The angry thread

[emjaybee]

update

SWMBO attended at the due time and place, seen quickly, wasn't too sure about the scanner thing, but staff were very reassuring, and all done with no problem.

so, as usual, front line staff 11/10

pen pushers 0- / 10

if only they spent more on the proper staff, and less on the pen pushers, things would be so much better.

especially as it appears, with all the pen pushers they've got, they still don't seem to read the patients records !

I read a report a few years ago that was penned by a front line senior consultant in the NHS. He wrote it shortly after the government of the day had been berated by all and sundry for the usual 'underfunding' headlines.

He said that if everyone did their job properly; the cleaners, admin, management, nurses, doctors, you name it, there was more than enough money to go around and then some.

He said that the financial wastage came from all the errors, slipshod work, carelessness, poor record keeping and general muck ups that meant stuff had to be rectified and re-done.

[Don't shoot me, I'm only the piano player.]

[Railwaygun]

update

SWMBO attended at the due time and place, seen quickly, wasn't too sure about the scanner thing, but staff were very reassuring, and all done with no problem.

so, as usual, front line staff 11/10

pen pushers 0- / 10

if only they spent more on the proper staff, and less on the pen pushers, things would be so much better.

especially as it appears, with all the pen pushers they've got, they still don't seem to read the patients records !

A CT scan reveals much more about a shadow ( ie a 3D image) than a plain ( Front to back image) .

TB is common, but so are other problems.

N ( 32yrs at NHS couch-face)

[guest311]

SWMBO had a call from a very nice lady this afternoon, asking if she would prefer a telephone consult, or a face-to-face consult with the consultant.

she chose a telephone one, having noted that the two times she had gone up for x-rays there were no sanitisers etc at the entrance she used !

so, monday afternoon she will be called ....

but

shortly after her GP phoned to see how she was, and explained that there is the chance that what showed on the CT scan MIGHT be lung cancer.

no explanation as to why this did not show 8 - 10 weeks ago when she had her last x-ray, so I'm guessing/ hoping it's the shadow on the lung from her TB.

so, we are in for a great weekend, but hopefully all will be allayed monday.

[Skyline2uk]

So this is half a rant and half a good ending / lesson learnt.

Due to the rant part, doesn't really belong anywhere but the "Angry" thread.

I had one of those 60 mins yesterday. You know, where the world is against you?

Set out to do weekly supply run.

Almost immediately came up behind a Lycra clad cyclist. That's fine, they are fairly common out here and have the right to use the road etc etc.

Waited until it was safe and overtook him as if he was a car. Few bends later, come up to temporary lights.

But when he (a member of the "Sloth cycling club") arrived behind me, he kept right on going. Through the red light, and onto the cordoned-off section of the road.

That's naughty, but of course when the lights did change I was once again stuck behind him. Yeah the engine was revved a bit harder passing him (safely) that time.

Honestly some times I think the dash cam I have prevents me doing silly things as much as it records others being daft.

Then when I get to the car-park of a well known supermarket, reverse into a space, next to an older guy just closing his boot.

Said older guy then comes round the side of his car, and opens the passenger door. Into my car.

I know he made contact because I heard it before I saw it. Not best please I wait until he moves away and go to check. No damage (he got the handle, so less chance of a dent). I made a point of checking very obviously.

Not obviously enough as it seems, cos whilst I was getting bags from my boot, he did it AGAIN. Thankfully, again, no damage.

Now I had a choice. Do I say something and risk all sorts of hassle because it's COVID world, he is old and I am young and I know how it looks. Or do I let him get away with it?

I choose to wait with my car until he leaves (removing some bird poop with some wipes I have for such a job) to make sure he actually doesn't damage my car, and witness if he does.

Anyway, he is dithering. And it turns out it's because he is (or at least he thinks he is) prevented from getting in his drivers seat because of a small car on the other side. I doubt this very much because all cars are nearly within their lines, it's just that his is a stupid soft-reader thing. With dents.

Anyway, he tells the young woman as much when she gets back. At this point I would definitely have got involved had he became aggressive or rude, but she just rolled her eyes and drove off.

Humph!

Inside supermarket the usual lack of any adherence to social distancing (save for masks) adds to my dark mood. Then the self-scan checkout:

Flags me for an age check (normally this place clears such things remotely, which works much better)

Chooses me for a random bag check

Refuses to print to fuel voucher I am entitled to (and that had swayed my choice in purchasing Mini Skyline some new cloths)

Each of the above results in a wait for the staff to return to clear the issue.

At this point I could have lost my cool save for the actually very polite, friendly and helpful young lady who assisted me in obtaining my voucher from the customer service desk. She was also sympathetic to me car experiences.

It was that last point (combined with me being able to avoid shouting matches with the aforementioned fools) that saw me head home relatively calm, with all I came out for, rather than in a police car!

Stay safe all

Skyline2uk

[Newportnobby]

It does, unfortunately, happen each visit to the supermarket for me and I'm sure I leave with blood pressure 50% higher than when I entered the car park. I fail to see why anyone reverses into a space as they then have to cart their shopping bags down the length of their car to try and put them in a boot with no space as another  has parked behind them waaayyy too closely.

Sadly the only means to avoid all the stress is to have shopping delivered and I avoid this.........

(a) because it gets me out of the 'bunker' once a week
(b) I'd like to think those less able than I can better use the delivery slot
(c) because I want to choose my own comestibles and not rely on anyone else picking for me

[Skyline2uk]

It does, unfortunately, happen each visit to the supermarket for me and I'm sure I leave with blood pressure 50% higher than when I entered the car park. I fail to see why anyone reverses into a space as they then have to cart their shopping bags down the length of their car to try and put them in a boot with no space as another  has parked behind them waaayyy too closely.

Sadly the only means to avoid all the stress is to have shopping delivered and I avoid this.........

(a) because it gets me out of the 'bunker' once a week
(b) I'd like to think those less able than I can better use the delivery slot
(c) because I want to choose my own comestibles and not rely on anyone else picking for me

Nobby, agree with you on all those points.

I only reversed in on this occasion because it backs up to a path (for trolley access).

Also, don't trust people "picking" our delivery.

Skyline2uk

[MinZaPint]

Well I guess I'm lucky on the shopping front, we're within walking distance of our local shops where we have 2 good butchers and ditto greengrocers so once a week we can get all our fresh food and every fortnight we have a delivery of all the packets cans and bottles (Beer supplies included). Works for us as the shops we visit are well up on the mask and social distancing front plus we get to enjoy a bit of banter with the staff who have got to know us, an added bonus is we have a M&S food hall where we can get fresh fish, we very nearly had a wet fish shop run by local fishermen who had lost their restaurant trade, unfortunately they gave up as it was too time consuming alongside their home delivery service. Our local supermarkets suffer from the same problems as already mentioned.

[daffy]

I've mentioned before that I now go to my local Tesco Superstore as infrequently as possible - that means about every 14 to 16 days - and late in the evening. After 8:00pm it is always quiet on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with staff outnumbering shoppers. Consequently it is, and I feel, safer.

However, last week with my Sheila being unwell I thought I'd drop in to pick up some treats for her after my now regular early-afternoon visit to my osteopath. Frankly, I couldn't believe how unsafe I felt! Other than the fact everybody was wearing a mask, you'd be hard pressed to feel that there was such a thing as the pandemic. Zero social distancing, couples, families, friends - all moving around without a thought, apparently, for distancing, respect for others, or any other of the niceties of a polite society. So yes, pretty pre-Covid normality.

As I hurried to pick the few items I wanted I was self-scanning some oranges in front of the rack when a 60-something female head appeared between my shins and the lower half of said rack. She was so close her shoulder brushed against me as she grabbed a net of satsumas.
"Hey!" said I, "would you mind keeping your distance?"
"Well, I would if you weren't fannying about so long!" she indignantly replied. "I have to get on!"
She turned, put her net in the trolley being driven by her silent partner or husband, chuntered something more that I didn't catch, looked back at me with daggers in her eyes, and continued on her way. Getting on.

Apparently in this Covid-ridden world "so long" is now defined as a time period of about ten seconds, for that's all the time I needed to select, scan, and move on.

I'm pleased to say that I ignored this ignorant fool, who, when I entered the next aisle, was giving her partner an earful of what I took to be continued unhappy complaint about the guy in aisle 3 who had the temerity to ask her to consider another human being. I caught his eye: the look he gave back spoke volumes, which I translated as "look mate, sorry about her, but you only got a bit of what I have to put up with all the time!".

Ten minutes later I was getting in my car and going home, resolved anew NEVER to do that again. I'll stick to my quiet evening sorties thank you.


And if this country stays in lockdown for longer than some folks would like because the R number refuses to reduce sufficiently, it will come as no surprise to me.

[guest311]

you have far more patience than I do 

[Malc]

I daren't go supermarket shopping as it's too risky. Being diabetic and having leukaemia on top, it's too much of a risk. I've had Covid once, don't want it again. We get deliveries from Sainsbury's and Morrisons, never had a problem with either.

[Dr Al]

I never have ranted on this thread, but feel the time is right to do so.

It's a rant explicitly about the forum - specifically members apparent lack of valuation of the other folks time.

I've spent years here posting help, advice how to fix models to feed back experience I gained in my early days mainly on other forums that were predecessors of this.

Since then I've done some help on product development and testing (including N Brass's Duchess bogie, and Mr Sprue's good replacement Farish spare parts).

Those have all been appreciated and positive, but in recent times it seems less and less the case - I've had folk flippantly asking me to build duplicates of models I did on my workbench, and when I reply saying "that'll take 25 hours and therefore a realistic cost will be X" they never come back - folk just don't seem to appreciate the difficulty and time (or whether I'd even be motivated to want to approach some builds again), and have the cheek to not even reply (or if they do its literally weeks or months later to back out).

Worse, recently I've consented to repairing some models, but then had my address given out to others without my consent resulting in arbitrary unsolicited mail of locos for repair with me left wondering what the hell they are and why I'm getting them.

Last one being recently said that my input was a "steaming pile of excrement" - well thanks very much - maybe I shouldn't bother helping folks any more?

Really - I do think the "online generation" (of any age) seem to be getting more and more detached from the reality of how much time it takes to help folk, how much time it takes to build things, how hard that is - and how belittling it is to have that all undervalued by folk wanting advice, repairs, prototyping or complete builds and not appreciating the time that needs to be dedicated to it.

I look at all the models I have on the stack to do, and do wonder why I bother with these forums at times...

[Bealman]

[mod]Perhaps members may consider taking these comments on board.[/mod]

[Graham]

Perhaps members may consider taking these comments on board.

Hear Hear,

@Dr Al has helped me enormously over the years, I would like to think I have been appreciative, if not I should have been. You do a great job Dr Al and I for one will always enjoy reading your posts about your builds and advice on repairs.

Please keep going Dr Al.

[dannyboy]

It only takes a few seconds to say, "Thank you, that was appreciated". I wish people would do it more often, but it seems to be a dying art in this throw away society that we seem to live in.  I have helped/given advice to a couple of members, mainly via email, and it is always nice when you get that quick email that says, "Thanks David".

[Fardap]

...and when I reply saying "that'll take 25 hours and therefore a realistic cost will be X" they never come back - folk just don't seem to appreciate the difficulty and time (or whether I'd even be motivated to want to approach some builds again), and have the cheek to not even reply (or if they do its literally weeks or months later to back out).

Feel for you nothing more disheartening than being taken for granted.

It is not just here though, people in general are like this. I do graphic design - never been a business or my job, was a hobby that I enjoy much like you here - I do the design of a local theatre company (that I am a member of) programmes, posters, website and the like. Off the back of that the number of people that contact me and say could you do X,Y, Z and then get put out when I suggest they will have to pay (a lot less than a professional) they get 'funny'.

I may not be a professional in the sense I don't earn my living at it but I have got a BA Hons in graphic design so I am not by any means an amateur. It grips me!