Seemingly trivial things that annoy you

ben@31

I dont want to watch any of the trash on tv. So I looked on the channel 4 website and clicked on "factual programmes"
Apparently...
- Made in Chelsea
- Celebs go dating
- Gok's fill your house for free

Are classed as factual documentaries :shock:

Why has television sunk to the lowest common denominator?

pinno

ben@31 wrote:

I dont want to watch any of the trash on tv. So I looked on the channel 4 website and clicked on "factual programmes"
Apparently...
- Made in Chelsea
- Celebs go dating
- Gok's fill your house for free

Are classed as factual documentaries :shock:

Why has television sunk to the lowest common denominator?

It's so bad (TV) that we are watching old episodes of Auf Wiedersehen pet.

Anonymous

ben@31 wrote:

I dont want to watch any of the trash on tv. So I looked on the channel 4 website and clicked on "factual programmes"
Apparently...
- Made in Chelsea
- Celebs go dating
- Gok's fill your house for free

Are classed as factual documentaries :shock:

Why has television sunk to the lowest common denominator?

Cos its cheap. No scriptwriter to pay. No actors. Just a few presenters and a filming crew. How else could an amateur cookery programme be considered to be worth £75m?

Even the classic comedy shows are being rehashed and repeated. No originality. Just the same old format flogged to death. But then if the tv networks spend Billions on football rights no wonder there is nothing left to spend on snything else.

pinno

Scottish 'football'.

Giraffoto

Hamish McTavish wrote:

You do not "tow the line"; just think about it, what could that possibly mean?
Also: "cue" not "queue" in phrases such as "cue a deranged pedant beating me to a pulp".

Toe (not tow) the line is to step up to a line marked on the ground to be counted as a group or a team. George Orwell called it a worn out metaphor some 70 years ago.
Cue lights! Or, Cue cannon effects! Is something you'd once have heard on a film set. A call for a thing to take place

hamish_mctavish

Giraffoto wrote:

Hamish McTavish wrote:

You do not "tow the line"; just think about it, what could that possibly mean?
Also: "cue" not "queue" in phrases such as "cue a deranged pedant beating me to a pulp".

Toe (not tow) the line is to step up to a line marked on the ground to be counted as a group or a team. George Orwell called it a worn out metaphor some 70 years ago.
Cue lights! Or, Cue cannon effects! Is something you'd once have heard on a film set. A call for a thing to take place

Yes, I know that. Hence my annoyance at people towing lines and queuing music.

Tashman

My forgetting to add the 2 top straps to the bike rack this weekend and subsequently using my old MTB, with the wifes on top of it and the rack as an effective road anchor I guess it's the crash course into bicycle maintenace that i need!

awavey

the guy in my office who keeps taking up a space in the work cycle racks...with his Brompton

dinyull

Musicians who feel the need to use their looks/body to sell their work.

Instant respect is lost as soon as I see a half naked singer on the front of their album cover.

pinno

Dinyull wrote:

Musicians who feel the need to use their looks/body to sell their work.

Instant respect is lost as soon as I see a half naked singer on the front of their album cover.

Not sure I agree. Sometimes, that's all they have to offer. You can always switch the sound off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6omsDyFNlk

bbrap

Using M&S self service tills and having the thing yelling "have you scanned your Mark's card" multiple times.

Garry H

Pinno wrote:

Dinyull wrote:

Musicians who feel the need to use their looks/body to sell their work.

Instant respect is lost as soon as I see a half naked singer on the front of their album cover.

Not sure I agree. Sometimes, that's all they have to offer. You can always switch the sound off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6omsDyFNlk

Can't be bothered watching it all. Does she whip them out?

pinno

Garry H wrote:

Pinno wrote:

Dinyull wrote:

Musicians who feel the need to use their looks/body to sell their work.

Instant respect is lost as soon as I see a half naked singer on the front of their album cover.

Not sure I agree. Sometimes, that's all they have to offer. You can always switch the sound off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6omsDyFNlk

Can't be bothered watching it all. Does she whip them out?

Does she have to 'whip them out'?! You mean those looks, that hair, those 3/4 length stockings and all the wiggling about isn't making you drool? I'm worried about you.

Pross

Couple of new ones for me:

Trying to sell a car. My daughter has just started Uni so we are selling her 12 year old car for £400, photographed 2 weeks ago and not driven since and with the minor dent on the wheel arch clearly included in both the photo and the description. People are coming around and acting as if they are expecting a Rolls Royce with delivery mileage. Even when I bought my first car nearly 30 years ago £400 for a working car with 6 months left on the MOT would have been a bargain. One bloke tried to say it wasn't the same car as in the photos and pulled his phone out to show me the advert, when he realised it showed everything clearly he said it wasn't mentioned in the description, when I pointed to the bit in the description that said 'minor damage to rear nearside wheel arch' he invented a non-existent oil leak. Another person was trying to haggle the price down before even coming to take a look and we had the traditional Gumtree scam attempt 'I'll buy it and pay you now by Paypal but I'm disable so I'll send a representative around to collect it'. I'm tempted to just scrap it, it's a perfectly decent first car for someone but kids these days (in my area at least) all seem to get given brand new Minis or Fiat 500s for their 17th birthday.

People with folding bikes who take up the limited spaces in the cycle racks at my offices. It's a folding bike, why not fold it up and take it up to the office with you so that those without folding bikes can park in the rack?

pinno

You're in the 'attract a Chav' price category Pross. Double the price - you never know.

I found this when trying to get rid of a shed load of stuff we didn't need. Filled my long wheel base van up and took to one of the largest car boot sales in Scotland.
One woman looked at a large 18" diameter Port Meirion fruit bowl I had for sale, perfect condition (I can't stand Port Meirion personally but that's beside the point). She asked me how much and I said "How about a tenner?". "What?" came the reply "You can get them at Wilkinson's for a fiver each" !!!
I said that they don't sell them at Wilkinson's.

Here's a 13"

https://www.millyskitchenstore.co.uk/Po ... GwodhRgC9A

Another guy asked how much a coffee table I had was. I said £8.00. "You want far too f*cking much for it...jeezo...[shaking head]... it's a car boot sale...[tutting, shaking head, mumbling as he walked into the distance]".

The coffee table wasn't an Argos job, it was Oak. Not very big but oak nonetheless.
Chav's want something for nothing. I'll never attend a car boot sale again as a seller.

bompington

... on the other hand, people will pay 50p at a boot sale for stuff that is literally garbage.

ballysmate

Had a similar experience some years back, Pinno. Took a load of stuff to a car boot to get rid and priced accordingly. Some people wanted to haggle over items priced in pennies. Was happy to call at the council tip on the way home to dump it.

bompington

We actually gave up on car boot sales years ago... we tend to use ebay & gumtree for items we might get a few quid for, gumtree free or freecycle if it's not worth a fiver. Less hassle and, I'm fairly sure, more cash.

kingstongraham

When we were selling a car on Gumtree, had someone call and without seeing it, said "what's your lowest price?" like that's the way you negotiate.

drlodge

I would never go to a car boot sale, full of people that want to buy tat for the sake of it, and for pennies. If its worth something I'll Ebay it, otherwise offer it for free on freecycle or streetlife. But beware of people looking for free stuff that they can sell on at car boot sales, that really annoys me.

pinno

Ayr race course boot sale - avoid it.

I gave the rest to a very good charity shop I know. Despite being a Sunday, I called them before setting off from Ayr and they not only opened up for me to drop the stuff off, I got a cup of tea, they unloaded for me and I got a lovely leather two seater brown leather couch for the conservatory for £20 which was marked at £60 (no haggling). They said "You don't want this do you?" I said "How much do you want?", "£20". How refreshing after the death by Chav gathering.

kingstongraham

drlodge wrote:

I would never go to a car boot sale, full of people that want to buy tat for the sake of it, and for pennies. If its worth something I'll Ebay it, otherwise offer it for free on freecycle or streetlife. But beware of people looking for free stuff that they can sell on at car boot sales, that really annoys me.

That would annoy me too, and I don't know why.

hantstooflat

My one experience of a car boot was that all the other sellers came and browsed my array of items before the public were even let in and bought most of it to sell themselves. Just glad to get rid of it as quickly as possible.

Pross

KingstonGraham wrote:

When we were selling a car on Gumtree, had someone call and without seeing it, said "what's your lowest price?" like that's the way you negotiate.

That was exactly what we had. It was advertised at £450, my daughter was the contact and asked me what we would take so I said £400. The other person then asked if we could go lower - what part of lowest offer didn't they understand? They hadn't even seen the car. My daughter is even less tolerant of idiots than me and told them it was already competitively priced and the £50 reduction was over 10% so no we wouldn't be going any lower. I reckon most of the people who have been in touch are looking to get something and sell it straight on for a mark up, other than one family that came to look with their learner driver son they have all been men in their late 20s or 30s who you wouldn't expect to be driving a 1.0l Hyundai.

Wheelspinner

I think everyone has similar tales... I listed a tennis racquet for sale on a well-known auction site. Had used it for less than an hour, so listed it at $80, (or 1/3 of RRP), although you could usually buy them new for about $130 if you shopped about.

I had some tw@ message asking if I'd accept $40, including postage (about 17 bucks).

I replied no, and suggested if he really wanted a new or near new one for that price he should check K Mart or Aldi, as they'd be the only places he might find something in his price range. He told me I was so rude...

Anonymous

Drivers on narrow roads who overtake cyclists with plenty of room but come so far over the lane they end up being too close to you coming the other way. TWUNTS

fat daddy

you guys are really putting me off ... I have an mx5 + 2 sets of wheels and an rx8 to sell .... I need them gone, but I cant bring myself to deal with buyers.

Thing is I don't want much for them, but still people just want to get something for absolutely nothing. I am sure if I advertised them for free, someone would then want me to deliver it to them, with a full tank of fuel

dinyull

Seriously, best advice I can give is to ask for top end money.

I listed my car a few years back and because of damage to a rear door I priced it low thinking the damage wouldn't put people off. People were still asking for another £500 off, despite explaining to them that the price in the first place reflected the condition of the car.

veronese68

Selling clearance stuff for work at the Baulieu autojumble ridiculously cheap and we'd still get people making even more stupid offers. One guy was aghast when I jumped up and down on a panel rendering it completely useless rather than give it to him for what he was prepared to pay. It was quite therapeutic for me after a weekend dealing with idiots.

jawooga

Freecycle! Even giving stuff away for free, people moan. Also the prevalence of "WANTED... fridgefreezer. Must be good condition...". F...ing eh?