The grumpy thread

[Dyslexic Viking]

If you're ever going to shake a glass of tomato sauce, make sure the lid is on.

[maxxo]

4 times through the night

BEEP BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP

ffs

intruder alarm playing silly buggers

tamper on zone 1011 apparently 4 times through the night

yeah that can get to fuck

Whacked it in engineer mode for some sleep

anyway somehow the plastic lug on the PIR holding the tamper switch down had snapped off

anyway found a replacement in my electrical box

smaller than the old one so a nice bit of unpainted wall

all tested and working thankfully

[maxxo]

Spent ages trying to diagnose why the boiler won’t do hot water anymore

central heating works but nothing on hot water

nada

turns off after a minute 

yeah that’ll be why

i absolutely hate plumbing 

so that’s a job for saturday

christ knows how the central heating still works

mind you it has been taking ages to warm up for a while now so this explains why

 

[cpjitservices]

  On 17/07/2024 at 19:38, maxxo said:

Spent ages trying to diagnose why the boiler won’t do hot water anymore

central heating works but nothing on hot water

nada

turns off after a minute 

yeah that’ll be why

i absolutely hate plumbing 

so that’s a job for saturday

christ knows how the central heating still works

mind you it has been taking ages to warm up for a while now so this explains why

 

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Faulty valve on the ball cock then?

[maxxo]

  On 17/07/2024 at 20:05, cpjitservices said:

Faulty valve on the ball cock then?

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Yep tried wiggling it and it started filling

then wouldn’t stop filling 

so had to turn off the feed to the tank 

ive got a replacement anyway just one of those things

[High Jetter]

  On 17/07/2024 at 18:01, Dyslexic Viking said:

If you're ever going to shake a glass of tomato sauce, make sure the lid is on.

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That applies to most shakeable things, whether they like it or not 

[Pieman]

  On 17/07/2024 at 22:05, High Jetter said:

That applies to most shakeable things, whether they like it or not 

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[Bren]

I have used ebay for over 20 years.

Yesterday - for the first time - I left negative feeback.

I have had issues with the seller before but gave them another chance - like last time it was engine oil. Last time it turned up after I opened a dispute - this time it failed to arrive after 14 days. They claimed it was lost in transit but it never appeared to have been dispatched.

No more chances.

[JMotor]

Reckon that would make someone pretty grumpy.

Was trying to make a neater job of the exhaust.

Broken only two bolts. That one you see was was exhaust manifold to head. The easier of the two. Despite it being awkward to get at with the welder.

The other one broke in the manifold to downpipe. It's proving to be an utter twat to remove. Discovered my drill bits are crap too as I tried drilling it out. 

*Sigh*

New bits, some cutting fluid and more of my time to put everything back to as it was before.

[Amelia]

Been made redundant again. 

That's twice in one year.

This time as I'm still in probation it was a 2 day consultation, one week notice paid and bye!

Fuck 😞

[warch]

Not at all on the same level of annoyance, but walked out of my office to get in my car yesterday and found the passenger side front window shattered. My first thought was that someone had broken in but it was still locked and the glass hadn't been knocked out. Apart from lacerating my hand removing the safety* glass it wasn't too annoying apart from the embuggerance of having to buy and fit a new pane. It was at least 20-25 degrees and not raining so the 25mile drive home wasn't too annoying. 

I am currently in the process of running my car into the ground (50/50 on whether to MoT for next year) so I was trying to avoid any unnecessary expenses. Luckily I got a window glass for 32 quid delivered which amazing value given the size, weight and fragility of the thing. The main issue is that I'm flat out busy at the moment so I'm racking up big miles and as all my colleagues are also out we don't have any spare work vehicles. 

[Zelandeth]

Ah, it's going to be one of those days.

Council have refused planning permission for the fence at the side of the house, so I need to get that moved back - that's about two grand down the drain to achieve precisely nothing.  Lovely.  Yes it was my mistake in the first place as I never realised we needed it until six months after the thing went up - probably seems obvious to anyone else, but having spent most of my life living in the back end of nowhere it never even crossed my mind.

Then not even 11am yet, our bank have decided to lock me out of our online banking system because I haven't used it in too long.  Great.  I'm meant to be buying a car tomorrow, that's going to make things really nice and simple to get the transfer done for that.

Can I just go back to bed now?

Edit: After 25 minutes on the phone, bank have confirmed they can't fix it.  They need to physically send me a new activation code.  Will be here in 7-10 days.

Great.  Guess I run over to the branch now and see if they'll let me withdraw more than £20 in actual notes.  Not holding my breath.

[Zelandeth]

It took me nearly an hour, but I did manage to withdraw cash from the "branch."  I say that in quote marks because the so called branch is now a kiosk at the back of what outwardly appears to be the staff cafe for folks working at Santander that anyone else would probably spend half an hour walking around the building looking for.  It's even signed "Santander Work Cafe" for crying out loud.

In case you thought I was kidding, here are a couple of random photos of the place from Google.

That looks like a bank branch, doesn't it?  Especially picture it once the place is open and it's half full of people sitting around with coffee or eating sandwiches, as apparently it DOES double as an actual cafe.

First time I went in there I was literally walking around in circles before having to ask a security guard where the fluffing hell the bank was.

You have to check in by scanning a QR code at which point you're placed in a "virtual queue" to be seen.  Which I quickly realised is simply bypassed by anyone who just wanders in and pushes their way to the front.

Then after making it to the front of the "virtual queue" I got to the counter in the back of the toilet cubicle...sorry, I mean office, and promptly ended up having to wait another 25 minutes while people jumped in front of me because only one of the counter positions actually deals with cash in any way shape or form.

I once did business here a year and a half ago (they opened it well before they had finished building the building because you know, that's smart), and hoped it might have improved a bit since then.  Nope!  One big modern mess.

Can safely say that once our current mortgage comes to its end we won't be continuing to do business with Santander as bugger having to deal with that nonsense every time I actually need to use a bank.  Especially as you have to pay £2 to park anywhere within a 10 minute walk of it.

[Popsicle]

  On 18/07/2024 at 13:06, Zelandeth said:

It took me nearly an hour, but I did manage to withdraw cash from the "branch."  I say that in quote marks because the so called branch is now a kiosk at the back of what outwardly appears to be the staff cafe for folks working at Santander that anyone else would probably spend half an hour walking around the building looking for.  It's even signed "Santander Work Cafe" for crying out loud.

In case you thought I was kidding, here are a couple of random photos of the place from Google.

That looks like a bank branch, doesn't it?  Especially picture it once the place is open and it's half full of people sitting around with coffee or eating sandwiches, as apparently it DOES double as an actual cafe.

First time I went in there I was literally walking around in circles before having to ask a security guard where the fluffing hell the bank was.

You have to check in by scanning a QR code at which point you're placed in a "virtual queue" to be seen.  Which I quickly realised is simply bypassed by anyone who just wanders in and pushes their way to the front.

Then after making it to the front of the "virtual queue" I got to the counter in the back of the toilet cubicle...sorry, I mean office, and promptly ended up having to wait another 25 minutes while people jumped in front of me because only one of the counter positions actually deals with cash in any way shape or form.

I once did business here a year and a half ago (they opened it well before they had finished building the building because you know, that's smart), and hoped it might have improved a bit since then.  Nope!  One big modern mess.

Can safely say that once our current mortgage comes to its end we won't be continuing to do business with Santander as bugger having to deal with that nonsense every time I actually need to use a bank.  Especially as you have to pay £2 to park anywhere within a 10 minute walk of it.

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I feel your pain with Santander, the final straw for me was having to wait 6 hours at a Morrisons cafe in Preston while their anti-fraud dept authorised a bank transfer for a van purchase at a local dealer - 6 bloody hours, never again. I would have drawn the cash out at my local branch but that wasn't allowed either.

[Zelandeth]

  On 18/07/2024 at 13:48, Popsicle said:

I feel your pain with Santander, the final straw for me was having to wait 6 hours at a Morrisons cafe in Preston while their anti-fraud dept authorised a bank transfer for a van purchase at a local dealer - 6 bloody hours, never again. I would have drawn the cash out at my local branch but that wasn't allowed either.

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I'm just bloody glad I had the forethought to check my login still worked today.  Otherwise I'd have been two hours plus change up the road and discovering I couldn't do the balance transfer then.  That would have been incredibly embarrassing.

That mess they call a branch is only open 9:30 to 15:00 as well, so hopefully nobody who works 9-5 ever needs to use them!

We've had issues with their anti fraud team being stupidly trigger happy before as well.  Spent the latter half of a holiday in the US with our account totally locked because I'd had the audacity to check my balance before buying something on eBay. 

[Popsicle]

  On 18/07/2024 at 14:41, Zelandeth said:

I'm just bloody glad I had the forethought to check my login still worked today.  Otherwise I'd have been two hours plus change up the road and discovering I couldn't do the balance transfer then.  That would have been bloody embarrassing.

That mess they call a branch is only open 9:30 to 15:00 as well, so hopefully nobody who works 9-5 ever needs to use them!

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I meant to mention there is no way on earth that i would realise that cafe/coffee shop is an open, working bank - its ridiculous, what bright spark comes up with such ideas?

[Datsuncog]

  On 18/07/2024 at 14:53, Popsicle said:

what bright spark comes up with such ideas?

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U want banking services, bro? Cool cool, just wait til I sploosh my Aeropress...

[iainrcz]

Bought a core bit for a wall vent.

Realised that the adapter I have is too short.

For fucks sake.

So now I've got to buy one of those bastards.

[myglaren]

Used Santander for years, since they bought whoever it was I was with at the time.

Never a problem unless you count a cheque from the DVLA that I had to pay in.  Queued at the branch in a town four miles away as I avoided the local shopping centre, too many smokers hanging around the entrances.

Got there an hour early and when it came to my turn there was no problem but the cashier said I could have paid it in at the ATM instead of standing in the queue.

Have used the local branch a couple of times since I bought some activated charcoal masks and all went smoothly, a couple of large-ish cash withdrawals.

Only a small branch but I did note that they were serving coffee to customers waiting to see advisers.  Perfectly pleasant and helpful staff there too.

[Remspoor]

  On 18/07/2024 at 13:06, Zelandeth said:

 

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What the hell is a caravan water tank doing in the cafbank?

[Surface Rust]

  On 18/07/2024 at 16:43, Remspoor said:

What the hell is a caravan water tank doing in the cafbank?

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Maybe they had a liquidity problem....

 

[Metal Guru]

When did petrol stations make selling petrol their side line function? Queued up today behind people collecting / off loading parcels for Evri or Yodel or someone. No separate counter, just the one where you pay for your fuel. Wouldn’t be so bad if it was just single parcels but there are people running businesses off loading loads of parcels, each one needing scanning etc . Obviously this has a knock on effect outside as cars aren’t moving away from the pumps very quickly.

Another fairly local to me, has now become a small supermarket for the village it’s in. No separate petrol only queue, So you now queue up behind people buying their week’s groceries ffs. This is on a busy trunk road too.

[IronStar]

  On 19/07/2024 at 02:03, Metal Guru said:

When did petrol stations make selling petrol their side line function? Queued up today behind people collecting / off loading parcels for Evri or Yodel or someone. No separate counter, just the one where you pay for your fuel. Wouldn’t be so bad if it was just single parcels but there are people running businesses off loading loads of parcels, each one needing scanning etc . Obviously this has a knock on effect outside as cars aren’t moving away from the pumps very quickly.

Another fairly local to me, has now become a small supermarket for the village it’s in. No separate petrol only queue, So you now queue up behind people buying their week’s groceries ffs. This is on a busy trunk road too.

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Enshitification of everything. 
Courier services that were supposed to deliver the parcel to you can’t be arsed to hire enough delivery drivers to get the parcel to you, and are giving vague delivery time details like “9-5 today, probably”. They moved things being reliably delivered to a more expensive tier, then farmed out over 50% of deliveries to vendors as it’s cheaper than fuel/vans/drivers. 
Vendors, in this case petrol stations as that’s a convenient place that has parking, seeking higher profit margins are not hiring more staff or opening more cash registers. What are you going to do, go to another one of the same up the road? Miss all the loyalty card discounts?  
Since covid lockdowns, next to no supermarket works 24h anymore here, and there used to be loads. So if you need a grocery or 5 after 9PM, guess what’s open 24/7/365? You’re at work until 5 and your village store works until 3PM on weekends, because guess who’s not paying for another worker/shift? Off to the petrol station you go!

There is only so much juice to squeeze out of an essentially closed system before only way to make more money is to make a service significantly worse. 

[Remspoor]

  On 19/07/2024 at 02:03, Metal Guru said:

When did petrol stations make selling petrol their side line function? Queued up today behind people collecting / off loading parcels for Evri or Yodel or someone. No separate counter, just the one where you pay for your fuel. Wouldn’t be so bad if it was just single parcels but there are people running businesses off loading loads of parcels, each one needing scanning etc . Obviously this has a knock on effect outside as cars aren’t moving away from the pumps very quickly.

Another fairly local to me, has now become a small supermarket for the village it’s in. No separate petrol only queue, So you now queue up behind people buying their week’s groceries ffs. This is on a busy trunk road too.

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Nothing wrong with multitasking. 😁

[IronStar]

  On 19/07/2024 at 06:40, Remspoor said:

Nothing wrong with multitasking. 😁

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Why pay for 5 people when you can overwork one person to death, fire 4, pocket the difference and call it unfavorable market headwinds. That one person should be happy he didn’t lose his job as well! 😄

[Metal Guru]

  On 19/07/2024 at 06:45, IronStar said:

Why pay for 5 people when you can overwork one person to death, fire 4, pocket the difference and call it unfavorable market headwinds. That one person should be happy he didn’t lose his job as well! 😄

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There was actually 2 people “working” at this particular time. One dealing with a queue of at least 10 people, the other having a fag.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

I’m just glad we only have one customer running Crowdstrike.  However I am grumpy that we have a customer running Crowdstrike.

[jakebullet]

Mum is way more blind than I thought, and has been doing a good* job of masking it.

Went to a discount clothes place. I'm trying on some relaxed fit old man trousers, came out of changing room and she's vanished. Found her over the other side and she says "I just went to look over here and got lost". Ok, not familiar with shop, not that out of the ordinary.

Went to booths, which again she's not familiar with, but she's just browsing with me. She says "Shall we have some strawberries?". "Yeah, why not?". She then picks up a pack of diced beef out of the meat fridge. "Oh, this isn't strawberries, looks like them though"

If there is a god, he's a total bastard.

[Metal Guru]

  On 19/07/2024 at 12:22, jakebullet said:

Mum is way more blind than I thought, and has been doing a good* job of masking it.

Went to a discount clothes place. I'm trying on some relaxed fit old man trousers, came out of changing room and she's vanished. Found her over the other side and she says "I just went to look over here and got lost". Ok, not familiar with shop, not that out of the ordinary.

Went to booths, which again she's not familiar with, but she's just browsing with me. She says "Shall we have some strawberries?". "Yeah, why not?". She then picks up a pack of diced beef out of the meat fridge. "Oh, this isn't strawberries, looks like them though"

If there is a god, he's a total bastard.

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My Dad was like that too. That led to several falls ,broken  ankle and collar bone, but probably knocks to the head too which may or may not have led to dementia.

[MikeR]

went out to rescue New Pods wife today as her feet gave up walking in the heat  ...

no sooner stopped the car and opened the door for her to get in , and some bitch was behind us  leaning on her  car horn button 

hope to god one day she needs help and I can be behind her leaning on the horn button .

some people have zero patience !!