The whinge thread

[giraffe]

I wonder if I don't have a problem getting full length bread in because with long slots you can put it in "lying down" if you're not doing four. Not sure, I haven't measured the slots!

[Bunnylump]

Hmmm, bread measuring. New hobby?

[LAT]

No it's probably only me that is sad enough to measure a toaster's slots.

edit - well I need a hobby!

[Bunnylump]

I think this could end up becoming a very dodgy conversation all round if you're not careful...

I think it would be a brilliant hobby to put on a CV.

[LAT]

I'll remember that when I next have to apply for a new job.

I always like to carry a tape measure with me - you never know when it will be useful!

[Bunnylump]

Well, you do need to know if your toast will fit, after all.

[Bunnylump]

...having a really depressing visit to the opticians.
Apparently because of my particular eye condition, I can EITHER have a pair of glasses for watching the telly and other medium distance viewing, AND a pair of reading glasses (pain in the neck or what?) but DON'T need them for long distance (driving etc) OR I can have a contact lens AND some reading glasses. But because I only have one working eye she recommends a DAILY contact lens (because it would be disasterous if I got an infection). All well and good you might think, but she's priced them at £450 a year. And because I'd need specially made reading glasses they'd come in at a cool £350. Marvellous. I apparently can't use varifocals or bifocals so that's not an option.

It makes me cross that people can get things like stomach stapling and some cosmetic surgery on the NHS I can't get the equipment I need to be able to see. It's a good job I am lucky enough to be able to afford this "luxury", isn't it? I'm pretty sure that there would be a lot of people who couldn't, and yet wouldn't be entitled to any assistance.

>Back off soap box<

[giraffe]

My husband has a similar problem. He is incredibly short sighted, and therefore qualifies (not sure if they still do it, but a few years ago this applied) for a discount because of his complex prescription. His £600 specs, which had to be made in Japan of special high index glass qualified for a £4 discount.

He has been very lucky with his contact lenses though. They are gas permeable because he can't have soft, and one pair lasted 15 years. In the end he demanded a replacement pair, even though the optician was happy for him to carry on with them, simply because he felt they were no longer as comfy.

[MBH]

It's a good job I am lucky enough to be able to afford this "luxury", isn't it? I'm pretty sure that there would be a lot of people who couldn't, and yet wouldn't be entitled to any assistance.

Yep - that would probably be me I've put off visiting the optitians and dentist until I was able to get the remortgage to build the extension. Still not been to the optitians yet, but varifocals are on the cards. I'll be paying for them for the next 22 years

[Bunnylump]

It is REALLY unfair, isn't it? It's the same with teeth, I agree. my daughter's boyfriend has to have a bridge and some tooth implants, not because he doesn't look after his teeth but because he wasn't born with a full set of teeth. One has just come out (it's at the front so he does look like a bit of a thug at the moment). He's just been quoted £1800 to get it replaced. Now yes, he does have a reasonable job (thank goodness), but he's saving up for a deposit so that they can get a mortgage, which, at 23 is pretty commendable. So he's saying he thinks he'll go without the tooth.

[Laura]

My whinge of the day - ungrateful parents. (Not my own - they're ok).

As you may know, I'm a Brownie leader. So every week during term time, parents bring their children for an hour and a half (and not always the most beautifully-behaved children at that), and pay £1 for their kids to do exciting activities. All the leaders work voluntarily, and do plenty of extra stuff apart from the couple of hours on a Monday night. This week the Brownies did their hostess badge, so all the parents were invited for the last half-hour. They had a flower arrangement made by each Brownie to take home. They all got a cup of tea or coffee served to their table, and a choice of biscuits, and not just the rubbish cheap ones.

I had one parent ask 'Haven't you got any more biscuits?', only three parents said thankyou, or in fact anything, as they were leaving. And several parents had a go at us because we weren't taking their daughters to the centenary event on Wednesday night, when all the leaders are working.

AAaaaaarrrghhhh!!!! Children are so much easier to deal with!!!

[Bunnylump]

That is really unacceptable, isn't it? When my son was 11, he was taken on a school trip to Calais. Unfortunately for them, one of the coaches broke down, and they got stuck - the teachers with about 80 hyped up, hungry 11 year olds - in a motorway service station. The coach company tried to send a replacement coach, but by the time it got there the driver wasn't allowed to work the extra hours so they could get on the ferry. Consequently, they ended up waiting in the service station for 9 hours. They DID eventually get to France, and the kids all had a good time.

So, I wrote into the school, thanking them for giving my son such a good time, and saying what a pity it was that the coach company had let them down so badly. I praised their efforts in such difficult circumstances. I thought that was the least I could do. Far from it, apparently. The head of year rang me to thank me for my letter, saying that ALL the other letters had been ones of complaint.

And I'm prepared to bet that it was those same parents who COMPLAINED when the staff were reluctant to take the kids on any more school trips!!!

[LAT]

Just no pleasing some people is there?

[Scurra]

Just no pleasing some people is there?

Quoted for reference.

[Bunnylump]

NHS

Someone I know, who has already had cervical cancer and breast cancer, found a very dodgy looking growth on her toe. She went straight to the GP, who said it did look potentially problematic. So she said she'd refer her straight away to have it removed. She's just heard - apparently "straight away" is Christmas eve!!!!!!!!

They've decided to go privately (who can blame them?) and she's having it removed next week.

Can you believe that?

[Bunnylump]

OK I seem to be living on this thread recently.

Last week I got nominated four times for outstanding work in the colleague nominations box. And no, it wasn't me nominating myself...
On Friday, anyone who had been nominated got put into a draw to win a bottle of wine. And guess what? My boss (who got nominated once) won it.

Yes I KNOW I should be pleased for her. But I ain't. (Right grumpy moo, aren't I??) I wouldn't mind, but she gets paid four times as much as I do and I do vast chunks of her work...

[LAT]

That's so unfair!

[Bunnylump]

Sorry, I know that was a pretty big rant, and I do sound like a spoiled child who didn't win at pass the parcel, but they don't even pay me for the HOURS I do. I just added up the extra time I've worked since September - and I'm "owed" THREE WEEKS' worth of time, which I'll never have a chance to take. Grrrrrrrr.

OK I'll stop now.

[MBH]

and I'm "owed" THREE WEEKS' worth of time, which I'll never have a chance to take. Grrrrrrrr.

You make sure the people who need to know KNOW you are owed this, and then find the most inconvenient time to threaten to take them. I "OWE" the Electicitity supplier a bunch of money - the fact I've not got any to give them doesn't seem to make that debt vanish

Back at the Software House, one project was getting totally out of hand. There was no such thing as overtime of bonus payments (and we were played for idiots). So eventually I presented a single sheet of paper showing exactly where the 200 HOURS of MY time had accumulated in getting the job done in time. If I remember rightly I got a grudging 'little extra' in my pay packet - but more importantly it let them know that the workers might just have a brain between their ears. [My private worry was that the job title Computer Systems Analysts hadn't already indicated the 'brain' thing ]

OK - that was a 15-year out of date whinge..... that's what this thread's for isn't it

[dramaticat]

I have two whinges.

1. Electricity supply. There's a problem with the mains supply to my part of the village. We had a couple of short power cuts just over a week ago. The electricity people (EDF I think) put in a generator to help boost the supply while they searched for the problem (needless to say they're still looking!) Problem is, they put in a generator that was too small. Sunday and Monday evening we had a power cut for 5 hours on each night. They've now put a bigger generator in and - touch wood - things were OK yesterday. But why can't they just fix the ***** main?

2. My internet provider is ceasing trading in January. Fine - except they haven't bothered to tell anyone. The way I found out was by having no internet access for the first three hours this morning while they updated their website - to take off all the sales options I suppose. Well, I finally did get to speak to someone to get my MAC code and have ordered a new account. It's a shame, because up until now I thought they were really good - hardly ever a problem with the service and very helpful if you ever did have to contact them. Now comes the bother of getting people to use a new email account. No doubt there will be old clients I'll forget to tell who may want to contact me in future and can't.

So if I suddenly disappear from here, it's probably because of lack of power, internet connection or both, rather than protracted sessions of banging my head against the wall because I can't do a puzzle!