Things that annoy you beyond reason...(Vol 5)

[Frank7]

Cotty said:

I think its called a bargun.

Schroeder Bargun and Wunder-Bar Gun seems to be most popular

They call them soda guns, or soda dispensers in the U.S., soda being their generic term for Coca-Cola, Sprite, Ginger Beer, Lemonade, (their lemonade is like our bitter lemon).
I once asked an American friend if it would be okay to give his 4 y.o. daughter Coke, he looked at me with raised eyebrows, until I pointed at a can of Coca-Cola, “Oh, a soda, sure.”
The dispensing guns are exactly the same as those used here I guess, and I’ve always thought, mistakenly maybe, that if you want a splash of Dry Ginger, will you get a tinge of the Coca Cola that went through last?
If I’m drinking vodka and tonic, and the establishment doesn’t have bottles, then I’ll take the vodka neat, rather than out of the gun, it’s always tasted sweeter out of them.

[Europa1]

Gary29 said:

This?

The "A Bit Council" thread is over there >>>

[Clockwork Cupcake]

Frank7 said:

The dispensing guns are exactly the same as those used here I guess, and I’ve always thought, mistakenly maybe, that if you want a splash of Dry Ginger, will you get a tinge of the Coca Cola that went through last?

As I understand it, it works like a giant Soda Stream machine. As in, a syrup is diluted with carbonated water to make the drink of choice. So you will indeed get a dash of whatever syrup was previously used although I would imagine it would be so dilute as to be homeopathic.

[RizzoTheRat]

Clockwork Cupcake said:

As I understand it, it works like a giant Soda Stream machine. As in, a syrup is diluted with carbonated water to make the drink of choice. So you will indeed get a dash of whatever syrup was previously used although I would imagine it would be so dilute as to be homeopathic.

I used to know a guy who'd previously had a job servicing these things. If he was on non-alcoholic drinks in a pub he'd always ask for bottled coke instead from the dispenser due to the state he'd seen some of them in. He claimed to have even seen one with maggots in the syrup feed

[GroundEffect]

MartG said:

GroundEffect said:

glenrobbo said:

Last weekend I stayed in a hotel just outside Swansea.

After checking in I went to the bar and picked up a copy of the bar tariff/menu to see what refreshing beverages were available:

They had an IPA. .......... 5.4

I asked the bar tender ( not a barman yet, as he was far too young ) whether that was the ABV of said IPA?
"No", he replied, "the ABV is 5.9" ( Wow! A bit strong for an IPA, but there you go. )

"Then what is the 5.4?" I enquired.

"That is the price" he said.

5.4? 5.4 what exactly?

I wondered if it was some strange Welsh currency that I hadn't encountered previously.

Apparently it was Pounds Sterling.
£££££s.
GBP

£5.40

For a pint of IPA?

"Yes Sir, this particular splendid IPA is crafted in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Bloody hellfire, is it flown over here by private chartered jet?


I settled for a pint of Black Sheep at 4.8 whatevers.



Are they so hard up that they couldn't afford to pay to have the £ signs or 0s included in the price list?

Or is this one of those new fking pretentious designer "trends"?

Or are they so ashamed of their rip-off prices that they are trying to disguise them by omitting any notion of currency units?

I could understand if the hotel.had been in Knightsbridge.
But not fking Swansea FFS!

I get more worked up the more I think about it.

Edited by glenrobbo on Sunday 22 July 11:41

That's been a trend on menus for a while. It's designed to look more minimalist, and without a currency sign makes people spend more (psychological).

If a pricelist doesn't specify the currency e.g. the 5.4 mentioned above, could you pay in whatever you wanted ? Offer 5.4 biscuits for example ?

You're free to offer

[Frank7]

nonsequitur said:

Thank you Frank. Your additional explanation does make your BIL sound a tad ecentric.

Thanks for that nonsequitur, but following our friendly exchanges, something has filtered through to my brain, which I should have realised ages ago.
My BIL is an incompetent, mentally retarded berk, but I’ve been getting pissed off at the wrong person, it’s his sister, my wife, she should have told to him to f**k right off when he first started asking her to, “book me a flight from LCY to Edinburgh”, then, “go online and find me a decent hotel in the centre there”, “find out what’s cheapest, coach or train Edinburgh to Glasgow”
“Book me two seats on the coach, I’ll pay when I see you.”

[bristolracer]

Gary29 said:

This?

Keep going I'm almost there

( Shamelessly stolen from another thread, but seems appropriate)

[Dibble]

Social media (usually Facebook) “sharing”.

Someone goes missing, or is wanted by the Police, or a pet goes missing. People share the post on their own timeline and usually add a comment “Shared Rochdale/Rochester/Rockford/wherever”. Pisses me right off.

Even worse are the ones where the original post is from some time ago, has been clearly edited to say “Returned home/arrested/found” and yet morons still share it.

Then there are the ones about “I know who will share this post about mental health/dying babies/the highly endangered fluffy creature” and share it, without the remotest bit of fact checking.

The piss boiler from yesterday was the “22 veterans a day kill themselves, share this post so they know they’re not alone, get them to call this veteran’s assistance number for help”. 30 seconds of Googling showed this was an old thing about US data and the most recent UK data estimated one veteran every 11-14 days was committing suicide (although the MoD doesn’t actually collect accurate data on this issue).

That equates to about 26 veterans a year killing themselves, rather than the 8,030 or so if it was actually 22 a day. Now I’d agree even 1 veteran (or anyone) committing suicide is one too many. I don’t have an issue with that.

The number was actually for a charity, Combat Stress, and fortunately (again, from the same 30 second Google) it’s a 24 hour helpline. I commented on the post about how it wasn’t completely correct and fk me, the vitriol I attracted! Friends of the OP started sharing the original post and telling me how awful I was.

I explained it was always better to spend 30 seconds Googling to check, to avoid spreading wrong/outdated/misinformation. I was told “if it helps just one person”, etc etc. I pointed out if they really were that bothered, truly wanted to help and were posting for altruistic rather than selfish reasons, why on earth wouldn’t you check the details were correct?

Imagine if the phone number wasn’t 24 hours, or was the wrong number, someone near the end of their tehther called it but got no reply, that could be enough to push them over the edge (sorry for the mixed metaphors). If they really were that bothered/wanted to help, why on earth wouldn’t they double check before posting, to make sure what they were posting was accurate and up to date.

I was questioned how I “knew” the data was wrong and when I replied with a few links from major, respectable news websites, the NHS, NICE and a few peer reviewed academic studies, I got criticised for Googling and how did I “know” what I was posting was right?! To be fair, that took me more than 30 seconds. Probably about two or three minutes... their outrage was palpable. It seemed obvious to me they wanted to feel “good” about sharing rather than being bothered about actually helping.

And, breathe...

[227bhp]

Nanook said:

227bhp said:

F1 and the news, the BBC news.

Why do we need to know who is fastest in free practice? We don't, it's totally irrelevant to anything.
On Sunday do we need to know who has won before it's on terrestrial TV? No we don't.
Those who have seen it don't need to know.
Those who haven't seen it don't want to know.
Those who don't follow it don't want to know either.

It's not news.

I wanted to know who won, I didn't watch it live, and I wasn't going to watch the highlights later on either.

So I opened the BBC app on my phone, and found out, because despite what you've typed, it is indeed news.

Do you feel the same way about all sports reporting?

That's different, you went looking for it, I had it rammed down my throat whilst listening to the radio in the car.
I have no interest in any other sport so don't care either way

Other sports are different, Football, rugby, Wimbledon all take precedence over anything else and are beamed live, F1 isn't, it plays second fiddle so we have to wait (until 10 pm the other week) to watch it. I don't want to know what went on before i've even been given chance to watch it.

[Balmoral]

The media switching to Fahrenheit to describe the warm weather because it generates a bigger more sensational number. You complete total utter s, the English language does not contain sufficient derogatory expletives to describe my contempt. I await the winter when they will no doubt tell us all of the Big Freeze at 30 degrees.

[Bobberoo99]

Dibble said:

Social media (usually Facebook) “sharing”.

Someone goes missing, or is wanted by the Police, or a pet goes missing. People share the post on their own timeline and usually add a comment “Shared Rochdale/Rochester/Rockford/wherever”. Pisses me right off.

Even worse are the ones where the original post is from some time ago, has been clearly edited to say “Returned home/arrested/found” and yet morons still share it.

Then there are the ones about “I know who will share this post about mental health/dying babies/the highly endangered fluffy creature” and share it, without the remotest bit of fact checking.

The piss boiler from yesterday was the “22 veterans a day kill themselves, share this post so they know they’re not alone, get them to call this veteran’s assistance number for help”. 30 seconds of Googling showed this was an old thing about US data and the most recent UK data estimated one veteran every 11-14 days was committing suicide (although the MoD doesn’t actually collect accurate data on this issue).

That equates to about 26 veterans a year killing themselves, rather than the 8,030 or so if it was actually 22 a day. Now I’d agree even 1 veteran (or anyone) committing suicide is one too many. I don’t have an issue with that.

The number was actually for a charity, Combat Stress, and fortunately (again, from the same 30 second Google) it’s a 24 hour helpline. I commented on the post about how it wasn’t completely correct and fk me, the vitriol I attracted! Friends of the OP started sharing the original post and telling me how awful I was.

I explained it was always better to spend 30 seconds Googling to check, to avoid spreading wrong/outdated/misinformation. I was told “if it helps just one person”, etc etc. I pointed out if they really were that bothered, truly wanted to help and were posting for altruistic rather than selfish reasons, why on earth wouldn’t you check the details were correct?

Imagine if the phone number wasn’t 24 hours, or was the wrong number, someone near the end of their tehther called it but got no reply, that could be enough to push them over the edge (sorry for the mixed metaphors). If they really were that bothered/wanted to help, why on earth wouldn’t they double check before posting, to make sure what they were posting was accurate and up to date.

I was questioned how I “knew” the data was wrong and when I replied with a few links from major, respectable news websites, the NHS, NICE and a few peer reviewed academic studies, I got criticised for Googling and how did I “know” what I was posting was right?! To be fair, that took me more than 30 seconds. Probably about two or three minutes... their outrage was palpable. It seemed obvious to me they wanted to feel “good” about sharing rather than being bothered about actually helping.

And, breathe...

I'm afraid it's the curse of social media Dibble, everyone wants, needs and absolutely must be involved or they don't care and are social outcasts!!! I recently deleted my FB account as I was fed up with just this kind of rubbish, it's all about self now, not about connecting people with each other, social media is solely responsible for dumbing down the English language whilst simultaneously encouraging everybody to think only of themselves and at the same time creating a pack mentality, it's a very strange phenomenon!!!

[CanAm]

Bobberoo99 said:

I'm afraid it's the curse of social media Dibble, everyone wants, needs and absolutely must be involved or they don't care and are social outcasts!!! I recently deleted my FB account as I was fed up with just this kind of rubbish, it's all about self now, not about connecting people with each other, social media is solely responsible for dumbing down the English language whilst simultaneously encouraging everybody to think only of themselves and at the same time creating a pack mentality, it's a very strange phenomenon!!!

I "have to" have a FB account because a number of clubs etc use it rather than emails to all members. But I immediately 'unfollow' anyone who posts such drivel so I receive only what I want to.

[anonymous-user]

Dibble said:

Social media (usually Facebook) “sharing”.

Someone goes missing, or is wanted by the Police, or a pet goes missing. People share the post on their own timeline and usually add a comment “Shared Rochdale/Rochester/Rockford/wherever”. Pisses me right off.

Even worse are the ones where the original post is from some time ago, has been clearly edited to say “Returned home/arrested/found” and yet morons still share it.

Then there are the ones about “I know who will share this post about mental health/dying babies/the highly endangered fluffy creature” and share it, without the remotest bit of fact checking.

The piss boiler from yesterday was the “22 veterans a day kill themselves, share this post so they know they’re not alone, get them to call this veteran’s assistance number for help”. 30 seconds of Googling showed this was an old thing about US data and the most recent UK data estimated one veteran every 11-14 days was committing suicide (although the MoD doesn’t actually collect accurate data on this issue).

That equates to about 26 veterans a year killing themselves, rather than the 8,030 or so if it was actually 22 a day. Now I’d agree even 1 veteran (or anyone) committing suicide is one too many. I don’t have an issue with that.

The number was actually for a charity, Combat Stress, and fortunately (again, from the same 30 second Google) it’s a 24 hour helpline. I commented on the post about how it wasn’t completely correct and fk me, the vitriol I attracted! Friends of the OP started sharing the original post and telling me how awful I was.

I explained it was always better to spend 30 seconds Googling to check, to avoid spreading wrong/outdated/misinformation. I was told “if it helps just one person”, etc etc. I pointed out if they really were that bothered, truly wanted to help and were posting for altruistic rather than selfish reasons, why on earth wouldn’t you check the details were correct?

Imagine if the phone number wasn’t 24 hours, or was the wrong number, someone near the end of their tehther called it but got no reply, that could be enough to push them over the edge (sorry for the mixed metaphors). If they really were that bothered/wanted to help, why on earth wouldn’t they double check before posting, to make sure what they were posting was accurate and up to date.

I was questioned how I “knew” the data was wrong and when I replied with a few links from major, respectable news websites, the NHS, NICE and a few peer reviewed academic studies, I got criticised for Googling and how did I “know” what I was posting was right?! To be fair, that took me more than 30 seconds. Probably about two or three minutes... their outrage was palpable. It seemed obvious to me they wanted to feel “good” about sharing rather than being bothered about actually helping.

And, breathe...

My wife has loads of Facebook "friends" in the US and they love that kind of thing. Most of them don't know that my wife is a listener for the Samaritans and does more for suicide counselling than all of their spurious posts put together.

[droopsnoot]

Dibble said:

Social media (usually Facebook) “sharing”. <snip>

The one that winds me up is the list of what people get paid, PM at the top and a job like nurse or police officer at the bottom. It particularly annoys me because the figures are wrong, it's clearly just an American list that's had the $ replaced with a £ sign and a couple of words changed. It claims that we pay "former prime ministers" about £250k per year when, as far as I know, even the current one doesn't get that.

There may be things wrong with remuneration levels in some areas, and I don't know because I'm not in any of those positions, but posting made-up numbers isn't the way to make a point. And, the jobs listed have widely differing levels of stress and responsibility.

When I pointed out that the numbers and some of the positions were just made up, converted from the US, and just plain incorrect, someone posted

"Still true, though".

(I also have it mainly for clubs, and one or two old mates that only have work emails and change jobs more regularly than they tell people their new emails. Perhaps the latter is a hint.)

[captain_cynic]

Dibble said:

The piss boiler from yesterday was the “22 veterans a day kill themselves, share this post so they know they’re not alone, get them to call this veteran’s assistance number for help”. 30 seconds of Googling showed this was an old thing about US data and the most recent UK data estimated one veteran every 11-14 days was committing suicide (although the MoD doesn’t actually collect accurate data on this issue).

That equates to about 26 veterans a year killing themselves, rather than the 8,030 or so if it was actually 22 a day. Now I’d agree even 1 veteran (or anyone) committing suicide is one too many. I don’t have an issue with that.

I explained it was always better to spend 30 seconds Googling to check, to avoid spreading wrong/outdated/misinformation. I was told “if it helps just one person”, etc etc. I pointed out if they really were that bothered, truly wanted to help and were posting for altruistic rather than selfish reasons, why on earth wouldn’t you check the details were correct?

The number was actually for a charity, Combat Stress, and fortunately (again, from the same 30 second Google) it’s a 24 hour helpline. I commented on the post about how it wasn’t completely correct and fk me, the vitriol I attracted! Friends of the OP started sharing the original post and telling me how awful I was.

Never try to fix stupidity. They'll just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

When "friends" post crap like that I simply unfriend them and move on. Its not like they actually care about veterans they just want the likes for pretending to care. I don't want people like that in my life.

[ComoEstas]

.*The barman was in full agreement on my irritation here*

Me "Evening, two pints of Boon Doggle please"
Barman "We don't have that at the moment"
Me "Ah shame, but you should turn the label around then"
Barman "We're not allowed to do that because it looks like we haven't got any"

[talksthetorque]

Think it was here (or the teeth itch thread) that someone moaned about the ‘privacy settings’ tab at the bottom covering the preferences button on the footer.
It’s nice to see Haymarket have pounced upon an opportunity with both trotters and just left the ‘es’ of Preferences covered to annoy everyone. And taken up another 10% or so of mobile screen real estate (I know, wky phrase, sorry) to do it.

[CanAm]

On my mobile "erences" is covered.

[MartG]

Journalists including contrary opinions 'for balance'

If someone says it's raining, and someone else says it's dry, it's not your job to quote them both - your job is to look out the fking window and find out which is true !

[V8mate]

MartG said:

Journalists including contrary opinions 'for balance'

If someone says it's raining, and someone else says it's dry, it's not your job to quote them both - your job is to look out the fking window and find out which is true !

Not that easy, is it though? We've evolved into a species which accepts perception as reality.