The Ministry of Social Development pays Superannuation here. Last time I was there I was asked for proof of ID. I proffered the card they produce, which has a printed photo on it, only to be told they didn't accept it as proof of who I am.( if someone chooses to have it printed with a photo and this is done by the agency that prints Driver's licences
Yet they would accept an out of date drivers licence.
Thank you Piglet. As it turned out, whatever the problem was cleared up, and though I did have a very long wait, it was not as long as the app predicted.
TICT the deepest pits of H our tamper proof smoke detector. I know it has to go to the recycling centre, but where to put a bleeping tamper-proof detector meanwhile? I tried putting it in the wheelie bin, but we could still hear it bleeping inside the house, and presumably our neighbours could hear it too. I then dumped it in the green cone, but I can still hear the ******* thing. So now I'm going to have to retrieve it from the green cone (yuck!) and do what? Bury it?
Happy update - it has sunk into the gloop of the green cone and appears to have bleeped its last.
Previous posts were from 14 October. Strong winds overnight blew off the top of my green cone, revealing a still-beeping smoke detector. I can hear it bleeping inside the house, through closed double-glazed windows.
TICT the deepest pits of H our tamper proof smoke detector. I know it has to go to the recycling centre, but where to put a bleeping tamper-proof detector meanwhile? I tried putting it in the wheelie bin, but we could still hear it bleeping inside the house, and presumably our neighbours could hear it too. I then dumped it in the green cone, but I can still hear the ******* thing. So now I'm going to have to retrieve it from the green cone (yuck!) and do what? Bury it?
Happy update - it has sunk into the gloop of the green cone and appears to have bleeped its last.
Previous posts were from 14 October. Strong winds overnight blew off the top of my green cone, revealing a still-beeping smoke detector. I can hear it bleeping inside the house, through closed double-glazed windows.
This type is never silenced save through prayer and fasting. Or a large bucket of water.
TICT the deepest pits of H our tamper proof smoke detector. I know it has to go to the recycling centre, but where to put a bleeping tamper-proof detector meanwhile? I tried putting it in the wheelie bin, but we could still hear it bleeping inside the house, and presumably our neighbours could hear it too. I then dumped it in the green cone, but I can still hear the ******* thing. So now I'm going to have to retrieve it from the green cone (yuck!) and do what? Bury it?
Happy update - it has sunk into the gloop of the green cone and appears to have bleeped its last.
Previous posts were from 14 October. Strong winds overnight blew off the top of my green cone, revealing a still-beeping smoke detector. I can hear it bleeping inside the house, through closed double-glazed windows.
This type is never silenced save through prayer and fasting. Or a large bucket of water.
I have been advised, though I haven't tried it myself, that a few seconds in a microwave oven will take care of it. Not too many, though, or it might go bang! A bowl of salty water will probably work.
Weekday buses on my route are timetabled as being 10 minutes apart,
which means in practice you might wait 20 minutes and 2 turn up. Not the fault of the drivers but roadworks.
No matter whether you are travelling east or west, while you are waiting there will often be 2 buses going in the opposite direction to which you want to travel.
On the other hand the company that drives the route employs the most helpful drivers in Christchurch.
Weekday buses on my route are timetabled as being 10 minutes apart,
which means in practice you might wait 20 minutes and 2 turn up. Not the fault of the drivers but roadworks.
No matter whether you are travelling east or west, while you are waiting there will often be 2 buses going in the opposite direction to which you want to travel.
Today I consign to the deepest nether regions the nonsense of 'Black Friday' deals and their evil cohorts.
My junk email file is full alluring enticements to things I don't need and don't want.
34 arrests from the riots in Dublin last night, with 32 people due in court today. Thirteen shops damaged significantly or looted, 11 police cars, three buses, and a Luas tram destroyed. They're expecting further violence.
I know north Dublin has had its problems but this is something I never expected to see. Lots of shock in the city with businesses closed up and transport not running properly. Comments I've seen are polarized between "wtf" and "good for them" and to that last I can only join in the "wtf" camp.
Thank God my mother and family aren't around to see this.
Companies which don’t do what they say they will do, send you round in circles trying to sort it, and make it extremely difficult to achieve what you need via their website. I was asked to provide some documentation by replying to a secure message, but there was no way of replying. I had to resort to the chat bot which offered me inappropriate options so I asked for an agent, which resulted in a human being sending me a link.
Hoping this will achieve a result or there will be more curses.
34 arrests from the riots in Dublin last night, with 32 people due in court today. Thirteen shops damaged significantly or looted, 11 police cars, three buses, and a Luas tram destroyed. They're expecting further violence.
I know north Dublin has had its problems but this is something I never expected to see. Lots of shock in the city with businesses closed up and transport not running properly. Comments I've seen are polarized between "wtf" and "good for them" and to that last I can only join in the "wtf" camp.
Thank God my mother and family aren't around to see this.
Horrified to see what has been happening in Dublin. Very few things are as confusing and scary as a sudden outburst of vigilante violence and we've had a number of those kinds of protests linked to xenophobia.
TICTH (well, maybe not exactly H, but possibly somewhere not very nice) the daft wee woman in front of me in the queue at Tesco's, who looked rather disapprovingly at the two bottles each of wine and beer in my groceries and said, "Good drinker, are you?"
In her pile, she had a copy of the Sunday Express; I managed to restrain myself from replying, "Good fascist, are you?".
Instead, I smiled sweetly and said it would last me at least a couple of days ...
TICTH finding that the reduced sticker/security tag sticker added to packaging by the supermarket has been placed over the cooking instructions, even partially. It makes it very hard to know how to cook something if you can't read them properly.
TICTH the driver of a grey van. I was going along the dual-carriageway, doing 50 (the speed limit) in the LH lane. There was another car about 20 yards ahead of me. From nowhere a van shot past me, cut very tightly into me, undertook the car in the other lane (also doing 50) and shot out again very closely in front of it. Dangerous or what?
TICTH the driver of a grey van. I was going along the dual-carriageway, doing 50 (the speed limit) in the LH lane. There was another car about 20 yards ahead of me. From nowhere a van shot past me, cut very tightly into me, undertook the car in the other lane (also doing 50) and shot out again very closely in front of it. Dangerous or what?
He was either worried that his Grave might be getting cold, or else he was wanting to appear in one of those dashcam videos on YouTube...
The car ahead should have been in the left hand lane
Not if he was only 20 yards ahead of @Baptist Trainfan . That would put him in BT's stopping distance, forcing him to change his speed to maintain a safe gap.
The question there is how that driver came to be there. Or was he himself overtaking another slower vehicle but Van Man squeezed through the gap?
TICTH the driver of a grey van. I was going along the dual-carriageway, doing 50 (the speed limit) in the LH lane. There was another car about 20 yards ahead of me. From nowhere a van shot past me, cut very tightly into me, undertook the car in the other lane (also doing 50) and shot out again very closely in front of it. Dangerous or what?
If you lived here - and probably most places in North America, such driving would unremarkable - perfectly normal and acceptable. It is rumoured that they have driving tests here, but there's very little evidence of it.
TICTH arse-covering nonsense of the following variety ...
And all this nonsense does is encourage you to lie, or just to not volunteer information.
I will never, ever, volunteer any information, or say anything beyond what I think is the minimum necessary, to anyone in any kind of official role, because I can't trust them not to do stupid things like this.
The Ministry of Social Development pays Superannuation here. Last time I was there I was asked for proof of ID. I proffered the card they produce, which has a printed photo on it, only to be told they didn't accept it as proof of who I am.( if someone chooses to have it printed with a photo and this is done by the agency that prints Driver's licences
Yet they would accept an out of date drivers licence.
Bwahahah.
So my work ID card expired recently. I show up at work, with my recently-expired ID, and tell the guard on the gate "here's my ID. It expired last week while I was on vacation. I have an appointment to get a new one in 10 minutes".
Guard: "I need to see an ID".
Me: "You're holding it in your hand."
Guard: "This is expired. I need to see an ID."
Me: "I'm confused. How does this badge with my name and photo on it stop identifying me? The photo still looks like me. You can see that you're holding a picture of me."
Guard: "It's expired. I need to see an ID."
Fortunately, I happened to have my passport in my bag, so I was able to get to work. And what happened to generate me a new ID badge that would once more identify me to the satisfaction of the guard on the gate? The badge guy clicked "print". Same photo. Same name. Different expiry date.
What you maybe don't know is that last week he got a final written warning for doing what you're calling him a "jobsworth" for refusing to do now. Because it really is more than his job's worth and he wants to stay employed.
A quick phone call on his part would confirm that, surely.
You assume he doesn't just have a strict rule which he has to obey.
People in these sorts of jobs often have a lot less autonomy or freedom to act than people who haven't had that sort of job imagine. They can get into trouble if they show initiative.
The problem with calling someone a "jobsworth" is you're either saying they're a liar and could do it if they wanted, or that they should put their job on the line by doing what you want. It's rather uncharitable.
A quick phone call on his part would confirm that, surely.
You assume he doesn't just have a strict rule which he has to obey.
People in these sorts of jobs often have a lot less autonomy or freedom to act than people who haven't had that sort of job imagine. They can get into trouble if they show initiative.
The problem with calling someone a "jobsworth" is you're either saying they're a liar and could do it if they wanted, or that they should put their job on the line by doing what you want. It's rather uncharitable.
IME most employers are happy for security staff to make a quick check by phone to confirm that someone is indeed who they say they are and that they are legitimately there. They'd much prefer that than annoying existing staff, job interview candidates or people of importance who have come for a meeting.
Yes, someone's ID might have been terminated and they might be banned from the building - all the more reason to check, though in my experience security are generally informed once that happens so they're aware the person might try to get back in.
The security guy/reception is often the first person new people see on arriving and that sort of thing certainly wouldn't make a good impression on visitors to the business. No marks for charm, customer service or helpful attitude.
IME most employers are happy for security staff to make a quick check by phone to confirm that someone is indeed who they say they are and that they are legitimately there. They'd much prefer that than annoying existing staff, job interview candidates or people of importance who have come for a meeting.
Yes, someone's ID might have been terminated and they might be banned from the building - all the more reason to check, though in my experience security are generally informed once that happens so they're aware the person might try to get back in.
The security guy/reception is often the first person new people see on arriving and that sort of thing certainly wouldn't make a good impression on visitors to the business. No marks for charm, customer service or helpful attitude.
I prefer to make the more charitable assumption in the absence of any evidence either way. It's what I expect of people I have to say no to in my job.
I do have a certain amount of sympathy; when I worked in an art college office, part of my job was distributing student grant cheques (it was a long time ago). I couldn't give them out without the requisite ID, and I did get a few chancers who'd say, "but you know who I am!". All I could do was apologise and say, "yes, I do, but you've been here long enough to know what the rules are".
Most of them accepted this without demur, possibly because they knew I'd go out of my way to locate a misdirected cheque from another campus, which was rather more than my remit demanded.
Most of the time the students loved me to bits ...
Actually for a dated thing, I can see the security guy's point. How does he know your employment at that company hasn't been terminated?
Well, in his particular case, because he knew (because employer gives him a list every morning) that I had an appointment to get a new badge. The ID was not required to prove my employment (I can see the relevance of the expiry date in that case) - merely my identity. And the place I was going to get the badge has a reception area that is open to the public (who still have to show id at the gate). So I don't actually need to prove my employment to get through this gate - just my identity.
I'm not blaming the guard in the slightest - I'm quite sure he is given zero discretion by his bosses. I'm blaming the idiots responsible for the rules he has to impose.
Companies who (without telling you) update the App for controlling the expensive bit of hardware (EBOH) they make and you bought from them. Result: EBOH stops doing what you want it to do. Much puzzlement and bad language. Suspecting a hardware fault, I call out their expensive engineer (EE). He arrives. Clock is ticking. He suggests I buy the next bright shiny model of the EBOH he just happens to have brought with him. He spends an hour installing it. Hands me the tablet with the App. Same problem. Much puzzlement and bad language. Then the EE has a brainwave. 'Has the system been updated, it's not my field?' he asks. Eventually, after 90 min, we find a hidden screen in the new APP.
EE shows me what to do. Several times. I write it down. Slowly. He goes, 'Until next time' I merrily quip.
OFFS! Why do they do this?
Update on previous posting: EE has now spoken with his boss. Boss opines what I am doing with the EBOH is very old fashioned and nobody does it that way anymore and bit of the App I had problems with had been updated to make it compatable with new ways networking ... or something. He suggests I change how I do things and sign up with a modern Internet company at £19.99 per month.
Sigh... to the nether regions all of them. I can see it now: St Peter at the Pearly Gates, "They don't seem to be opening for you old son, your old Church of England Salvation App needs an update" ....
TICTH online retailers whose size charts suggest that a particular garment should either fit me, or be a little bit generous, and even when I order a size bigger than I think I'll need, it's still too fecking small.
I know I'm overweight, but I'm ordering the size I would in a shop (quite often one or two sizes bigger than I would in a shop). These clothes must be designed for stick-insects.
I rarely buy clothes online for this reason.
IANAS-I. Always worth checking the reviews first as previous purchasers often comment on accuracy of sizing.
Comments
Yet they would accept an out of date drivers licence.
And in my State also, as it should be.
(Yes, McGill's, we do mean you - I think).
Previous posts were from 14 October. Strong winds overnight blew off the top of my green cone, revealing a still-beeping smoke detector. I can hear it bleeping inside the house, through closed double-glazed windows.
Lump hammer.
Quite so!
which means in practice you might wait 20 minutes and 2 turn up. Not the fault of the drivers but roadworks.
No matter whether you are travelling east or west, while you are waiting there will often be 2 buses going in the opposite direction to which you want to travel.
On the other hand the company that drives the route employs the most helpful drivers in Christchurch.
My junk email file is full alluring enticements to things I don't need and don't want.
Ugh!!!!!!!
I know north Dublin has had its problems but this is something I never expected to see. Lots of shock in the city with businesses closed up and transport not running properly. Comments I've seen are polarized between "wtf" and "good for them" and to that last I can only join in the "wtf" camp.
Thank God my mother and family aren't around to see this.
Hoping this will achieve a result or there will be more curses.
Horrified to see what has been happening in Dublin. Very few things are as confusing and scary as a sudden outburst of vigilante violence and we've had a number of those kinds of protests linked to xenophobia.
In her pile, she had a copy of the Sunday Express; I managed to restrain myself from replying, "Good fascist, are you?".
Instead, I smiled sweetly and said it would last me at least a couple of days ...
Besides, you could have been buying them as gifts for someone else or to take to a party or something.
Or perhaps the observation that, as I'd just been told I had only 6 months to live, I thought I might as well enjoy the time left...
@Piglet wins today's prize for patience and forbearance...
eta: I'm very much for bears!
He was either worried that his Grave might be getting cold, or else he was wanting to appear in one of those dashcam videos on YouTube...
Not if he was only 20 yards ahead of @Baptist Trainfan . That would put him in BT's stopping distance, forcing him to change his speed to maintain a safe gap.
The question there is how that driver came to be there. Or was he himself overtaking another slower vehicle but Van Man squeezed through the gap?
No, he was driving at the speed limit, possibly very slightly faster than I. And the road was busy.
If you lived here - and probably most places in North America, such driving would unremarkable - perfectly normal and acceptable. It is rumoured that they have driving tests here, but there's very little evidence of it.
And all this nonsense does is encourage you to lie, or just to not volunteer information.
I will never, ever, volunteer any information, or say anything beyond what I think is the minimum necessary, to anyone in any kind of official role, because I can't trust them not to do stupid things like this.
Bwahahah.
So my work ID card expired recently. I show up at work, with my recently-expired ID, and tell the guard on the gate "here's my ID. It expired last week while I was on vacation. I have an appointment to get a new one in 10 minutes".
Guard: "I need to see an ID".
Me: "You're holding it in your hand."
Guard: "This is expired. I need to see an ID."
Me: "I'm confused. How does this badge with my name and photo on it stop identifying me? The photo still looks like me. You can see that you're holding a picture of me."
Guard: "It's expired. I need to see an ID."
Fortunately, I happened to have my passport in my bag, so I was able to get to work. And what happened to generate me a new ID badge that would once more identify me to the satisfaction of the guard on the gate? The badge guy clicked "print". Same photo. Same name. Different expiry date.
You assume he doesn't just have a strict rule which he has to obey.
People in these sorts of jobs often have a lot less autonomy or freedom to act than people who haven't had that sort of job imagine. They can get into trouble if they show initiative.
The problem with calling someone a "jobsworth" is you're either saying they're a liar and could do it if they wanted, or that they should put their job on the line by doing what you want. It's rather uncharitable.
You're right, and I withdraw my previous post.
Yes, someone's ID might have been terminated and they might be banned from the building - all the more reason to check, though in my experience security are generally informed once that happens so they're aware the person might try to get back in.
The security guy/reception is often the first person new people see on arriving and that sort of thing certainly wouldn't make a good impression on visitors to the business. No marks for charm, customer service or helpful attitude.
I prefer to make the more charitable assumption in the absence of any evidence either way. It's what I expect of people I have to say no to in my job.
Most of them accepted this without demur, possibly because they knew I'd go out of my way to locate a misdirected cheque from another campus, which was rather more than my remit demanded.
Most of the time the students loved me to bits ...
Well, in his particular case, because he knew (because employer gives him a list every morning) that I had an appointment to get a new badge. The ID was not required to prove my employment (I can see the relevance of the expiry date in that case) - merely my identity. And the place I was going to get the badge has a reception area that is open to the public (who still have to show id at the gate). So I don't actually need to prove my employment to get through this gate - just my identity.
I'm not blaming the guard in the slightest - I'm quite sure he is given zero discretion by his bosses. I'm blaming the idiots responsible for the rules he has to impose.
EE shows me what to do. Several times. I write it down. Slowly. He goes, 'Until next time' I merrily quip.
OFFS! Why do they do this?
Sigh... to the nether regions all of them. I can see it now: St Peter at the Pearly Gates, "They don't seem to be opening for you old son, your old Church of England Salvation App needs an update" ....
I know I'm overweight, but I'm ordering the size I would in a shop (quite often one or two sizes bigger than I would in a shop). These clothes must be designed for stick-insects.
IANAS-I. Always worth checking the reviews first as previous purchasers often comment on accuracy of sizing.