Seemingly trivial things that annoy you

First.Aspect

rjsterry wrote:

First Aspect wrote:

Plastic bags. Since the 5p levy, they've gone from being gossamer thin to capable of carrying the weight of a house brick. Probably at least 4 times the amount of plastic.

The whole point was to reduce plastic use, not reduce the number of bags.

If one bag uses 400% of the plastic, but you use only 10% of the number of bags, that is still a lot less plastic.

Thanks Baldrick.

At Boots, I can now only get a bag that's 4x as thick and about 4 times the size I used to need. So each time I get a bag, I account for 64 times the plastic I really need.

Even if they still made bags sized to carry your lunch, rather than a bag large enough to carry a three-piece suit, you'd still end up using 4x times the plastic needed.

And has bag use really dropped 90%?

dodgy

You're supposed to re-use the bags, not turn up at the shop in a state of confusion over why you need a bag again every time you go.

dodgy

FWIW, I carry one of these in my pocket if I think I might to buy something to take home, also handy to carry waterproof jacket in if I need to take it off mid-ride.
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/backpack-ul ... 57281.html

Bobbinogs

First Aspect wrote:

...And has bag use really dropped 90%?

Not quite. 85% which is still staggering:
Number of single-use bags handed out dropped to 500m in first six months since charge, compared with 7bn the previous year

Alain Quay

Who are these people who spit gum on the pavement?

First.Aspect

Bobbinogs wrote:

First Aspect wrote:

...And has bag use really dropped 90%?

Not quite. 85% which is still staggering:
Number of single-use bags handed out dropped to 500m in first six months since charge, compared with 7bn the previous year

I'd guess that it will creep up thereafter. I checked for Scotland, which imposed the levy a year earlier, and what do you know, they've stopped collecting figures.

For the avoidance of doubt, I'm talking about single use bags. There's another levy here for "bags for life". You could always re-use single use bags if you wanted, but since I seal the lunch leftovers in mine to avoid stinking the office for the week between changing the bins, I remain trivially annoyed.

jmm434

When slow drivers won't move over from the left side on the highway

Tashman

jmm434 wrote:

When slow drivers won't move over from the left side on the highway

If they're a slow driver and you are passing, then you should pass on the right. If you're moving in traffic then passing on the left is acceptable. That's my interpretation anyhow

Pross

Tashman wrote:

jmm434 wrote:

When slow drivers won't move over from the left side on the highway

If they're a slow driver and you are passing, then you should pass on the right. If you're moving in traffic then passing on the left is acceptable. That's my interpretation anyhow

I assume the person commenting is American or from somewhere else where the drive on the right.

Matthewfalle

HaydenM wrote:

People who oversee your work but get too involved and cause confusion between me and the people working for me

People who are above you in an organisation but don't really understand what you do but feel they do and interfere and feck everything up.

rjsterry

First Aspect wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

First Aspect wrote:

Plastic bags. Since the 5p levy, they've gone from being gossamer thin to capable of carrying the weight of a house brick. Probably at least 4 times the amount of plastic.

The whole point was to reduce plastic use, not reduce the number of bags.

If one bag uses 400% of the plastic, but you use only 10% of the number of bags, that is still a lot less plastic.

Thanks Baldrick.

At Boots, I can now only get a bag that's 4x as thick and about 4 times the size I used to need. So each time I get a bag, I account for 64 times the plastic I really need.

Even if they still made bags sized to carry your lunch, rather than a bag large enough to carry a three-piece suit, you'd still end up using 4x times the plastic needed.

And has bag use really dropped 90%?

Who needs a bag for a sandwich? You have hands and pockets, no?

pinno

...or how about a lunch box.

Having recycled low grade polythene for the last 12 years amongst other things, I can safely say that the plastic bag levy has made a huge difference to the volume of intake.
The impact on marine life locally of plastic bags floating around in the sea, that I do not know but simply going for beach walks and i'm seeing less carcasses and strangulations.

My only gripe is that if they had decided that all bags must be made out of a higher grade polythene, it would be so much easier to recycle. At least, as a recycler, it costs to recycle low grade polythene whereas I can get paid for the higher grade stuff.

BelgianBeerGeek

Matthewfalle wrote:

HaydenM wrote:

People who oversee your work but get too involved and cause confusion between me and the people working for me

People who are above you in an organisation but don't really understand what you do but feel they do and interfere and feck everything up.

That's life working for HMG

BelgianBeerGeek

My current annoyance: remote controls. My new amplifier has built in Internet radio which is ace and I am having a lot of fun with it. It came with another remote. Nice. But as I age they get smaller and their functions increase. OK, I get that, design is important, but I bet the people buying hi-fi would like better user-functionality. One feature I would really like to see is them being backlit. So when it's dark I can change the volume without changing the station.

First.Aspect

Pinno wrote:

...or how about a lunch box.

Having recycled low grade polythene for the last 12 years amongst other things, I can safely say that the plastic bag levy has made a huge difference to the volume of intake.
The impact on marine life locally of plastic bags floating around in the sea, that I do not know but simply going for beach walks and i'm seeing less carcasses and strangulations.

My only gripe is that if they had decided that all bags must be made out of a higher grade polythene, it would be so much easier to recycle. At least, as a recycler, it costs to recycle low grade polythene whereas I can get paid for the higher grade stuff.

Now we are getting into no shit Sherlock territory. Yes, lets not use bags. The point is that sometimes one wants or needs a bag, whereupon plastic usage is massively more than it needs to be.

Why not charge 5p for the old, much lighter weight bags?

Matthewfalle

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

My current annoyance: remote controls. My new amplifier has built in Internet radio which is ace and I am having a lot of fun with it. It came with another remote. Nice. But as I age they get smaller and their functions increase. OK, I get that, design is important, but I bet the people buying hi-fi would like better user-functionality. One feature I would really like to see is them being backlit. So when it's dark I can change the volume without changing the station.

Can anyone tell me why car radios used to come with a remote control?

figbat

People who refer to their vehicles as "she" or "her". Totally trivial, thoroughly irrational but it winds me right up. It's "it".

First.Aspect

Matthewfalle wrote:

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

My current annoyance: remote controls. My new amplifier has built in Internet radio which is ace and I am having a lot of fun with it. It came with another remote. Nice. But as I age they get smaller and their functions increase. OK, I get that, design is important, but I bet the people buying hi-fi would like better user-functionality. One feature I would really like to see is them being backlit. So when it's dark I can change the volume without changing the station.

Can anyone tell me why car radios used to come with a remote control?

So you could operate them without undoing the seatbelts.

Tashman

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

My current annoyance: remote controls. My new amplifier has built in Internet radio which is ace and I am having a lot of fun with it. It came with another remote. Nice. But as I age they get smaller and their functions increase. OK, I get that, design is important, but I bet the people buying hi-fi would like better user-functionality. One feature I would really like to see is them being backlit. So when it's dark I can change the volume without changing the station.

My beautiful 20 year old Dennon has luminous buttons and is huge

Matthewfalle

First Aspect wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

My current annoyance: remote controls. My new amplifier has built in Internet radio which is ace and I am having a lot of fun with it. It came with another remote. Nice. But as I age they get smaller and their functions increase. OK, I get that, design is important, but I bet the people buying hi-fi would like better user-functionality. One feature I would really like to see is them being backlit. So when it's dark I can change the volume without changing the station.

Can anyone tell me why car radios used to come with a remote control?

So you could operate them without undoing the seatbelts.

You have legs and toes, non?

ben@31

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

HaydenM wrote:

People who oversee your work but get too involved and cause confusion between me and the people working for me

People who are above you in an organisation but don't really understand what you do but feel they do and interfere and feck everything up.

That's life working for HMG

Ahhh the manager type who tell you what to do but wouldn't / couldn't do it themselves "You go off and produce all this work while I sit on my chair and do f*ck all"
The best people Ive ever met lead by example, they wouldn't ask you to do anything they wouldn't be prepared to do themselves. I think Royal Marine Officers have to do the same physical tests as the men but quicker and harder. Leading from the front.

Matthewfalle

ben@31 wrote:

Royal Marine Officers have to do the same as the men but quicker and harder.

Yup - that's the booties. They like it quick and hard.

Matthewfalle

Laziness.

dinyull

Celebs/athletes who leak to press they've made donations to charity.

Seeing Yaya Toure and his agent have donated £100k to the victims of the Manchester terror attack. Why not make the donation and keep it secret?

Being a cynical c*nt, always think peeps like him are more interested in the good press than helping the victims.

kajjal

Fake sales.

rick_chasey

Dinyull wrote:

Celebs/athletes who leak to press they've made donations to charity.

Seeing Yaya Toure and his agent have donated £100k to the victims of the Manchester terror attack. Why not make the donation and keep it secret?

Being a cynical c*nt, always think peeps like him are more interested in the good press than helping the victims.

Everyone wins in that instance, no?

dinyull

I'm not saying it's all bad, per se.

Just irks me that they've probably looked at it as a good opportunity to get some good press out of a sh*t situation.

It's widely known he's an absolute helmet, as is his agent. He's obviously interested in a new contract, trying to make the locals want to keep him as he's a good guy and putting pressure on the club.

For them to first call up the MEN to make the donation and then have a separate interview with the BBC speaks volumes, to me at least.

Matthewfalle

Dinyull wrote:

Celebs/athletes who leak to press they've made donations to charity.

Seeing Yaya Toure and his agent have donated £100k to the victims of the Manchester terror attack. Why not make the donation and keep it secret?

Being a cynical c*nt, always think peeps like him are more interested in the good press than helping the victims.

That's what the tax dodging Beckhams did for for years and the "great" British public kissed their back sides: too feckless and stupid everything the Beckhams did was either tax avoidance, designed to make them even more money or go on the gong path.

Matthewfalle

Extension leads on lawn mowers that get stuck on everything imaginable when you're trying to mow your lawn.

pinno

Only squaddies mow their lawns with electric mowers.