Let's get to know each other

Why is it, these days, when you go on a course, or go to an evening class, or go to anywhere where there is a group of people; you have to introduce yourself and talk a little bit about yourself and tell the rest of the group why you're there, what you're hoping to get out of the course, what your past experiences are, what you've done in your life, etc, etc, etc.

It really annoys me.

If I go on a course or I do an evening class in something that interests me; I do it because I want to be there.  I don't do it because I want to find out why everyone else in the class is doing it.  I'm doing it because I actually want to learn something.  Spending more than half an hour (during a 2 hour class) listening to other people wittering on about why they are there, is of absolutely no interest to me.  If I want to find out about their lives I will ask them.

Sometimes when one goes on courses or does classes, one just 'clicks' with the other people.  After all I guess we all have a shared interest.  And if that is the case, then I am perfectly capable of making some new friends.  And once I have made some new friends, then I can find out about all the reasons why they are doing the course.

It does my head in!  Why do all course leaders feel the need to do this?  Do they think it 'bonds' us to each other?  Do they think that because of the time it takes, they will not have to teach us so much?  Do they genuinely think this 'sharing of information' will make the learning process better?

And what of the people who do not want to speak in front of a group, but who do want to learn?  For people of my age (57 years old) we did not grow up in the era of where we had to do personal presentations at school.  If we were shy we could just fade into the background.  All this 'public speaking' will surely be scaring a lot of people off.  If I had left school at 16 years old because I hated it and hadn't gained any qualifications, and then in my 50s or 60s decided to do an adult education class in something that interested me.........................  If someone asked me to stand up in front of the rest of the class and talk about why I was there and what I hoped to gain from the course..............  I certainly would not be coming back the following week.

From a personal point of view, I have had a lot of experience of speaking in front of a lot of people.  However, having said that; I find it very difficult to speak in front of a lot of people in a personal situation.  I don't want to have to tell everyone why I'm doing a particular course.  I don't think it's anybody's business why I have personally chosen to do a particular course.  I'm doing the course because I want to learn something or I'm interested in something.

Gone are the days when I am doing an evening class because I'm hoping to meet the 'love of my life'.  I remember years ago, I started an evening class in Spanish.  After a few weeks I gave it up because I wasn't learning anything and a male friend said, 'Oh well, there's not much point anyway if there's nobody you fancy there'???

Mmmmmmm............................  That wasn't actually why I was doing it.  I was doing it because I wanted to go and live in Spain.

I was going to say that I've never, ever done an evening class in the hope of meeting the 'love of my life'..................  But actually, about 30 years ago I applied to do an evening class in car mechanics because I thought it would be a good place to meet men???  Turned out that only 5 girls had applied for the course and it had to be cancelled due to lack of numbers.

BUT years ago, doing an evening class or going on a course through work, was so much simpler.  You were there to learn.  You didn't have to go through all this palaver of introducing yourself to everyone else and telling them why you were there and what you hoped to get out of the class.  You didn't have to evaluate it afterwards either.  You just did it.  You learnt something.  And you left the class feeling that you had actually accomplished something.

And if you had a bit of an informal chit chat with someone while having a coffee break then all well and good.

These days, every single thing has to be evaluated.  Why are you doing the course?  What are you hoping to get out of the course?  What do you think about how the course has been taught?  Would you recommend the course?  Would you do another course?  On a scale of 1-10............................ etc, etc, etc, etc,.

It's enough to put anyone off doing any kind of course ever again!!!

Sometimes life is hard

Sometimes, day to day life all gets a bit much.  Sometimes, day to day life isn't easy to cope with by oneself.  Sometimes, the smallest of tasks, seem to be really daunting, even though when one looks at them logically; they aren't actually a problem at all.  Sometimes, one just has to take a 'step back' and remind oneself that there are worse things that happen in the world, than whatever it is that one is currently ranting about.

I'm 57 years old. I'm a 'ranting middle aged spinster'. And sometimes life is hard. Sometimes being on one's own is really hard. Sometimes it would be nice to have just a teeny, weeny, little bit of emotional support.

Most of the time I love my life. I love being able to do what I want to do, when I want to do it. I love being able to watch whatever I want to watch on TV, without a partner switching the TV onto the football channel and then falling asleep and then miraculously waking up when I change channels. I love watching all the 'soaps'.

I love being in control of my own life.

But sometimes, just sometimes, a little bit of emotional support would be lovely.

Sometimes, it's really hard being a woman on your own. Sometimes you just need a man to hold your hand, or reassure you, or be there for you, or even just to stand next to you while you are completing important negotiations.

Sometimes it's very hard being a 'Ranting Middle Aged Spinster'.

Not quite sure whether this is a RANT or a plea for emotional support??

I love my life, I really do.

BUT here lies the problem. Sometimes I don't want to be by myself. Sometimes I yearn for the emotional support that being in a relationship brings. Sometimes, I wonder whether I might die alone. And if I do die alone; would anyone care? But actually would I care? After all, if I'm dead; would I have the ability to care? Would I be sitting on some cloud, up in the sky somewhere, looking down on myself and thinking; I'm dead? Who cares? .................. Probably not a lot of people.

I would say; that 'Life as a Middle Aged Ranting Spinster', is positive about 95% of the time.  Unfortunately, when the 5% of negativity hits, it's like a bolt from the blue, and I feel like I'm not capable of doing anything???

...................I can't get a job, nobody loves me, I have no friends, I'm not capable of doing anything, my life is a mess, my hair is a mess, I'm fat, I'm old...........................  I just want to curl up and die.

Fortunately, for me, I have the ability to dig myself out of this depressing hole.

A lot of my friends are on 'anti-depressant's' and have 'health problems'.

And I think that is why, I can concentrate on just being me.  On a scale of 1 - 10, my life is probably a 9.

How many other people can say that???

Yes, I know this will seem like a very depressing RANT to a lot of you.  But that's what I do - I RANT.

At the end of the day; I love my life!!!!

Buying a new car - Take 2

So after my rant of 28th January (If I knew how to link it in I would - but I'm not very techie) I really thought that everything was sorted.  I thought that I would have a brand new shiny car on the 1st March.

Apparently not....................

6 days after I'd ordered my brand new shiny car, I get a phone call from salesperson M, to tell me that 'there has been a glitch at the other end' and my brand new shiny car is not actually available.  To say I am not very happy furious is an understatement.  I totally understand the 'glitch at the other end' excuse.  What I don't understand is; why it took 6 days for M to tell me that there had been a 'glitch at the other end'???

Obviously I'm angry and demand my deposit back; so off I go to another dealership to see if they can offer me another car.  They can. Whoopee Doo.  Yay!

Very, very young salesperson (I'm sure she's not even a teenager?) managed to secure me the same make of car, but a better model, at £200 cheaper.  Now whilst I'm obviously pleased about this; I still do not understand why the first dealership could not offer me the same deal?  This dealership is a 'chain' and, as such, I just assumed that they would all be working towards the same goals.  Apparently not so.

Anyway; it turns out that dealership 2 is actually not much better than dealership 1 in terms of customer service.......................

12 year old little girl (OK she's obviously not 12 years old but that's what I'm calling her for purposes of this blog) assured me that she would be in contact with me within a couple of days re a car registration number and a delivery date.

By day three, I hadn't heard from her, so phoned the dealership.  She wasn't there.  Apparently it was her day off.  I phoned the next day.  She was off sick but receptionist told me that my car had arrived and I could pick it up anytime I wanted.  When I asked what the registration number was (because I obviously need this before I can get insurance) I was put on hold for hours and then told someone would phone me back.  I'm still waiting?!!

The following day I phoned again and spoke to another receptionist, who put me on hold for ever, and then told me that the 12 year old salesperson that I wanted to talk to was off sick.  I asked if I could speak to someone else regarding my car and she put me on hold again forever and then said she'd get someone to phone me back.  No one phoned me back.  Seriously not happy.

Just how hard is it to buy a car these days?

I remember years ago...................  and I'm going back to the 1960/70s here........................ my Dad used to buy a new car every few years and he just used to go into a garage and 'haggle' with the salesperson (who was never a 12 year old girl from what I can remember).  He used to get a whole tank of petrol thrown in and lots of other goodies.  And he was shown respect because he was a 'cash buyer'.

These days, with credit and pay day loans and numerous other ways to get money, any old person can be a cash buyer, so nobody seems to have any respect.  These days, any old person can have a car.  You don't have to have a job, or a good income, or even a minimum zero hours contract job.  These days, a car is seen as a necessity and something that everyone 'needs' to have.  Like a TV or a washing machine or a dishwasher.

How did our society turn into this?

And yes; I'm well aware that 'ranting' about buying a car has turned into 'ranting' about a lot of other things............................... But hey ho, that's what I do.

I RANT!!! LOL!!!

Our systems are down!

Technology if used correctly and efficiently is great.  Technology, if it does not work, is not so great!

Today I went shopping at a large store which has outlets throughout the UK.  It was very hot in the large store and I started to feel a bit faint.  However, I had quite a few items that I wished to purchase so I concentrated on leaning on my trolley for support as I loaded it up with everything that I wished to buy.

When I got to the 'check out' I joined the shortest queue. There were only two operators working.  There is always only two check out operators working in this particular store, (which I am choosing not to 'name and shame' at this point).  I don't actually know what all the other tills are for?

Anyway, person in front of me, was having some sort of argument with the till operator which resulted in the supervisor being called.  That resulted in the two bags of rabbit food well it might have been guinea pig food that she was trying to purchase being weighed again.  And the weighing machine was a short distance from the till.  And she was also buying a couple of other things with a £20 note but the total came to over £20.  To cut a very long story short...................  Customer was trying to tell checkout people that she'd been quoted £19 something, which is why she'd taken £20 out of the cash machine.  To be honest, the significance of this conversation meant nothing to me.  I was just concentrating on not passing out through the heat of the shop.  Eventually, 'customer in front of me' said she'd take the rabbit guinea pig food cos that was the most important thing and she didn't want the rest of her shopping.  I just thought, 'what a lovely lady putting her pets first'.  However, she did have a bit of a 'rant' at the staff as well, which to be totally honest, I thought was totally justified.

And then it was my turn...........................  I plied all my stuff onto the conveyor belt and the 'check out person' started checking it through.  I probably had more than £50's worth of stuff in my trolley.  Did I get any apology about the wait from the check out operator?  I did not.  Well that would never have happened at any of our well known supermarkets?!

So after pretty much everything had been checked through and I got out my credit card to pay;  'check out operator' says to me, 'It's cash only.  Our systems are down'. 

To say I was furious was an understatement!

OK, systems do go down; but surely if the store knew that their systems were down, they could have put a HUGE notice at the entrance of the store advising their customers of that?  And even if they didn't want to do that (because obviously that probably would make people not come into the store), they could at least, have had notices displayed by their check out points???

Sooooooo, sooooo angry!  I'm not angry that the store 'systems were down'.  I'm angry because I wasn't informed in advance.

To be honest, I think the store has a cash machine but as far as I'm concerned that's not the point.  As far as I'm concerned; if I get as far as the check out and then get told cards aren't accepted; I'm not happy.  This information should have been relayed to me before I'd almost fainted in the heat of the store?

So what I did was.........................  Moan to the check out operator (and it obviously wasn't her fault), leave all my shopping on her conveyor belt and go elsewhere to buy all my shopping!!!!!