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

[CAMRAMan]

I just had a delivery attempt by an Amazon drone. 'Nope, not for us it has to go to XXXXX', say I. 'Where's that?' he says bewildered - not uncommon for Amazon drivers. 'I'll give you a map', add I and mark out where he is and where he needs to go. He looks baffled. 'But the satnav brought me here', he retorts. I explain that the satnav isn't always right and tell him he knows where he is and where to go, pointing at the map. 'I'm from Birmingham, I don't know where that is!' he says & still looks baffled, but goes away with the parcel. Only later do I realise that he probably doesn't know how to read a map, having relied all his short life on satnavs. Either that or he is particularly dense. I suspect the parcel might not reach its destination.

[T42]

Traditionally, drones don't do anything but eat and f*ck.  You must have got one of those.

[hellymedic]

In my vocabulary, CAMRAman's delivery person was a droid or a squid. A drone is an unmanned flying machine or a bee to me.

[Andrij]

I'm printing B&W, and my printer is complaining it is almost out of yellow ink.  Shut up and get on with the job at hand!

[ian]

There should be a special section in HELL for those who watch TV at full volume on phablets at hotel breakfasts, featuring an extra inferno for canned laughter.

I think that I'd ask them to turn down the volume.  Lots.  Ignorant little .....

In a further incident of getting old, I had to tell someone in the swimming pool changing to turn his music off. Why does anyone need a loud soundtrack to getting changed? He mumbled something like an errant teenager (and he must have been in his mid-20s) in response but turned it down to a tinny level. Got a 'thank you' from some chap on the way out. I wasn't so bothered by the noise (OK, it was annoying), but it was usual rap content, and I'm not sure a tale of 'niggers' and 'pussy' was (a) about a community predilection for felines or (b) suitable for the pool changing room during the summer holidays. Use some fucking common sense.

[T42]

I'm printing B&W, and my printer is complaining it is almost out of yellow ink.  Shut up and get on with the job at hand!

Early HP ink-jets made 'black' by mixing all the inks together, only it came out more like khaki.

[Clare]

It is remarkably off-putting when the only other two people in the office have decamped to the cupboard kitchen and are talking in such low voices that they cannot be heard. Yes, I do think it is about me.

[essexian]

I know I am getting old but I really don't think it's appropriate for our neighbours* kids (both aged under eight ) to be playing out 1am this morning while their parents were getting drunk with some friends.... I know they were drinking as I have just picked up the empty cans they have thrown into our garden..........again. 

Sometimes, I wish I had kept my gun.



*They aren't really neighbours as they are the other side of a pathway but noise and beer cans can travel.

[T42]

Garden hose. And throw back the cans.

[essexian]

Garden hose. And throw back the cans.

They only come back over.... as have in the last few years: A rugby ball, a grill pan, a lighter, several hundred cans, a mini football and a several dead plants.

I wouldn't mind (well actually I do), but the fence they throw stuff over is 7 foot tall and thus, it's likely to be the "adults" rather than the children who chuck stuff.

[andrewc]

I'm starting to dig kit out for next Saturdays trip to the continent & I can't fine my clever Sea to Summit clothes line     I may have to improvise with some hairy string..

[mcshroom]

What you need are bungies - and a friend's bike

[Jasmine]

I have just received a letter at work from an external person I'm dealing with.  They know who I am, because we've had a fair bit of correspondence.  So why oh why is the letter addressed "Dear Sirs"?  WTF?  It's sent to my email address, which is $firstname.$surname@whereIwork, so they can hardly claim they don't know I'm female. I'm not sure whether they have a standard template that they can't be bothered to change, or whether they think that I'm going to send it on to a man to deal with.

[Kim]

The way I see it, this sort of thing serves as a warning that you're dealing with either:

a) A luser
b) A robot
c) A person who adheres to hopelessly old-fashioned rules of formality
d) A sexist arse

[Cudzoziemiec]

Dear Sir would indicate they thought you were a man, would pass it on to a man, or they just couldn't be bothered to check or change their template, whereas Dear Sirs indicates something addressed with old-fashioned formality to a company as a whole, rather than an individual. Doesn't it? Could always be a badly programmed, sexist, out-dated robot, I suppose.

[Jakob W]

If I have to be formal, I tend to use 'Dear Sir, Madam,' which is still not entirely unproblematic; otherwise I just use 'Dear <companyname>', which feels informal if clunky.

[Jasmine]

But would you write that in response to an email or letter where the the sender has signed it Dr. $Firstname $Surname?  Surely if you wanted to send a formal reply, you would send it to Dr $Firstname

[Jakob W]

Ah, right - I didn't realise that the email was in response to previous correspondence; I'd assumed it was a general matter that had been sent to you. That is very weird.

[Sergeant Pluck]

I have just received a letter at work from an external person I'm dealing with.  They know who I am, because we've had a fair bit of correspondence.  So why oh why is the letter addressed "Dear Sirs"?  WTF?  It's sent to my email address, which is $firstname.$surname@whereIwork, so they can hardly claim they don't know I'm female. I'm not sure whether they have a standard template that they can't be bothered to change, or whether they think that I'm going to send it on to a man to deal with.

Inexcusable.

Leaving that case aside, in those rare situations in which one doesn’t know and cannot find out the name and gender of the person being written to, what is the current best option? Is there no better option than “Dear sir or madam"?

[Basil]

Dear Company Name or dear Department Name 8f you know it.
I've written Dear Ceredigion Council a few times.

The 80's humorous Dear Sir or Mad Man is probably no longer acceptable.

[Kim]

This is why I like email, as you can just use "Hi,"

[ian]

It's a just a template, I'm sure. I always find Dear Sir/Madam whatever splendidly dated. In email, it's doubly splendid.

Possibly, it's Clippy. I see you're writing a formal letter. We shouldn't be mean to Clippy. It's all that abuse that will, finally, result in SkyNet and our resultant annihilation. All because we mocked Clippy.

[Mr Larrington]

This is why I like email, as you can just use "Hi,"

"Ahoy!" works too

[andrewc]

I've got Blepheritis in my right eye, so now have an eyelid full of antibiotic cream.  This is sub optimal for most stuff as everything is really blurred so I'm working one eyed.    I'm off touring at the weekend, the course should  finish by Sunday.  Hopefully this will clear the problem up.

[Kim]

This is why I like email, as you can just use "Hi,"

"Ahoy!" works too

That's used by one of my xkcd://1279 doppelgangers (the poorly paid actor, not the one with the submarine allergy), so it would just muddy the waters if I were to use it.