The rant thread.

Discussion, in general

Re: The rant thread.

Postby Pedgerow » Sun Nov 21, 2021 2:42 am

Today I finally implemented a plan I've had for nearly two years, to visit random nearby towns, and that's not important right now but I had lunch in Nando's when I got there because that's another incredibly basic thing that everyone has done except me.

Man, fuck Nando's, as it turns out.

I went in and asked for food from the waitress who stands by the door and shows you to your table. All fine so far. "Have you come here since we reopened?" I've never been to a Nando's in my life, and coronavirus lockdowns did not influence this decision, but I have heard various UK-based humour outlets rage against any restaurant that asks if you've been before, because it implies they will have a "philosophy" or a "mission statement" and will go out of their way to needlessly complicate the dining experience for brand purposes. There was still time to listen, but there are none so deaf as those who will not hear, so I just said "No" like a normal person, and sat down.

Like a normal person, I listened to the explanation: rather than the waitress who was speaking to me at the time taking my order, I would need to scan the QR code on the table with my phone and order the food online. Like a normal person.

But I'm not a normal person. Some say this disparagingly, but I'm not normal because I am much more intelligent and correct than anyone who doesn't go into a raging fury when a faceless corporation insists on needlessly harvesting all my personal data. Normal people should do this, and it's not my fault they don't.

So I scan the QR code. And it takes me to the website. I go all through the website, and select the food I had already read off the menu in the window. No extended choosing here; I knew what I wanted. "Click here to pay for your order." Okay.

Error! You must log in! Log in with your user account!
No, you can't continue as guest like every website should let you do, since you're giving them money anyway. You must create an account.

But I've done this before, and I know all the tricks. Time for no@no.com to create an account once again.

Error! That's not a real email address!

noseriouslyfuckoff@gmail.net

Thank you for creating an account! Now type in the access code we have emailed to your email address.

Damn it! I've been outsmarted! But why do they need a code to verify my email address? I'm not using the email address to pay. If I put Boris Johnson's email address, what do they care? They'll still get the money. It'll still be me who's paying. Unless, of course, this is all a scam to harvest my email address. Which it obviously is. The bastards.

And then everything was fine. Just kidding! We're only just getting started! I, like all security-conscious intellectuals, have gone through my phone's permissions and blocked access that apps don't need. Did you know, for example, that Google counts all its apps as just one app on Android, and complains if an app doesn't have a permission that a totally separate Google app would need if I used it? My personal favourite is the warning (=veiled threat) that I "might experience issues" if I don't allow text messages to use my phone's heart monitor. Shock, horror: I don't experience any issues at all, same as I don't experience any issues when I won't let Google Sheets use my phone's microphone.

But none of this would apply for payment via a website, right? But it did. Apparently, you cannot pay, using a debit card that's unrelated to Google, on a website that's unrelated to Google, to buy motherfucking grilled chicken, unless you inexplicably allow Google Play access to your phone's storage. I don't see why, but I can allow it, I guess. I've been here for about ten minutes by now. I'll just disable it later.

Haha! Eat a dick, fool! You certainly aren't getting any chicken. Google Play already had access to my phone's storage; I'd never disabled that one. So at this point I had to try and troubleshoot some weird programming error in Android. But my job is similar to this; try allowing permission for absolutely everything. No; that didn't work. Not even when I gave my clock access to my camera, and all the other lunacy Google insists on. Switch the phone off and on again. Nope, nothing. To be fair, those are the only things I actually tried.

It should be noted that for all of this, everyone around me was, like in all restaurants, eating delicious, succulent chicken. The chicken I was going to eat. My chicken. The chicken I'd be halfway through eating, if an online search engine based roughly 7,000 miles away would permit such a thing. And there were plenty of Nando's employees around. There was even a waitress doing absolutely nothing, standing right in front of me. And on the table next to mine, a waiter knew the guy there, and came over to talk to him and to offer him some sneaky freebies, because you know, waiters are meant to ask you what food you want and bring it to you, right? An Internet connection should not be required for such a transaction. It is extraneous.

It never worked. I gave up. Dejected, I got up and walked to the exit, to leave with nothing. As I passed the waitress who had been standing there the whole time, I choked back the tears and pleaded with her: "Do I really, seriously, definitely need to order online? Isn't there anything else I can do?"

She thought for a moment. "If you know what you want, you can just tell me and I'll order it at the till."

So that's what I did. Honestly, their customer service was great. The chicken was a lot smaller than the picture in the window, though. Or perhaps I was at a level of hunger by that point that I could have eaten an entire live ostrich and more than the two side dishes they offer, so it just felt small.

But yeah. Fuck Nando's. It's like some Sisyphean Greek myth come to life. And if you've forgotten which one Sisyphus was, I suggest you look online, using Bing or DuckDuckGo.
  • 6

User avatar
Pedgerow
TCS Regular
TCS Regular
 
Posts: 346
Joined: Mon Nov 19, 2018 2:09 am
Show rep
Title: PWOT refugee

Re: The rant thread.

Postby Malfeasinator » Wed Dec 15, 2021 1:47 pm

Mailinator.com dude.

It's temporary throwaway shit that you can always use. I like to use celebrity names, like a first initial and last name. Maybe like a number on the end.

Jtesh5@mailinator.com or something like that. Then I can check the inbox and do whatever I have to do. I've signed up for a lot of Reddit accounts and other sites that by now I've pretty much forgotten.

Might even have been this one! I can't recall.
  • 2

User avatar
Malfeasinator
Time Waster
Time Waster
 
Posts: 1039
Joined: Sat Jul 27, 2013 5:17 pm
Location: Florida
Show rep
Title: this guy

Re: The rant thread.

Postby IamNotCreepy » Tue Dec 21, 2021 10:46 pm

I don't post much on the forums, but this story was way too epic for Discord.

So I am going to start this story off with something sad -- a couple of years ago, my wife and I had a daughter that was stillborn.

It took some time, but eventually we started to try again to have another kid.

For our anniversary this year, my wife booked a romantic getaway out of town. Our daughter was all set to stay with my wife's parents.

A couple of days before the trip, my in-laws let my wife know they had Covid and couldn't watch her.

Okay, fine -- we'll take her with us. Well, long story short she ended up ruining that trip.

Fast forward a couple more months and we decide to have a do-over. We are going on a nice trip together, just the two of us. And guess what? My wife is going to be fertile during that time.

She is 40 now and declaredls that if she doesn't get pregnant this time, she is giving up -- so the stakes are high.

We spend a nice day together and head to the hotel at the check-in time -- 4:00. I find out my wife bought a special package where they will send up champagne and a charcuterie board to the room, which she schedules for 5:00.

This gives us some time to unpack and take a nice relaxing bath before the goodies arrive. Then, once we are a little tipsy, we can get to baby-making.

So 5:00 rolls by, and nothing happens. That's okay, we are watching the Office on TBS and relaxing.

At 5:30, my wife decides to call the front desk as we are getting a little hungry and can't quite let loose until we know no one will be interrupting us.

No one answers. She tries calling on her cell phone, and again no answer. It falls upon me to get dressed and go down to the lobby.

The receptionist apologizes and says she will contact the kitchen to get things going.

6:30 rolls on by and we are still waiting. I call and am able to reach the front desk. The receptionist apologizes profusely and says she will again talk to the kitchen.

At 6:45, they finally arrive. I excitedly open the wine, and my wife takes a look at the charcuterie board, which is ... disappointing.

IMG_20211219_191513.jpg
IMG_20211219_191513.jpg (3.43 MiB) Viewed 5790 times


It's the be weirdest charcuterie I've ever seen. It's got pickles, pickled ginger, pickled hot peppers, and ... more pickled ginger?

As for cheese, there is a tiny slice of brie and piece of blue cheese that looks like it has been sitting out all day.

There are a couple slices of ham, a slice of some kind of paté, and a small bunch of grapes.

There are two other pieces of "toast," a term which I use loosely because while it is technically toasted bread, it is soggy and seems like it has been left out for a long period of time.

My wife and I both struggle to figure out how to enjoy this before giving up after about two bites. It is all just too disgusting.

She decides to write an email to them letting them know of our bad experience, but for me this is too much -- I am going to go down in person and return the food and try to get a refund on the special package (we decided to keep the wine, because we felt like we deserved it).

Now, for a little background, I have spent almost 20 years in customer service, 8 years of that with a restaurant synonymous with mediocre food.

I am very much the type-B introverted person who will go to all lengths not to complain or make a fuss, but this has got me riled up.

I go down and hand the plate to the receptionist. I let her know how unhappy I am with the food and the situation in general.

She apologizes once again and says she will have the restaurant manager come out to talk with me.

I sit in a comfy chair and people-watch as I wait, my anger subsiding a little. What am I doing here? Am I really one of those people who asks to speak with the manager?

I have to reinforce to myself that I have a legitimate reason to be upset and that I am not just overreacting or being dramatic.

The receptionist comes over and apologizes again -- the restaurant manager is very busy and cannot come out now to speak with me, but he will call up to the room to speak with me when he can.

More importantly, she says they will credit our bill $100 -- that's a relief. I swear, I am not fishing for free stuff, but it is nice for them to offer.

I go up, and patiently wait ... again. Fortunately, after about 15 minutes the phone rings.

I answer the call, and a man asks me if I want to order food. I'm a little confused, but I launch into the series of mishaps that has led us to this point.

"Oh, you didn't like the pickled vegetables?" he asks.

No, I did not. He asks again if we want anything to eat, and we decide that a fried chicken sandwich would be nice.

A short time later the same person who delivered the charcuterie board knocks on the door and hands me the chicken sandwich before fleeing as quickly as possible.

I hindsight, I realize now that this is who I spoke with on the phone, not the restaurant manager. I feel a little bad because while I definitely did not yell or personally attack anyone, this person could feel like I was directing things at him.

To be fair, though, I was supposed to speak with the restaurant manager, and he never introduced himself, thereby implying he was the manager.

Anyway, the sandwich is delicious, and we are finally able to relax. But before we can get hot and heavy, the phone rings.

I tell the receptionist that the sandwich was good and we are all set. She apologizes again and offers something called the "Bath Butler."

"Bath Butler?" I ask, not sure if I have heard her correctly. The receptionist gives an explanation, but I don't quite understand through her heavy accent.

I look at my wife, and she whispers to me that the Bath Butler is where someone comes up to your room and draws you a fancy bath.

"Oh, no thank you, that is quite alright." The idea of being bothered again is terrible and I am just ready to move on with my night.

Okay, we are ready to relax for real now. The clothes start coming off, and -- a knock at the door? What the hell?

I answer, very clearly not bothering to put any of my clothes back on. I peer out, and what do I see? I see what could accurately be described as a damn Bath Butler.

She launches into a spiel of, "We heard about your situation and felt really bad, so..."

The dawn of recognition hits her face as she sees that I am clearly not fully dressed.

"... we wanted to give you these items."

She shoves some bath salts, slippers, and lemon bars in my hands and retreats quickly with a "Oh God, I'm sorry to disturb you" look on her face.

I belatedly grab the "Privacy, please" sign and hang it on the door.

I return to bed, but the mood has been thoroughly killed.

We decide to try again tomorrow morning.

My wife is a bit of a coffee snob, so once she wakes up she decides to go downstairs to the coffee bar instead of using the inferior coffee maker in the room.

Now is a good time to mention that the elevators only work by inserting your room key.

Anyway, she gets us coffees to go, and hops in the elevator.

The door closes, and she tries to hold the coffees while sticking the card key in the slot. She eventually manages it by holding it in her mouth through her mask, but the system does not recognize her card.

After repeated attempts, she hits the button for the lobby, but that doesn't work either.

She ends up having to hit the emergency button in the elevator, and she finally ends up back in the lobby.

They recharge the room key, but by now the coffees are lukewarm. She dumps them and returns, defeated, to the room to make coffee.

Last thing-- did I mention the decor? Every available wall is plastered with paintings from the same artist which are ugly and grotesque.

On their own, this would not have been a big deal, but every trip down to the lobby felt like an insult on top of injury with the creepy portraits staring at me.

IMG_20211220_090748830.jpg
IMG_20211220_090748830.jpg (4.62 MiB) Viewed 5790 times


IMG_20211220_100735870.jpg
IMG_20211220_100735870.jpg (5.31 MiB) Viewed 5790 times
  • 8

User avatar
IamNotCreepy
TCS Admin
TCS Admin
 
Posts: 1521
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2015 5:00 am
Location: Inside the "Cone of Uncertainty"
Show rep
Title: Chasing after the Wind

Re: The rant thread.

Postby JamishT » Wed Dec 22, 2021 12:09 am

I worked at a Holiday Inn Express (so our only food was at breakfast), but that rant both brings back some fun memories of stress and reinforces my belief that all hotels are complete shitshows behind the scenes.
  • 7

JamishT was a heck of a guy,
With a devilish twinkle in his eye.
With his hand-picked flowers,
And his feel-good powers,
He made all the girls blush and sigh.
User avatar
JamishT
TCS ModerBlobber
TCS ModerBlobber
 
Posts: 5579
Joined: Tue Apr 16, 2013 4:31 pm
Location: KC, MO, AMERICA
Show rep
Title: The Wannabe Adult

Re: The rant thread.

Postby NathanLoiselle » Wed Dec 22, 2021 1:49 pm

I, too, am a shitshow behind the scenes.
  • 6

User avatar
NathanLoiselle
TCS Junkie
TCS Junkie
 
Posts: 4484
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2014 3:49 am
Location: You'll Never Know!
Show rep

Re: The rant thread.

Postby Krashlia » Mon Dec 27, 2021 12:06 pm

I once encountered an editorial article about an author not expecting the pandemic to end, while expecting restrictions to simply continue. It was sickening. I'm starting to see more clearly why the sin of Despair is considered unforgivable.
  • 2

User avatar
Krashlia
TCS Junkie
TCS Junkie
 
Posts: 2155
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 6:44 am
Show rep

Re: The rant thread.

Postby NathanLoiselle » Mon Dec 27, 2021 11:04 pm

Despair is a sin? Since when? Can I go to hell for despairing that I'll despair too much.
  • 2

User avatar
NathanLoiselle
TCS Junkie
TCS Junkie
 
Posts: 4484
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2014 3:49 am
Location: You'll Never Know!
Show rep

Re: The rant thread.

Postby jbobsully11 » Mon Dec 27, 2021 11:43 pm

Krashlia wrote:I'm starting to see more clearly why the sin of Despair is considered unforgivable.


sin of Despair


But... it has its own website and everything... (Though to be fair, I think it started going downhill ever since they let customers come up with demotivators.)
  • 1

Crimson847 wrote:In other words, transgender-friendly privacy laws don't molest people, people molest people.

(Presumably, the only way to stop a bad guy with a transgender-friendly privacy law is a good guy with a transgender-friendly privacy law, and thus transgender-friendly privacy law rights need to be enshrined in the Constitution as well)
User avatar
jbobsully11
TCS Moderator
TCS Moderator
 
Posts: 3644
Joined: Mon Apr 15, 2013 10:22 pm
Location: not the outskirts of nowhere anymore, NJ, USA
Show rep
Title: The Chronically Underemployed

Re: The rant thread.

Postby Krashlia » Tue Dec 28, 2021 9:40 pm

NathanLoiselle wrote:Despair is a sin? Since when? Can I go to hell for despairing that I'll despair too much.


Yes, its a sin. The idea is that at some point, you're not merely being a bit of a sad sack who's letting worry getting the better of him. Instead, what you're doing is completely denying the power and assurances (hope) of God. Its part of the reason why people who commit suicide go to hell, because you're not only presuming your life belongs to you, and commiting a category of murder, but you disposed of the very idea that God can do anything for you right as you die.

In this case, with that article writer, this guy isn't fine with just assuming pandemic things will go on for longer than expected. He feels free to write off the idea that the pandemic will be over at all. Worse yet, he feels a need to try to impress that on others. Combining his obnoxious feelings with his absolutely absurd thinking, and spewing that into a world inclined to take him seriously and draft policy accordingly.

jbobsully11 wrote:
Krashlia wrote:I'm starting to see more clearly why the sin of Despair is considered unforgivable.


sin of Despair


But... it has its own website and everything... (Though to be fair, I think it started going downhill ever since they let customers come up with demotivators.)


By the looks of it, it provably had a more interesting appearance. Looks bland, now.
  • 2

User avatar
Krashlia
TCS Junkie
TCS Junkie
 
Posts: 2155
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 6:44 am
Show rep

Re: The rant thread.

Postby jbobsully11 » Thu Dec 30, 2021 12:52 am

A few days ago, my work sent out a mass e-mail about our retirement accounts. I couldn't get to the page they said I needed to get to, so I was going to call them today. It turns out I'm supposed to type my password into my phone to get to my account on their system.

I have special characters in my password.

I was going to reply to the person from my company who sent the e-mail, but it seems to have disappeared.
  • 4

Crimson847 wrote:In other words, transgender-friendly privacy laws don't molest people, people molest people.

(Presumably, the only way to stop a bad guy with a transgender-friendly privacy law is a good guy with a transgender-friendly privacy law, and thus transgender-friendly privacy law rights need to be enshrined in the Constitution as well)
User avatar
jbobsully11
TCS Moderator
TCS Moderator
 
Posts: 3644
Joined: Mon Apr 15, 2013 10:22 pm
Location: not the outskirts of nowhere anymore, NJ, USA
Show rep
Title: The Chronically Underemployed

Re: The rant thread.

Postby Malfeasinator » Wed Jan 12, 2022 5:40 pm

I slept for 17 hours, yesterday and into this morning.

I'm beginning to believe I might be overworked.
  • 4

User avatar
Malfeasinator
Time Waster
Time Waster
 
Posts: 1039
Joined: Sat Jul 27, 2013 5:17 pm
Location: Florida
Show rep
Title: this guy

Re: The rant thread.

Postby jbobsully11 » Mon Jan 17, 2022 11:33 pm

Last night, we got a weird mix of snow, ice, and rain. I thought work might be canceled today, but I went to bed early (9:30 PM*) just in case it wasn't.

I woke up around 2 AM for no apparent reason, then spent close to three hours cursing the universe and everything in it. I called my work a little before 5 to see if I had to go in, and ofc I did. So I got up early, had a giant mug of coffee, and drove through the slush to work. And now I know how a zombie feels.


*Get off my lawn.
  • 5

Crimson847 wrote:In other words, transgender-friendly privacy laws don't molest people, people molest people.

(Presumably, the only way to stop a bad guy with a transgender-friendly privacy law is a good guy with a transgender-friendly privacy law, and thus transgender-friendly privacy law rights need to be enshrined in the Constitution as well)
User avatar
jbobsully11
TCS Moderator
TCS Moderator
 
Posts: 3644
Joined: Mon Apr 15, 2013 10:22 pm
Location: not the outskirts of nowhere anymore, NJ, USA
Show rep
Title: The Chronically Underemployed

Re: The rant thread.

Postby NathanLoiselle » Tue Jan 18, 2022 6:39 am

My wife goes to bed at 8:00
  • 2

User avatar
NathanLoiselle
TCS Junkie
TCS Junkie
 
Posts: 4484
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2014 3:49 am
Location: You'll Never Know!
Show rep

Re: The rant thread.

Postby JamishT » Wed Jan 19, 2022 1:33 am

NathanLoiselle wrote:My wife goes to bed at 8:00


Yeah she does

Image
  • 3

JamishT was a heck of a guy,
With a devilish twinkle in his eye.
With his hand-picked flowers,
And his feel-good powers,
He made all the girls blush and sigh.
User avatar
JamishT
TCS ModerBlobber
TCS ModerBlobber
 
Posts: 5579
Joined: Tue Apr 16, 2013 4:31 pm
Location: KC, MO, AMERICA
Show rep
Title: The Wannabe Adult

Re: The rant thread.

Postby NathanLoiselle » Thu Jan 20, 2022 8:03 pm

So Bestbuy asked for a review of the laptop I bought from them. And dammit all to hell if I didn't have to give a glowingly positive review. My inability to be disappointed is starting to get to me.
  • 0

User avatar
NathanLoiselle
TCS Junkie
TCS Junkie
 
Posts: 4484
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2014 3:49 am
Location: You'll Never Know!
Show rep

PreviousNext

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests

cron