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????

Middle class kids

I'm not sure if I should really post this.  I'm not sure if it's really an appropriate RANT for a 'middle aged ranting spinster'???

...............BUT......................... middle class kids really do my head in.

And by that, I mean they have so many privileges that they don't even realise that they have.

My nephews & niece are the most wonderful, caring, young people ever, but they live in a 'cocooned' world.  Their 'mummy' (my sister) has never, ever, worked since they were born.  She's been fortunate enough to have a 'high flying' husband in a good job so her role has been to 'look after the house and family'.

And I have to say....................... she has done an excellent job.  There's no way I could have spent 20 years doing what she has.

My sister and her family are like the Waltons??!!  Home cooked meals.  Proper packed lunches. Chauffeuring the kids around, here, there and everywhere. No social life.  No sex life because her husband is hardly ever at home. Lol.  Actually I don't know that?!! I don't discuss sex with my sister.

The kids mobile phones are paid for, their cars are paid for (including installing sat nav), they go on holiday with their mummy & daddy (all paid for of course) and most of their uni fees have been paid via mummy & daddy.  All they have to pay for is their tuition fees and to be honest,  if they'd bothered to get a job while at uni, the fees would have been at least half way paid off by now.  But of course they didn't because.......................  because what?  They didn't need to.

My nephews & niece's life is just sooooooo far removed from the life of the kids that I work with everyday.

Living in the SW, where I work, with a lot of teenage kids.......................  life is so different for them.  Their parents can't afford to pay their uni fees so the kids have to subsidise themselves.  Their parents  can't afford to pay for driving lessons for them because they're only earning minimum wage themselves.

The youngsters in the SW learn to 'fend for themselves' from a very early age.  They find part-time work from when they are 14-15 years old, they earn their own money, they learn how to become independent very quickly.

If they want to go to uni - they have to pay for it themselves.  Most of the kids who go to uni from the SW end up in more than £20,000 debt. Hardly any of them will get a job back home that pays more than the £20,000 (or is it now £25,000?) that one needs to be earning to pay back the uni debt.

Life for kids in the SW is so far removed from the life my nephews and niece are living..............

....................And yet life for my nephews and niece is so far removed from the life that some of their 'rich' uni friends are living.

.............But however rich my nephews and nieces uni friends are................. do they really have a clue how well off they are???  I don't think so.

My nephews and niece are aged  21, 20 and 17.  So not exactly babies.  They could all appear on the Jeremy Kyle show???  Fortunately I don't think that is one of their great aims in life. Lol!  But they still all consult their mummy on every single thing.  Ie, I ask the 21 year old what he wants for Christmas/birthday pressies and he says, 'Ask mum'.  The 17 year old phoned her mum (when she, her mum, was staying with me more than 300 miles away) because she thought she had concussion???  She was at school.  Surely most 'normal' kids would have just taken themselves off to the school nurse??!!  What on earth did she think her mummy could do 300 miles away?  And as for the 20 year old................. well he's apparently dyslexic but has 'worked really hard to overcome it' (my sister's words not mine) but at a parents night in his latter years at school, she apparently said to a teacher, 'You do know he's dyslexic don't you?'  Seriously?  If he's been 'signed off' from having dyslexia then I don't think that can be used for any 'special' treatment.

Oh and then my niece told me that she got 'extra' time for writing because she was a slow writer???

Really???

The world has gone mad!

So if my niece gets a job as a waitress, what's she going to do?  ..................Say, I can't take your order very quickly because I'm  a slow writer???.................

The sooner these 'over protected' kids realise that 'life is not fair', the better.

Life isn't fair.  FACT!  Get over it..................

There's always going to be people who are brighter, richer, more intelligent, better looking, etc, etc.  Instead of everyone pursuing claims because they're a victim of one thing or another, why not just accept who you are and start enjoying life.

OK - RANT over!!!

Kitty

I've just googled 'kitty' and apparently it means; 'a fund of money for communal use'.

How many of you girls (or boys) have contributed to a 'kitty' for a night out, or a day out, or a holiday..................... and then got seriously annoyed because you just felt like you're subsidising everyone else?

Personally, I like the idea of a 'kitty'.  If there is a group of you and you're all going to be eating and drinking pretty much the same thing, then it makes sense to have a 'kitty'.  Appoint one person as the 'banker', give them your dosh and then every time you have something to eat or drink the appointed person just pays the bill.  Does it matter that one person had something that cost 50p more or someone had something that cost £1 less.  Of course it doesn't.  Well I don't think it does.  Most people contributing to a 'kitty' work on the assumption that they're with like minded friends and maybe someone will have a more expensive meal but perhaps won't drink very much or vice versa.  So, in theory having a 'kitty' is a good thing.

But let's face it; we all know people that don't do sharing?!

.........................And this is where the 'kitty' system breaks down.  And this is why I'm just about to RANT???

The question is - If one has a 'kitty' with a group of friends, how much does one have to spend before it becomes 'an abuse of the kitty'?  Ie, for example;  there are four people in the 'kitty' and they are out for a meal and a few drinks.  Three of the people order a burger and a glass of wine each, costing £10 per person; other person orders a steak & half a carafe of wine which costs more than £30.

I'd like to know your thoughts peeps? 

Personally; if I had wanted steak (and everyone else had been having burgers) and if I had wanted a half carafe of wine (and everyone else was only having one glass) I would have chucked an extra £20 into the 'kitty'.

My view is...................................  If you have a 'kitty' and everyone is having the same thing, give or take a couple of pounds, then that's OK.  BUT as a 'ranting middle aged spinster, I feel if one person is constantly taking advantage of the 'communal fund' or is constantly ordering the most expensive thing on the menu, just because they can.................. or someone is ordering something that is more than £10 what everyone else is ordering.......................... then maybe the 'kitty' system is not the best way to go.

It's a shame really because if one is out with friends, one shouldn't abuse the 'kitty' system.  But unfortunately people do and unfortunately a lot of friendships break down because of this.

Is this a RANT or just a 'reflection on today's society'???

Water - who needs it??!!

As most of my friends know; my favourite drink is dry white wine. I drink copious quantities of the stuff. I wouldn't exactly call myself an alcoholic. I drink black coffee and diet coke as well. But I drink way more than my 14 units of alcohol per week. In fact if I'm honest, I could easily drink this amount in one evening. After all, that's only a bottle and a half of wine.

However, it seems that everywhere one turns, water is being promoted as the best thing since sliced bread. Must google where the saying 'best thing since sliced bread' comes from?' Apparently we should all drink at least 6 glasses of water a day.

WHY?

Anyway in an effort to 'do the healthy thing' I decided I would drink 2 litres of water a day for four weeks. Not really quite sure why I decided to do this. I guess I thought I'd just see if my complexion improved or if I lost weight or if I felt better. And at this point I would just like to say, that actually I don't think there's anything wrong with my complexion and yes, most of us would like to lose a bit of weight, but I'm a firm believer re the words of my 'wise dearly departed old Gran' – 'if you want to lose weight; eat less and exercise more'. As for feeling better............. I don't particularly feel bad so how do I judge that?!

After doing a bit of a 'google', the top 10 benefits of drinking water are below (with my responses in italics!)

Increases energy & relieves fatigue – since I started drinking water I have had to have an afternoon/early evening nap most days.

Promotes weight loss – have yet to see evidence of this.

Flushes out toxins – ditto.

Improves skin complexion – ditto.

Maintains regularity – pretty regular anyway, thank you very much.

Boosts the immune system – where is the evidence of this?

Natural headache remedy – I don't get headaches.

Prevents cramps & sprains – ditto.

Puts you in a good mood – NO, it definitely does not.

Save money – how? – increased wee-ing leads to buying more toilet rolls. Lol!

  

So the above 10 points are apparently the advantages of drinking water. I can honestly say that since I started this ridiculous water regime I have never felt so bad in my life. And below are MY 10 points for not drinking water....................

Constant wee-ing. And I mean CONSTANT. I haven't even been able to do the dog walk without having to find a bush to wee behind. I haven't been able to work a 4/5 hr shift at work without having to go to the loo at least 4 times. I haven't been able to do a supermarket shop without having to use the 'on-site toilets'. And without divulging too much information..................... there was actually nothing wrong with my wee before I started this ridiculous 'drink 2 litres of water a day.' My wee was straw coloured, which according to all the blurb online is a good healthy colour. Now my wee is pretty much transparent which doesn't surprise me in the least. All that water that is going in........................ has to come out.

Lack of variety – A month ago In the 'olden days', I drank a mug of coffee with breakfast, diet coke throughout the day and copious quantities of wine in the evenings. Now I drink a mug of coffee at breakfast and don't allow myself anything else until my full quota of water has been drunk. Sometimes it takes me all day to drink 2 litres of water. Some days all I drink is water. How boring is that?

Tiredness/stress – OK I know I'm getting old, but coffee, diet coke and wine seem to keep me perked up. Drinking water all day exhausts me. Constantly looking for toilets when one is out and constantly having to plan one's life as to where one can go to the toilet is very stressful. I'm normally the type of person who can go out at 8am and not return until 6pm and not need to go to the loo. I can go all day without having a drink or going to the toilet. And I never normally need to have a little lie down in the middle of the day??

OK, 3 points are enough. I could RANT forever about my experience of drinking 2 litres of water a month but at the end of the day, my experiment is over. Yay! I've drunk 2 litres of water every day for 4 weeks and have seen absolutely no benefits from doing this at all….................

So tomorrow I'll be back to my old life........................ black coffee, diet coke and copious quantities of wine. Yay!

Life is not a dress rehearsal. Live your life, live your dreams. Be happy.

So glad my water drinking regime is over.  Yay!!!