I hate

Cars and car maintenance.
Went for a service before the MOT, and they initially indicated it would be ~£250.

Turned up after it was ready to a £450 bill. Lovely surprise, that. Ffs.

Elf on a sodding shelf

China Social Credit System much?

Just added someone to my work blocklist.

Er did they contact you?

Or did they find a mark to milk.

They did for an extra shock absorber, £80 extra, but that was on top of the price above…

I’m totally confused to be honest. The only response I got when questioning it was “well the parts for your car were expensive” and reiterating multiple times that “that’s the labour price, and that’s what the parts cost” while pointing at the invoice.

Yeah, no shit, I can read that, but it’s not what you promised is it?

Replacing one shock absorber? Usually replaced in pairs. Was it an MOT fail?

What did the service include?

Yep that is what dealing with cowboy mechanics is like. Did you ask for the old parts?

Welcome to being fucked over. That they didn't call to say extra costs before they continue?

Are the garage member of any ombudsman schemes? If they are you can waste time by writing to them. Did you pay by credit card?

@slippers worth contacting your local trading standards

Thanks both, I’ll probably leave this for now, I just needed a whinge and a moan after a kick in the teeth. Won’t be going back there any time soon!

I’d tell us all which garage it is. Might save someone else the hassle.

My avoid list due to dealing with women badly.
Palace motors in crouch end cost of service parts high using ecp own brand parts and charging more than nissan, added a cabin filter and told me it was him that did the replacement. So I said show me where the filter is that you replaced. Go off and check where to look. No cabin filter on car only fitted to cars with air con that that have a different heater. What is worse is he knew the car and me from dealings with the trader next door.

Will add a few more.

This is entirely irrational and I don’t fully understand why, but I truly hate those elaborate knitted hats that people make for postboxes.

They’re silly and joyful, if a bit middle class. Why the hate?

Knitted by the same sort of idiots who queue up in tents for Wimbledon tickets, but only if there’s a ‘Brit’ on centre court. Still wear their 2012 Olympics Games Maker t shirts at every opportunity.

The term for this is yarn bombing, (amongst other names) and it is very creative and seen as street art.

Some see it like graffiti but non permanent.

The people who do this yarn bombing are not like you think.

I think it’s fine until the schlubs start doing it to living trees.

Thought it was ok to do that sort of thing to trees as it is not permanent.

<333

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I love em.
There’s a couple of postboxes that I pass regularly that have had different toppers continuously for over two years.
TBH, the best thing about it is that they stay there, ie they’re not being nicked or defaced.

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How badly policing has deteriorated in this country.

Some aggressive asshat was disrupting traffic and loudly threatening to rape a woman then a man in Herne Hill, and after 10 minutes the cops were still no shows. Motherfucker walked away with a bike (his or someone else’s) leaving people shaking and in tears, no consequences.

Even if the cops had bothered or had been available to respond to the incident, which could have easily turned violent, the likelihood of that sick fuck getting any impactful consequences is pretty much nil.

Chronic underfunding of mental health, social services, the NHS and the police.

Ripe for privatisation as 'we' don't like paying tax.

For 2023/24 "In the UK, the total amount of public spending on the police service is £27.3 billion, the highest amount ever spent. "

It's not underfunding, it's the fact that the police aren't and never have been designed to actually keep people safe.

For 2023/24 "In the UK, the total amount of public spending on the police service is £27.3 billion, the highest amount ever spent. "

Now do that per capita & adjusted for inflation

In 2000 the spending was £7.5bn, £13.93bn in today's money.
In 2000 the population of the UK was 58.9m, in 2024 it's 68.5m.

Bit of back of a napkin maths (not my strong point so happy to be corrected!), spending is up by nearly 70% per capita, adjusted for inflation since the millennium.

Hm, who decides how long it stays there though?
The moisture that’s trapped against the bark is not a good thing.