Every sympathy @Sandemaniac I found myself in the position of being in the wrong job - the work changed under me. Fortunately I bailed out (helped by my employer's efforts to constructively dismiss me). A third of the salary, but a fraction of the stress.
Thanks, everyone. I've just had the best nights sleep I've had in weeks, which I take as an omen.
I've also had two depressing calls with recruiters who've obviously just done keyword searches and wanted to point me at things that really aren't me. This morning's was with someone who recruits at director level (wtf did she see in my profile?) regarding a company that would take three hours a day out of my life getting to, managing 7-8 people. If you saw that in my profile you were reading it wrong.
Today I shall do stuff at home that I've been meaning to for yonks, and not had the motivation/energy to do. Tomorrow was going to be off work anyway. Monday bank hol. Serious stuff starts Tuesday.
ETA just to rub it in, now that I have time to listen to it, the cricket is delayed by rain.
Well there's a scunner. Today was the day they were to come and install the ladder to the roof space. We were up betimes, I hauled furniture to ready the access - but here it is, gone 10.30 and not a sign. Even allowing for Trades time, this is looking like a no-show.
Our local surgery. My wife phoned up to see if she could make a non-urgent appointment in a week or twos' time. She was told, "Oh, we don't make appointments on Fridays". Why not?
The rejigged laptop is now a deceased laptop and is consigned to the darkest hole I can fling it into. New one should be available to collect later today... on the plus side, having done all the setting up of a computer a month ago it should be a relatively easy process this time as I made careful notes of some things.
Also on the plus side, the now 12 years old laptop I keep for emergencies is currently doing all I need, though it did revert to Former Address settings at one point in the payment process.
TICTH diabetes, post-surgical hyperglycemia and in particular the medical need for hospital staff to wake me for blood sugars every two hours across yesterday night and at 3am this morning. And the fact I now can’t get back to sleep, or listen to a podcast, because my bloody headphones have run out of charge !
TICTH diabetes, post-surgical hyperglycemia and in particular the medical need for hospital staff to wake me for blood sugars every two hours across yesterday night and at 3am this morning. And the fact I now can’t get back to sleep, or listen to a podcast, because my bloody headphones have run out of charge !
TICTH diabetes, post-surgical hyperglycemia and in particular the medical need for hospital staff to wake me for blood sugars every two hours across yesterday night and at 3am this morning. And the fact I now can’t get back to sleep, or listen to a podcast, because my bloody headphones have run out of charge !
Yes. I spent a month in hospital after my brain surgery in 2016, and well recall the two-hourly awakenings throughout the night (by very gentle nurses) for BP and blood sugar readings.
This might be a result of this (if so, I hope it doesn't happen to you), but I now rarely sleep for more than two hours before waking up, even if I don't need the loo...! In mitigation, I usually doze off again quite quickly, at least if my legs aren't aching.
TICTH the Post Office's website. They tried (presumably not very hard) to deliver a parcel (a ring I'd ordered from a shop in Orkney when I was on holiday), but I got a "you were out" card when I came home.
Tried to download their app; "not suitable for any of your devices". WTAF?
Tried to phone them, and the options only offered "when do you want it delivered?", which as I'm not going to be in until a week on Saturday, was un fat lot de bon, and they didn't seem to offer the "deliver it somewhere else close by" option.
Eventually managed to get into their tracking system and ask them to deliver it to the office (which is almost in the same postcode) tomorrow, which it says they will do, but I'll believe it when I see it.
I know I should have asked the shop to post it to the office in the first place, but for some reason I didn't think about it at the time (I was probably distracted by the spectacular view of St Magnus Cathedral through the shop window ... ).
TICTH our local supermarket's new checkout machines, which constantly go wrong. Waiting for an assistant (sorry, "colleague") to sort things out no less than three times this morning, I missed my bus and had to walk home. (Mind you, the exercise was probably good for me!)
I never use them. I have been known to leave my basket and walk out if there are no staffed tills open.
They're useful for me when the prospect of social interaction is off-putting. I know people with serious social anxiety for whom they actually enable shopping. So not all bad.
Problem is that our supermarket has very few staffed checkouts now, especially first thing in the morning. To be fair, there are plenty of staff to help.
I never use them. I have been known to leave my basket and walk out if there are no staffed tills open.
They're useful for me when the prospect of social interaction is off-putting. I know people with serious social anxiety for whom they actually enable shopping. So not all bad.
I have a lot more "social interaction" with the unmanned tills than the manned tills, because if you use the manned tills you only interact with the checkout assistant and don't have someone from the queue offering to help to speed things up while you are waiting for the unstaffed tills assistant to sort things out.
One recent issue was that the roll of garden waste bags I'd swiped through set off the "unexpected item in the bagging area" so I had someone from the queue saying I needed to swipe again, till I showed her that it was on the screen and I had swiped. Then when the assistant came she said that the weight of the roll of bags wasn't what the machine expected it to be, based on the bar code, which led to general bafflement in the queue who had nothing better to do that to discuss my garden waste bags.
Anyway, the assistant took the roll off, re-entered it manually, and told me next time not to put the roll in my bag vertically, but horizontally as "that affects the weight" (!)
A bit of general chit-chat on it not really being the weather for gardening, with one woman in the queue saying that her grass was practically knee high, and I finished my shopping and was on my way, saying goodbye to the woman in the queue, the other woman in the queue and the assistant.
That's my general experience with unmanned tills, slower than manned tills, but convivial.
The larger of our two local Co-Ops is due to close, at the end of this month, for a much-needed refit. One of the staff told me that some self-service tills would be installed, which is OK, I think, for those who've just popped in for a newspaper and/or a bottle of milk.
If the staffed checkouts at Tesco are too busy, I go to the self-service area, where there are usually some Nice Ladies to assist people. I put on my Poor Old Disabled Man expression (it's genuine, BTW), and ask politely for one of the NLs to put the stuff through for me. I'd have to do it one-handed, whilst supporting myself with one of my crutches, and the NL does it so much more quickly - and, of course, deals instantly with any annoying glitches!
A mixed blessing, those machines, but they have their uses, as long as they don't take over completely...
I get very cross with self-service tills; even if I'm only buying my lunch (a sandwich, drink and bar of chocolate or packet of crisps) they manage to find something to electronically shout at me for, so I need to enlist the help of the Nice Lady or Nice Gentleman.
I was once in M&S with my sister (who understands these things and breezed through with nary a second thought) but as soon as I approached the bloody thing it started shouting at me and scaring me witless. Give me a Human Bean any day!
Update re: ring ordered when in Orkney: it arrived today and it's too bloody small!!! I can't think why, as they measured it against a ring I was wearing, which fits perfectly, but as soon as I lifted it out of its box I could tell it wasn't going to fit. I'm now torn between just sending it back and asking them to fix it or taking it to a local jeweller to see what they can do.
I notice that, in Tesco, the self-service Engines Of Satan tills are mostly used by people who are only buying a few items. Those people are helping others, who are buying a trolley-load, to get their transaction done more quickly...
I never use them. I have been known to leave my basket and walk out if there are no staffed tills open.
I know someone who also refuses to use them, on the grounds of, "Why should I do a job the shop staff are being paid to do?"
So I assume these people never withdraw cash from an ATM, or fill their car with petrol, or order stuff online.
Only one person; and I have no idea, I didn't discuss it with them. It's not a position I take. Although, to be fair, cash from machines and filling up one's own car are not choices nowadays in the way they once were. I guess you can still go into a bank with a cheque (I remember those...) written out payable to "cash" and get money over the counter, but it would be unusual. The last time I remember a pump attendant filling up a car I was in with petrol was when I was out with my father, so we're talking over 40 years ago.
Fair point, but as someone who lives alone, I actually quite like to have some interaction with another human; when I was working in Edinburgh and had nothing to do at weekends (before I joined St Pete's), the lady/gentleman on the Tesco's checkout might be the only person I would speak to all weekend, which is a rather sad reflection on my life!
I do get that there are people who would much rather not have to interact with anyone, but when it gets to the stage where there are no manned tills at all, I think it's maybe gone too far. Anyway, as I said upthread, whenever I use the infernal machines, I always end up having to enlist the help of the lady/gentleman who's standing about waiting for an idiot like me to need help ...
I never use them. I have been known to leave my basket and walk out if there are no staffed tills open.
I know someone who also refuses to use them, on the grounds of, "Why should I do a job the shop staff are being paid to do?"
So I assume these people never withdraw cash from an ATM, or fill their car with petrol, or order stuff online.
To be fair, all three of those are pretty simple and quick things, not what could be dozens of items that need to be rung up and bagged.
Scanning stuff is easy and in the UK we bag stuff ourselves anyway. In fact, going through a self scan can make bagging easier as we can choose what order to scan the stuff and bag accordingly
I often go to W++tr+s+ when it opens, out on foot and back by bus. However it opens at 7.30am and the bus is due at 7.43am. It takes about 3 minutes to walk to the stop. I usually catch it, but on Thursday the newly-installed scanning machines twice didn't recognise weights and I had to request help.
Well, the walk home, mostly uphill, probably did me good!
Really belongs on a TICTH thread in Hell, but anyway...
TICTH the arsehole who thought that the obvious thing to do when following my daughter on her bike climbing uphill on a narrow residential street between two lines of parked cars was to aggressively sound their horn.
May your next MOT cost you an absolute bloody fortune, you entitled twat.
I could equally CTH the white van driver who tailgated me very closely onto the M4 this morning and continued to do so for several miles before he got fed up and overtook me.
I could equally CTH the white van driver who tailgated me very closely onto the M4 this morning and continued to do so for several miles before he got fed up and overtook me.
I knew someone who had a switch wired to his brake lights mounted just under his dashboard to encourage people like this to back off and then go and change their underwear.
My friend acquired her first car when her family, having failed to persuade her nonogenarian grandmother to give up driving on safety grounds, persuaded granny to gift her car to her granddaughter.
Not only did driving this car mean that my friend had to learn to double declutch, it also meant that she could flip the brake lights on, even when she wasn't braking.
I could equally CTH the white van driver who tailgated me very closely onto the M4 this morning and continued to do so for several miles before he got fed up and overtook me.
If I’m being tailgated, sometimes I just very carefully start slowing down until they either back off or pass me.
I'd suggest taking your foot off the loud pedal *without* touching the brake, but if the driver behind twigs a bit late you could get rear-ended, or they could lose control and who knows what potentially lethal chaos could ensue. @Spike probably has a few cautionary tales about that sort of thing...
The advice I was given was to maintain a safe speed (that is, within the speed limit), without slowing down unnecessarily or touching the brakes - either or both of which actions could possibly lead to rear-ending and/or road rage! - and to pull over if/when possible to allow Mr Impatient F*****it to overtake. Better to have Mr IF in front of you than behind...
I was tailgated recently along the road leading from Our Town to Arkland. Halfway along, there is a small roundabout, which I went around, in order to allow Mr IF to get in front of me. He roared off at high speed, only to be stopped by temporary traffic-lights at road works a quarter of a mile ahead...I expect he would have gone through against the red light, but there was traffic coming the other way.
Comments
I've also had two depressing calls with recruiters who've obviously just done keyword searches and wanted to point me at things that really aren't me. This morning's was with someone who recruits at director level (wtf did she see in my profile?) regarding a company that would take three hours a day out of my life getting to, managing 7-8 people. If you saw that in my profile you were reading it wrong.
Today I shall do stuff at home that I've been meaning to for yonks, and not had the motivation/energy to do. Tomorrow was going to be off work anyway. Monday bank hol. Serious stuff starts Tuesday.
ETA just to rub it in, now that I have time to listen to it, the cricket is delayed by rain.
If you mean an hour and a half each way, I've done that, and no amount of money would make me want to do it again.
Aye, an hour and a half each way. Sod that for a lark!
He suggests leaving the disorganised sitting room as is - because it's not somewhere he spends much time.
Hah.
Also on the plus side, the now 12 years old laptop I keep for emergencies is currently doing all I need, though it did revert to Former Address settings at one point in the payment process.
🕯
Yes. I spent a month in hospital after my brain surgery in 2016, and well recall the two-hourly awakenings throughout the night (by very gentle nurses) for BP and blood sugar readings.
This might be a result of this (if so, I hope it doesn't happen to you), but I now rarely sleep for more than two hours before waking up, even if I don't need the loo...! In mitigation, I usually doze off again quite quickly, at least if my legs aren't aching.
Tried to download their app; "not suitable for any of your devices". WTAF?
Tried to phone them, and the options only offered "when do you want it delivered?", which as I'm not going to be in until a week on Saturday, was un fat lot de bon, and they didn't seem to offer the "deliver it somewhere else close by" option.
Eventually managed to get into their tracking system and ask them to deliver it to the office (which is almost in the same postcode) tomorrow, which it says they will do, but I'll believe it when I see it.
I know I should have asked the shop to post it to the office in the first place, but for some reason I didn't think about it at the time (I was probably distracted by the spectacular view of St Magnus Cathedral through the shop window ...
They're useful for me when the prospect of social interaction is off-putting. I know people with serious social anxiety for whom they actually enable shopping. So not all bad.
I have a lot more "social interaction" with the unmanned tills than the manned tills, because if you use the manned tills you only interact with the checkout assistant and don't have someone from the queue offering to help to speed things up while you are waiting for the unstaffed tills assistant to sort things out.
One recent issue was that the roll of garden waste bags I'd swiped through set off the "unexpected item in the bagging area" so I had someone from the queue saying I needed to swipe again, till I showed her that it was on the screen and I had swiped. Then when the assistant came she said that the weight of the roll of bags wasn't what the machine expected it to be, based on the bar code, which led to general bafflement in the queue who had nothing better to do that to discuss my garden waste bags.
Anyway, the assistant took the roll off, re-entered it manually, and told me next time not to put the roll in my bag vertically, but horizontally as "that affects the weight" (!)
A bit of general chit-chat on it not really being the weather for gardening, with one woman in the queue saying that her grass was practically knee high, and I finished my shopping and was on my way, saying goodbye to the woman in the queue, the other woman in the queue and the assistant.
That's my general experience with unmanned tills, slower than manned tills, but convivial.
If the staffed checkouts at Tesco are too busy, I go to the self-service area, where there are usually some Nice Ladies to assist people. I put on my Poor Old Disabled Man expression (it's genuine, BTW), and ask politely for one of the NLs to put the stuff through for me. I'd have to do it one-handed, whilst supporting myself with one of my crutches, and the NL does it so much more quickly - and, of course, deals instantly with any annoying glitches!
A mixed blessing, those machines, but they have their uses, as long as they don't take over completely...
I was once in M&S with my sister (who understands these things and breezed through with nary a second thought) but as soon as I approached the bloody thing it started shouting at me and scaring me witless. Give me a Human Bean any day!
Update re: ring ordered when in Orkney: it arrived today and it's too bloody small!!! I can't think why, as they measured it against a ring I was wearing, which fits perfectly, but as soon as I lifted it out of its box I could tell it wasn't going to fit. I'm now torn between just sending it back and asking them to fix it or taking it to a local jeweller to see what they can do.
I know someone who also refuses to use them, on the grounds of, "Why should I do a job the shop staff are being paid to do?"
Very sorry to hear about your ring, @Piglet .
So I assume these people never withdraw cash from an ATM, or fill their car with petrol, or order stuff online.
I notice that, in Tesco, the self-service Engines Of Satan tills are mostly used by people who are only buying a few items. Those people are helping others, who are buying a trolley-load, to get their transaction done more quickly...
Only one person; and I have no idea, I didn't discuss it with them. It's not a position I take. Although, to be fair, cash from machines and filling up one's own car are not choices nowadays in the way they once were. I guess you can still go into a bank with a cheque (I remember those...) written out payable to "cash" and get money over the counter, but it would be unusual. The last time I remember a pump attendant filling up a car I was in with petrol was when I was out with my father, so we're talking over 40 years ago.
I do get that there are people who would much rather not have to interact with anyone, but when it gets to the stage where there are no manned tills at all, I think it's maybe gone too far. Anyway, as I said upthread, whenever I use the infernal machines, I always end up having to enlist the help of the lady/gentleman who's standing about waiting for an idiot like me to need help ...
To be fair, all three of those are pretty simple and quick things, not what could be dozens of items that need to be rung up and bagged.
Scanning stuff is easy and in the UK we bag stuff ourselves anyway. In fact, going through a self scan can make bagging easier as we can choose what order to scan the stuff and bag accordingly
Well, the walk home, mostly uphill, probably did me good!
TICTH the arsehole who thought that the obvious thing to do when following my daughter on her bike climbing uphill on a narrow residential street between two lines of parked cars was to aggressively sound their horn.
May your next MOT cost you an absolute bloody fortune, you entitled twat.
No. Unfortunately we're both used to wankers of this stripe around here.
I knew someone who had a switch wired to his brake lights mounted just under his dashboard to encourage people like this to back off and then go and change their underwear.
Not only did driving this car mean that my friend had to learn to double declutch, it also meant that she could flip the brake lights on, even when she wasn't braking.
If I’m being tailgated, sometimes I just very carefully start slowing down until they either back off or pass me.
I was tailgated recently along the road leading from Our Town to Arkland. Halfway along, there is a small roundabout, which I went around, in order to allow Mr IF to get in front of me. He roared off at high speed, only to be stopped by temporary traffic-lights at road works a quarter of a mile ahead...I expect he would have gone through against the red light, but there was traffic coming the other way.