Things I Hate - A Comedic Rantesse

[edward]

I've lived in the outer suburbs of London all my life. I would never even consider driving into central London, you would have to be crackers to want to. Either the tube, walk or use my pushbike. Luckily I work from home most of the time and if I do go to the office I have flexible hours so can avoid the crowds.

[Neilwood]

I don't understand why more is not pedestrianised. Big cities are useless to go through, Paris is the same. I used to get the tube to my office but the problem is everyone wants to start at 09.00 for some odd reason. I used to go in at about half ten and it was fantastic, you could get a seat and read the paper or use a laptop. I worked from home 80% or so of the time as well which was a good way to do things. A 20mph limit and the ULEZ all seem like good ideas to me. The filthy stink of cars and all the polution is the main reason I don't go there often and would never live there. Milan was worse. Have not been back in a long time but I think it is car free in the centre now.

London is actually quite lucky in having such a good linked public transport network. It is possible to get virtually everywhere by public transport within a reasonable time. When I try to travel by public transport in Edinburgh (which is a fraction of the size of London), it can easily take 1 1/2 hours go get in the vicinity of where I want and then have another 10 minutes walk. There is a big issue with Edinburgh in that people commuting from outside have poor alternatives to the car which means people are extremely reluctant to give it up.

I used to shift my working day by a minimum of 30 mins from the standard 9am start. Used to save 15 minutes sat in the car not moving.

[F.P.]

>>Snip<<

I used to shift my working day by a minimum of 30 mins from the standard 9am start. Used to save 15 minutes sat in the car not moving.

When I changed bosses in '85 my new boss insisted I worked 8-5 but offered lots of overtime on a Saturday (which I didn't want 'cause it interfered with important hobbies in my life) in central Leicester. So I asked could I do the overtime during the week 'cause it will save the company money(O/T rate weekdays was less than Sat O/T) and I'll get home about the same time - leaving the workplace at 5PM meant anything upto 50minutes of traffic jams until reached the edge of town so leaving at 6PM meant I'd miss the traffic so I'd be home about 6:30. It would have meant my working day would be about 20 minutes longer.
Of course he said NO - F*****g incompetent !!!!. He also said he had to ask his boss???

Then he wondered why I left his staff as soon as I could.

[Chrisch]

London is actually quite lucky in having such a good linked public transport network. ...

It is not luck it is having a level of good management that is sadly lacking elsewhere. The UK is (overly) London centred which also helps. I did a project contract in Edinburgh and it was taxi from the airport and back. London to Edinburgh on the train was a lot more expensive (this is why the planet is fucked)

When I changed bosses in '85 my new boss insisted I worked 8-5 but offered lots of overtime on a Saturday (which I didn't want 'cause it interfered with important hobbies in my life) in central Leicester. So I asked could I do the overtime during the week 'cause it will save the company money(O/T rate weekdays was less than Sat O/T) and I'll get home about the same time - leaving. the workplace at 5PM meant anything upto 50minutes of traffic jams until reached the edge of town so Leaving at 6PM meant I'd miss the traffic so I'd be home about 6:30. It would have meant my working day would be about 20 minutes longer.
Of course he said NO - F*****g incompetent !!!!. He also said he had to ask his boss???

Then he wondered why I left his staff as soon as I could.

Big ego syndrome? Look how important I am, I am the boss. Oh, the profit? Someone else's problem.

I have worked for a good few of them over the years.

[notdeadyet]

London to Edinburgh on the train was a lot more expensive (this is why the planet is fucked)

When I was working on a project in Epsom I (ultimately the company) was paying on average £300-350 from Manchester to London return. A return to Bangkok was £330 at the same time. Free market competition really worked well on the rail network. I don't understand why anyone is using our railways. Maybe that was the ultimate goal.

[Divemouse]

(yes I am getting all these in before the forum vanishes)
The ringtone on my new phone is so lovely and gentle that I either don't hear it, or just stare at it in bafflement. Rob showed me how to make a short recording to replace it, so I recorded myself shouting 'Your phone is ringing!' and forgot about it. The next time somebody phoned me, I was driving down a winding lane in the middle of the night and almost drove off the road in terror as some woman started shrieking at me from the passenger seat.

[Divemouse]

I got my underpaid letter this morning - it's a keyring that says 'I like animals more than people' which is largely accurate if you ignore the fact that we're all animals, so I can't really go off on one...

[Neilwood]

(yes I am getting all these in before the forum vanishes)
The ringtone on my new phone is so lovely and gentle that I either don't hear it, or just stare at it in bafflement. Rob showed me how to make a short recording to replace it, so I recorded myself shouting 'Your phone is ringing!' and forgot about it. The next time somebody phoned me, I was driving down a winding lane in the middle of the night and almost drove off the road in terror as some woman started shrieking at me from the passenger seat.

I decided to make my ringtone "The Trooper" from Iron Maiden - very good for starting loud and continuing in that vein. No way I can mistake it.

Not the best ringtone I have heard though - my work colleague has a certain song from the Wizard of Oz for his ex - http://youtu.be/kPIdRJlzERo?t=9

[Jay_Benson]

I decided to make my ringtone "The Trooper" from Iron Maiden - very good for starting loud and continuing in that vein. No way I can mistake it.

Not the best ringtone I have heard though - my work colleague has a certain song from the Wizard of Oz for his ex - http://youtu.be/kPIdRJlzERo?t=9

One of my ex-colleagues had the ringtone for whenever a recruitment agency called - he was signed up with a couple - the tune was the theme from the Great Escape. He managed quite soon.

[Neilwood]

One of my ex-colleagues had the ringtone for whenever a recruitment agency called - he was signed up with a couple - the tune was the theme from the Great Escape. He managed quite soon.

I like it! I personally cant be bothered doing individual ringtones for people though but I suppose there are certain circumstances that it would be worth it.