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

[Beardy]

You got some aluminiuminiuminiuminiuminiuminium foil, right . . . ?

Shouldn't the one with the Audiovisual  Auto-Alert alert be rated at 303 amps?

No but<fx:dons anorak> 7.62 Amps might be right

[Beardy]

From a first world problem to a grumble.
Mini won't authorise the servicing of my car which is on a service plan, while it has 1500 to go on the count down. Their damn booking system allowed me to make the booking after it asked me for my mileage and didn't warn me that I'd have to be closer to the goal before they'd approve it. Given my driving profile, it's quite feasible, neigh likely, that I will be away somewhere when it says get me serviced now, and then I'll get a lecture from the garage about going over the prescribed mileage. Bastards!

[Jurek]

You got some aluminiuminiuminiuminiuminiuminium foil, right . . . ?

Shouldn't the one with the Audiovisual  Auto-Alert alert be rated at 303 amps?

No but<fx:dons anorak> 7.62 Amps might be right

My ammo-fu has been outgunned 

[ElyDave]

You got some aluminiuminiuminiuminiuminiuminium foil, right . . . ?

Shouldn't the one with the Audiovisual  Auto-Alert alert be rated at 303 amps?

looks more like a 556 to me.

[ElyDave]

Same on Amazon, I buy second hand hardback books from there occasionally, and spotted two from the same supplier. " Sorry, we're not set up to send them as one combined package" ffs!

Can be because the supplier doesn’t actually hold the stock, an£ they source and send it from multiple locations, just like Amazon themselves do.

Both shown as in stock, they won't let you buy them otherwise

[rafletcher]

Same on Amazon, I buy second hand hardback books from there occasionally, and spotted two from the same supplier. " Sorry, we're not set up to send them as one combined package" ffs!

Can be because the supplier doesn’t actually hold the stock, an£ they source and send it from multiple locations, just like Amazon themselves do.

Both shown as in stock, they won't let you buy them otherwise

Yes they will be - in stock at the sub suppliers.

[TheLurker]

Does your employer, by any chance, have a punitive sickness absence policy which believes all employees should be in perfect health at all times and any absence should be punished by meetings, warnings, withholding of pay progressions, dismissals etc?

Ah. The, "Well you may have twenty years without a day off, but you have now had three sickness absences in the last 6 months so we're going to interview you (without coffee) at the most inconvenient time and location we can find as well as mark your card as a malingering layabout on your personnel file because we're a bunch of idiot box-tickers who can't be arsed to differentiate between lead-swingers and the genuinely ill." sickness absence policy?  Yes?

[Kim]

Not quite.  It's not that they can't be arse to differentiate the genuinely ill, it's that they think sickness (genuine or otherwise) is something that can be solved via a disciplinary route.

[Beardy]

Not quite.  It's not that they can't be arse to differentiate the genuinely ill, it's that they think sickness (genuine or otherwise) is something that can be solved via a disciplinary route.

a policy they often extend to disabilities, especially those that are hidden and thus not real.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I suppose from the beancounter's perspective a day off sick is a day's productivity lost regardless of the cause.

[barakta]

My understanding id that having a presenteeist culture means more folk end up ill so unable to "produce as much" and more people end up actually off sick, than if the original person had just stayed at home while infectious.

[Kim]

You'd need a metric for productivity, though, rather than presence.

[Cudzoziemiec]

The beans that get counted are often not the ones that make the best stew.

[Beardy]

The beans that get counted are often frequently not the ones that make the best stew.

FTFY

[ElyDave]

You'd need a metric for productivity, though, rather than presence.

I left my previous company ten years ago, partly because of a culture of presenteeism vs performance

[Cudzoziemiec]

I went to get a school shirt for my son yesterday and when he saw it, he pointed out it was from the wrong uniform. This wasn't quite as speckle of me as it sounds, as the school has recently altered the uniform – but it turns out the new uniform doesn't apply to his year. So that's my grumble; uniforms which aren't uniform.

[Beardy]

Dr Beardy (Mrs) keeps on changing the channel on TV to the standard definition channels because she forgets/CBA to press the right digits for the HD channels. 

[CAMRAMan]

Does your employer, by any chance, have a punitive sickness absence policy which believes all employees should be in perfect health at all times and any absence should be punished by meetings, warnings, withholding of pay progressions, dismissals etc?

Ah. The, "Well you may have twenty years without a day off, but you have now had three sickness absences in the last 6 months so we're going to interview you (without coffee) at the most inconvenient time and location we can find as well as mark your card as a malingering layabout on your personnel file because we're a bunch of idiot box-tickers who can't be arsed to differentiate between lead-swingers and the genuinely ill." sickness absence policy?  Yes?

I was recently threatened with a 'letter of concern' by my supervisor. I told him there and then I would contest any such thing. I wrote to his boss pointing out that one of the three absences was when I stuck out a dodgy stomach from 8.30am until 1.30pm and left work two hours early promising to make up the two hours. Supervisor insisted on reporting this as an absence. The second one was when Supervisor approached me as soon as I walked in from a very tense meeting with my son's school (he knew I was going to such a meeting) and instead of asking how things went & how I felt, told me straight away - with my coat still on - that I would have to take the missed time as unpaid leave. I walked out and went home. I discussed this behaviour with his boss and told him what a twat the supervisor is. The third absence was a genuine illness.

Strangely enough, they withdrew the threat and said they were doing so on compassionate grounds. (My father has recently died) rather than admitting it was wrong in the first place. I am still considering what to do about this, as I am not happy with the reason given and want Boss to admit the supervisor should never have been put in a position of such responsibility. That won't happen, natch, but I'll feel better having said that. (I am going to leave in a few motnhs anyway!)

[TheLurker]

Dr Beardy (Mrs) keeps on changing the channel on TV to the standard definition channels because she forgets/CBA to press the right digits for the HD channels. 

Well done Dr Beardy (Mrs).  Please tell her to keep right on doing that.  We don't need HD; 99.999999%* of us can't see the bloody difference between that and "ordinary" anyway and it's just another form of built in obsolesence to drive the endless upgrade cycle.


*Rising to exactly 100% for anyone over about 50.

[CAMRAMan]

I'm 57 & prefer HD, especially sports events. Having said that, I didn't pay any extra for getting HD channels & I certainly wouldn't invest in 4K or whatever the next big thing is.

[Canardly]

Trouble with UHD is that you can see make up lines on actors faces.

[T42]

Aye, but if something is really worth watching you stop noticing them, and if it's not so great you can poke fun at them.

Our old TV wasn't fast enough at image processing so when someone was speaking their jaws moved while their cheeks lagged behind as if made of soft jelly. That was fun too.

[Kim]

HD vs SD is about the same as the benefit I get from putting my glasses on.  That's usually worthwhile (especially if there's any text^[1] onscreen), though I'm happy to watch SD content if there isn't a choice.  What really bugs me is incorrect aspect ratios or shitty audio.

I remain sceptical of UHD for most purposes, unless you're actually watching at a desktop computer.  The screen has to be ridiculously big to get a benefit from across the room!  OTOH, it makes sense to shoot in these formats and crop or downscale later.


_{[1] Which may or may not affect the rendering of subtitles, depending on what you're watching with.}

[ElyDave]

I'm 57 & prefer HD, especially sports events. Having said that, I didn't pay any extra for getting HD channels & I certainly wouldn't invest in 4K or whatever the next big thing is.

I have 4k, to me SD on 4k is better than HD. What I detest about the beebs HD is the gaps where local programming comes on.

It could be footage of lots of Dave's though.

[hellymedic]

BT SMS system: why oh why did you have to convert Irene's messages to voice today when they worked fine as text yesterday?
I've now sent her a text and you inform me I have successfully registered for SMS messages today.
Resending messages I read and deleted yesterday is unhelpful!