You'll have had yours tiers....

[WaxOnFeckOff]

Thread 946....

I have mine set to 100 posts per page so I was very confused at having filled 6 pages since last night! I;m halfway through page 2 at the moment.

I'm not giving gift vouchers AT ALL this Christmas, it's too risky. My sister and I have a deal that we don't buy "stuff", we'll usually send cinema vouchers, or zoo vouchers, or some other voucher they can use for a family day out and then they do the same for us. I spoke to her last night and told her not to - you just can't guarantee that you'll ever get to use them.

This is bad news for my mum - the small town she lives in has over the last few years lost its Woolies, Littlewoods, I think they had a TJ Hughes for a bit and that's gone too, all that's left is Debenhams. And now that's gone too. Mum doesn't do online shopping at all. So her only options now are a very small M&S, and the large Tesco.

@runningpink @titsbumfannythelot yes how could ‘stay safe’ be omitted?
Safely
Shop safely
Be safe
We’re open safely oh we are closed again now, so not officially safe after all

Peak patronising fatigue, seconded😒

Oh, yes.. stay safe 🤬

Just checking in. Agree with lots of pp but struggling to keep up and contribute atm.

Safe always makes me think of "Safe and secure". According to Tom Cruise (Knight and Day) it means they're going to kill you.

Totally OT, but I wanted you to have a laugh.

For the first time I have been back to my library which has been opened for about 6 weeks now. As the opening times are 11-3 (11-2 on sat) it is not easiest to go, but I had books to return, plus one I wanted (and not to mention the poo bags), so I made the effort.
In order to enter the premises you have to register. I am not totally computer illiterate, but I can assure it is not THAT obvious how to do it. It transpires you can only get an appointment for the next day and not for the same day, but it is really not obvious what (not) to do, so much so I had to phone.
Once you get there you are greeted by someone downstairs (wearing gloves and mask) who ticks your name off the list. You deposit the books you wish to return in a cardboard box and proceed upstairs to the sancta sanctorum.
As you enter, you notice that the counter where a lonely staff stands is totally enclosed in perspex (I now wonder how she gets in and out) all the way up. And yet, she is wearing gloves and a mask too. She checks my name again and proceeds to give me my book. She then asks to see my library card, but only from a distance. No touching of anything required.
To leave the premises I have now to circumnavigate the whole library in order to adhere to the compulsory one way system.

Everything was over and done in 5 mins, but I thought that the whole experience was totally surreal.

On the plus side, there was another member of staff dealing with bus passes and similar matters (and I did get my poo bags).

You know you're in an upside down world when group carol singing is engaging in risky behaviour!

I went for a flu jag the other day. got told in advance to come alone and with a mask. Not easy when you are disabled but anyway I did it.

The staff are all behind the counter, not social distancing or wearing masks, but when approaching me and other customers, put the mask on. Clearly customers are more dangerous than colleagues.

Feeling a bit upset about it all today. I think the £500 to the NHS is nothing less than a bribe for some groups to vote SNP. I feel so much for all the other essential workers (supermarket staff, food processing and manufacturing, drivers) who have kept things going and DON'T get a reward. Meanwhile GPs are getting the payment on their salaries and for not actually seeing patients if at all possible. Ditto highly paid consultants. Picture in the NHS is highly variable and yes some people have had it tough but I know quite a few who have never had it so easy ...and are well paid (think £80-160K).

Then we have the collapse of big names - whether of not i shopped there isn't the issue. All those jobs and loss of business rates to councils. Not to mention for many people going into town to actually do a bit of shopping is a social activity. Pre-covid my mum would go into town have a browse and a coffee with a friend.

What is actually going to be left at the end of this and how long are our children and yp going to be paying back the massive debt. It seems that every government is not willing to take the emotion out of the fact people will die during a pandemic and balance all the other risks / harms against that of loss of life.

@WaxOnFeckOff

I have mine set to 100 posts per page so I was very confused at having filled 6 pages since last night! I;m halfway through page 2 at the moment.

Ah yes, apologies for my MN-default-centric comment. I didn't mean to discriminate against other browser settings

Yes, i think a lot of town centres are going to be scuppered by the loss of Debenhams. It seems to be the only department store in many places. I have to say I haven't really used it for a few years... the Princes St one in Edinburgh got a bit jumble- saley and I tended to give it a miss, though, yes, good for bras and DH liked some of the men's stuff.

dinnafash Like someone "having the full confidence of the prime minister" means they'll be gone by the end of the week.

Yes, "stay safe" and all its bastard offspring are irritating. I'll make my own decision as to whether something is safe, thank you... and I wasn't intending on walking in front of any buses, whether you tell me not to or not.

I wonder what percentage of the workforce in tier 4 are currently employed by the nhs?

* small independent Scottish companies selling pure milled haggis or organically reared soap*

😂😂

Heard a bar owner from Glasgow (Bucks Bar) on radio explaining the difference in tiers between England and Scotland. Genuinely think people don’t appreciate how fooking difficult it has been here for hospitality and it is tougher than England, similar to Wales. The presenter seemed genuinely surprised at how hardcore and for how long it’s been impacting the industry here.

It’s truly hideous that even dropping to tier 3 from 4 doesn’t aid recovery in that sector.
Utter grimness for hospitality, with all those businesses that support it, the food suppliers, those employed in manufacturing in drinks industry, cleaners, industry sales reps, etc, etc. It’s not just about the physical building or the staff who aren’t working there just now.

You forgot "stay the fuck home"

The princes st Debenhams had got a bit jumble sale, Livingston and Ocean Terminal were better. I'm shamelessly going to be stocking up guys stuff in the sale, it's one of the few places that works for DH. He's not a wandering round the shops bloke - my usual trick is to get him in a fitting room with a couple of things then while he's trying it on I run round and pick up other stuff . They are also good for having slightly bigger guys sizes in store. Kids clothes also good, and some decent homewares.

I was listening to that as well

Vine didn’t have a clue how long hospitaly has been suffering here

@Arkadia

Totally OT, but I wanted you to have a laugh.

For the first time I have been back to my library which has been opened for about 6 weeks now. As the opening times are 11-3 (11-2 on sat) it is not easiest to go, but I had books to return, plus one I wanted (and not to mention the poo bags), so I made the effort.
In order to enter the premises you have to register. I am not totally computer illiterate, but I can assure it is not THAT obvious how to do it. It transpires you can only get an appointment for the next day and not for the same day, but it is really not obvious what (not) to do, so much so I had to phone.
Once you get there you are greeted by someone downstairs (wearing gloves and mask) who ticks your name off the list. You deposit the books you wish to return in a cardboard box and proceed upstairs to the sancta sanctorum.
As you enter, you notice that the counter where a lonely staff stands is totally enclosed in perspex (I now wonder how she gets in and out) all the way up. And yet, she is wearing gloves and a mask too. She checks my name again and proceeds to give me my book. She then asks to see my library card, but only from a distance. No touching of anything required.
To leave the premises I have now to circumnavigate the whole library in order to adhere to the compulsory one way system.

Everything was over and done in 5 mins, but I thought that the whole experience was totally surreal.

On the plus side, there was another member of staff dealing with bus passes and similar matters (and I did get my poo bags).

Yes, every now and again I get a pang of guilt about the two books from March I should return, and also I quite fancy a browse and to take out some more... but it's this kind of scenario I just can't face. I've been getting quite anxious about doing unfamiliar things for the first time (I think this is age/ hormone related rather than covid!) and the whole booking/ sanitising/ dealing with a sea of masks and perspex/ having to do things in a particular and unpredictable way at risk of being told off if you get it wrong, in a library that isn't the one I'm used to because that hasn't opened yet is quite scary. I'm an allegedly competent adult ffs... I should be able to manage this!

yoda I totally get that. I veer from being relatively positive and optimistic about stuff, and then something relatively small pushes me to be fed up again. I agree about the timescale the economic fallout will last.. It is very worrying, especially as various other things are making life more difficult for young people at the moment anyway.

Can I pop in please? I’m in slightly less skanky tier 3.
I’m another one seeing through this £500 bribe to NHS and care staff as a pre election bribe, and it pisses me off

Whatever you think about the £500, the NHS are employed and paid by the Scottish government so it's in their power to give this bonus. They can pay boosts to benefits like the bedroom tax, grants to businesses etc but can't actually hand out a bonus.
Who would have wished to be anyone working in health and social care this year? GPs and consultants included. Why should they give their bonus away or be made to feel guilty? I trust everyone who ever got a bonus in the private sector will be donating it to a food bank from now on in.
It's not a race to the bottom.

They could have done other things such as time off (as suggested above) or an extra tax free allowance for anyone below higher rate tax as wekk as an uplift to those on benefits,

many ways they could have shared this out better or done something else.

I'm in private sector, we've had no bonuses but I'm glad to have a job. We;ve been given one-off extra holidays as part of our pay agreement (which was well below inflation). I consider this relatively fortunate.

I agree there are many more that should be on the list. Half of which give me the rage! And I’m sure we will have a few more to add before end of year!

Welcome @JudgeRindersMinder

think the £500 to the NHS is nothing less than a bribe for some groups to vote SNP.

Course it is. And across the board is ridiculous - BIL is a consultant in something non-life critical, but which affects people's quality of life. Hip replacements or similar. In March he was told he was going to be redeployed and said at the time he couldn't treat Covid patients because it had been 25 years since he looked at a lung, had no idea about intubating people, but was happy to take people's temperatures and push trolleys. In about August he did start seeing people in theatre whose operations had been booked for March/April and they got their new hips. But his clinics haven't resumed in the same way so there is going to be a massive backlog when you get through all this.

All the time, there are people sitting with a shockingly shite quality of life because of their pain, and no date for getting it fixed. But at least it's not covid, right?

@ikswobel

Whatever you think about the £500, the NHS are employed and paid by the Scottish government so it's in their power to give this bonus. They can pay boosts to benefits like the bedroom tax, grants to businesses etc but can't actually hand out a bonus. Who would have wished to be anyone working in health and social care this year? GPs and consultants included. Why should they give their bonus away or be made to feel guilty? I trust everyone who ever got a bonus in the private sector will be donating it to a food bank from now on in. It's not a race to the bottom.

It's not just nhs, adult social care are mostly private sector I'd have thought? Has anyone said they should give it away?

It's not a race to the bottom but choosing to give certain sectors a wedge of cash is dreadful, ill thought out messaging that just enhances the good worker/bad worker dichotomy that's been hanging around all year.

It's not a race to the bottom
No but it's certainly widening a gap. Just thinking in my own family, those who will get the £500 are the ones who need it least.

I would love to go out for a late night hot choc with my son, every year we go late night shopping, we have a drink in a coffee shop while he writes his list, then we go shopping, then we often end up back in a coffee shop to review his purchases and check we haven't missed anything.
It's the small things like that I miss, really miss.