The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.

[Beardy]

Call centre operators who have no concept of the service they are supporting. In this case, Greater Anglia.

The lady I spoke first told me my journey was ok - it wasn’t as the middle of three connecting trains is cancelled. Then she told me that I could catch a later train on the middle leg and I had to point out that this would miss the connection and finally she offered a full refund and told me to rebook on a later service. Of course, booking for travel today is costing more than the advanced fare, but least I’m not having to pay the £20 service charge the website wanted to add on!

And it’s not even a strike hit service.

[Jurek]

Call centre operators who have no concept of the service they are supporting. In this case, Greater Anglia.

The lady I spoke first told me my journey was ok - it wasn’t as the middle of three connecting trains is cancelled. Then she told me that I could catch a later train on the middle leg and I had to point out that this would miss the connection and finally she offered a full refund and told me to rebook on a later service. Of course, booking for travel today is costing more than the advanced fare, but least I’m not having to pay the £20 service charge the website wanted to add on!

And it’s not even a strike hit service.

There's a reason it's called Greater Angrier.

[Jasmine]

Every time I've travelled on a train where a train is cancelled or delayed resulting in me ending up on a different train, the train co has accepted the 'wrong' advance ticket. Is this not the case, or is it because you'd have to get on the correct first train for this to qualify?

[Beardy]

There would have been a two hour delay between Ipswich and Peterborough so we would have been well adrift on the main line which would have been a pain in the arse. And as I’m travelling with Dr Beardy it isn’t worth the risk of agro.

[hellymedic]

What’s blue and doesn’t fit?

(click to show/hide)

A dead epileptic

Shirts purchased online for D from M&S. Size 15 1/2, regular fit.
They just don’t work.
The sleeves aren’t long enough, there’s not enough fabric in the back, the shirt is tight round the armpits and the upper chest.

D has fitted size 15 1/2 shirts since forever and is comfortably wearing some ancient Van Heusen shirts in this size that he’s had for the best part of three decades. I think he bought them with his late mother. She died in 1997. They’re getting rather worn and need replacement. D’s size and shape are fairly average - 70kg, 5’ 10” (175cm).

The shirts will be returned.

I am Not Impressed!

[Auntie Helen]

I suppose one could say people have changed size and shape in the last 30 years.

What I notice when returning to the UK from this cycling area of Germany is that there seem to be a lot more overweight people walking around in Colchester than in Kempen.

Sizing has to keep up I suppose.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That's a rare example of sizing getting smaller rather than bigger. Perhaps they were simply mislabelled? Which raises the prospect of a larger size being true to size and therefore too big...

International comparison is interesting cos I remember having the distinct opposite impression in earlier decades. I'm thinking 80s, 90s so a long, long time ago.

[mrcharly-YHT]

What’s blue and doesn’t fit?

(click to show/hide)

A dead epileptic

Shirts purchased online for D from M&S. Size 15 1/2, regular fit.
They just don’t work.
The sleeves aren’t long enough, there’s not enough fabric in the back, the shirt is tight round the armpits and the upper chest.

D has fitted size 15 1/2 shirts since forever and is comfortably wearing some ancient Van Heusen shirts in this size that he’s had for the best part of three decades. I think he bought them with his late mother. She died in 1997. They’re getting rather worn and need replacement. D’s size and shape are fairly average - 70kg, 5’ 10” (175cm).

The shirts will be returned.

I am Not Impressed!

Charles Tyrwhitt shirts are nice (I inherited some from my FiL).

The ones I have a slim fit and work well on me (174cm, 84kg, long arms)

[Kim]

That's a rare example of sizing getting smaller rather than bigger. Perhaps they were simply mislabelled?

That does happen.  I had to return a sports bra last year which was labelled in the wrong band size (easily demonstrated, as I had an identical one of the correct size to compare it to).

Also, one of the several sets of identical socks I bought the other week turns out to be a different size from all the others, in spite of the packaging (which I dug out of the paper recycling sits-around-until-it-overflows-and-all-gets-fucked-in-the-general-waste-bin-because-the-council-won't-collect-it box.  This is fine, in that I'm on the cusp of sizes and happier with the larger socks, but annoying when they get paired with different sizes.  I resorted to marking the larger socks by adding a couple of stitches in a contrasting colour.

[mrcharly-YHT]

While we are grumbling about clothes

MrsC bought me a couple of packs of underwear. Size medium for 34" waist.

They fit around the waist.

The legs are sized for someone who fits into skinny jeans. There isn't enough material to stretch over my bum.

[hellymedic]

I am convinced modern clothing is shaped for the fat and or flabby.
D has found trousers that fit on the waist don’t accommodate manhood/buttocks/thighs.
D is not particularly muscular.
He’s just not flabby - you see he walks and cycles places and doesn’t drive or watch TV…

The Luddite man needs Luddite clothes...

[Woofage]

MrsC bought me a couple of packs of underwear. Size medium for 34" waist.

What brand?

I too have (still) have an underpants problem...

I've found that Fatface undies in size small ( ) fit pretty well but the fabric is a bit more flimsy than either the M&S or White Stuff pants that I used to buy (both of these brands offerings are now huge compared to previously).

[mrcharly-YHT]

MrsC bought me a couple of packs of underwear. Size medium for 34" waist.

What brand?

I too have (still) have an underpants problem...

I've found that Fatface undies in size small ( ) fit pretty well but the fabric is a bit more flimsy than either the M&S or White Stuff pants that I used to buy (both of these brands offerings are now huge compared to previously).

Some nameless brand from the factory shop in our local supermarket.

I used to always buy lonsdale. Fit well, lasted well.

[Pingu]

Arsebiscuits  There was a power cut in Furryboottoon this arvo for nearly 1.5 hours. Afterwards the Squeezebox wouldn't power up, but there was a faint red light visible in the digiital socket. A quick look on a FISE indicates this may be due to a b0rked power supply. Cheap replacement ordered from the Mega-Global Big River Corporation of Seattle, USAnia. We'll see how that goes.

[Pickled Onion]

What’s blue and doesn’t fit?

(click to show/hide)

A dead epileptic

Shirts purchased online for D from M&S. Size 15 1/2, regular fit.
They just don’t work.
The sleeves aren’t long enough, there’s not enough fabric in the back, the shirt is tight round the armpits and the upper chest.

D has fitted size 15 1/2 shirts since forever and is comfortably wearing some ancient Van Heusen shirts in this size that he’s had for the best part of three decades. I think he bought them with his late mother. She died in 1997. They’re getting rather worn and need replacement. D’s size and shape are fairly average - 70kg, 5’ 10” (175cm).

The shirts will be returned.

I am Not Impressed!

Van Heusen* shirts were remarkably spacious, as well as lasting forever. I had one from the 80's that I bought at a jumble and only recently threw it out. It still fitted me with middle-age spread. The modern style is "fitted" or "tailored" and when I still wore shirts and ties had to go up a size or two on account of broad shoulders, which then leaves it baggy at the neck.


* just gooogled, and they are still going. But a quick look on the site shows their shirts now are mostly very tight, like all the others.

[hellymedic]

I deliberately chose ‘Regular Fit’, rather than slim fit or tailored fit, because I wanted a shirt to permit D to wave his arms like an orchestral conductor, reach bike brakes and accommodate his masculine shoulders, which are not inordinately broad. They’re wider than mine but he wears my Sprayway GoreTex jacket for winter cycling & walking.
‘Relaxed Fit’ is, I thought, for Real Fatties, which D is not...

[rr]

Shirt sizing is weird, I think for sizes bigger than teenage they assume you're fat. I have a 17½ inch neck (since my teens and it is mostly muscle) and big shoulders, I have also been 20kg overweight.  Slim-fit m&S shirts in my collar size are tight on my shoulders, but have room for a large pillow down the front. Standard fit shirts have room for me to wave my arms around but I can fit a mattress under them.
Least bad are Le Redoute big and tall.
Can't get most trousers past my knees.

[Beardy]

And for the next instalment in the intermittent series of Showers in other peoples home, I bring you the shower you have to dance in. Ok, dancing may be optional, but if you want to actually get wet all over, then moving around is compulsory. Rinsing off is particularly annoying.

At least this one isn’t contained in a coffin sized enclosure.

[Cudzoziemiec]

The idea that you can size an entire shirt by the neck still seems weird.

[hellymedic]

It does but I suppose a collar HAS to fit, more so when ties were de rigueur..

I usually work on the assumption that collar size in centimetres = chest size in inches, ie a factor of about 2.5.

Of course, shoulders arms and sleeves aren’t factored at all.

It strikes me that I bought D a nice smart white ‘Autograph’ shirt from M&S not so long ago, which fits fine.

It might be the ‘budget’ shirts have a more skimpy cut. The Autograph shirt has short sleeves, which are quite wide.

[Kim]

The idea that you can size an entire shirt by the neck still seems weird.

If you think that's weird wait until you hear about dress sizes...

[Cudzoziemiec]

The idea that you can size an entire shirt by the neck still seems weird.

If you think that's weird wait until you hear about dress sizes...

I realize that I have no idea how UK dress sizes work other than that they only use even numbers, appear to start around 8, and seem to be entirely unitless. This makes shoe sizes, which at least count concrete lengths, even if that length is a barleycorn, and even if they do start at 1 from an assumed basis, highly logical. So, I presume dress sizes refer to some measurement on the human body, but only one: I'm going to guess waist. As to how many inches that waist is assumed to be at the theoretical zero, and the increment between sizes, I have no idea. And it will probably turn out to be not waist but something really silly like the distance from navel to ribs anyway.

Ed: There's an ISO! 8559 with various sub-sections. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothing_sizes But as with all good standards, there are alternative standards. Many alternatives.

[ian]

Non-formal shirts usually devolve into the S/M/L/XL spectrum which is a bit more rational, though I find small while in principle fine sometimes are (a) too short like they're made for genuine midgets, or they think the crop-top look is a good one for me and (b) too tight across the shoulders and chest. I don't think I'm particularly muscular, though perhaps being a daily swimmer has added a subtle hulkishness to my frame. Maybe I will go challenge one of the bears in my garden to a hug.

[perpetual dan]

Most clothes sizing suffers from being a way to simplify what’s made, rather than get a good fit. I’m pretty sure that actual tape measures are rationed within the factories making most mass-market clothes -  variation between items with the same label can be laughable. There’s also the undeclared vanity factor in sizing (I suspect even worse for women’s clothes), where a nominal size has to be interpreted by shop and range.

[ian]

Things broadly went downhill when we started on the road to ethical sourcing and now they're not allowed to beat their staff in those Bangladeshi sweatshops when they get it wrong. Where's the customer feedback there?