To bloody hate the admin of life

[cheeseomelette]

Why is nothing simple?

have been trying to get the boiler either fixed or replaced, some medical issues looked at, and a load of other house jobs sorted while managing a demanding full time job where I’m out of the house every day. I can do basic things but plumbing, cars and electrical things are just not in my skill set.

the hassle is unreal. Logging on to things at certain times with certain pass codes, resetting endless passwords and waiting for call backs or arranging visits. I end up buying new things because I haven’t got the time or energy to chase someone down to have my existing things fixed or serviced and that’s expensive and not great for the planet.

i’m having this rant waking up in a cold house because the boiler is playing up,again and the plumber I rushed home from work to let in yesterday didn’t turn up.

I’ve booked a private medical appointment this morning because there is no contacting my GP. They turn the booking system off online and don’t answer the phones.

It’s got to the point where I just feel sick when something goes wrong in the house because I know what a load of stress it’s going to be. I don’t know what the solution is here - I’m even contemplating downsizing to an apartment with a service contract.

You are not wrong. Life has got so unnecessarily complicated with having to book anything which normally means entering lots of information about yourself that has no relevance to the actual thing.

I booked some tickets for a Halloween event this week. I mean why did they need to know my address for instance. They weren't sending me the tickets in the post!

Our local shopping centre car park has now gone digital "because people kept losing their tickets". Well that's on them I say. Now you have to have an app and pay through that even though there is low signal in the multi storey.

I feel for my Mum's generation really as she is not online at all. She has residence parking permits outside her house so she has to buy vouchers for any guests to park. But because she is not online she regularly takes the bus to the next town to buy them in person as she has to prove identification. It's mad.

I really resent having to set up all these accounts all the time, it's exhausting. I feel your pain OP.

I'm considering buying a flat at the moment and you've put me right off.

I hear you. It's relentless. And the inefficiencies of other people / companies make me livid.

I'm also navigating the young adult lives of my student kids. Oldest is autistic and just moved into a flat which required all utilities setting up and a few plumbing issues we had to sort out remotely. At least my DH helps too but I have to do lists for 3 people. My needs (dentist,dr, hair etc) are always at the bottom as I just run out of steam.

Only thing for it is lists, and categorise/ timetable the jobs. And allow a moment of satisfaction when you finally tick something of the list.

@PussInBin20oh god yes the bloody parking apps. And apps to get into the gym which I hate going to anyway. Arrgghhh.

I hear you sister the frustration is absolutely awful. There are no answers as “the system is broken”

I hear you and I sometimes think a lot is done deliberately so people are fined ( such as parking apps not working properly and therefore it’s all your fault so your then fined )
Finding any kind of trades is difficult and the prices are higher due to demand.
I admit that I had to phone Bosche about a washer under warranty and that went smoothly and they answered straight away , but anyone you phone who are government run is always tricky and frustrating.
The information a lot of places need is purely so they can them bombard you with emails and pass on your details I suppose , nothing is done to actually help you or be of that much benefit.
Customer service in some places isn’t great and even when they provide machines they are not working ( side eye at the premier inn I went to, two booking in machines were out and the receptionist wasn’t exactly eager to help )
Places not taking cash also annoys me.
It’s gradually being phased out.

I do hate not being able to speak to a human for so many problems or going in circles on a chat forum.

Our GP has just gone over to E consult for everything.
My DH just wanted to ask if they could approve his regular repeat prescription that day as had almost run out of an essential drug. He had to spend 15 mins online answering 20 questions. What medication are you on? (They know).
Is it effective? (He's on 10 different drugs) When did you last have a meditation review (don't know).
Then wait for someone to get back to him.
Apparently if you're not able to do the online form, the receptionist will fill it in for you!! That's going to help the phone waiting time isn't it!

Add to this the fear factor that everyone is trying scam you and I sometimes am incapable of making a decision about anything.

I'm feeling it too. I'm dealing with admin for myself and my elderly mother and it's feeling relentless. I got a parking ticket because I used my phone and got scammed by a fake QR code. My bank declined the scam payment but I got a parking fine instead, and I couldn't get through to the parking company to explain.

When things break in my house, they stay broken or I buy new. I am living with so many rickety things, everything always has a 'knack' like the toilet that has to be flushed twice to stop the water running or the broken cupboard door that falls off. No one in my house is handy at all for DIY and it's impossible to arrange for someone to come and fix anything - though always possible to buy a new product. It feels so wasteful, but the stress of organising anything feels overwhelming. Haircuts and dentist appointments and tax returns are the bane of my life too. I have the money to pay for services and am willing to - I wouldn't mind the cost if someone would just come and sort things out, but instead I live with the annoyance or replace things that could be repaired. I worry so much about the children getting ill as it's impossible to see the GP - I have had to go private for a health issue I have. There is no way of getting them an appointment at our surgery, not ever. I don't understand how it's come to this!

It's so refreshing when you get to speak face to face with a human isn't it! I had trouble with my electricity the other day as it's one of those faceless app things. After going round and round with a chat bot I eventually managed to text with an actual person who then rang me and sorted it out.
I remember fondly standing in the queue in the late 90s at the British gas shop to pay my bill lol

I try to stay positive - imagine being a woman pretty much any era before now or indeed in some countries today.

Don't get me wrong, I hate passwords too and I resent paying a plumber £450 to spend a morning fitting a radiator after six weeks of calling and organising appointments... but at least I'm not breaking my back in a field all day digging turnips or laughing through gritted teeth when a man slaps my bum, knowing my pay check is half what he gets.

Our car ( it’s just over a year old now) started to ding every four minutes or so on a long journey home this week. Despite trying to disable this function about the ‘driver assist being faulty ‘ nothing worked. Phoned the dealer up , was told that you can’t disable this function yourself , you have to just put up with the noise and bring it in to them.
It did stop eventually, but only after five hours when the car was stationary and it mysteriously stopped.
Of course, they can’t find anything wrong and not much information as to why it happened or if it was just a malfunction or maybe it does need a new part , but won’t be fixed under warranty because it’s no longer ‘ dinging’ so they don’t know what caused the problem.
Customer service for car dealerships is only helpful or any good if you’re buying a car. Any problems and it tends to go vague. Plenty could be done once the car is out of its warranty I suppose..
( I know I sound cynical, but my experience with any car dealerships is rarely positive)

Everything is so difficult these days and I really feel it. Even cars are so complicated with all the lights and fiddly bits. It really puts me in a bad mood having to deal with everyday life.

I really feel for people who are not digitally savvy or in any way disorganised as it’s a lot to keep on top of as well as trying to work. Since Brexit as well, it’s been so hard to find reliable trades people for smaller jobs however, since our rroad set up a what’s app group, that’s become a bit easier with recommendations.

There is such a gap in the market for this to be outsourced. I would happily pay a monthly fee for someone to do all this crap for me.

we bang on about being inclusive but nothing about the way all this works is inclusive for anyone with learning difficulties or vulnerabilities, or the means to own and run a smartphone.

I’ve managed to find a reliable plumber locally, but it’s not cheap to have anything fixed.

Me yesterday:

Needed to re arrange delivery of a parcel (despite being home when they 'tried' to deliver it😡) spent a lifetime in the phone to a chat bot only to be told I needed the app to set delivery preferences.

Downloaded the app which wiped 4 other apps I needed off my phone, my phone is on it's last legs but I have a new phone coming in the post....or so I think. I reinstall the missing apps which takes ages on my crummy phone.

Just finish and receive àn email from my new phone provider telling me they have 'disabled my account'. This says scam to me so I call new phone provider and explain. Spent 40 minutes on the phone for them to confirm it is a scam and my account is intact (I am not convinced but I have to pick my daughter up at this point so I finished the call).

I then went to purchase a large item, I was halfway through bank transferring funds when my phone just went completely blank. I had to start again.

I absolutely am not cut out for this life, it is as far from how we are naturally supposed to live as possible. I dream of fucking off to a little log cabin with no WiFi and a huge pile of books.
Instead I drank a lot of red wine last night.

Yes, it's shit.
❤️
That anxiety OP describes is familiar to myself, too.
Hopefully I will be able to move back to Central Europe where I come from, after certain obstacles disappear.

What I hate is the fact that to log in to my nhs account I have to put my password (fair enough) then they want the passcode sent by text then they want me to identify mopeds on the grainiest grid photo ever (may as well be a magic eye picture which I can’t do either), which keeps adding more each time I click one then because I get it wrong (maybe I’m not a human 😂) I end up having to do about 3 all similarly grainy usually something like bridges in what looks like Mexico or water hydrants in dark alleys. Then by the time I’m logged in there’s no appts left.

Modern technology has been great in so many respects

but not when it comes to customer service. It doesn’t make our lives easier to have everything online A it makes it cheaper for the business. And they don’t bother investing so the systems we have to use are shit

plus the computerisation of appliances plus the motivation for companies to build them to last only 5 years or so means we are creating issues yet again.

One of the apprentice candidates many moons ago wanted to start her own ‘ concierge ‘ service for people , but it was shot down in flames back then.
No wonder A list celebs and the rich have ‘ people ‘ to do a lot of the admin for them!

Those captcha things give you many to do because they are also using you to train their systems to identify cars/lamp posts etc

I was told ( a few washing machines ago) that having the brushes replaced would be the same as buying a new one! What’s the point in trying to fix things when it’s all hundreds of pounds ( if not under warranty , extended warranty’s are also hundred a year sometimes too)
It’s all such a con.