The grumpy thread

[Rust Collector]

9 hours ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

It was an absolute car crash and incredibly awkward.  Sad really because on paper the chap was well-qualified but he completely missed the point of our questions in quite spectacular fashion.

I felt like that was me yesterday, I thought I'd prepared well but I hadn't anticipated the broadness of the questions asked but how specific to technical functions of the role they'd be. Although in my situation I don't stack up well on paper either as I have shit all professional development to show in my current role other than people having to take my word for what I've done.

When I found out I'd got to interview stage for this new job I was proud of myself for sticking with the application rather than binning it off on that Sunday evening. I wish I hadn't bothered now as it just resulted in a bad experience and I'm even more fucked off with my current situation now. If I hadn't of got my hopes up about making a change then at least I could have stayed in my previous complacent/accepting mindset.

I'm sure I'll feel better about it later, but at the moment I just want to be a miserable, self pitying wanker and lament on the fact that I feel I've wasted the last however many years in my current role 😅

At least I've got paternity leave coming up in the next few days.

[horriblemercedes]

I remember my worst job interview ever.

 

A family friend had organised for me to meet up with the recruitment person at his work who was going to go through my CV with me and help me to be more employable. This would be a favour to him.

In the meantime, they found a role at the company that they thought I would suit, so they decided to turn this meeting into an interview for the role. Nobody told me this.

I arrived with a CV and a notepad and was taken straight into a job interview.

The first question was why the role appealed to me. I explained that I didn't even know what the role was and asked if they could tell me. They wouldn't.

 

A few days later, I was phoned by the recruitment person who told me she was disappointed with my lack of preparation. I put the phone down. I still don't know what the role was, but I suspect sales, in which case I wouldn't have wanted it anyway

[maxxo]

11 hours ago, SunnySouth said:

That’s a fucking shame

Always wrong to make assumptions, but the damage suggests it might have been killed by its owner? 😕

I have a feeling it was the E30 (if I believe) that went through a red light and was struck by the range rover

[GrumpiusMaximus]

1 hour ago, Rust Collector said:

I felt like that was me yesterday, I thought I'd prepared well but I hadn't anticipated the broadness of the questions asked but how specific to technical functions of the role they'd be. Although in my situation I don't stack up well on paper either as I have shit all professional development to show in my current role other than people having to take my word for what I've done.

When I found out I'd got to interview stage for this new job I was proud of myself for sticking with the application rather than binning it off on that Sunday evening. I wish I hadn't bothered now as it just resulted in a bad experience and I'm even more fucked off with my current situation now. If I hadn't of got my hopes up about making a change then at least I could have stayed in my previous complacent/accepting mindset.

I'm sure I'll feel better about it later, but at the moment I just want to be a miserable, self pitying wanker and lament on the fact that I feel I've wasted the last however many years in my current role 😅

At least I've got paternity leave coming up in the next few days.

If it's any consolation at all, the fact that you're reaching out for interviews is a sign of major progress.  You're already way ahead of most of the people that are miserable in their jobs and the fact that you're looking for change and actively persuing is in and of itself a positive.

My partner is a senior teacher and had a very bizarre experience last year.  She applied for a job in the North in the city we both went to University in.  We would both like to end up there again, so she applied for it.  With teaching jobs, the typical notice is a term (six weeks, what we used to call half-terms) and this particular job was one that was starting at the beginning of January.

She applied on the Thursday.  On the Monday, they asked invited her to interview and gave her a date and time but no details.  Usually for a teaching job they'll ask you to prepare and deliver a shortened lesson, meet with various senior staff, usually a panel of students and various other parts.  Knowing the age group and expectations of the lesson is important as you need to plan specifically for it.

As she's applying for a senior manangement position, the interview could be over two days.  You do a first day and they can call you back for a second.  Bear in mind this was during a teaching week, so she had to arrange cover for potentially two days of teaching.

The interview was on the Wednesday.  So she had fewer than 48 hours to arrange accommodation for up to two days.  They only published the interview details on the Tuesday night so I took time off work to drive to Lancashire and support so that she could write up her lesson plan and other details in the car on the way up.  This is not normal and you'll usually get at least a week, so the whole process was seriously expedited.

She didn't make it through to day two but neither did anybody else.  So they expedited an interview with fewer than 48 hours notice, dragged six people there from all over the country and then chose not to even go to day two with any candidates.  They were so slow to feed back that one candidate missed their train back to Cornwall because the last train was at 5PM and they didn't bother telling anybody that they weren't coming back until 6PM.

Absolutely ridiculous and a major red flag to actually working there.

[maxxo]

11 hours ago, SunnySouth said:

That’s a fucking shame

Always wrong to make assumptions, but the damage suggests it might have been killed by its owner? 😕

I have a feeling it was the E30 (if I believe) that went through a red light and was struck by the range rover

[horriblemercedes]

Just now, maxxo said:

I have a feeling it was the E30 (if I believe) that went through a red light and was struck by the range rover

Another one?

[chadders]

15 hours ago, richardmorris said:

Following on from above, I am grumpy as I spent two hours this afternoon trying to please natwest for a business ownership review.

my watch went off three times to alert me that my anxiety levels were unusually high.

well, yes. If it had said at the start what information would be needed then we could have collated it before hand.

as it was I had to go hunting for sic code ( which was correct but the computer said no so chose another related which was accepted but Is not on the vat certificate) vat registration, registered office, proof of trading address, proof of shareholdings, turnover, suppliers and customers (which surely is none of their business?).

plus printing, scanning, signing a doc about shareholding which they then did not directly ask for, but I sent anyway as the company structure which was asked for. I wish I could bill them as it took two hours and an anxiety attack. And I know they are going to say that the sic code I entered and the sic code on the vat registration don’t match.

( analysis and testing worked but isn’t the real code. But other research and testing didn’t work  despite being shown in the gov list of sic codes and on the bloody certificate).

Asking about suppliers and customers can make a lot of sense if you have an overdraft for example. Say you are heavily reliant on one customer the risk, all other things being equal, is higher than if you have a decent spread of them. Others spring to mind but to me the financial risk one is the most likely, albeit not knowing the legal status of your business.

[artdjones]

8 hours ago, Yoss said:

There's more than that. When I first started we would get free travel on Southamptons buses as long as we were in uniform. Didn't have to show a pass or anything, just say hello to the driver as you got on.

Better than that, they even laid on special buses for us to get to work. I mean technically they were normal service buses but it was no coincidence that about five buses would arrive outside our office from all over the city about five minutes before our start time. And the fleet was almost 100% Atlantean at the time. The buses would often meet in the city centre and run in convoy down the High Street at 0530 waking all the residents up.

Of course we were both nationalised companies then. And Southampton only had one big delivery office right in the middle of the high street. A big old Victorian place that naturally got sold off and turned in to flats. Now we have two offices roughly split by the river Itchen.

Then the plan was to be dropped out on delivery in high top Sherpa death traps. Sideways facing flip up bench seats but no windows, or seat belts obviously, and lots of exposed metal seams. And sliding doors up front of course. Then you would catch a bus back to the office after your delivery. If you were late getting your delivery ready and missed the van then you would just get the bus both ways. Even if you were on nights just sorting you still got free buses.

That all ended within months of First Bus buying Southampton CityBus from the council, although it roughly coincided with us moving offices to Shirley and Bitterne and we all went back to bikes. 

When I was a postman in the 80s I got given lifts twice in GPO Sherpa vans, once they came out to me at 6am when my car broke down, to get me to work, once to A&E for a tetanus jab after a dog bite incident. The only times I've been driven at 70 in a 30 limit.

[junkyarddog]

8 hours ago, rattlecan said:

See that’s where you’ve gone wrong. A watch that tells you you’re having an anxiety attack, really? Who the fuck needs one of those in their life. One absolute dead cert is that that going off is going to do one thing & one thing only. Make it worse. These tech companies must be absolutely pissin themselves, inventing shit no one needs but still buys

 

 

[Bren]

Went to crack on with the mondeo's leaking injector. 

As soon as I touched the clip on the leak off pipe it snapped.

A new set comes tomorrow. That will be £80 please.

And the rain here is biblical now.

[Rust Collector]

6 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

I wish I hadn't bothered now as it just resulted in a bad experience and I'm even more fucked off with my current situation now. If I hadn't of got my hopes up about making a change then at least I could have stayed in my previous complacent/accepting mindset.

I'm sure I'll feel better about it later, but at the moment I just want to be a miserable, self pitying wanker

Shows what I know then.

The mrs thought her water broke this morning, so we scarpered up the hospital as she wanted them to check if the baby was indeed on the way. It was a false alarm, so we ambled back home and picked up child number one from my Dad on the way.

Whilst sitting in the Disco of Doom outside my house, having a breather and thinking what the fuck gathering my thoughts before returning to work, my phone rang.

'Thank you for your time yesterday, I'm phoning to say congratulations'

Not what I expected at all, but I'm happy to be proved wrong once again.

Thank you all for the kind words and advice thus far, it's greatly appreciated despite me being a despondent wanker 😂

[Weird Car]

I’ve had better evenings, it must be said 

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

'Thank you for your time yesterday, I'm phoning to say congratulations'

So you got the job - if you still want it?

[Rust Collector]

35 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

So you got the job - if you still want it?

Yes indeed - just waiting for the written offer, but I have accepted the offer made on the phone. Probably not a topic for the grumpy thread anymore, but the conclusion has more context by being in here 😅

[kevins]

Just driven back from Cologne during Friday rush rather than staying the weekend so my wife can make hospital appointment only to be texted halfway up the M20 saying the doctors not coming into the hospital and wants to do it via a zoom call ! 

( this is for a private appointment costing something like £250).

She's sacked that one off and is seeing another on Thursday.

 

 

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Rust Collector said:

Yes indeed - just waiting for the written offer, but I have accepted the offer made on the phone. Probably not a topic for the grumpy thread anymore, but the conclusion has more context by being in here 😅

Great news. Moral is don't let stuff get you down, or nil desperandum as they used to say. 

[MikeR]

Leyland ... full of f in big pot holes , 150 miles today and where did I hit one , offside , near the middle of the road .

I swear the stuff in the boot bounced !

will see if the tyre is still up in the morning .

[Agila]

Can't sleep because reasons.

On YouTube and up pops some idiot with a channel just scratching scratch cards. How is this a thing.?

Trying to justify spending £30 a day on gambling I guess. No idea why it's on my YouTube.

 

[Rust Collector]

5 hours ago, Agila said:

Can't sleep because reasons.

On YouTube and up pops some idiot with a channel just scratching scratch cards. How is this a thing.?

Trying to justify spending £30 a day on gambling I guess. No idea why it's on my YouTube.

 

A bloke I know and his mate who worked at a 24hr garage decided to scratch all the scratch cards behind the counter one night as they’d decided that they would definitely win a decent prize out of all those cards. It was about 4 grands worth of scratch cards that they got through.

No prizes for guessing how that worked out for them.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

14 hours ago, Weird Car said:

I’ve had better evenings, it must be said 

Unfortunate reality but cracking photo. That plate is a belter, too. Have you got a thread on it? 

[Weird Car]

2 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Unfortunate reality but cracking photo. That plate is a belter, too. Have you got a thread on it? 

Thank you, it’s my boyfriend’s plate, he’s getting it back soon to put on his 75 as I’m putting my ‘BUS YUM’ plate on the ZT 

 

Heres my thread if you’re interested in the fleet

 

https://autoshite.com/topic/54732-weird-car’s-weird-cars-now-with-added-bus-broken-rovers-oh-mg/page/6/

[Zelandeth]

Back in the summer we ripped out an absolute disaster of a hedge and replaced it with a fence.  Being really careful to be generous with how much room we were leaving because the plans we have showing the property boundary are fifth generation photocopies from the 80s which have been faxed a couple of times just for good measure.  We did try to get clarification from the council just to be sure, but they were totally non responsive.

Guess who just had a planning enforcement notice drop through the door this morning claiming the new fence is encroaching on amenity land?

Excuse me while I go find a wall to smash my head to a bloody pulp against.

[SunnySouth]

People playing music/video/noise out of their phone speaker on trains. WTF, is it just me who finds that unbelievably ducking antisocial?  

Usually it’ll be people somewhere under the age of about 30, but the most recent one was a perfectly respectable looking chap mid-50s, scrolling through YouTube ‘sharing’ the same AI-voiced nonsense that my 13 year old watches in the car. “How far are you going?”, I asked politely, and he tells me he’ll be on longer than the couple of hours that I will be. “Have you brought any headphones?”, I enquire. Of course not, but he looks embarrassed and asks is it “too loud”? Well, yes, because it isn’t coming through headphones is it, but through a sodding speaking into the sealed tube that you’re sharing with dozens of other people who have no choice but to put up with it.

Normally I say nowt, as it’s usually only a short trip and you can’t have a polite word with the yoof of today anyway due  to their rights, but is this sort of lack of awareness spreading to those of us who are old enough to know better now as well?!

Or am I just a miserable barsteward?! 🤷🏻‍♂️

[rattlecan]

28 minutes ago, SunnySouth said:

People playing music/video/noise out of their phone speaker on trains. WTF, is it just me who finds that unbelievably ducking antisocial?  

Usually it’ll be people somewhere under the age of about 30, but the most recent one was a perfectly respectable looking chap mid-50s, scrolling through YouTube ‘sharing’ the same AI-voiced nonsense that my 13 year old watches in the car. “How far are you going?”, I asked politely, and he tells me he’ll be on longer than the couple of hours that I will be. “Have you brought any headphones?”, I enquire. Of course not, but he looks embarrassed and asks is it “too loud”? Well, yes, because it isn’t coming through headphones is it, but through a sodding speaking into the sealed tube that you’re sharing with dozens of other people who have no choice but to put up with it.
 

Normally I say nowt, as it’s usually only a short trip and you can’t have a polite word with the yoof of today anyway due  to their rights, but is this sort of lack of awareness spreading to those of us who are old enough to know better now as well?!

Or am I just a miserable barsteward?! 🤷🏻‍♂️

Similar experience last week in the dentist waiting room. A woman in her 50’s playing some shit game on her phone with all the stupid noises that they have going on. 
I just looked at her & said ‘really!!’ She then turned the sound off, but it’s like, should you really need telling

[High Jetter]

On a quieter note, even hearing keypad tones annoys me if I can hear them. Why do you need a beep every time you type a character? But then, I also hate haptic feedback.

[Bren]

Grump 1.

Ordered leak off pipes from Ford for Mondeo - the clip on one broke as soon as I touched it. £80 and some change.

Was advised I would get a text when the arrived. Did I? No. Got through at third attempt to be told they were in. Thanks.

 

Grump 2.

Got injector out using my puller - I doubt it would have come out otherwise. What I found was grim. It has been leaking for quite some time. Suffice to say it's not finished.

[myglaren]

Fifteen minute trip to Newcastle to collect son and his girlfriend from the Arena.

Took fifty minutes, the road we took earlier was closed, as were many of the roads near the arena, but no-one had told Waze about it, magical mystery tour.

And the car kept trying to answer the phone but he couldn't hear me.

[beko1987]

Found out the other day my gran has cancer on her kidneys. Being 90 years old, it's not fixable, so that sucks 😭

[RoverFolkUs]

This is pretty alarming, I identified it as a deep fake pretty quickly but I think plenty of people would think this is real. 

I'll share the video for context: 

But incase it gets deleted, it basically consists of someone asking Elon for investing advice. Elon then directs them to a website to claim a free $10k... 

Ai is getting pretty scary

[GrumpiusMaximus]

If people are taking their investment advice from TikTok or consider Elon Musk to be a reasonable source of information then they really have it coming to them...