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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 9, 2022 7:19:23 GMT
Did you get a dog yet Mick I was sorry to hear about your little doggie passing in October.
The RSPCA are quite demanding..we found The Dog's Trust more agreeable...we have a large Dogs Trust Centre about 10 miles from here as well as an RSPCA centre less than a mile away. The channel 4 show doesn't include all the screening that has already happened before prospective owners are invited to meet a dog.
We used to visit the RSPCA evry week and filled out all the forms. We wanted a smallish, younger dog. I wanted a girl and Jeff wanted a boy but we didn't really mind. Apparently there's no such thing as a mongrel anymore...'cross-breeds' is the new term and they seem to be fashionable now (especially if one of the ancestors is a poodle!) 6 months after signing up we still hadn't heard anything so looked at other local pet rescue places.
The day after we got Django from the Dogs Trust we had a phone call from the RSPCA to say that they had a dog that might met our needs..which of course we had to turn down.
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 9, 2022 8:54:33 GMT
Regret not Cheery. We can only have a small dog and there are precious few of them it seems.
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Post by casimira on Aug 9, 2022 14:36:55 GMT
Pardon me Mick but I was wondering about the dog you posted in the Pets thread. I think I may have missed any post about him/her of late.
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 9, 2022 15:16:50 GMT
I posted 2 dogs I think. Molly my Yorkiepoo and Luca my daughter's Beagle. Molly died last October and Luca last December. 2 lovely dogs who are very missed.
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Post by casimira on Aug 9, 2022 16:09:41 GMT
I did indeed miss seeing that. My belated condolences to you and yours. Always a sad time to lose a beloved member of the household.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 9, 2022 16:48:32 GMT
A big peeve is the habit people have of compulsively holding their cell phones upright for photos. You see it on stuff that could have been fantastic -- a video of whales breaching, for instance, or a group picture with the people on the ends cut off. The finished picture, depending on where posted, looks as though it was taken through a keyhole. Turn the damned phone sideways, people!
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 11, 2022 5:18:51 GMT
On facebook and other places I seem to see all too often someone asking questions like, I need a moving van tomorrow or I need a cake making for an anniversary tomorrow or is there a kennels for my dog whilst I go on holiday tomorrow or where can I buy school books for my kid who starts school in two days..... and so on. Stuff people have had plenty of notice about and all of a sudden it's urgent they need/get something.
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Post by questa on Aug 11, 2022 5:41:41 GMT
I had been sewing (machine) most of the day and was heartily sick of it. I do not like sewing as I make mistakes, break needles, lose threads and use language more suited to sailors, not tailors. Nine pm was not a good time for my son (AGED 10) to tell me he needed a "book bag" for the next day at school. He had known about it for 2 weeks. I set up the machine and on the 2nd broken needle threw the damn thing across the room!
I made him use a supermarket bag...Oh the shame, but he learnt about time management.
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Post by casimira on Aug 20, 2022 14:40:05 GMT
People who do not listen to specific instructions. I went to get my hair cut yesterday. There was only one person on duty at the time (it was one of those quickie places because I refuse to pay $100USD at a high end salon). My instructions were to trim my hair a couple of inches and if I then wanted more of it cut, I would say so. Before I knew it, he had chopped off 6 inches! I gasped. It was too late at that point. Infuriated does not even come close to how pissed off I was/am.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 20, 2022 16:26:52 GMT
I hope you refused to pay and lodged a complaint with the management.
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Post by Kimby on Aug 27, 2022 13:19:42 GMT
Casi, that sucks. But you really need to form a relationship with a hair cutter who “gets” you, and will do exactly what you ask.
Maybe try a barber shop, they tend to have lower prices, and there isn’t a law against a barber cutting a woman’s hair.
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Post by Kimby on Aug 27, 2022 13:28:37 GMT
The last few times I went to our Super-Walmart, there were only one or maybe two manned checkouts (next to 16 closed check stations) and everyone who doesn’t want to wait in a long line to have a human checkout is forced to use the self-check lines.
I get that they are short-handed, like every business is. But many, including old-dogs-new-tricks technology-resisters and those with a lot of produce, which is SO time-consuming to ring up yourself as it involves weighing and looking up codes, MUST use the human-operated checkout.
So my pet peeve is, WHY don’t they put their most experienced fastest checker on the only human-operated check station?
The last two times I was at Walmart, I waited in a long slow line for a teenaged checker (one might have been “on the spectrum”), and both times they were too young to ring up my wine purchase, and had to summon a manager!
Get with the program, Walmart! Customer service is what builds loyal customers. They aren’t even TRYING.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 27, 2022 15:31:13 GMT
Also, customers should be PAID to use the blankety-blank self check-out if they're forced to against their will.
In the same vein, give me a discount on my restaurant bill if you're so tacky, cheap, & lazy that you think it's okay for customers to have to use their cell phones to see the menu.
Edited to say that the part about the checker being so young that he has to call someone to ring up wine is appalling & speaks volumes about the management of that particular store.
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 27, 2022 15:33:28 GMT
Agree with you 100%. It’s just the same here.
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Post by bjd on Aug 27, 2022 16:39:35 GMT
My local supermarket has mostly human cashiers. Out of about 20 (rarely open at the same time except at the height of summer tourist season), there are 4 self-checkouts, in a separate area. There is always a human there to help anyone who has a problem. And you can't use them if you have a shopping cart, so mainly it's for fewer items. My son always goes to a human cashier and I have been told that is the case for many young people -- they want the jobs to be preserved. And it's friendlier to say hello and thankyou than to use an automatic thing. I only do it if there are long lines.
With produce, you don't have any codes to look up. Just tap on the picture of the food item and put the bag on a scale.
And I am bemused at the idea that a kid is old enough to work but not old enough to touch a bottle of wine.
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Post by Kimby on Aug 27, 2022 17:50:00 GMT
Bjd, clicking on the picture does bring up the code. And there are dozens of pictures. Is your grapefruit large or regular. Is it white corn or yellow corn or bicolor? Are the tomatoes hot house or on the vine or Roma? Drives me nuts.
Plus if I have a full cart, there’s not enough room in the bagging area to put all of it. (Or enough time to scan AND bag.) But if you remove a sack, the machine “knows” that you’ve taken something away that it has calculated the weight of, and it complains! I usually bring my own cloth bags, which the machine would probably react to as an “unscanned item in the bagging area”.
It’s a customer un-friendly system, except for those with only a few (mostly non-produce) items and no alcohol (manager approval necessary).
AND, with only 1 or 2 manned checkstands, there is usually a long queue for the self-service checkouts, anyway. Plus the “10 items or less” lanes have completely disappeared.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 27, 2022 17:59:33 GMT
I use the self checkout if I only have a couple of items. During the pandemic, on the rare occasion that we did a grocery shop instore, we had to use self checkout because that was all that was available. It was a frustrating experience if I had a 'big shop' to deal with on my own (we were supposed to shop on our own).
We are still having our groceries delivered for the most part...but I like to choose my own meat, poultry, fruit and vegetables...so about twice a month I try to get to a butchers and the city's market to stock up.
Our supermarkets employ young people (16+) during school holidays to cover busy periods or staff holidays. I worked at M&S in the food hall on Saturdays and during school holiays when I was a sixth former.
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Post by mich64 on Aug 27, 2022 19:01:37 GMT
We do use the self check out at Walmart, only because we only go there for a few things now and again. The cashier lines are few and the lines are long. I am always stressed when I have to go to Walmart.
At one of the grocery stores we frequent, I have noticed they took out the storage coolers they installed before COVID for online orders and have replaced that area with self checkout. You can still order online but I think you have to wait in the parking lot for someone to bring it out, probably because the coolers were moved to a staff only location. We did not lose any cashier lanes and they still have a cashier for 10 items or less and a second for 18 items or less, surprised but happy they have kept both.
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Post by Kimby on Aug 27, 2022 19:16:06 GMT
(Canadians are so civilized.)
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Post by Kimby on Aug 27, 2022 19:17:47 GMT
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 27, 2022 19:34:17 GMT
😂😂
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 27, 2022 19:43:15 GMT
Bingo!
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Post by lugg on Aug 27, 2022 21:17:49 GMT
Ha ha - replace Walmart with Tesco , Sainsburys, KB , Costco, Carrefour , Kroger , Spar etc etc and it becomes a universal pet peeve
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 27, 2022 21:23:26 GMT
Absolutely. Throw in Asda for me.
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Post by questa on Aug 27, 2022 23:51:54 GMT
And I'll throw in Woolworths aka "Woolies", Coles, Foodland (a chain of owner operated supermarkets) and recently *shudder* Aldi. The first 2 account for 85% of sales in Oz. they have the full scene as bjd has. ALL the staff have to know locations of goods and if you ask workers where some item is, they will lead you to the item and hand it to you.
Aldi made the classic mistake of underestimating the power of Aussie loyalty. They aimed for a start-up in a September but the shops were only a pile of building materials and goods were unattractive... Strike 1. Then there were hygiene reports which took them to court...Strike 2. Then people started looking at the 'wages and conditions' of the workers and found there was/is much exploitation, specially for juniors...Strike 3.
You may remember that Oz threw Starbuck's out of the country because their coffee was awful and overpriced.
One day I'll tell you how Spring Gully Pickles kept trading and how the Oz economy was saved by Tim Tam biscuits.
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 28, 2022 6:06:58 GMT
In Aldi and Lidl, the section of the checkout past the cashier is/seems far smaller than in normal supermarkets. I either read somewhere or worked out it is so you become forced to just pile stuff up in your trolley rather than taking time to bag the items so you clear the checkout quicker.
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 28, 2022 7:58:29 GMT
I refuse to shop at Aldi after they totally conned me.
We used to shop there for the freezer but in one week I had a pack of 2 gammon steaks which turned out to be just one, a pack of turkey steaks where the top one was a steak and the ones under were rashers and sirloin steak where the top one was fine and the hidden one underneath was pure gristle and inedible.
On complaining I was told to return the packaging and receipts to the store for a refund. Of course I had neither. Without them they offer nothing.
Never go there again.
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 28, 2022 12:21:21 GMT
Hah! Christmas, Carrefour, Cairo, about fifty of the same make radio/cd players stacked up on a display. Bought one. Took it home. CD player not working, took it back, told probably my CD is faulty, whipped out a dozen of my CD's, none worked. They gave me another device. Refused to leave the shop until they tried it. No CDs worked. Got them to grab any one of their CDs. They tried two and none worked. Told them to grab a random device off the stack and try that. They did. Not working. Tried another, still not working. Got my money back. Went back a week later for more shopping and shook head when saw still a bit less than fifty still on sale.
Christmas, Carrefour, Amman, went for decorations. Tubes and tubes of baubles containing about ten each. Not one tube had an unbroken set. Saw two white men in suits surrounded by several workers, got closer and waited and listened. The two men were conversing in French with each other and Arabic with the workers. Big bosses then. Walked in front of them, said, "Bonjour" (the extent of my French unless I ask to to be a pen friend or want three baguettes). Knew without a doubt they had to speak English, or at least risked it. Held out a tube of broken baubles and asked them to find me a tube where they were all complete. Any colours, not bothered, but none broken. They sent off a worker, I followed him, couldn't find on the very large display a complete tube. Walked with him back to the bosses, he shook his head, mentioned they may need to improve their quality control and handling techniques and walked off.
PicknPay, Lusaka, asked manager to find me an unbruised apple. Any make, any size, any colour. But no bruises. Couldn't. Then watched with him as worker got a carboard box full of granny smith's, tipped them from nearly above his head onto the display, about a third falling onto the floor from where he picked them up and added them to the display. Looked at the manager and walked off.
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Post by questa on Aug 28, 2022 23:03:11 GMT
Busy, pre-holiday time. Aldi running out of stock so several big delivery trucks unloading at the rear of the store. Local citizen taking a short-cut through the delivery bay whips out his phone and records several trays of freshly made sandwiches as they fall onto the dirty ground. He films the store manager and other suits picking up the food and arranging it on the platters again, then taking them into the store, Local citizen takes records to TV channel that loves scandal...Oh Happy Days! The Court also had a field day but that Aldi ran at a loss for ages.
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Post by patricklondon on Oct 7, 2022 16:48:54 GMT
Today I saw this year's first Christmas tree. And the supermarket in question is re-organising all its shelves to make room for all the Christmas goods (order your turkey by 1 December), to boot. My blog | My photos | My video clips | My Librivox recordings"too literate to be spam"
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