Warning Signs
Posted: Thu 11 January, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Weirdness 2 Comments »I normally find some amusement from the warning signs and notices that currently seem to be appearing everywhere.
Yesterday, I was looking in the local M&S, and had a look at one of their prawn mayonnaise sandwiches. Impressively, it had the warning
May contain shellfish
What gets me, though, is the “May”. It’s a bloody prawn sandwich – if it doesn’t contain shellfish, I want to know why! After all, at that point really it’s just a mayonnaise sandwich.
Houses and Bureaucrats
Posted: Thu 11 January, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Domestic, Getting Organised Leave a comment »Over the last few days, we’ve seen a whole bundle of houses. There’s still two more tonight, one on Friday, and about another eight over the weekend. By the end of that, though, I’m kind of hoping we’ve found a couple that we really like.
Actually, that’s not fair – we’ve already found one that we both really like: it’s just that it’s got a lot of questions around it. And that’s the problem – finding the answers to those questions is going to involve the local church diocese and the local council’s planning department.
In short, fucking bureaucrats.
I’ve already been waiting two days for the tosspots in the diocese to come back to me – if they haven’t contacted me by lunchtime today I’m going to chase them up again. As for the council (coincidentally, the council I nearly ended up working for) I’ve spoken to their ‘Customer Contact Centre’, who told me that I can’t speak to the planning department on the phone, everything has to be in writing.
Which, as an indicator of the future, isn’t all that promising. Still, I’ve emailed them now, and we’ll see just how long it takes the tossers to come back with any form of answer. Although I suspect that the answer will take the form of
Don’t know, don’t care. Next question
Scammed
Posted: Wed 10 January, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism Leave a comment »I had to chuckle at the story on the BBC yesterday about Oldham’s residents having fallen for a large number of scams in 2006.
Having worked there for two years, I really can’t say that I find this surprising. A lot of the people in Oldham are at the lower end of the economic scale, poverty scale, whatever you want to call it, and will jump at any chance to get something for nothing.
VAT
Posted: Tue 9 January, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts 3 Comments »I figure that the moral of this story from the BBC is :
If you’re going to do it, do it properly
£54million. Now that’s what I call fraud…
Insolvency
Posted: Fri 5 January, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Festering Season, Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »
According to the BBC (and accountants Grant Thornton), overspending during the Festering Season could mean that up to 10,000 people will declare themselves insolvent/bankrupt over the next three months, as well as 20,000 other people who will declare, but for longer-term reasons than just Festerous overspending.
Now, discounting the fact that it’s a report funded by accountants, and thus dedicated to drumming up their own business, I really don’t get the entire overspending thing, regardless of whether it’s related to Festering Season or not. Over the last few years, financial institutions seem to have been promoting the entire ‘debt is good’ culture, and in the twelve months to the end of November 2006, the UK’s personal debt (including mortgages) had risen 9.5% to £1,278 billion.
While I acknowledge that I’m utterly crap with money (Well, I was ’til last year, when I got a lot of stuff sorted out) I don’t see the point in buying things simply for the act of buying, or just to amass posessions. If you can’t afford something (or can’t afford the repayments, if you’re going to get something on credit) then simply don’t get it. Or save for it. But no, the ‘instant gratification’ thing seems to bite people instead, and they work on a ‘get it now, and deal with the bills eventually’ mentality.
Over the last year, yes, I’ve bought some things on credit (new laptop, new computer, and all my work-related expenses, for example) but I’ve always known I’ll be able to repay them ASAP, without a problem. And that’s what I’ve done.
Personally, I find it hard to feel any sympathy for people who’ve got themselves into this situation, as it’s primarily a self-inflicted thing. “But it’s the fault of the banks, advertising loans and cards”, some of them cry. But you don’t have to apply for them all, do you? There’s a thought process involved here – or at least there should be – where if you know you can’t afford it, you don’t fucking do it.
That said, though, I do also find the practices of the banking community to be pretty objectionable too. Every lunchtime in the last month, I’ve walked past the local Lloyds bank, which in every window has had a promotional poster saying (I’m paraphrasing slightly, but not enough to worry about) “Don’t get hit by the Christmas spending snowball. Take out a loan with us”. And I suspect it’s people who’ve taken ‘advantage’ of offers like that who are the ones who’ll suddenly find themselves in the shit over the next three months.
Me? I just find it scary when I realise that I’ve possibly got a far healthier attitude to money than I ever thought I had…