 

can only be described as a cunt's trick.

[warren t claim]

After careful monitoring of the 1.1 Pugs fuel consumption I have discovered it only averages 38.2 mpg. To make matters worse half of the miles I do is on motorways at a mingebag 60-65 mph. I was hoping for more than this.

[myglaren]

Missed an parcel today, bit of a pain as it'll mean an evening trip down to the depot in Leeds. No bother though really, done it enough times to know the route and they're open late enough.

 

Only this time it isn't a trip down to the depot, it has been left with a local Post Office. "Great!" I think, only down the road. Look up the opening hours - 9:00am to 5:30pm! I'll be at work the entire time, how the hell am I meant to work around that? Bloody useless - no wonder they're getting shut down, no one with a job can get to the damn things.

 

Worst thing is when they leave it at a Post Office (which seems to be entirely at their discretion) it removes your ability to have it re-delivered or even just kept at the depot, so this parcel will be in limbo now whilst I plan an enormous logistics operation to move a parcel about a mile down the road to my house. This will probably involve me having to pay someone to go and get it, no doubt with extra costs because there were a dozen hatchet-faced old witches asking to withdraw their entire Post Office account and go on and on and on about bloody stupid old rubbish even though people are waiting in the queue and they've got things to do and they can't wait for you to just get the hell out of here oh just die already you rotten old bags!

 

Unlike most, I actually quite like the postal service and think it does a good job for the money. But I hate Post Offices. I can't actually go in Castleford Post Office anymore, the last time I went in there (to actually post something) there was a queue of about 30 of the most hopeless-looking people I've ever seen and I ended up openly asking why no one in this town appears to have a job. Not the most clever thing I've done, but mildly satisfying at least.

This happens a lot to me as I'm out from 07:30 to 16:45, my daughter is mostly out and about during the day (works and studies evenings and weekends) and my son is in bed (works nights).

 

The sorting office is open 07:00 - 12:00 so unavailable for me to be able to collect anything.

On of the kids can usually collect for me though so no big deal.

 

Last Friday I had some books delivered from Amazon. They use some mob I have never heard of now, rather than the RM.

 

Card through the door "You weren't home when we delivered your parcel so we have taken it back to the depot for safe keeping"

What depot - where?

 

OK, there's a phone number and a web page to use to rearrange delivery. A pain but still.

Phone is 10p/minute and I despise using the phone so that's out.

Enter postal code and item code. Fair enough - except it will only accept six-digit postcodes

 

Emailed Amazon and explained the problem, almost instant reply - from a person, not a robot, saying they will investigate.

Email 10 minutes later to say that contrary to the statement on the card, the package has been left in our services cupboard - and very rightly, it has - in the washing up bowl I use when draining the oil from the car engines

No harm done as there was tons of packaging round the plastic encased books but still.

 

Amazon have always been great but their new delivery service is rather to be found wanting. Wish I had kept the card so I could blacken their name a bit.

[Richard]

I hope it isn't Secure Mail Services. I would hate to have to boycott Amazon.

[Mr Lobster]

I hope it isn't Secure Mail Services. I would hate to have to boycott Amazon.

It's not. Amazon use Home Delivery Network - HDNL - (who are changing their name to the ever so slightly ridiculous Yodel).

[Richard]

Ah good. After a bad experience with SMS, who proved themselves to be both dishonest and incompetent, I swore I would never again deal with any company that used them.

[Cavcraft]

Working freelance kills me. I have no idea who I'm working for really, and while I'm getting offered work, it's usually lip service to keep me on the backburner in case something comes up.

For the past seven months, I kept getting offers 'in case something comes up we'll be in touch' off the same company. I got fed up in the end after another offer came up, and then it went dead for a month:

 

Hi,

Sorry to be blunt, but is this going to happen at all as I've received numerous emails from your company promising freelance work over seven months and then I don't hear anything back from you - at least we can be professional about it, if I'm not going to get offered any work then I'd rather not receive 'maybes' as I lost patience with typical games industry 'we might employ you, but probably won't get back' protocol 10 years ago.

 

Thanks

David.

And the reply:

 

Hi David I think you'll find the operative sentence in my previous email dated the 7th June was "may have some freelance work starting over the next day or so when I have more details I'll let you know". So did I let you know..NO..why?..maybe because the freelance work didn't come in..possibly..normal protocol for someone asking for work..hi steve did that work come in etc..but no, not David, he prefers to send insulting emails questioning how professional people are over a month later..and just the day after the freelance work did come in ...doh....bummer the next stage was probably a test piece to see I was up to the standard I said I was..not now though...

No, this isn't a 4chan forum user replying, this is someone representing the 'company'. I did some investigating and their 'company' 'HQ' is in fact a house. I thought my email sent was actually OK as I wasn't applying for work. I get the impression of high level of professionalism here.

Absolute bollocks. There was no way they were going to offer you work 'the day after' if at all.

 

That's the kind of thing you hear from someone moron who pesters you over a car you're selling. When you get arsey with them when they've asked the same question 227 times they say 'I was going to come up tomorrow with eleven million quid in a suit case and buy it off you'.

It's all shit, they just said that to make you kick yourself for not being patient.

[Cavcraft]

...

[Tayne]

.

[myglaren]

I have a tendency to change my password at random intervals then immediately forget it. Always managed to recover it from their reset service easily enough though - this is Amazon UK, France, Japan and US. Never had a problem with them since I started using them years ago.

[Roc 24v]

What's bugging me is the 5 pikey caravans and dozens of stinky pikeys that go with them parked in my work car park (council owned).

 

I have to go to work through threats to be stabbed, piles of dog shit and human piss, only then to have to look at a caravan 3 feet from my window, whilst some fat pikey cleans it all day (the caravan is spotless) and chucks all the rubbish all over the floor outside.

 

The kids have trashed everything in the car park and smashed up cars and bikes, and the CCTV...nothing the police car do, sir, apparently.