The grumpy thread

[loserone]

Don't fill it out to 6k words if you can meet the person spec in 2.

 

Mrs L1 applied for a job this week and it required details of every job she's ever had, going back 20 years.  Amazing.

[Rust Collector]

25 minutes ago, loserone said:

Don't fill it out to 6k words if you can meet the person spec in 2.

 

Mrs L1 applied for a job this week and it required details of every job she's ever had, going back 20 years.  Amazing.

I've been as concise as I can without removing any useful information, but they've specifically asked for it laid out with each point on the person spec as a heading. In the 'essential' skills there is 21 headings alone... There's less in the desirable spec, but they need a bit of fleshing out as I'm not qualified in anything so I'm having to show the principles they're asking about through projects I've worked on.

Until I read the application properly (I promise I'm actually capable, sometimes...) I was planning on just lumping the headings together into themes and giving examples that covered a few points in one go, in order to keep it as condensed as possible. I can see why they want it split out by the headings though - the applications will be scored, so it's easier to just tick or cross the example under each heading and then tally up the scores at the end.

Yep, had to give every job ever as well. Like fuck can I remember what my roles and responsibilities were in the early ones.

When I've read job applications that have been sent to me for roles in my office I've hated having to read through them if they've got loads of info in them. I'm only really interested in what they do now (unless a previous role directly related to the role they applied for) and if they write like a normal human being. Much prefer something concise that I can skim through and see if they sound half sensible, then check them out properly at interview. It's probably really mean spirited, but I've had a really good laugh at some of the absolutely fucking mental applications that get sent in too.

[cobblers]

I've just got a fancy new phone (samsung s24) and I've not even got around to putting a sim card in it yet and properly swapping things over. it's just been sat on the side. It gets 10+ notifications every day for complete BOLLOCKS bloatware samsung installed on it. Buzzing and beeping away to tell me some unknown celebrity has "called out" another, or to remind me about it's fantastic AI features.

 

It woke me up at 1AM last night to show me a musical slide show it'd made from pictures I took of the terrifying red blotches on my dog to send the vet. The dog we had to put to sleep a few days later. It's the anniversary of her death today and every time I think of her it buckles me. 

What an absolute heap of shit. The "future" we live in is the absolute worst, I wish I'd ended up in the fork where technology made things better rather than much much worse.  

[BorniteIdentity]

20 minutes ago, cobblers said:

I've just got a fancy new phone (samsung s24) and I've not even got around to putting a sim card in it yet and properly swapping things over. it's just been sat on the side. It gets 10+ notifications every day for complete BOLLOCKS bloatware samsung installed on it. Buzzing and beeping away to tell me some unknown celebrity has "called out" another, or to remind me about it's fantastic AI features.

 

It woke me up at 1AM last night to show me a musical slide show it'd made from pictures I took of the terrifying red blotches on my dog to send the vet. The dog we had to put to sleep a few days later. It's the anniversary of her death today and every time I think of her it buckles me. 

What an absolute heap of shit. The "future" we live in is the absolute worst, I wish I'd ended up in the fork where technology made things better rather than much much worse.  

Don’t despair - proper Android phones quickly learn what you want, and a swift mute will take care of others.

I was going to extol the virtues of Apple; and how their stuff comes deliciously free of bloat. Then, inexplicably, I found myself whistling U2 - Songs of Innocence. 

As you were… 

[Bren]

A couple of times now I have bought minature shite from ebay. Despite the piss taking cost of P&P I am getting cards through the door from Royal Fail telling me I have to stump up money to get my item delivered because the postage was insufficient.

[Supernaut]

51 minutes ago, cobblers said:

I've just got a fancy new phone (samsung s24) and I've not even got around to putting a sim card in it yet and properly swapping things over. it's just been sat on the side. It gets 10+ notifications every day for complete BOLLOCKS bloatware samsung installed on it. Buzzing and beeping away to tell me some unknown celebrity has "called out" another, or to remind me about it's fantastic AI features.

 

It woke me up at 1AM last night to show me a musical slide show it'd made from pictures I took of the terrifying red blotches on my dog to send the vet. The dog we had to put to sleep a few days later. It's the anniversary of her death today and every time I think of her it buckles me. 

What an absolute heap of shit. The "future" we live in is the absolute worst, I wish I'd ended up in the fork where technology made things better rather than much much worse.  

Even my moto g13 I got in December does this bullshit sometimes.

It comes up with a notification that it won't let me dismiss, telling me to select some games to install.

So I untick all of the suggestions and click ok.

 

It's also worse than all the other Motorola phones I've had because the karate chop for the torch doesn't bloody work! I have to go into the settings then turn it off then on again before it decides to work for about 10 minutes, then it completely ceases functioning again...

[vulgalour]

I got a smartphone because I had to, quite often the 2FA sign ins I end up having to resort to my dumbphone because the smartphone is apparently unable to be reached.  Also had to turn off a load of Google stuff to stop it chewing through my monthly bandwidth with updates to apps I don't use and will never use, or adding extra apps I don't even want.

The future is here.  The future is stupid.

[Metal Guru]

16 hours ago, loserone said:

Don't fill it out to 6k words if you can meet the person spec in 2.

 

Mrs L1 applied for a job this week and it required details of every job she's ever had, going back 20 years.  Amazing.

Probably just a lazy way of reducing the number of applicants to wade through. Lots of people won’t bother, although they’ll be attracting more people who are both inefficient and like to drone in about themselves and pet topics ad infinitum.

[Pieman]

Moonpig sending me emails, despite me unsubscribing more than once, showing Valentine's Day promotions with my dead girlfriend's name all over them.

Yeah, thanks a fucking lot for that.

[artdjones]

9 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

Probably just a lazy way of reducing the number of applicants to wade through. Lots of people won’t bother, although they’ll be attracting more people who are both inefficient and like to drone in about themselves and pet topics ad infinitum.

So the system is working as designed. HR recruiting more of the kind of people they are themselves.

[dean36014]

6 minutes ago, Pieman said:

Moonpig sending me emails, despite me unsubscribing more than once, showing Valentine's Day promotions with my dead girlfriend's name all over them.

Yeah, thanks a fucking lot for that.

Just had that myself with my partner. I'd removed her off the list on there but still got a an email. It's a quick way to fuck your day up and leave you feeling miserable as shit and reaching for the box of tramadol.  18 months and still as raw as fuck 

[ruffgeezer]

There are 8 laptops in my office, do you think I have one capable of running Lexia?  Of course fucking not.

Think I need to dispose of most of these and start again.

Also in the last round of phone updates this Samsung seems way harder to type on, I can't think I've suddenly sprouted fatter thumbs, but I have to take typing much steadier now.

[Rust Collector]

31 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

Probably just a lazy way of reducing the number of applicants to wade through. Lots of people won’t bother, although they’ll be attracting more people who are both inefficient and like to drone in about themselves and pet topics ad infinitum.

 

19 minutes ago, artdjones said:

So the system is working as designed. HR recruiting more of the kind of people they are themselves.

Whilst I don't begrudge people who are naturally talented at filling out forms, it can cause some problems.

A good example comes from my best mate who is a fireman in the local fire service. Traditionally, a station manager would land the job after spending time as a firefighter and then a watch manager on one of the watches at his station. Therefore you'd expect a station manager to be a seasoned firefighter, and he would hopefully have earnt the respect of the rest of the firefighters there as he would understand their role. More recently, the role has been open to applications from outside the organisation and uses the standard points based application and interview system that we're stuck with in public roles to prove we aren't biased... Through this, the local station ended up with a manager who was great at applications and interviews but had fuck all experience of being a firefighter. Inevitably and as would be obvious to anyone with half a brain, this caused a furore with the firefighters at the station as they were unhappy to be managed by someone with nothing but a theoretical knowledge of their roles.

Which reminds me, I'm long overdue a beer with my mate and a catch up. If I remember correctly the new manager did end up getting moved out the role as they were left unable to manage the team at the station, but I'd like to check in with him to back up that claim - it could still be that the manager is there and they're all ignoring him. Apparently he was obsessed with busywork, when we all know that's not what being a firefighter is about:

[GrumpiusMaximus]

17 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

I've been as concise as I can without removing any useful information, but they've specifically asked for it laid out with each point on the person spec as a heading. In the 'essential' skills there is 21 headings alone... There's less in the desirable spec, but they need a bit of fleshing out as I'm not qualified in anything so I'm having to show the principles they're asking about through projects I've worked on.

Until I read the application properly (I promise I'm actually capable, sometimes...) I was planning on just lumping the headings together into themes and giving examples that covered a few points in one go, in order to keep it as condensed as possible. I can see why they want it split out by the headings though - the applications will be scored, so it's easier to just tick or cross the example under each heading and then tally up the scores at the end.

Yep, had to give every job ever as well. Like fuck can I remember what my roles and responsibilities were in the early ones.

When I've read job applications that have been sent to me for roles in my office I've hated having to read through them if they've got loads of info in them. I'm only really interested in what they do now (unless a previous role directly related to the role they applied for) and if they write like a normal human being. Much prefer something concise that I can skim through and see if they sound half sensible, then check them out properly at interview. It's probably really mean spirited, but I've had a really good laugh at some of the absolutely fucking mental applications that get sent in too.

It's probably not a human reading the application in the first instance, so it won't get bored reading it.  It'll go through their checker, get scored and if it meets a high enough score get reviewed by a human.

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, dean36014 said:

Just had that myself with my partner. I'd removed her off the list on there but still got a an email. It's a quick way to fuck your day up and leave you feeling miserable as shit and reaching for the box of tramadol.  18 months and still as raw as fuck 

Most companies are pretty good and remove details as soon as you tell them, but a few don’t seem to care. My Dad died two years ago and a couple of companies still send letters in his name which is upsetting for my Mum. After half a dozen attempts I’ve given up.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Supernaut said:

Even my moto g13 I got in December does this bullshit sometimes.

It's also worse than all the other Motorola phones I've had because the karate chop for the torch doesn't bloody work! I have to go into the settings then turn it off then on again before it decides to work for about 10 minutes, then it completely ceases functioning again...

Thank you, that's helpful. My G82 is coming up for 4 years old and the number of unwanted notifications is very small - usually from supermarket apps. I was actually looking at the Moto range yesterday and think my next one will be a G84 - and it only has the fingerprint reader under the screen, just where I like it! The G13 is half the price though, at £100.

[Supernaut]

15 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Thank you, that's helpful. My G82 is coming up for 4 years old and the number of unwanted notifications is very small - usually from supermarket apps. I was actually looking at the Moto range yesterday and think my next one will be a G84 - and it only has the fingerprint reader under the screen, just where I like it! The G13 is half the price though, at £100.

I regret buying this G13.

I paid £80 for a factory refurbished one (I've done this with my past several Moto phones) but this one feels like it's particularly dogshit.

I've only had it since late December and I already want to smash it into tiny pieces.

It's hardly an improvement on the G9 that was beginning to go senile after 3+ years of solid use.

[ProgRocker]

19 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

I'm applying for a job in the council. The application process is doing my head in.

I can't remember the last time I had to write so much when applying for a job. I really hate writing, and I really hate self promoting, so producing about 6,000 words about myself to address every point in the person spec (not how I'd normally do it, but their specific request) has been torture. I feel like just fucking it off so that I can have a rest, after picking away at it in the odd spare moments I get over the past week I'm sick of the sight of the fucking thing.

These competency based applications are challenging. I found application forms for council jobs very tricky to complete. I did manage to score an interview and competency test just once for a part time County Council job around 12 years ago. I think it was driving a mobile library bus around but even that lowly position required a 2nd stage interview. Failed the first one anyway.

[Wibble]

6 hours ago, dean36014 said:

Just had that myself with my partner. I'd removed her off the list on there but still got a an email. It's a quick way to fuck your day up and leave you feeling miserable as shit and reaching for the box of tramadol.  18 months and still as raw as fuck 

And they’ve emailed me asking if I want to opt out of Mother’s Day offers. How the fuck do they know she’s just died?

[DavieW]

1 hour ago, Wibble said:

And they’ve emailed me asking if I want to opt out of Mother’s Day offers. How the fuck do they know she’s just died?

Dobbies garden centre did the same with me. Must be a "cover all" clause to seem caring as my mother is alive and well.

[Wibble]

6 minutes ago, DavieW said:

Dobbies garden centre did the same with me. Must be a "cover all" clause to seem caring as my mother is alive and well.

I’m very glad she is but I’m sick of everything we say being listened to by our phones and then used by all sorts of marketing.

[High Jetter]

Not much help now, but opting out of everything can  reduce the quantity of incoming crap.

[myglaren]

20 hours ago, Supernaut said:

Even my moto g13 I got in December does this bullshit sometimes.

It comes up with a notification that it won't let me dismiss, telling me to select some games to install.

So I untick all of the suggestions and click ok.

 

It's also worse than all the other Motorola phones I've had because the karate chop for the torch doesn't bloody work! I have to go into the settings then turn it off then on again before it decides to work for about 10 minutes, then it completely ceases functioning again...

I have had a Moto somethingorother for a couple of years and I get nothing at all like that.

Perhaps as I dislike phones and hardly ever use it.  It is a camera/mp3 player/satnav/textything only and not used for any of those functions much.

 

A G30, apparently.  It doesn't know its own number is one glitch I have discovered.

[myglaren]

On an ungrumpy note I have found recently that the way we are often dumped at the foot of the next page here, instead of the top, has ceased and desisted.

Applause for whoever fixed that.

[andy18s]

22 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Don’t despair - proper Android phones quickly learn what you want, and a swift mute will take care of others.

I was going to extol the virtues of Apple; and how their stuff comes deliciously free of bloat. Then, inexplicably, I found myself whistling U2 - Songs of Innocence. 

As you were… 

Looking at the IPhone in the For Sale section and it's showing over 9k unread emails...I couldn't have that showing all the time.

[Rust Collector]

3 minutes ago, andy18s said:

Looking at the IPhone in the For Sale section and it's showing over 9k unread emails...I couldn't have that showing all the time.

I had over 70k emails showing on mine until my aol account unlinked itself from my phone. I’ve had the email since I was a teenager so there’s a lifetime of junk Mail on there and I have no inclination to sort back through that many emails. I was interested to see if it would get over the 100k mark.

[TataBobu]

22 hours ago, myglaren said:

On an ungrumpy note I have found recently that the way we are often dumped at the foot of the next page here, instead of the top, has ceased and desisted.

Applause for whoever fixed that.

Not yet... Or at least the Brexit is so strong that the patch is not exported to Europe.

[vulgalour]

Almost got wiped out twice on the way home from getting some lunch today.  First by someone trying to go through a gap that wasn't there, I somehow didn't hit them or the parked car I and a queue of traffic was going past.  The second was a gigantic SUV that just drifted on to my side of the road, leaving me nowhere to go and the only option horns and emergency stop.  Thankfully they saw me in time and corrected but still, no fun.  Should've stayed in bed.

[3VOM]

A picture paints a thousand words:

 

[Zelandeth]

Today on "exciting things someone left for me I only found by being hyper vigilant when driving..."

Whoever last worked on the rear wheel bearings on the Trabant never bent over the locking tabs for the hub bolts.  Noticed a slight rotational rubbing noise that wasn't there last time I drove it today...Nearside hub bolt was still attached by about 1/2 a thread.  That could have been fun if I hadn't investigated that noise.  Offside hadn't unscrewed itself, but was similarly not locked in place.