The grumpy thread

[Mally]

You're overthinking things like Bo11ox on his thread.

You were right to move the obstruction, but your car caused another obstruction which wound them up.

Don't let them wind you up.

Thank you for being a thoughtful citizen.

[Jerzy Woking]

8 hours ago, Kiltox said:

Anyone who thinks this is an acceptable way to treat customer service staff (or anyone really) needs shooting 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7561963/amp/Leicester-woman-hurls-racist-abuse-Nationwide-Building-Society-branch-manager.html

When she says on the video "my husband works for you-he is head of IT", I thought "probably not for much longer".

Hope to read in the grin thread that she has been traced (must be easy to trace her husband)  had her account mysteriously  emptied, and will be prosecuted by the police.

No need for any of than at all.

[Kiltox]

Haven’t seen any proof that said claim is genuine. Several people are asking that question though, internally I mean. 

[SiC]

2 hours ago, Cavcraft said:

Another one of your aliases, Ben?

Its not Ben

[HillmanImp]

Who the fucks Ben anyhow?

[Matty]

Ben har? 

[RobT]

Ben Dover?!

[Cavcraft]

Our new dog keeps on barking at common people.

 

 

Turns out we've bought a Jarvis Cocker Spaniel.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

18 minutes ago, Matty said:

Ben har? 

 

16 minutes ago, RobT said:

Ben Dover?!

Ben Zedrin?

[Fumbler]

17 minutes ago, RobT said:

Ben Dover?!

Brother of Mike Ockinyu perchance?

[Matty]

Ben Tasaninebobnote? 

[HillmanImp]

42 minutes ago, RobT said:

Ben Dover?!

Don't forget Phil McRevis!

[strangeangel]

2 hours ago, vulgalour said:

Driving into town earlier, I noticed what looked like a big lump of wood with nails sticking out on the opposite side of the road to what I was on.  It's a fairly busy road, but not a fast one, so I could safely swing around the roundabout I was approaching, stop with my hazards on in the carriageway to retreive the debris and be out of the way.  Now, I'm aware that the protocol is usually "leave it to someone else" and on a busier road would have done just that.  However, this thing look like a chunk of 2x4 with nails sticking out of it, that was likely to make a mess of whoever hit it and I could safely deal with the problem there and then.

So, I come to a gentle stop in the carriageway, pop my hazards on, and retreive the debris which, as it happens, was a chunk of wood with nails sticking out of it, looked like one of those supportive/protective stakes they put around freshly planted trees.  There's a layby to my left but I didn't pull into it because that wouldn't block traffic from the debris and I might not be seen picking up the debris, so the car served as a big flashy barrier.  No drama yet because there had been no traffic until I picked the debris up at which point a load of cars appeared off the roundabout.  Did they slow down on seeing a car sat in the carriageway with its hazards on?  NOPE.  Just swerve around it and go as fast as you can.

If a car is sat in the middle of the carriageway with the hazards on, even though there's a layby to the left, that should alert you to the fact that there's a problem and you should slow down, yes?  It shouldn't be seen as an opportunity to quickly scan the opposite carriageway and just blast past without a care.  Even when I'd got back to the car, the traffic that could clearly see me, and the car, didn't slow or stop behind the car to let me back in, they just kept on blasting past.  It's only a 40mph road and being so close to the exit of the roundabout, people were likely not doing more than 30mph at that point but still, it was astonishing how few drivers seemed to exhibit any real hazard perception or reaction to an obvious danger in front of them.

In the future I suppose that means the sensible course is just to leave the debris to be a hazard to someone else and let them have a bad day, rather than doing the right thing.

 

As a motorcyclist, thanks for taking the time. Something like that could ruin a biker's day in a very big way.

 

 

[RobT]

I did actually know someone called Phillip McCrakin.  A school caretaker for added LoLz/inappropriateness.

[New POD]

4 hours ago, xtriple said:

Kyle has just insured the 'raffle' win Vauxhall: £530 plus changed details on the other two which was another £120 and spent £115 on brake parts for the MR2. The grumpy bit is: I FEEL GUILTY! Why? Can't understand why I feel like it should be me paying that lot. Is this just some strange hangover from when he was young and I was all protective and paid for everything? I mean, the bugger is 32 years old and earns more than 90% of the population (other percentages are available and probably more accurate!   ).

I am so guilty I should have been a Catholic!

Remember when you were 32, and ask yourself if your own father would have felt the same. 

 

[wuvvum]

3 hours ago, vulgalour said:

Did they slow down on seeing a car sat in the carriageway with its hazards on?  NOPE.  Just swerve around it and go as fast as you can.

If a car is sat in the middle of the carriageway with the hazards on, even though there's a layby to the left, that should alert you to the fact that there's a problem and you should slow down, yes?

I had that happen a couple of years back when I had the Movano.  Driving back home late one night, there were a load of deer in the road.  And I don't mean muntjacs either, these were big feckers nearly the size of a horse, which would write your motor off good and proper if you hit one.  So I slowed right down and switched the beacons on, then tried to sort of gently herd them off the road using the van - which was awkward as there was a solid hedge on both sides at that point so not really anywhere for them to go.  Anyway as I'm crawling along at 15mph some cretin in a beavertail truck comes hooning up behind me and screams past at 60+.  Thankfully he didn't hit any of the deer, and they found a gap in the hedge a hundred yards or so further up the road and buggered off, but I found it extraordinary that it didn't occur to him that orange flashing beacons could indicate a hazard and it might be an idea to slow down - especially as he was in a beacon-equipped truck himself.

[Jerzy Woking]

BBC constantly advertising their "Sports Personality of the Year". When did the public ever vote for a winner with a personality?

Just do me a favour and rename it "Sports Person of the Year". Boils my piss everytime the ad comes on.

[djim]

Regarding people not slowing down, had something sort of similar happen to me yesterday. I saw a car with hazards on ahead on the A22 so slowed down and as i approached saw there was an Alsatian-looking dog in the road looking lost - the chap had stopped to check and get it off the road. I put my hazards on - this is about 3pm so not dark but I had lights on too - and as it is quite a fast road I pulled up 50 ft off but 2-3 feet from the kerb to give the guy some protection. The dog was not certain about the other guy so comes towards me and I get out and call it gently and it comes over and I get hold of it. Its a farm dog by the looks, collar but no tag and quite friendly. So now there's 2 cars with hazards on, broad daylight, and 2 guys standing at the side of the road with a large dog who is not really sure about either of us. Anyway, long boring story short, a couple of cars slowed down a bit to see what was going on but the general consensus was, hoon past without slowing down even slightly and give us a good glare for the hold up, like we'd decided to have some kind of pet social in the middle of the road. 

The dog was fine BTW, went with the chap who saw the direction it came from, and they went off together (with the scruffy dog on the front seat of his BMW) to ask at the nearest house.

 

[somewhatfoolish]

I get that round my way now; once upon a time it was only the few petrolhead youths who sped in the local villages, as the roads were shit and full of potholes and you could hear them a long way off because of their fartcan exhausts, now every other driver is seemingly doing 40+ in the 30 limit, overtaking you with gay abandon if you observe it, all on winding roads with crap sightlines even when the council remember to trim the verge, moon craters and concealed entrances/driveways, kids freerange on bikes, meandering livestock and pets and the occasional suicidal deer. It's pointless as it gets you to your destination a whole 2 minutes sooner and destroys tyres and suspension in the process, assuming you don't dump yourself in the scenery(two local road fatalities in the last few days where a car has ended up in the hedge, given the temperature probably weather related) or take out a fellow road user(some berk typically wipes out or runs off the road a cyclist at least once a year, although the local roads do seem a lot more popular with the pedalists of late, there's even a time trial now). Then there's the uni-flow drivers who frequent the narrower unclassified road up the hill who cannot reverse to the nearest layby nor will they pull onto the verge to let Farmer Barleymow past despite him having a bloody trailer; mexican stand-off-tastic, I'm glad I had a paper to read.

[paulplom]

I think the problem with the orange lights, hazards, beacons etc is that they are far too common and used far to frequently now. They just blend into your peripheral vision and just aren't noticed anymore. Everyone seems to be using them whether they are needed or not. 

I mean bin wagons, really. Can they not be seen? Massive grab wagons the side of the road whether they are operating or not have them flashing all the time. I see council wagons, tippers etc with them on just driving normally through town and even on dual carriageways. I often give them a beep and a flash of my hazards to turn them off. 

Tossers who park illegally often put their hazards on as well as if that somehow makes it okay.

People are just oblivious to them now. 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

5 hours ago, djim said:

Regarding people not slowing down, had something sort of similar happen to me yesterday. I saw a car with hazards on ahead on the A22 so slowed down and as i approached saw there was an Alsatian-looking dog in the road looking lost - the chap had stopped to check and get it off the road. I put my hazards on - this is about 3pm so not dark but I had lights on too - and as it is quite a fast road I pulled up 50 ft off but 2-3 feet from the kerb to give the guy some protection. The dog was not certain about the other guy so comes towards me and I get out and call it gently and it comes over and I get hold of it. Its a farm dog by the looks, collar but no tag and quite friendly. So now there's 2 cars with hazards on, broad daylight, and 2 guys standing at the side of the road with a large dog who is not really sure about either of us. Anyway, long boring story short, a couple of cars slowed down a bit to see what was going on but the general consensus was, hoon past without slowing down even slightly and give us a good glare for the hold up, like we'd decided to have some kind of pet social in the middle of the road. 

The dog was fine BTW, went with the chap who saw the direction it came from, and they went off together (with the scruffy dog on the front seat of his BMW) to ask at the nearest house.

 

I had one like that a couple of years ago.  I was driving up to the A30 coming from Exmouth and these two dogs run out of a side road and sprint down the road.  They were doing almost everything they could to get hit by my car.  Pulled over at a roundabout half a mile down the road with my hazards on and the doors wide open and the next thing, another car gets behind my car and starts using the horn as if I'm just blocking traffic!  Somebody else also gets out and we grab the dogs.  Lady Grumpius takes one of them off the other person that stopped to help and we call the number on the collar.

They answer and come to pick them up.  Takes about 15 minutes.  The grump?  Not a word of fucking thanks.  Those dogs were dead if we hadn't stopped.

[purplebargeken]

Is someone now trying to rack up points for the annual cunt count?

What a cunt. Utter cunty, cunt cunt.

[xtriple]

12 hours ago, New POD said:

Remember when you were 32, and ask yourself if your own father would have felt the same. 

 

Sadly I never knew my Father. He and my hated Mother split when I was but 2 so I have never had any learned behaviour from a strong male figure in my life, therefore I am winging it... badly. When it came to being a parent, I always asked myself what would my Mother do? Then with as much speed as possible, do the exact opposite! As she would have had the last tenner out of my pocket (and did more than once) I feel that I should pay for everything.

[New POD]

My Dad, would give me (Still at aged 52) money when asked if I were desperate, but would insist on understanding the detail of my finances, and would insist on putting together a budget with me (and my wife) and then demand that a record and justify every penny I spent for the next 5 years. 

He wouldn't loan me the money. It would be a gift. But with complications. 

Me? I know my kids screw me over occasionally and that's okay.  Except when you know you are effectively paying for their partners to get pissed. 

[Mally]

My dad had a loose brick in the garage wall.

Every now and then he used to get a few hundred quid out and give it to me.

"Don't tell her, (stepmother) she want's some new curtains".

[New POD]

13 minutes ago, Mally said:

My dad had a loose brick in the garage wall.

Every now and then he used to get a few hundred quid out and give it to me.

"Don't tell her, (stepmother) she want's some new curtains".

When a friends father died, ex HMRC tax inspector, left to own 3 restaurants, they found cash all over the house. Bundles of it. 

Cash only businesses at one stage.  I wonder what percentage went through the books. 

 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

14 minutes ago, New POD said:

When a friends father died, ex HMRC tax inspector, left to own 3 restaurants, they found cash all over the house. Bundles of it. 

Cash only businesses at one stage.  I wonder what percentage went through the books. 

This is (or was) pretty much standard practice for restaurants before the debit/credit card revolution. I used to hear stories of Chinese restaurants and takeaways (to say nothing of other establishments) frequently adjusting the books. Very occasionally one or two would get caught by the Revenue, especially after covert observation of the owner's lifestyle compared with the income declared, leading to a prosecution and very heavy penalties.

[vulgalour]

6 hours ago, paulplom said:

I think the problem with the orange lights, hazards, beacons etc is that they are far too common and used far to frequently now. They just blend into your peripheral vision and just aren't noticed anymore. Everyone seems to be using them whether they are needed or not. 

I mean bin wagons, really. Can they not be seen? Massive grab wagons the side of the road whether they are operating or not have them flashing all the time. I see council wagons, tippers etc with them on just driving normally through town and even on dual carriageways.

People are just oblivious to them now. 

Bin wagons got them precisely because people were taking zero care while the workers were around the bin wagon.  Apparently, Mrs Spankedface is too important in her Peugeot Floppytop to slow down when there's people doing their job in the road, and Mr Slappedarse hasn't got any brakes fitted to his company Audi.  So, binwagons get beacons.  then they get more signs and things on them to make people aware that hey, this massive noisy smelly vehicle with people wandering about it might be a hazard so, do you think you'd mind slowing the fuck down a bit please?  People don't.  Knock on effect is because of the fuck-em attitude of the public, it becomes a fuck-em attitude with the workers and why should they bother turning the lights off?

Council workers generally get abuse from both sides.  Management want as much out of them as they can for as little as possible, and the general public want them to do their job without being seeing.  Understandably, the workers get a case of the fuckems.  If you actually try and give a crap about your job, your fellow workers will get cross with you and try and infect you with the fuckems too.  You can't win.

All that said, people are people, no matter if it's Mrs Spankedface or Council Worker Fred, and in different situations they can be totally different and totally un/reasonable people.  Except for Mr Slappedarse, he's always an angry dickhead trying to compensate for his own perceived inadequacies.

[Jerzy Woking]

The thing is, obtaining cash is easy (illegally at least) to attain and hide from the taxman. But getting rid of it is a different ball game. If someone gave you £40k in cold hard cash, how would you spend it? There are only so many pairs of trainers or polo shirts you can buy.

[Jerzy Woking]

17 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

This is (or was) pretty much standard practice for restaurants before the debit/credit card revolution. I used to hear stories of Chinese restaurants and takeaways (to say nothing of other establishments) frequently adjusting the books. Very occasionally one or two would get caught by the Revenue, especially after covert observation of the owner's lifestyle compared with the income declared, leading to a prosecution and very heavy penalties.

Yep, HMRC  officers will often do "test purchases" in restaurants to observe what happens when payment is taken from them (and other customers) and if cash handed over is placed through the till or put into the cutlery tray. It is often that blatant.

Take away takings are easy to estimate when HMRC count how many customers go in and come out for any specific day, then compare their observation with the shops books. Happens everyday, so I'm told.