Grumble Thread

[Dave2002]

Not quite a grumble, but a nuisance today. I'd ordered a whole bunch of stuff from Amazon, including one expensive item.

I knew it was coming, but didn't expect what happened.

Lady appears at door with a box. Seen here a few times, armed with a mobile phone. Not a native English speaker I guess.

"Password" she said.

"How would I know?" My reply.

She also showed me another number, and suggested I could try that. It wasn't a number I recognised - and only had two digits anyway!
It wasn't an obvious phone number or code.

I then went to find my mobile phone to see if there was anything on that, but there wasn't.

Finally I came back to this desktop machine, and looked at the order. Clicking on Track the package showed a code, which I wrote down, and went and showed it to the lady, and it was fine.

I had no idea that was going to happen,

Maybe it's a good idea, but things like this which are completely unexpected are very problematic.

I have had items before which had to be photographed with me on the doorstep, but never a password before now.

[Dave2002]

System down at the local Co-op just now: only accepting cash.
Fortunately, there's both an ATM and the possibility of taking money out of accounts as it's also got a Post Office counter.
But I didn't get my member's discount on the items I bought, though I did get my points added.

(Not worth suggesting that the cashier overrode the machine by applying a manual reduction, which was probably possible; I didn't want to hold the queue up, for one thing!)

Sounds a bit like an Ed Reardon story. I had a slight issue with a local Co-op a while back - didn't get a receipt - and suspected I was overcharged. Eventually went back and raised a query - "Oh - sorry - yes" I can see the receipt now. I gave the assistant the benefit of the doubt, but if it happens again I may not.

[LMcD]

I tuned on the telly to read the news headlines via the red button, didn't bother to press the 'mute' button and as a result learned that Laura Kuenssberg's guests today include a 'legendary comedian' (who just happens to be David Tennant's 'companion' in the upcoming Dr Who special) and the leader of a 'mega-union'.

[Old Grumpy]

Well at least it wasn't a MAGA union!

[french frank]

I'm putting this on the Grumble Thread so as not to sound like an R3 trail

I see there's been a three-part series, one hour programmes, with Kirill Katabits introducing music from Ukraine, from Georgia & Armenia and tonight from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan & Tajikistan.

This is what I would call (quite exciting) 'mainstream' R3 programming. A pity it couldn't be found a slot during the daytime rather than being classed with Night Tracks and Late Junction, Sounds on demand notwithstanding. Not the R3 'brand' they want to promote? Hide it under the duvet?

[teamsaint]

I'm putting this on the Grumble Thread so as not to sound like an R3 trail

I see there's been a three-part series, one hour programmes, with Kirill Katabits introducing music from Ukraine, from Georgia & Armenia and tonight from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan & Tajikistan.

This is what I would call (quite exciting) 'mainstream' R3 programming. A pity it couldn't be found a slot during the daytime rather than being classed with Night Tracks and Late Junction, Sounds on demand notwithstanding. Not the R3 'brand' they want to promote? Hide it under the duvet?

Thanks for flagging this up FF. Karabits has done a fine job on this music both live and recorded . He was nice enough to reply to an email I sent ,in which I suggested that he might programme some Nurymov ( Turkmenestan). True to his word, he has programmed two works, one of which I heard the BSO play at Poole a couple of weeks ago, which was something of an ambition achieved. I have never heard any Nurymov played live, and I’m a fan, so it was pretty special.

That said, I take your grumble point !

[smittims]

'things which are completely unepected are very problematic'.

That could be the understatement of the century, Dave. Like when your boiler fails to come on on a dark frosty morning . That will be just the morning the light bulb conks out in the room where you'r e searching for the guide to what to do next, and when you click 'book a repair' on your contractors' website you're put in an endess loop.

We have a charming lad who brings parcels round, pleasant face, but the only English word he knows is 'parcil, parcil' as he holds out to you something clearly marked with someone else's name and address.

[french frank]

Karabits has done a fine job on this music both live and recorded . He was nice enough to reply to an email I sent ,in which I suggested that he might programme some Nurymov ( Turkmenestan). True to his word, he has programmed two works, one of which I heard the BSO play at Poole a couple of weeks ago, which was something of an ambition achieved. I have never heard any Nurymov played live, and I’m a fan, so it was pretty special.!

A bit of good news for you, then, rather than a grumble. Well done indeed! The reason why I miss these programmes (and they're seldom the daily ones) is because radio listening has been entirely displaced by other activities, and I'm not a background listener. So that's my grumble.

[teamsaint]

A bit of good news for you, then, rather than a grumble. Well done indeed! The reason why I miss these programmes (and they're seldom the daily ones) is because radio listening has been entirely displaced by other activities, and I'm not a background listener. So that's my grumble.

It wouldn't be entirely surprising if somebody grumbled about my post not being a grumble......!

( Where's that Grumble emoji when you need it ?....)

[smittims]

This may have been chewed over here before, but it seems to be getting worse: what I might call 'corporate coercion'.

I had an e-mail from my electricity supplier saying they were going to make me paperless and just send my bill by e-mail, unless I went to the trouble of telling them I wanted to keep receiving a paper bill. Similarly, with the census a couple of years ago, the letter bluntly instructed me to use the internet,and only in the last line of the letter said 'paper forms are available', though of course I had to telephone and request one.

To me this is part of the erosion of the right to say 'no'. Instead of 'would you like us to do this?' it's 'We're doing this unless you stop us'. Of course I know why they're doing it; they'll get more of the results they want that way.

Many people would say 'what does it matter? It's only a little thing.' But lots of these little things add up to a big thing: the loss of our rights and privileges. We won't get them back. So I don't mind if they think I'm awkward. I think the right to say 'no' needs asserting at each opportunity.

[James Wonnacott]

I attended a concert (rock) at the Plymouth Pavilions a week or so ago and, as it happens, was seated at the end of a row (good, I thought, I can extend my leg with a dodgy knee ).
About 15 minutes into the performance everybody had to get up to let some chap out, five minutes later he came back carrying two pints of beer. This occured six or seven times during the evening as either he or his mate went to replenish their glasses .It completely spoiled the evening for me.
Why, O why, do they keep the bar open during the performance? (I know the answer, of course)

[oddoneout]

This may have been chewed over here before, but it seems to be getting worse: what I might call 'corporate coercion'.

I had an e-mail from my electricity supplier saying they were going to make me paperless and just send my bill by e-mail, unless I went to the trouble of telling them I wanted to keep receiving a paper bill. Similarly, with the census a couple of years ago, the letter bluntly instructed me to use the internet,and only in the last line of the letter said 'paper forms are available', though of course I had to telephone and request one.

To me this is part of the erosion of the right to say 'no'. Instead of 'would you like us to do this?' it's 'We're doing this unless you stop us'. Of course I know why they're doing it; they'll get more of the results they want that way.

Many people would say 'what does it matter? It's only a little thing.' But lots of these little things add up to a big thing: the loss of our rights and privileges. We won't get them back. So I don't mind if they think I'm awkward. I think the right to say 'no' needs asserting at each opportunity.

I sympathise. I too try to resist such moves but it is harder and harder to do so. The likes of BT were quite upfront about the "choice" when it demanded I go monthly DD and no paperbills. If I stayed on the quarterly on-demand plus hard copies it would charge me x£ for the privilege, where x was a sum I couldn't at that time justify. I was doubly glad I ditched them(for a company which was happy to continue with the old-fashioned option for a good few years) when I found out a couple of years later that the sub-company they set up to handle such payments was making a neat profit of (I think) about £4million pa - despite all the whinging blurb on its paperwork saying said company was not profit-making and only charged the cost of administration of such dinosaur methods...
At the last stage of OVO's incompetent purchase of SSE(of which I was a customer) it demanded I go paperless monthly DD. When it does get round to sending (online)statements (which it didn't for about a year) they don't make much sense and because each monthly missive is 3 pages long(x 2 as dual fuel), but comes in quarterly chunks, trying to disentangle figures is time-consuming to say the least. It may not be their prime motive(in this case I think incompetence is more likely than deliberate conspiracy!) but it almost certainly deters a lot of customer interaction which could/would be seen as a benefit to the company so no incentive to improve.
I just feel vulnerable as I can't print off the bits I need to keep track and if necessary challenge - emails are all too easy to ignore or bat away with auto-replies.

[Dave2002]

I had an e-mail from my electricity supplier saying they were going to make me paperless and just send my bill by e-mail, unless I went to the trouble of telling them I wanted to keep receiving a paper bill. Similarly, with the census a couple of years ago, the letter bluntly instructed me to use the internet,and only in the last line of the letter said 'paper forms are available', though of course I had to telephone and request one.

I get rather irritated with banks which tell us they are no longer going to send out paper statements - ostensibly for environmental reasons. I wouldn't mind so much, but in comparison to all the junk mail we get, which I believe is "necessary" to keep businesses we are barely interested in going, and incidentally also to give our post services some justification for existance, an occasional paper statement is relatively insignificant.

[JasonPalmer]

I get rather irritated with banks which tell us they are no longer going to send out paper statements - ostensibly for environmental reasons. I wouldn't mind so much, but in comparison to all the junk mail we get, which I believe is "necessary" to keep businesses we are barely interested in going, and incidentally also to give our post services some justification for existance, an occasional paper statement is relatively insignificant.

Love being able to check my balance on my phone and do bank transfers, havent needed to visit a branch in years, no wonder they closing them all.

[Serial_Apologist]

I just feel vulnerable as I can't print off the bits I need to keep track and if necessary challenge - emails are all too easy to ignore or bat away with auto-replies.

A very good point. Statements consisting of multiple pages of figures are impracticable to check without having a home printer, unless one goes to the time-consuming trouble to handwrite down all the information. And I agree too about the non-necessity of so much junk mail.