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

[Sly Boots]

Generally speaking if I'm dealing with an actual human for more than 15 seconds and they say I may receive a survey, they get 5 stars and a very positive comment unless they somehow manage to do a wretched job. With those sorts of surveys being a part of my life for ten years, I understand the pressure they're under to receive good ones. If someone does do a wretched job, then I'm probably just not going to respond at all (unless they're clearly doing something wilfully negligent) because we all have bad days and I'm not going to add fuel to a hideous corporate HR practice I don't agree with.

Exactly this for me too, after how I know such surveys affected my dad's job and pay.

And you totally should watch Black Mirror, amazing show... not every episode is a knockout but more are than not.

[Tommy]

He’s a really mundane complaint - why’s there not a user friendly Radio Guide app, in the same vein as TV Guide?

I’ve seen how much some of these radio DJs get paid, so I know it’s still a popular medium. So why is it I have to GUESS when they’re on?!

My irritation at this has really spurred me on to pull almost my full kitchen out, so it’s a double edged sword…

[Animalmother]

I'd be genuinely amazed if there isn't a radio schedule thing somewhere.

So Xbox does this reward thing where you earn points over time by playing games, getting achievements etc. Those points can be turned into a voucher for €25 once you have enough. This used to be very straight forward, click on the claim reward and voucher was added to account, very simple.

Now the points are drip feed so slowly that getting to that reward point is excruciatingly slow. Once you have enough they now want you to scan a QR code, go to a website, log into your MS account, add your phone number, submit the code they just sent you, do this again because it didn't work, try it again, nah sorry there's a problem, maybe try again later? You always end back at square one.

Looking online this seems to be a very common problem with no solution, the suggestion from MS support is to log a ticket and they'll look into it. I presume that this has to be deliberate to dissuade people claiming the discount.

[Raid]

Greetings cards.

I hate these things. They feel like nothing more than a social obligation as otherwise it looks like you've forgotten, and they're just such a massive waste of money and resources. The few people I send them to I call on the day anyway, and they're both expensive and boring. It used to be that you could find some decent, reasonably witty little cartoons, but it's years since I found one that raised more than a smile. And fucking hell do I hate trying to think of something witty to write in them - the second I'm faced with a greetings card my mind goes entirely blank because I over-think everything that comes to mind and decide it's unsuitable.

The selection for birthday cards is attrocious. We're a country with a long and storied history of cutting barbs and satire, but try searching with "funny" or "humour" in the filter and you get a mountain of gormless-looking, hideously drawn people I assume are celebrities holding a cake and pointing at the viewer yelling something their moronic catchphrase. One of the ones I scrolled past earlier today said "Have an Amy-zing birthday" with a crudely drawn-over photo of Amy Winehouse. Amy Winehouse died 13 years ago from alcohol poisoning after suffering from long-term substance abuse and mental illness. Happy Birthday!

And I hate receiving the bloody things too. I get a birthday card from my mum and brother without fail every year. I have flat-out told them directly to stop doing it. I don't enjoy my birthday, I haven't done since I was a kid, as by the point it rolls around everyone is in the final stages of preparing for christmas and all that happens is that I feel lonely and miserable. I try my very best to forget it exists, to treat it like any other day, but lo and behold there's an expensive piece of cheap cardboard sitting in my kitchen reminding me. There was one year during the worst of my depression where I opened the cards, read the comment, and put them straight in my recycling bin.

I wish this whole industry would just fuck off, save a million trees a year and however many trillion tons of CO2 it takes to manufacture and deliver the things worldwide.

[Wrathbone]

100% agree. I only buy cards for immediate family, and only because it’s easier than trying to explain to my mum why she’s the only one who places any value in them. I bought a birthday card for my sister last week and ended up getting a Star Wars card (despite her having no interest in Star Wars) because every other card was insultingly unfunny. This one was too, but marginally less so - it had Luke mishearing “Feel the Force” and stroking a horse. My sides, how they split.

The funniest card I ever received was a hand-made one from my youngest niece when she was about 8. It read: “Thanos has killed everyone but you. Good job!” I’m not sure if it was the surly depiction of Thanos or the idea that I’d be chuffed with him having annihilated everyone else in the world, but it hit my funny bone.

[Snowy]

Greetings cards.

I am with you on these. I buy as few as I can get away with - wife/brother/dad/sister-in-law/niece birthday cards, that's it.

My little brother is an arse with them too, sends them to cousins, anniversary cards, all sorts of shite. I know he makes me look bad as I refuse to play the game but I can take it.

Xmas can do one too, I always make one of my rare posts to FB to tell folks not to expect cards from me, that I will be donating to charity instead. I chuck an animal charity £20 and forget all about cards.

[Wrathbone]

anniversary cards

Christ, this is a pet peeve of mine. The celebration of an anniversary should be between the two people that the anniversary pertains to, and nobody else. My sister buys my parents anniversary cards for reasons unknown. I've made my feelings on the subject abundantly, conspicuously clear to them, which they've no problem with, but somehow society at large seems to think celebrating the longevity of a relationship between other people is something worth doing. To me it's on the same level as personal displays of affection - if I went over and cheered a couple kissing in public and then handed them a congratulations card, they'd probably move away from me with all haste. Anniversary celebrations are just a milestone version of that.

Oh, and while we're at it, fuck Moonpig and their insistence in asking if I want to buy a £35 hamper or bottle of champagne to go with my £3.99 card, despite years of me violently ignoring their suggestions.

[Snowy]

Yeah have to say it really shits me off. It is a relatively new thing too, we never used to buy anyone anniversary cards when we were younger so why has he started now? We lost my mum a few years back and he still insists on buying flowers and cards every year for dad to celebrate their wedding anniversary, it's just not necessary. He has also started doing the same on the anniversary of mum's death, which baffles me, why the fuck memorialise the horrible date when cancer took her from us?

[eny]

Domino's deal structure....what a tide of shite to wade through to get the most effective deal, my god, even with "deal helper" turned on it is wank...it is the only food delivery service of any note, all the way out here, so have to suck it hard.

[Drarok]

The deal helper is so very nearly useless. It would be way more effective if it would tell you what deals you're close to, rather than only activating ones your basket is eligible for. As it stands, you might be able to save a load by adding a single item, but there's no way to know.

Just browse the deals page instead.

[Wrathbone]

Had a (literal) pain in the neck on and off for a couple of weeks which I've had to puzzle out like a detective. I'm still not sure if it's a combination of causes or one particular thing amidst several coincidences, but trying to fathom it out is exhausting. At first I was convinced it was the new pillow I'd bought, which resulted in a few nights of trying different combinations of pillows, including my old pillow (which didn't help), until I concluded the new one was actually fine.

Then my parents insisted it was gluten intolerance, which isn't as daft as it sounds as my dad, my aunt, my uncle (both on the same side of the family) and my sister all started with it around my age, and it presents primarily as neck pain. That could well be part of it, but the sudden onset and the way the pain varies based on posture suggests it's musculoskeletal in nature.

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.

The obvious solution would be to go to a GP, but frankly is there any point? I've been twice this year for unrelated minor issues and both were a waste of time - they just don't have the resources to diagnose anything not straightforward. I could go to a chiropractor, but I get the impression they're a money pit - they get their claws in and insist you need to have your bones cracked once a week.

In summary, aging is shit, do not recommend.

[Sly Boots]

To the final point, yes absolutely lol.

As for the neck issue, could it be nerve pain, the fact a change in position bring immediate relief makes me wonder if something is impinging on it in your usual sitting position...

[Wrathbone]

Could be - I've had slipped discs in my lower back, so I guess something could have shifted in my upper spine.

[Raid]

I feel much the same way about going to the GP these days, and indeed much of the NHS. I had an endoscopy (that's the top end) a couple of years back, one of the most unpleasant experiences I've ever had, and I never had the results from it. I don't know whether they just didn't inform me (I have asked non-GP medical staff to see if there's anything in my medical records about it but they have said they may not have the right access) or if the results just got lost, but it was an experience I don't care to repeat and the symptoms that lead to it have disappeared since so I just haven't bothered pursuing it. It also doesn't help that I don't (yet) drive and have to walk to the surgery - it's not hugely far but it's almost all uphill on the way back which isn't a problem normally (it's about a 10-15 minute, fairly steep climb), but it's a bit of a slog when I'm not feeling great to begin with.

[Wrathbone]

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.