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.

I could do some DIY tasks, but I'm lazy and am lucky enough to have money to throw at the problem.

We have found a handyman, and we just save up all the little jobs - this cupboard door needs adjusting, the handle on the window is loose, the banister rail needs repainting, a roller blind needs hanging, we have a new shelf that needs putting up, and when we have 3-4 jobs we call him and he does all of them together. I would recommend this approach.

I was taking to a lady in tesco ( one of the assistants) and she said that their overtime claims has gone over to a new app type system that a few colleagues were finding tricky to navigate and therefore some were losing out on pay. They were used to the old system , which worked well until someone decided to make it even harder for them.

What really bugs me is that you have to have an app for everything. Every car park has its own app to pay, every activity the kids do, and everything else from nandos to school lunches. Two schools and four apps just for school admin!

Don't get me started on cashless parking & parking apps 😡DH in hospital ATM. Tried 2 machines before I found one that was working - this added about 20 minutes to my visit so I was charged more. Then I found that I paid twice to visit him yesterday-2x £4.20 for 40 minute visit + 20 minutes looking for a working machine. I have to go back later today as he has a list of stuff that he needs and I'm dreading it.

Being given a QR code for a menu in a restaurant wound me up. I asked for an actual menu , which they reluctantly brought over.

Omg OP this is not unreasonble. Its impossible to get things done, its half the reason why our house is a bit of a shit hole, decoration needs doing but who can I find who is reliable, waiting in for people, I have to take time off work, I run out of time that I can take off work. Then they dont turn up

Then the endless decision making about designs, so we have started 'looking' at things several times over the years for it to just come to nothing because its overwhelming.

Two examples just from this week. OH has a sharps box, so he uses the online form at the council to say that his needs picking up and fresh one delivered. Form is almost impossible to use, keeps timing out. Then says you need a referral from your GP, never has done before, nurse didnt mention that at the most recent GP appointment. Anyway we didnt upload a referral as requested but completed the form

Couple of weeks go by, no contact from the council, are they or arent they going to arrange pick up and drop off.
Thursday night, come home from work, empty sharps box outside the front door. But no notice they were coming so now we have a bucket full of sharps that hasnt been picked up, how were we to know when to put the full bucket out?

Second example. I am trying to buy a new front door. I have tried this several times over the years but get blocked by not having the right design available, companies not coming out on time, online quotes or designs not really having what I want. But I get as far as someone coming out, but he cant show me all the designs on his computer for that visit so its best I come to the show room. The show room is no where near where I live or work and is only open 9-4 and NOT WEEKENDS

So I go on my own, having to have taken time off work, cant make a decision because guess what, the computer system in the showroom doesnt show all the options either and the things they have on show havent got all the options. So when I get home my OH says he's not sure about what Ive picked and now we need to make time to go and see this showroom and the salesman during work hours, got to try to juggle his diary and my diary, he works 3 hours away so will have to take tons of time off, I can just about manage a few hours.

And on my list for several days has been 'make appointment for door'. Have I done it - no, because its just too much to think about

I hate my front door, loathe it with a passion and this is why its never been changed. Just awful.

Even the bloody window cleaner that took an age to find after the last one went off the radar, has now disappeared. Fallen off the face of the earth. Where do I find a new one who is taking on new clients

FFS

Yes, i hate those photos too.

Parking apps are a nightmare

The council brought in ‘ book the local recycling ‘ online last year. It hasn’t stopped the queues or the fact that half the time you are still queuing up beyond your booked time because of the skips being changed over or it’s their lunch break etc.
Couldn’t buy a pair of shoes in my size , the woman in the shop just shrugged and suggested I look online.
No wonder so many don’t bother with the high street shops. Many will go the way of the banks in a few years. ( I know it’s not her fault , but obviously they just don’t have enough stock in the shop )

My phone doesn’t seem to work with parking apps.
Not sure why, but it’s more faff if they don’t take coins or cards at the machines.

I don't recognise any of this. Moved overseas recently, but had an efficient GP practice, choice of excellent plumbers, great electrician, fab handyman for all the smaller jobs and an honest and reliable garage.

As for the internet, everything's easier - I'm stuck in bed post-op and have ordered dog food, done lots of Christmas shopping and changed SIM contracts.

Maybe I live in a parallel universe

Im not quite sure why so many car parks insist on payment by app, in many you cant pay by card any more when the most simple thing to have would be a pay by card option. Its quick, simple and everyone has a card. Its not reliant on signal either.

So why have they all bought apps in? Does it make them more money or something?

Agree OP. I’ve reduced work to four days because my life admin was stacking up and up - it’s just relentless.

You do pay more for the parking if you have the their notifications ’ on where I live. Once that was switched off , it was cheaper and same price as cash ( because they are still taking cash at the moment, but I can see that ending soon )

All of the above, but also while two demanding children are shrieking at you and there's a TV, a radio, two tablets, a phone and a Bop-It all at full volume, and Alexa gets confused and starts trying to advertise a subscription to pork scratchings or warble gromits at you from across the room.

i feel you…..
bloody hate, with a vengeance, these frigging voice recognition help lines “please say, in words, what you need today - clearly”
ffs I had to make a call to our mortgage co as I couldn’t log onto our online account. It asked me to confirm our post code before passing over to a customer admin bod…..now ours has an S in it which I think comes across as a F……probably my teeth or something, and it kept just taking me back to the beginning of the whole f’ing charade.
Jesus h Christ the phone nearly went out the window…….really shouldn’t be that difficult 😡. Just put me through to a person if they’re there to take calls.
upshot was when I got through to a person I had to confirm all my details again that I had just given the bloody virtual assistant

Having money definitely helps with most things but I live in a rural area where it is about supply and demand on some things. The best tradespeople here take the work on second homes as it’s better paid. I once unknowingly ended up using a plumber who was advertising in our local trader paper and who I had no idea was fresh out of prison for some pretty awful stuff (and is now back in there.) that still makes me feel sick.

just used bupa for their online gp service. I’m very lucky I get medical cover through work which I’m just going to have to use. The lady I saw was amazing and has got me further in one call than I’ve managed with the nhs in 10 months.

Dd and I couldn’t tap in at our tube station so paid the full fare - not a problem I thought as in the past I have asked the guy at the station and he’s gone on to the ticket machine and refunded. But they can’t do that anymore and you have to either do it online (dds oyster can’t be registered for some reason) or call up and spend your life on the phone

getting PAC codes I was on the online chat for almost 3 hours

luckily my GP practice is pretty good but my previous one was a nightmare

Online shopping is great when it works but some of them make returns a nightmare

dd school uniform can only be bought online - so every time I receive or return (she’s a funny shape so we never get it right first time) it adds postage plus days in between to receive. So what would have been half a day in town is now a full day spread over 2 weeks

Yes the one our council uses crashes reasonably frequently. And council car parks where I live no longer take cash either

My sister drove me somewhere so I did the app payment with her licence plate and my credit card

then whenever she tried to use it again it would charge my credit card and it was a real hassle to get them to change it

its all just unnecessarily difficult

My latest app rant is to do with my printer (which are bastards anyway) which wouldn't let me scan something without setting up and logging into an account with HP. For scanning one document. Fortunately I found out my Google account allows me to do it. So at least I'm only giving my personal details to one global multinational company 🙄

I think back to when I started work in retail banking in the late 80’s. The bank I worked for had over 2,000 branches then. Obviously I don’t know the exact figure now but it must be some way lower than 1,000. There were people in the back office at branches who could deal with every process or problem that might arise. Very little had to be escalated or sent elsewhere to some remote processing hub.

I know the model wasn’t sustainable in today’s online world but for many people it all just adds to the frustration about getting things done.

i think a lot of consideration in design no longer really takes account of accessibility. It’s whatever is cheapest and quickest to implement and run.

Oh god the one that gives me the absolute fucking rage is organising anything to do with holidays - I get the safety implications but why is it now on me to do airline admin? Check-in online and enter all my bloody passport details correctly and then if I’ve entered a digit incorrectly (highly possible as I’m usually doing it on my phone) I’m penalised - there used to be proper check in desks where people would do this for you and now it’s all automated robots.
I’d prefer to queue and have someone do it for me rather than the admin be on me. I’m trying to relax and get on bloody holiday 😤

It’s all been designed to make everything your problem.
Even when it’s not.