Rant thread

[tonyXIII]

4 minutes ago, ckn said:

No need, a quick call from the Partner in charge telling the local delivery office to look at the company's website to see what they do got them to give a refund the same day.

Just thought! That's another example of your favourite quote: speak softly and  carry a big stick.

If only that sort of action were available to all.

[ckn]

13 minutes ago, tonyXIII said:

Just thought! That's another example of your favourite quote: speak softly and  carry a big stick.

If only that sort of action were available to all.

Getting your way is easier if you have power. 

[tonyXIII]

38 minutes ago, ckn said:

Getting your way is easier if you have power. 

That shouldn't be the case, though, should it? We should all be entitled to the same recourse under the law. Shouldn't we?

[Bearman]

On 08/01/2018 at 9:59 AM, gingerjon said:

It isn't nice. The only time I have Starbucks these days is if I'm in need of a caffeine refuel at a motorway service station.

I was given a coffee pod machine for Christmas. Having now rid myself of the awful Dolce Gusto own brand stuff I can now heartily recommend the ones you get via the Real Coffee Company. They appear to be recyclable too.

A whole other rant is WHY AREN'T COFFEE PODS RECYCLABLE YOU MORONS.

Following on from this I bought some Real Coffee Company ( RCC)  pods.

I used to use Dolce Gusto "Barrista" blend. I would fill a coffee mug almost to the top, add milk and perhaps microwave to warm it up.

Using the Real Coffee Co Espresso pods (espresso blend) I find the "flow" is barely a dribble and occasionally the pressure builds up and causes the pods to leak water from the top of the pod. However, I have discovered that just putting about a double espresso's worth into a mug, topping with very hot water then milk delivers a far better drink than my old method.

I will buy more RCC.

[Saintslass]

Chris Parker, the despicable 'homeless' man who fraudulently claimed to have been helping people injured by the Manchester bomber but who in fact stole a young girl's phone (meaning her family could not contact her to see if she was ok) and stole a woman's bag and then went on a spend at McDonalds.  Vile man.  Hope he has a torrid time in prison.

[ckn]

My wife got some fancy stock cubes "very low salt" organic rubbish.  They almost have a homeopathic level of beef in them.  Tiny cubes and only 7% of the cube is of "beef extract" that you're then meant to dilute to 1 litre.  I compared them to the Knorr Stock Pots that we usually use and they're 39% for a much bigger quantity.

And they were more expensive.

I only found that out after trying to make up a base stock quickly for a stew and found it looked like muddy water with no taste beyond other stuff I'd put in.  No beefy taste at all.

[Mumby Magic]

Certain Dog owners:

• Obviously owners who let there dog Sheeite everywhere.
• Dog owners who actually bag up the poop but then have the bag swinging away like it's a newly bought gift. Yuck.
• The weird one. Owners who bag it up but then hang it from trees. Eh? Or leave the bag on walls etc.
• The newest one is dog owners who are joggers and insist on having their dogs  run along with them. Yes you are taking them out but seriously?

[ckn]

This story annoys me.  I don't speed, I'm a happy 70mph cruise control driver.  I like the concept of the 10% buffer to allow exceptions, such as overtaking without having to keep one eye on the speedometer and things like that, to get rid of it is just anal in the extreme by someone who really should have higher priorities for being one of the most senior police officers in England.

[Griff9of13]

4 minutes ago, ckn said:

This story annoys me.  I don't speed, I'm a happy 70mph cruise control driver.  I like the concept of the 10% buffer to allow exceptions, such as overtaking without having to keep one eye on the speedometer and things like that, to get rid of it is just anal in the extreme by someone who really should have higher priorities for being one of the most senior police officers in England.

Until car manufacturers can 100% guarantee the accuracy of speedometers then there's no way that the 10% buffer can be scrapped without swamping the legal system with challenges.

[gazza77]

1 hour ago, Griff9of13 said:

Until car manufacturers can 100% guarantee the accuracy of speedometers then there's no way that the 10% buffer can be scrapped without swamping the legal system with challenges.

Tyre wear would mean more than 1mph variance over the life of the tyre. How could it work.?!

[Bob8]

21 hours ago, Mumby Magic said:

Certain Dog owners:

• Obviously owners who let there dog Sheeite everywhere.
• Dog owners who actually bag up the poop but then have the bag swinging away like it's a newly bought gift. Yuck.
• The weird one. Owners who bag it up but then hang it from trees. Eh? Or leave the bag on walls etc.
• The newest one is dog owners who are joggers and insist on having their dogs  run along with them. Yes you are taking them out but seriously?

I have done that last one.  I did not have any mates who could keep up with me.

[Mumby Magic]

I got done for 34 mph in a 30. I thought the buffer was 10% + 1

[Bleep1673]

I got done for 90MPH in a 5MPH zone, I got away with it because I said there is no way a Mk II Escort could get up to 25 MPH in an underground car park, unless dropped from 100 yards from a crane, the Judge agreed (1988, S. Wales).

[Bleep1673]

When will the BBC realise that initials should be presented as initials, this looks like Castleford have the rule over Russian athletes...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-olympics/42893691

[longboard]

On 1/30/2018 at 6:12 PM, Mumby Magic said:

Certain Dog owners:

• Obviously owners who let there dog Sheeite everywhere.
• Dog owners who actually bag up the poop but then have the bag swinging away like it's a newly bought gift. Yuck.
• The weird one. Owners who bag it up but then hang it from trees. Eh? Or leave the bag on walls etc.
• The newest one is dog owners who are joggers and insist on having their dogs  run along with them. Yes you are taking them out but seriously?

 

4 hours ago, Bob8 said:

I have done that last one.  I did not have any mates who could keep up with me.

Not even for aarf a mile?

Or were you doing the ruff mudder?

[ckn]

I've been invited to attend an After Action Review on something from last year, I'm just invited as an additional person to give context rather than core person involved in the problem.

I mentioned this AAR thing a couple of years ago.

It's an excuse for a half a day of wasted time for about 20 senior and very senior managers to whine about something that went wrong then do nothing about it.  They'll all walk out feeling happy that they've said their defence in the confidential meeting and even happier that they know nothing will be done.  They may agree that there is a sacrificial offering made of a lower level manager or even a new policy that no-one will read.

Knowing the problem and the NHS bodies involved, it should really be an After Inaction Review where no-one turns up, nothing gets decided and no-one cares as long as no-one from the senior management group is criticised.

About as far from a military AAR as you could possibly get.

[Futtocks]

5 hours ago, ckn said:

Knowing the problem and the NHS bodies involved, it should really be an After Inaction Review where no-one turns up, nothing gets decided and no-one cares as long as no-one from the senior management group is criticised.

A "Heads Of Tasks' After Inaction Review", perhaps? Or HOT AIR, for short.

[Derwent]

On 01/02/2018 at 12:41 PM, ckn said:

I've been invited to attend an After Action Review on something from last year, I'm just invited as an additional person to give context rather than core person involved in the problem.

I mentioned this AAR thing a couple of years ago.

It's an excuse for a half a day of wasted time for about 20 senior and very senior managers to whine about something that went wrong then do nothing about it.  They'll all walk out feeling happy that they've said their defence in the confidential meeting and even happier that they know nothing will be done.  They may agree that there is a sacrificial offering made of a lower level manager or even a new policy that no-one will read.

Knowing the problem and the NHS bodies involved, it should really be an After Inaction Review where no-one turns up, nothing gets decided and no-one cares as long as no-one from the senior management group is criticised.

About as far from a military AAR as you could possibly get.

As the old saying goes, collectively they all agree that nothing can be done and then individually make sure that nothing is done.

[ckn]

I'm posting this here as my outlet.  I can't say these things to my wife, she's not well enough.  I can't say them to my family, they're in a mess.  My best mates all have issues of their own and it'd be a one way monologue that may have me using up my decade's allocation of expletives.  I'll reserve my mates' rant capacity for things they can help with rather than leave them feeling they can't help!

Just skip on if you don't want a right old whine...

Right.  My mum died overnight on Saturday/Sunday topping about a year of things one after another.

Last year, I lost my job when my profit making, award winning, innovative NHS change management department was closed in a redundancy exercise to cut headcount, and my department was treated as a luxury.  Before I was even out the door other senior managers were parking their failures directly at my feet and a couple even decided to make sure that was known that "but for him, we would never have been in this state".  Directly spiking my chance of some jobs, I even had one HR lot at a hospital pull an interview because "we've been led to believe you have outstanding performance management actions against you" (they refused to put that in writing) and using that as an excuse to delay before "sorry, we recruited internally" when I know they bloody well didn't.  When I complained about the blame parking, the senior management who were neutral or positive to me closed ranks.  When I tried to do other investigations, "sorry, a computer error means we deleted that by accident" or "no, I won't speak up because I've been told that's my career over if I do." It was made abundantly clear that they were doing nothing unless I could give them a witness willing to go on-record or other substantive proof.  After nailing the HR lot to a threat of public exposure of their disgraceful conduct, I now have an agreed reference that makes it clear how bloody good I was and that'd be sent to anyone I saw fit.  I set a list of my achievements and I have it in writing that they agree I did them.  That horse has long bolted though and the old thing about smoke & fire applies.

I thought that job was a permanent, long-term job so I was aggressively paying down anything outstanding leaving me with very little reserve cash.  The good thing is that of December my only debt now is my mortgage, the bad thing is that it left me with almost zero capacity for big issues.  Abysmal timing though.

When I tried to get other jobs, the recruitment drones were either "sorry, you've been out of that industry too long", "you've not been a senior manager long enough" or one of many other excuses.  Many agents who pestered me twice a week when I was a senior manager wouldn't even take my call once they realised I was looking for work.  One even had the cheek last week to call me and let me know he'd heard what I was going to be doing and "would I remember him if any work came up that he could help with?"  "erm, no."

My contacts kept me going with just enough consultancy work enough to pay the bills.  My wife's healthcare costs are still an essential nuisance that the bloody NHS should cover.

Then good mates (husband & wife), or so I thought, blanked us, deliberate avoidance.  I found out from him later that my wife is "too much" for them because she's been ill for so long, he'd be happy to keep meeting me for occasional beers though.  That was a choice two words in reply.

Then my mum got ill.  I had to carefully plan every penny I had left to get up as much as I can but also make sure I could pay bills.

Then I got some long-ish term consultancy work, it really is truly ground-breaking work of the tough but socially robust stuff that the NHS needs.  I'm grateful to my contacts for having faith in me for this work that's way outside of my comfort zone.  The work starts tomorrow and Wednesday, my mum died a day ago.  I MUST be there otherwise I don't get the contract signed as it's the board meetings where I'll be directly interrogated for "oversight" purposes.  The next equivalent board is 3 months away and in a new financial year meaning the old "use it or lose it" rule applies to the funding they have for me.  So, I have to suck it up and go despite today being unfit for it and hoping I will be fit for the hour of "networking" prior to the Tuesday meeting.

Looking at my bank account recently, thinking how long it would take for the NHS to pay me (consultancy work, not salary, meaning if I get any money by the end of March that it'll be a miracle) and how I could juggle getting to work with getting to my mum and paying for my wife's treatment and and and and.  I tried to get Halifax to give me a payment holiday for my mortgage.  2004 to today, not a payment missed or late.  "The computer says no because you have not enough income".  "But I will, here's the sodding contract, if I can't pay my fuel to get there I can't work, if I can't pay for food I can't work."  "Your mortgage must be the highest priority"  "so, you'd rather I paid one or two more mortgage payments then go bankrupt than maybe take a two month holiday then get back to it once money starts coming in?"  "Yes."

100 minutes later (my phone record shows it as exactly that), two departments later and into the "Debt recovery" team despite me being up to date with payments, they helped me.  Three month reduced payment to just under 1/3 to show "good faith".  That was painful and utterly unnecessary.

My GP told me off last month, my blood pressure is stubbornly over 150/100.  We agree that it's stress rather than any underlying condition.  We disagree that I should "remove some stresses", she couldn't get that my stresses were all non-removable without someone dying.  I know when my BP is bad because my tinnitus kicks in, it's running off like a high-pitched fire alarm now.  I know it's bad for me, but what's the alternative?

Last week, I thought carefully about my reserve money and "should I head up to see my mum this weekend?"  I took the risk she'd last another week because I needed to preserve enough spare cash to get to work (120 mile round trip each day by road or 2.5 hour each way train journey).  That worked out well then.  I don't blame myself for that, and I know I won't in future, but the timing sucked massive donkey cohones.

Now, the sodding family need a slap or two.  One of my uncles has made it clear he's not coming to the funeral because "his wishes are not being respected", when what he means is that he's throwing a strop because he was overridden by a consensus that what he wanted was nice but not what our mum expressly said she wanted.

I remember last year at this time.  We always go to the ballet when it comes to Ipswich in February.  I was so stressed with a full day of defending my service from closure and stopping people being sacked for no reason other than blind job number cuts, I can remember getting to the second act of the performance and not remembering a single thing of the first act.  Thinking back, that was the first shot in a year of painful things going wrong.  We're off to the ballet on Friday as a birthday present to the wife from her dad, we couldn't afford to go if we paid ourselves.  I'm hoping that that performance is the signal point for the end of that year.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Get through the funeral, get working and my problems will be largely solved as I'll have enough income to rebuild my savings war chest, I'll be unsecured debt free and I definitely know who my mates are.

That doesn't solve that today though as I need to read and annotate about 200 pages of detailed and contradictory text before tomorrow's meeting, when all I want to do is sit back and distract myself.

[gingerjon]

26 minutes ago, ckn said:

I'm posting this here as my outlet.  I can't say these things to my wife, she's not well enough.  I can't say them to my family, they're in a mess.  My best mates all have issues of their own and it'd be a one way monologue that may have me using up my decade's allocation of expletives.  I'll reserve my mates' rant capacity for things they can help with rather than leave them feeling they can't help!

Just skip on if you don't want a right old whine...

Right.  My mum died overnight on Saturday/Sunday topping about a year of things one after another.

Last year, I lost my job when my profit making, award winning, innovative NHS change management department was closed in a redundancy exercise to cut headcount, and my department was treated as a luxury.  Before I was even out the door other senior managers were parking their failures directly at my feet and a couple even decided to make sure that was known that "but for him, we would never have been in this state".  Directly spiking my chance of some jobs, I even had one HR lot at a hospital pull an interview because "we've been led to believe you have outstanding performance management actions against you" (they refused to put that in writing) and using that as an excuse to delay before "sorry, we recruited internally" when I know they bloody well didn't.  When I complained about the blame parking, the senior management who were neutral or positive to me closed ranks.  When I tried to do other investigations, "sorry, a computer error means we deleted that by accident" or "no, I won't speak up because I've been told that's my career over if I do." It was made abundantly clear that they were doing nothing unless I could give them a witness willing to go on-record or other substantive proof.  After nailing the HR lot to a threat of public exposure of their disgraceful conduct, I now have an agreed reference that makes it clear how bloody good I was and that'd be sent to anyone I saw fit.  I set a list of my achievements and I have it in writing that they agree I did them.  That horse has long bolted though and the old thing about smoke & fire applies.

I thought that job was a permanent, long-term job so I was aggressively paying down anything outstanding leaving me with very little reserve cash.  The good thing is that of December my only debt now is my mortgage, the bad thing is that it left me with almost zero capacity for big issues.  Abysmal timing though.

When I tried to get other jobs, the recruitment drones were either "sorry, you've been out of that industry too long", "you've not been a senior manager long enough" or one of many other excuses.  Many agents who pestered me twice a week when I was a senior manager wouldn't even take my call once they realised I was looking for work.  One even had the cheek last week to call me and let me know he'd heard what I was going to be doing and "would I remember him if any work came up that he could help with?"  "erm, no."

My contacts kept me going with just enough consultancy work enough to pay the bills.  My wife's healthcare costs are still an essential nuisance that the bloody NHS should cover.

Then good mates (husband & wife), or so I thought, blanked us, deliberate avoidance.  I found out from him later that my wife is "too much" for them because she's been ill for so long, he'd be happy to keep meeting me for occasional beers though.  That was a choice two words in reply.

Then my mum got ill.  I had to carefully plan every penny I had left to get up as much as I can but also make sure I could pay bills.

Then I got some long-ish term consultancy work, it really is truly ground-breaking work of the tough but socially robust stuff that the NHS needs.  I'm grateful to my contacts for having faith in me for this work that's way outside of my comfort zone.  The work starts tomorrow and Wednesday, my mum died a day ago.  I MUST be there otherwise I don't get the contract signed as it's the board meetings where I'll be directly interrogated for "oversight" purposes.  The next equivalent board is 3 months away and in a new financial year meaning the old "use it or lose it" rule applies to the funding they have for me.  So, I have to suck it up and go despite today being unfit for it and hoping I will be fit for the hour of "networking" prior to the Tuesday meeting.

Looking at my bank account recently, thinking how long it would take for the NHS to pay me (consultancy work, not salary, meaning if I get any money by the end of March that it'll be a miracle) and how I could juggle getting to work with getting to my mum and paying for my wife's treatment and and and and.  I tried to get Halifax to give me a payment holiday for my mortgage.  2004 to today, not a payment missed or late.  "The computer says no because you have not enough income".  "But I will, here's the sodding contract, if I can't pay my fuel to get there I can't work, if I can't pay for food I can't work."  "Your mortgage must be the highest priority"  "so, you'd rather I paid one or two more mortgage payments then go bankrupt than maybe take a two month holiday then get back to it once money starts coming in?"  "Yes."

100 minutes later (my phone record shows it as exactly that), two departments later and into the "Debt recovery" team despite me being up to date with payments, they helped me.  Three month reduced payment to just under 1/3 to show "good faith".  That was painful and utterly unnecessary.

My GP told me off last month, my blood pressure is stubbornly over 150/100.  We agree that it's stress rather than any underlying condition.  We disagree that I should "remove some stresses", she couldn't get that my stresses were all non-removable without someone dying.  I know when my BP is bad because my tinnitus kicks in, it's running off like a high-pitched fire alarm now.  I know it's bad for me, but what's the alternative?

Last week, I thought carefully about my reserve money and "should I head up to see my mum this weekend?"  I took the risk she'd last another week because I needed to preserve enough spare cash to get to work (120 mile round trip each day by road or 2.5 hour each way train journey).  That worked out well then.  I don't blame myself for that, and I know I won't in future, but the timing sucked massive donkey cohones.

Now, the sodding family need a slap or two.  One of my uncles has made it clear he's not coming to the funeral because "his wishes are not being respected", when what he means is that he's throwing a strop because he was overridden by a consensus that what he wanted was nice but not what our mum expressly said she wanted.

I remember last year at this time.  We always go to the ballet when it comes to Ipswich in February.  I was so stressed with a full day of defending my service from closure and stopping people being sacked for no reason other than blind job number cuts, I can remember getting to the second act of the performance and not remembering a single thing of the first act.  Thinking back, that was the first shot in a year of painful things going wrong.  We're off to the ballet on Friday as a birthday present to the wife from her dad, we couldn't afford to go if we paid ourselves.  I'm hoping that that performance is the signal point for the end of that year.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Get through the funeral, get working and my problems will be largely solved as I'll have enough income to rebuild my savings war chest, I'll be unsecured debt free and I definitely know who my mates are.

That doesn't solve that today though as I need to read and annotate about 200 pages of detailed and contradictory text before tomorrow's meeting, when all I want to do is sit back and distract myself.

How easy is it for you to get to London for a beer?

I think we need to have a TRL meet up for a Thursday game. Chatham House rules for moaning about the hand life deals.

[ckn]

2 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

How easy is it for you to get to London for a beer?

I think we need to have a TRL meet up for a Thursday game. Chatham House rules for moaning about the hand life deals.

Not likely to be in central London too much but it's also not a great journey in from where I'm likely to be.  I'll know more when I settle in and find out if I'm getting the "war room" I've asked for or if I need to convert my spare room into my own personal one.

Apart from that, sounds damn good.

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, ckn said:

Not likely to be in central London too much but it's also not a great journey in from where I'm likely to be.  I'll know more when I settle in and find out if I'm getting the "war room" I've asked for or if I need to convert my spare room into my own personal one.

Apart from that, sounds damn good.

I'm hardly ever in London at the minute - for reasons not too dissimilar to yours - but let's work out a when for 'as soon as possible' when we can and then make it TRL official for all middle aged moaners.

[Bob8]

14 minutes ago, ckn said:

Not likely to be in central London too much but it's also not a great journey in from where I'm likely to be.  I'll know more when I settle in and find out if I'm getting the "war room" I've asked for or if I need to convert my spare room into my own personal one.

Apart from that, sounds damn good.

Right, we need a replacement mod. 

Because, you need a break.  These little things add up.

[ckn]

Just now, Bob8 said:

Right, we need a replacement mod. 

Because, you need a break.  These little things add up.

Nah, this site is a great distraction and essentially self-moderates!  It's rare that moderation causes any stress, it's not exactly the Daily Mail comments section!

[Phil]

I’m representing someone at work on a charge of making homophobic comments which he claims he didn’t make, I’ve had a couple of torrid meetings with the personnel team about it during one of which I accused them of having already made up their minds even before the hearing thus in my view ensuring he won’t get a fair crack of the whip. 

Today I find out from someone who’s word I absolutely trust that despite what he says he did make these comments. 

Edited February 5, 2018 by Phil