The Room 101 thread - for things you hate or just having a bloody good moan

[Sly Boots]

Oh god, tell me about it. My last trip to the surgery, I had to speed-walk in because the bus never turned up, so I was boiling hot and out of breath when I got there, and inevitably the waiting room was roasting hot. Nothing makes a phsyical examination more unpleasant than being a sweaty mess while trying to keep a panic attack at bay.

This is the exact scenario for me when they call me in, immediately take my blood pressure, then rush out of the room to have a hushed, urgent chat with a colleague

I've lost count of the number of times I've been asked to take home readings for a week and/or wear a device that intermittently takes BP readings over 24 hours... always a delight having that pop off several times in the middle of the night!

... only to later be told that it's fine, actually.

[eny]

On the chiro front: get a good one, someone well recommended, they are worth every penny. Mine kept me working for 20 years after lower back problems from loader/tractor driving for so long on the farm, once you are aware of what issue is causing it, you can read the signs of aggravation a lot earlier and avoid a paralysing event. When my back went, it was like a rubber band as the disc bulged, sprung back, and dropped me to my knees...I suffered for months before going to a chiro, then it was a matter of days when I had an event afterwards, and going to the chiro made sure the readjustment was healing in the good rather than suffering which protected the bad.

[Drarok]

Over the last few days I've found it's limited to when I'm sat at my desk chair, which I haven't changed in over 4 years, so that's odd. I have the chair quite upright to help with my lower back, but I've just tried reclining it to about 30 degrees and there's immediate (not total) neck relief. It's got to be something with the chair or how I'm sitting on it.

Chairs age and change shape just like we do. Something being fine for 4 years doesn't mean it isn't bad for you now.

The obvious solution would be to go to a GP, but frankly is there any point?

Probably not for neck pain, no. My mum has had a history of back problems, and the GP has never been any help. They can prescribe you some pain killers and maybe refer you to some other department, but you're probably better off finding a reputable and personally-recommended (sports?*) physio or chiro yourself.

When my back seized I went to my mum's person, who immediately knew exactly where the problem was based on my vague "lower back" description and a brief exam. Sounds a bit like being impressed by a "psychic" cold read, but like… legit. They weren't guessing, it was more "oh, this bit here is the problem, ouch" having just started.

Gave really good info and backed it up with sources, so my bullshit alert was very quickly put to bed. Freed my back up in one session, I'd been stuck for days. Sent me on my way with exercises to do at home, and recommendations how to avoid the same again. No rip-off, no money pit, no claws. 10/10 would recommend.

(* I can't remember if the one my mum sees is a physio, sports physio, or what)

[Mantis]

Has anybody seen any genuinely good deals on the Black Friday sales this year? It seems to get increasingly lackluster as the years go on. Some of the wishlist items I have on my Amazon page are being marked as having Black Friday discounts but are actually being sold for more than the basic discounted rate they were listed at two weeks ago!

It doesn't help that I increasingly feel like I'm just done with purchasing big things anymore, like I am absolutely inundated with gadgets and hobby items that I've bought over the years that I simply don't need to buy things anymore. Deep discounts can sometimes tempt me into an impulse buy, but this year there's just bugger all that's taken my eye.

[Sly Boots]

I saw a few on the Amazon homepage that looked like it was basically a fiver off a product costing several hundred pounds, laughable in other words, and I didn't bother going through any more exhaustively.

The gaming-related ones listed on PCG were positively anaemic, and if the comments are anything to go by people are reporting a similar thing, retailers jacking up their prices just prior to the sale, to try to con people into believing their making a saving.

[Wrathbone]

I got a 30% discount on some decent Japanese whisky, but otherwise very little has grabbed my attention. Black Friday hasn't had many noteworthy deals for years.

[Drarok]

I've been seeing BF adverts for bloody weeks, I wasn't even sure which Friday it was, they started harping on about it so early!

The amount of money spent on marketing their Black Friday "deals" are inversely proportional to the savings.

[Snowy]

On the chiro front: get a good one, someone well recommended, they are worth every penny. Mine kept me working for 20 years after lower back problems from loader/tractor driving for so long on the farm, once you are aware of what issue is causing it, you can read the signs of aggravation a lot earlier and avoid a paralysing event. When my back went, it was like a rubber band as the disc bulged, sprung back, and dropped me to my knees...I suffered for months before going to a chiro, then it was a matter of days when I had an event afterwards, and going to the chiro made sure the readjustment was healing in the good rather than suffering which protected the bad.

Just to give an alternative opinion, don't bother with a chiropractor as they don't do any good, go and see a decent osteopath instead and get crunched. I have also had lower back issues and my osteopath was an absolute lifesaver, plus after they have done with you, you walk out feeling about 6 inches taller than when you went in.

And yes, buy yourself a new chair mate, it is probably a sagging seat cushion that is sitting your hips awkwardly, and all the symptoms are referring from there.

[Alan]

Sennheiser momentum 4’s are down to £180 which is a good deal for what imo are the best wireless headphones out there. Well at least ones that aren’t silly money. Also makes me wonder if we’re getting M5’s soon. But yeah, Black Friday is generally about raising prices to drop them for an impressive %. It’s the AliExpress model which is fitting since 95% of this cheap tat is drop shipped anyway.

[Wrathbone]

On the chiro front: get a good one, someone well recommended, they are worth every penny. Mine kept me working for 20 years after lower back problems from loader/tractor driving for so long on the farm, once you are aware of what issue is causing it, you can read the signs of aggravation a lot earlier and avoid a paralysing event. When my back went, it was like a rubber band as the disc bulged, sprung back, and dropped me to my knees...I suffered for months before going to a chiro, then it was a matter of days when I had an event afterwards, and going to the chiro made sure the readjustment was healing in the good rather than suffering which protected the bad.

Just to give an alternative opinion, don't bother with a chiropractor as they don't do any good, go and see a decent osteopath instead and get crunched. I have also had lower back issues and my osteopath was an absolute lifesaver, plus after they have done with you, you walk out feeling about 6 inches taller than when you went in.

And yes, buy yourself a new chair mate, it is probably a sagging seat cushion that is sitting your hips awkwardly, and all the symptoms are referring from there.

Cheers for all the advice, guys. As sometimes happens with these things, my neck has sorted itself out for no obvious reason. Still not sure if it was an injury or gluten-related, but never mind!

Back to ranting, I was on a leaving do last night, and it was one of those nights where one particular person (well call her Gemma) decided to ruin it for everyone else. Throughout the evening she bounced from person to person, loudly interrupting them and starting arguments about all sorts of things. At one point I was having a pleasant conversation with my manager about a past colleague and she barrelled over and shouted at us for talking shop. Five minutes later I was imprisoned in a one-way discussion about how she isn’t a CEO yet (she’s a support agent) because she’s mixed-race (she had a great-grandfather who was black). Someone made the mistake of suggesting maybe there were multiple factors to it and she declared they were a racist.

Just to top the night off, she told me I needed to run a D&D campaign for her and her boyfriend, to which I politely explained that I’m only running one campaign now. She then invited herself into our forum D&D group, to which my response was, erm…. no? I told her the group was full, which she then used as fuel to rant about me to other people, who clearly couldn’t give a shit. What a bizarre and thoroughly awful night.

[Snowy]

Holy shit that sounds hideous.

I have been semi-fortunate in that regard, as for the last 27 years I have worked a reasonable distance from where I have lived. This has always given me an out for leaving do's etc that I have to drive and can only have a single drink, so I either skip them completely or do a French exit and nobody takes it amiss. I have made many friends through work, people who I genuinely value, but many more who I couldn't care less about

On the flip, 27 years commuting has cost me a packet and meant I have spent over a calendar year of my life in a car on the M3. Ah well, gain with one hand. lose with the other...

[Wrathbone]

I work from home full time now, so the last time I saw anyone from work was last year's Christmas do. I generally get on well with everyone and there are a couple of people I genuinely enjoy talking to, so I don't mind going on work dos once or twice a year to catch up with them. I was talking to probably my closest work friend last night and, surprise surprise, Gemma came over to change the topic to religion and how my friend - a practising Catholic - is a fraud because (and I quote) "you don't actually believe all that."

Now I'm an atheist and I have many issues with organised religion, but I entirely respect someone's right to believe what they want. I frequently rib my work mate about Catholicism and he gives as good as he gets about my heathen ways - it's light hearted and there's zero animosity. But when Gemma persisted in telling him nobody actually believes in gods because it's all nonsense, and that he's a bad parent for indoctrinating his kids, we were both stunned. If it'd happened in the office, it'd be grounds for dismissal. I suspect there may be a few words directed at her today.

[Sly Boots]

Just to top the night off, she told me I needed to run a D&D campaign for her and her boyfriend, to which I politely explained that I’m only running one campaign now. She then invited herself into our forum D&D group, to which my response was, erm…. no? I told her the group was full, which she then used as fuel to rant about me to other people, who clearly couldn’t give a shit. What a bizarre and thoroughly awful night.

It's almost tempting to let her in for a session, to see the fireworks

What's her reputation at work, is she known for this kind of thing, or was it out of character/possibly alcohol-fuelled?

[Wrathbone]

She's worked here for around a decade and I've never previously seen this side of her, though last year she did have a raging shout fest with someone else in support which led to some formal action. Could be booze-related, but she was being horrible to people almost as soon as she arrived. Very odd.

[Snowy]

If it'd happened in the office, it'd be grounds for dismissal. I suspect there may be a few words directed at her today.

She is still on shaky ground as it was a work event, I have fired people before for behaviour outside the office (in fairness on one occasion I caught two of my sales team blatantly snorting coke in the loo of a very posh golf resort, and the other again a salesperson got within a rizla paper of punching my boss, so neither a huge surprise).

If nothing else, someone needs to take her aside and remind her of acceptable behaviour towards her colleagues.