The treating of tradesmen

[scottycelt]

While agreeing with ahinton, I recall a discussion with my postwoman some time ago. We were talking about the possibility of a Royal Mail strike; her words were "as a postman can sympathise.........."

I also wonder why 'actor' has become the norm for both sexes and 'actress' seems to be frowned on! 21st century life is so inconsistent.

I agree with you, but certainly not ahinton

Anyway, my postperson/thing has just delivered the mail ... but he/she/it disappeared before I could generously offer a tip.

[Don Petter]

If you use kiln-dried wood as I do, you'd not need to use coal for that or indeed any other purpose.

What's wrong with a dishwasher (other, perhaps, than the difficulty in sourcing a coal-fired one)?...

We have a source of English Heritage oak off cuts, which are not kiln dried, and are typically about six or eight inch cubes when cut up, and these are difficult to get going without a touch of coal. Anyway, someone's got to keep the local coalman in business (there aren't that many left).

We were given a dishwasher, some years ago, but it started to chip the edges of many of our plates, so we gave it back. Hand washing is surely more 'green' these days, anyway? We do have the electric, by the way, and the bulb is lasting well so far.

[Serial_Apologist]

We have a source of English Heritage oak off cuts, which are not kiln dried, and are typically about six or eight inch cubes when cut up, and these are difficult to get going without a touch of coal. Anyway, someone's got to keep the local coalman in business (there aren't that many left).

We were given a dishwasher, some years ago, but it started to chip the edges of many of our plates, so we gave it back. Hand washing is surely more 'green' these days, anyway? We do have the electric, by the way, and the bulb is lasting well so far.

coal person

[Panjandrum]

A crate of pale ale is provided for the refuse collectors. I presume theey're happy with this arrangement as it has always gone by the morning.

My tip for the post(wo)man is: "shut the gate next time you come if you want something at christmas".

[ahinton]

"John Harmon, 'our mutual friend,' has been brought back to England by the death of his father, a dust contractor. The mountains of rubbish accumulated in Victorian London also figure symbolically in the action. There has been considerable critical controversy over whether Dickens's use of the term 'dust' is in fact a euphemism for 'excrement'." - Thus Mr. John Sutherland in his synopsis of Dickens's "Our Mutual Friend" in "The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction."

What exactly has this 19th century matter to do with the difference between regular garbage collections and using vacuum cleaners to collect dust in the 21st?

[ahinton]

someone's got to keep the local coalman in business (there aren't that many left)

Why? Filthy stuff! (the coal, that is, not the deliverer thereof)...

We were given a dishwasher, some years ago, but it started to chip the edges of many of our plates

How on earth did the appliance itself manage to do that, unaided?

Hand washing is surely more 'green' these days, anyway?

Not necessarily; it depends to some extent upon the "green" credentials of the dishwasher concerned.

We do have the electric, by the way, and the bulb is lasting well so far.

But do you still use that terrible black solid stuff to heat the water that you use for manual washing-up?

[ahinton]

I agree with you, but certainly not ahinton

Why? Don't you approve of women doing those kinds of work?

[Don Petter]

How on earth did the appliance itself manage to do that, unaided?

But do you still use that terrible black solid stuff to heat the water that you use for manual washing-up?

I think it was the very hot water, combined with the fact that our crockery does not claim to be 'dish washer proof'.

To continue my domestic soul-baring, the water is heated primarily by the central heating boiler (oil fired - no town gas here) with an electric immersion heater as back-up (becoming the sole source in the summer months).

The open fire, while not strictly necessary, is a source of great pleasure, and the heart of the home.

[Osborn]

I treat £10 for the refuse collectors as insurance against finding it impossible to leave the house after the first collection of the new year because the various bins are part-emptied & stacked upside down on the front doorstep

[Don Petter]

I treat £10 for the refuse collectors as insurance against finding it impossible to leave the house after the first collection of the new year because the various bins are part-emptied & stacked upside down on the front doorstep

Does it go in 'paper', or 'land-fill' (because of the metal foil)?

[scottycelt]

Why? Don't you approve of women doing those kinds of work?

I neither approve nor disapprove, and if women wish to do these kinds of work it is absolutely none of my business whatsoever.

My 'disapproval' is rather reserved for those who insist on the replacement of hitherto long-standing English words for purely politically-correct reasons.

If a 'postwoman' is perfectly happy to describe herself as a 'postman' what is the problem for others ... ?

I've no problem either in calling her a 'postwoman', if she so wishes, but I would certainly never call her (or him) a 'postperson'.

As already indicated, those who insist on dropping words like 'postman' and 'milkman' are often the same folk who now use the traditionally male word 'actor', to cover both male and female performers in that particular profession.

Wholly illogical, ahinton!

[Donnie Essen]

I'm not sure, but I doubt if my sons would dream of tipping anyone except taxi drivers and waiters/hotel staff. I'll ask them. I think it may be a generation thing.

Yeah, it's never ever occurred to me to tip anybody other than the folk you mention (plus hairdressers). Much of this is new to me.

Besides, I got no desire to tip the postmen in my neck of the woods, just like they got no desire to deliver my parcels correctly.

[vinteuil]

I tip taxis and the barber; I usually also give a bit of a tip on top of the 'service charge' in restaurants when I'm feeling in a good mood (and since the function of a restaurant is to put me in a good mood, if I don't tip, they have signally failed... ); if I'm with American friends probably will tip the hat check / cloakroom people too; am delighted no longer to have to deal with the niceties of Parisian theatres (where you tip the people who show you to your seat in commercially funded theatres - but not in publicly funded theatres ).

We had a good postie for years; he has been replaced by a varied 'team'; the dustbinmen are a big and various 'team'; I dislike the idea of 'personalising' what they do as a proper job, and don't give them tips.

[burning dog]

Royal Mail

What new recruits get paid these days - zero notice zero holidays. If a new recruit Postal worker earns more than you must be working for toys are us where they get £6.08 24/7
(If you ever see a flock of flying pigs a Postal worker has been taken on as a regular.)

Angard are the "in-house" casual recruitment agency
.................................................. .................................................. ...........................................
Angard
Pay Rates

Age 16 - 17
Mon - Sat 06.00 - 22.00 £3.68
Sunday 06.00 - 22.00 £5.18

Age 18 - 20
Mon - Sat 06.00 - 22.00 £4.98
Mon - Sat 22.00 - 06.00 £5.48
Sunday 06.00 - 22.00 £6.48
Sunday 22.00 - 06.00 £7.48

Age 21 +
Mon - Sat 06.00 - 22.00 £6.08
Mon - Sat 22.00 - 06.00 £6.58
Sunday 06.00 - 22.00 £7.58
Sunday 22.00 - 06.00 £8.58

[ahinton]

I neither approve nor disapprove, and if women wish to do these kinds of work it is absolutely none of my business whatsoever.

My 'disapproval' is rather reserved for those who insist on the replacement of hitherto long-standing English words for purely politically-correct reasons.

If a 'postwoman' is perfectly happy to describe herself as a 'postman' what is the problem for others ... ?

I've no problem either in calling her a 'postwoman', if she so wishes, but I would certainly never call her (or him) a 'postperson'.

As already indicated, those who insist on dropping words like 'postman' and 'milkman' are often the same folk who now use the traditionally male word 'actor', to cover both male and female performers in that particular profession.

Wholly illogical, ahinton!

Thanks for the clarifications, but your last bit's wrong. I don't personally "insist on dropping words like 'postman' and 'milkman'", my comments about the first post in this thread being about their use without the apparent need to include female workers in the same professions, not because I think that the terms (apart from "dustman", for a quite diffeent reason, as I explained) are "wrong" and should accordingly be "dropped"! Since both females and males working in these jobs are being mentioned together - and since I agree with you about the term "postperson" - what's wrong with "postal worker"? As to a suitable non-gender-specific alternative "milkman", I'm not so certain, especially since, as so few people actually do deliver milk any more, some people who've nevder seen it done might not immediately know what a "milkman"'s job really is! - it's different with postal delivery staff, since - for the time being, at least - most places do (or at least are supposed to) receive daily mail deliveries (no, not Daily Mail deliveries - perish the thought!) on 6 days of the week and people still post and receive mail.