NO thanks - Is politeness dead?

I've given this the title of 'NO thanks - is politeness dead' because I'm really angry that youngsters today don't seem to bother to thank people for presents they've received.

To be honest I'm only referring to my own nephews and niece in this rant.  Other youngsters may be different.  I don't know. 

I made the decision, more than 30 years ago, that I wouldn't actually buy my friends kids presents for their birthdays, etc.  I made this decision because years ago, everyone just seemed to be having babies and I had the insight to realise that buying presents for babies could actually last a life time.  Yes, when friends had babies I turned up after they'd been born with a gift, and yes I went to the numerous baby showers, with a gift.  BUT.................... for me.................. that's where it ended.

...................Except for my two nephews and niece.

Obviously I still buy my nephews and niece pressies for their birthdays and Christmas.  But do I get any thanks for this?  I do not?  Is this because they just assume that their Auntie will always be there to throw gifts at them?  I don't know.  Is it because society is so materialistic these days that they just expect to be showered with gifts on their birthdays? Is it because they haven't been taught to say 'thank you'?  I find that very hard to believe because my sister has 'brought the kids up proper'.  But may be she's just not reminding them any more that they actually need to thank people for gifts???

Actually, I have to say that my 'middle nephew' always says 'thank you' for any gifts and he always thanks me for anything that I do for him...........................  So 'middle nephew Jack' you're excluded from this RANT!

Unfortunately oldest nephew and young niece (22  & 18 years old) don't seem to have the word 'Thank you' in their vocabulary?  Nephew was 22 in August & niece was 18 at the beginning Oct. Neither of them have bothered to thank me for their birthday pressies.

To me; that is just rude?  Even if they didn't like their pressies (which they actually wanted), they should at least say 'thank you'.

But ho hum, what do I know?.....................

......................I know that politeness costs nothing, I know that respect costs nothing, I know that my middle class nephew & niece live in such a 'cocooned world' that my meagre pressie to them obviously wasn't worthy of saying 'thank you' for.  And to be honest my 'meagre pressie' wasn't actually that meagre??  As I said above, my middle nephew always thanks me for everything.

I actually spent a lot of money on pressies for my nephew and niece.  I'm working in a 'minimum wage' job.  I wouldn't even like to think how many hours I've had to work to buy what I bought them both for their birthdays.  But because they live in this 'middle class' bubble, they obviously don't realise that they need to thank anybody for anything. 

Whatever they want, Daddy can afford...................... and whatever problems they have............... Mummy can just sort out.

#notsurehowmiddlenephewhasturnedoutsonormal

Sexual harrassment

So today the 'news' is full of females who have been 'sexually harassed'.  Females who have worked in parliament and have been degraded by men.  Females who have kept quiet because they thought that was how life in the work place was.  Females who didn't think that they would have a 'voice' or females who thought they wouldn't be believed.

Today, at work, a man touched me on my arm while asking me a question.  His mates all said, 'You can't do that.  She can accuse you of sexual harassment.' My reply to that was; 'I haven't got to my age in life without a bit of sexual harassment. I think I can cope with someone touching me on the arm.'

Soooo................... the questions is.................... what exactly is 'sexual harassment'?

I entered the workplace in the early 1980s where men were men & women were women.  Actually I entered the workforce long before that but for sexual harassment purposes lets skip to 1980 I distinctly remember in 1980 working in a temporary office job, and my sister came in to visit me, and my boss said; 'She's got bigger tits than you'.  It was true - she did have bigger tits than me.  My boss had made an accurate observation.  Was I upset by his comment?  Probably - but only because he had voiced what I already knew - my sister did have bigger tits than me.  Did I feel undervalued or less of a woman because of what he said?  No I didn't because I think at the grand old age of 20 years old................. I just thought................... what a silly little Pratt he is.  He was probably only in his 30s and had a wife and two kids and I remember feeling sorry for her and the kids because I thought he was such a wanker.  He used to swan around the place with his beer belly toppling over the top of his trousers, thinking he was GOD!

Things haven't actually changed that much in the last 30 years......................

................Men are still men................. And women are still women.

However.......................... it would seem that the men still seem to think they can do what they want to women .....................And the women are rebelling.

Today if a 'manager' said to an 'employee' - 'Your sister has bigger tits than you', that would be seen as sexual harassment, the employee's self esteem would be at rock bottom, they'd have to have counselling for such a traumatic comment and would probably have to be signed off work for months while they got over the stress of it all.  Seriously???

Whilst I am not 'dissing' anyone's genuine experiences of stress, anxiety or depression....................  Let's just get a bit real here peeps.....................

..................What exactly is sexual harassment???

Sexual harassment is not someone touching you on the arm, it's not someone saying your sister has bigger tits than you, it's not someone commenting on how good looking you are.

To be honest, I'm not actually sure how I would define sexual harassment..............................

....................Guess I'd better do a bit of googling.......................

Are 'fat' people unfit?

I've just been reading a magazine article entitled, 'Are fat people unfit'?  And to be honest I'm not sure if I know the answer to that question.

However, there does seem to be a lot more 'fat' people around these days than there ever was when I was a child.  I have also read an article (in a high class newspaper) this week that said that the 'average family' eats out/has a takeaway three times a week.  To be honest, I find that hard to believe.  Eating out and take aways are not cheap.  How can the 'average family' afford to do that?

Anyway; to get back to; 'Are fat people unfit?'..........................  I'm not sure....................

I have a few 'fat' friends.  I also have some 'skinny' friends.  Are my fat friends less fit than my skinny friends?...................... I honestly don't know?  My 'fat' friends go to the gym, go swimming, go walking.  My 'skinny' friends drink copious quantities of alcohol, are always out eating and never seem to do any kind of exercise.

Sooooooo........................  how do we measure if someone is unfit, unhealthy, medically overweight?

...............That's another question that I don't know the answer to.

However, today I spent the day with two 'fat' friends.  And to be honest both of them have lost a couple of stone over the last few months.  BUT their attitude to food and mine is completely different.

We all had a bacon & (fried)sausage roll at about 11am, (friends then had a 'jammy dodger biscuit).  We went for a three and a half mile walk (which was pretty much on the flat) ending up at a pub for lunch at 2pm-ish.  I was still full from the bacon & sausage roll so opted for a 'small' portion of 'haddock & chips'.  One of my friends had a HUGE portion of 'scampi & chips' and the other had 'French onion soup and then deep fried brie'.  (Obviously both were high calories choices??)

After that I had a black coffee and they had some more 'Jammy Dodgers'.

And then I wanted to go for another walk but they were like........................ we've done a lot of exercise today.

It's very difficult to know whether fat people are unfit or not.  I don't actually consider myself to be 'fat'........................ BUT I do consider myself to be unfit (even though at the moment I'm swimming 200 lengths a week and walking for 2 hours a day).

I guess everything is relative???  Ie, I'm not 'fat' compared to 'fat' people.  I'm not 'unfit' compared to unfit people.

.....................However, compared to fit, skinny, energetic people.......................... I'm a big fat slob. LOL!!!!

What's your postcode?

Sooooo today I was in a 'well known supermarket' at the checkout.  I'd just paid for all my shopping, when the young, spotty, teenage, checkout operator, asked, 'What's your postcode?'

I'd only bought a few things and I'd paid with cash so I replied; 'Why do you need to know that?'................

Spotty teenager: 'Oh ummm, oh ummm'

Me: 'WHY do you need my postcode?'

Spotty teenager: 'We're doing a survey to see how far people have travelled to shop here.'

Bearing in mind I am a 'Ranting Middle Aged Spinster' who lives in the South West where the tourism industry is HUGE.......................... And there are loads of caravan sites and camping sites and holiday lets and B&Bs, etc etc........................  This to me seemed like a pretty stupid question.

Me: 'So if I'm on holiday here do you want my home address postcode or my holiday address postcode?'

Spotty teenager: Oh ummmm oh ummmm, home postcode'.

Me: OK, so say I live in Grimbsy, that was the first place that popped into my head does 'well known supermarket' want to know how far I've travelled to shop here?'

Spotty teenager: 'Yes'

Me: 'That's ridiculous.  I've bought 3 bottles of wine, a loaf of bread and some mushrooms.  Do you really think I am going to travel all the way from Grimbsy to buy that?  And do you actually know where Grimbsy is?'

Spotty teenager: 'No'.

Me:  Grimbsy is hundreds of miles away so do you really think I would travel hundreds of miles to buy 3 bottles of wine, some mushrooms and a loaf of bread?'

Spotty teenage checkout operator looks embarrassed so I feel sorry for him.

Me:  This is a really stupid survey.  It's not your fault.  I know you're only being paid to do what 'well known supermarket' is asking you to do but seriously, this is a ridiculous survey.  Have the management told you why they are doing this survey and what they hope to achieve from it?'

Spotty teenager looks even more embarrassed!  Obviously hasn't got a clue why he's being asked to ask people for their postcodes.

Sooooooo I have three things to say here.............................

1)  Why do 'big companies' not treat their staff like human beings and explain things properly?

2)  Why does everything have to be evaluated?

3)  What is wrong with personal service and good old communication?

And also, why is 'well known supermarket' taking everyone's postcode to see how far they've travelled to shop in their store???  Absolute madness???  Holiday makers will shop in the shop because it's convenient.  It's the nearest supermarket.  As I said above, if I lived in Grimbsy (which I don't), I wouldn't be making a round trip of 600 miles to buy a loaf of bread, mushrooms and 3 bottles of wine???

.....................Holiday makers will shop in the nearest supermarket to where they are staying.....................

'Well known supermarket' - I think your survey is worthless!!!!!

Let's see how much compensation we can get

Soooooooo, my last post was a bit of a rant about holiday makers leaving a holiday let property in a bit of a mess.

For those of you who haven't read any of my other RANTS - I'm a scrubber executive housekeeper?!!  I clean holiday let properties in the summer.

Todays post is going to be about holiday makers leaving a property in so much of a mess that it actually looked like the whole place had been trashed.  Actually it didn't just look like it had been trashed - It had been trashed??!!

I CANNOT believe that people who come on holiday and stay in someone else's home have so little respect whilst living in another property.  It is absolutely unbelievable how some holiday makers treat their holiday homes.  ..................And I have to say; it's usually the holiday makers in the 'upper social scale' of society that tend to leave the properties in the worst possible case.

Take my latest clean............................. 2 doctors and 3 squealy brats staying for one week.

One wet mattress, one broken bed, one broken blind, two broken curtain rails, one missing ornament, 3 bags of rubbish removed from the property, 2 broken body boards just left in the kitchen, every single bin in the property full to overflowing and used paper hankies/wet wipes/paper/etc, etc, etc,  just left on the floor in every single room.  Crockery left on the draining board and in the sink and crockery/pans/glasses that had actually been put away all needed to be re-washed.  Laundry basket and a bath sheet and a towel and loads of pegs just on the floor on the balcony.

Oh and a clothes airer was just left in the middle of the living room floor and a step-stool was left in the middle of a bedroom floor.  And every single window had horrible little fingerprints on it.

......................And I've just spoken to the Letting Agents......................

...................Apparently............... these holiday makers are demanding £200 in compensation because some moss fell off the roof onto the balcony????

#theworldhasgonemad

Executive housekeeping & holiday lets

I've ranted about scrubbing executive housekeeping before but seriously................. it seems like I have to have a RANT every August.  I soooooo hate holiday makers in August.

I'm probably going to RANT about the same old things that I ranted about last August and probably the August before that and the August before that???  But August holiday makers are an absolute nightmare.  The respect for other people's property is non-existent!  I know - I've looked after two holiday lets for more than 10 years.

Most of the year looking after holiday lets is a well paid, relatively easy job.  Outwith the school summer holidays, visitors seem to look after the properties they are staying in and there are never any major incidents.

That all changes in August.............................

In August the whole world seems to arrive in the South West and the whole world arrives with squealy brats, dogs (that they haven't actually told the letting agents about, but that's a whole other rant) and extra people (that they haven't actually told the letting agents about: again a whole other rant).  And every meal they have is either a takeaway where they just leave the remains strewn around the kitchen.  Or a fry up where they think it is totally acceptable to just shove all the greasy pans back into a cupboard.

Much as I don't want to have to wash horrible greasy pans; I would far rather they had been left out so I knew what I had to wash, rather than having to trawl through cupboards and re-wash every single item.  Oh and while I'm having a bit of a rant about dirty pans...................... why do holiday makers feel the need to 're-organise' every single cupboard and every single item of furniture???  I totally understand that the 'owners' of the property may not have organised their house in the way that holiday makers may have done.  And I totally understand that holiday makers may like to rearrange things to suit their weeks' stay.  Actually I don't understand that - you're on holiday................... does it really matter which drawer the cutlery is in, or if a chair is somewhere that you wouldn't have placed it?  But what I don't understand is...................... if you're staying in a holiday let and you move stuff around; why would you not have respect for the owners and move it back when you leave???

I've actually discussed 'August holiday makers' with quite a few people and one of my friends (who lives 'up country', has three kids and has stayed in holiday lets in the South West on numerous occasions) said that perhaps because the rentals are so high in August that people on holiday don't feel they have to do anything.  I can totally understand that but there's a difference between 'not doing anything' and totally disrespecting someone's  property??

Is it really ever OK to 'over occupy' (that will invalid the insurance should anything happen), allow dogs to poo on a balcony or in a communal area and just expect someone else to pick up after you leave, allow children to eat sweets/other stuff in bed and throw all the wrappers and discarded food under the bed, move the furniture around and change where all the crockery/cutlery is stored?  To say nothing about leaving a bath so dirty that soaking it in 3 hours of bleach and then scrubbing it for another half an hour still doesn't get it cleaned............................  Grrr...................

Renting a 'holiday let' IS expensive in the South West (it's a desirable location to go on holiday) but owning a holiday home here is not as lucrative as one might think. 

.................Most of the holiday let agencies are charging almost 20% for the privilege of owners renting out their properties.  Cleaning charges are about £20ph.  Then there's council tax, gas/electricity bills, wifi, TV licence, water bills, etc, etc, etc.  And also the charges for ridiculous 'call outs' where visitors say that there's something wrong, but it turns out that there's not?  Take today, for example; I'd finished cleaning property No.1 and was busy cleaning property No. 2 when I noticed that a maintenance man was in property No.1.  Letting agent had sent him to look at the shower hose because visitor had written on the feedback form that it was leaking.  As I'd just cleaned the shower using the shower hose I knew that it wasn't leaking.  And maintenance man confirmed this.  Why holiday letting agents hadn't just called me to check if there was a problem I don't know? But who is going to pay for this totally unnecessary call out?  The owners of course.  Not the holiday makers, who've had their holiday and are now on the way home.  And not the holiday letting agents who have absolutely no qualms about spending someone else's money.

Renting a holiday let in the South West is very expensive.  As I've said before, it's a very desirable location.

......................BUT .............................. just  a note to all you holiday makers......................  I know someone who rented out their two bed-roomed property for almost £1000.00 for a week in August.  Letting agent took 20%, visitor left iron on floor, new carpet was £300.  Why would you put an iron on a floor?  And with all the other bills that they had to pay they made £89.45 for a week long booking that had cost the visitors more than £1000???

Just saying................................

Recycling

Recycling

OK so todays rant is going to be about recycling. 

Now whilst I would guess that most of us totally support recycling; what I am about to RANT about is recycling done incorrectly. 

I live in a communal block of 12 properties.  We have a communal car park (where every owner has a numbered space), we have 2 communal bins where we can all chuck our rubbish, we have a communal courtyard which includes a whirly gig where any of us can hang out washing.

....................But what we don't have.................... is communal recycling.

Communal recycling would be great, but at the moment it is not an option for a variety of reasons.  Every property has 3 horrible flimsy bags that are supposed to be put out once a fortnight for collection.  We got these horrible flimsy bags about 5 years ago and at that point I stopped doing any recycling where I live.  (NB - I take my recycling to public recycling points).  There are two reasons for this:

1)  My house is small.  I have no room to house 3 bags of recycling for two weeks.

2)  When I first got my 3 flimsy bags (to replace the one plastic box with a lid that I could keep outside) I tried to do the recycling how the council wanted.  I put them out in the allotted spot on the allotted day and then I went to work.  When I came back from work, two of my flimsy bags were in the middle of the road and the other one was in the middle of the car  park???

At that point I gave up recycling at my property and decided to deal with my recycling myself.  I now go to public recycling points myself and have absolutely nothing to do with any recycling where I live.

.....................So here starts my RANT......................

One of my neighbours (who shall remain nameless) decided to put a load of recycling boxes/bags in the communal courtyard.  Now whilst I appreciate that her motives for doing this were admirable, the reality of this is less so.  Just how stupid is it to put out a load of recycling boxes when there is no plan in place for the collection of these?

In the summer half of the 12 homes here are holiday lets (including the said neighbours).  I know for a fact that 3 of those holiday homes have info in their information folders to say that there is no recycling facilities at the property.  BUT...................... if you were on holiday and saw that there were recycling boxes/bags in the communal area what would you do????.........................

a)  Chuck all your recycling stuff in there

b)  Dispose of your recycling stuff yourself

I know what I would do - I'd take the easy option and chuck all my recycling in the nearest recycling boxes??!!  And who cares how mixed up it is???

....................And here lies the problem..........................  The holiday makers haven't a clue when the recycling is going to be collected, and even if they do; they're on holiday so they're hardly likely to want to sort through all the rubbish, sort it out and then put it in the correct place for collection.  The neighbour who put all the recycling boxes/bags in the communal courtyard is renting out her place and although is somewhere local, hasn't bothered to come back on recycling day to sort out all the mess, so yet again (we had the same problem last year) it's down to myself and another neighbour to sort everything out.

Well it's not on.  Last summer after spending six weeks sorting through everyone's rubbish I made an 'executive' decision (when I found a used babies nappy) to get rid of all the recycling boxes/bags and stacked them up in the corner of the communal courtyard.  My neighbour who helped me sort them out agreed with me.  And let's just be clear here - we both do our OWN recycling so really should not have had to spend all summer sorting out everyone else's recycling/rubbish just because another neighbour had left a load of recycling boxes in a communal area and then buggered off?????(

This year I rebelled!!!

Took photos of all the rubbish (as above), sent email to 'said neighbour' telling her I was going to chuck the whole lot in the bin and copied all the other owners into the email to tell them why.  As far as I'm concerned communication is really important so I wanted everyone to know why I was doing this.  ...................I saw a rat sitting on top of the recycling boxes??!!

Obviously she wasn't happy.  Ranted and raved at me a bit.  OK ranted and raved at me a lot?!!!  

But hey ho, that's life.

At the end of the day........................  I really do think recycling is important.......................  But only if it is done correctly????