The Trivial Complaints Thread ... #3

[Taffeta]

Beldarna, hope you're feeling better. BC, that sounds nasty :/ Treat yourself gently for a few days!!

My trivial complaint today is unsurprisingly bus related.

I went to the county town by bus today...bus there was fine. No problems. Got to the bus station in time to catch an earlier service back (there are 2 routes that run between the county town and our main central bus station, one is more regular than the other but the second has a prettier route). I caught the prettier route version bus. It had managed to do almost all of its route...until it got onto the very busy dual carriageway leading into our main centre, at which point the engine flat out died.

This is not an area I know, even if I could navigate, which as you guys all know, I can't. The driver was not at all helpful and the replacement bus was likely to take some time to arrive (probably hours, given where it was coming from). The one other guy on the bus trotted off to walk into town (I think it was probably only a mile or maybe a mile and a half at most to walk it) as if he knew where he was going, so driver told me to follow him. I did. Turned out he didn't know where he was going either and after watching him scramble up a bank to get to a bridge I decided to call home and ask for rescue.

We don't have a car at home now, so this meant a taxi, and me trying to get to a part of the road where a: they could find me and b: it was safe to pick me up.

The taxi driver was awesome, full credit to him, but seriously. On the side of one of the major dual carriageways, where there are no walkways, really long wet grass, in the rain...and the bus driver is just like, well, you can walk the rest of the way...

If it had broken down in any of the places leading up to the dual carriageway, I could've found another bus, since I may not be able to walk-navigate, but I know my local bus routes well enough to know what other services run in those places. But dual carriageways like that rarely have bus stops or even walking paths. They're not designed for people on feet.

Taxi overall cost £22 to get home. (Easier to do that than go into the centre and get another bus after all of that). My feet were soaking and my boots are in a state.

Mental note to self. If catching buses in distant areas in future, catch buses where the central garage is local and thus replacement buses arrive within 30 minutes, not 3 hours.

Broken down bus also caused a massive tailback on the road, right in time for the school rush...

[Beth3346]

oh no Taffeta. I had to lookup what a carriageway is because in the US we call them highways or freeways. definitely not safe to walk on. barely safe to drive on sometimes! i'm glad you made it home safely. you made right decision to call for a taxi.

[Beldarna]

BC, I am so cought up in my own problems I missed yours. I'm sorry about you thermometer, it's heartbreaking when things of sentimental value break.. Catlitter is good for soaking oil, as is flour, corn starch and oats.

Beth, lucky you found it before the trash was gone!

Taffeta, yikes! Good that you could take a taxi. I guess the bussdriver was stressed about the situation but s/he should still be able to give you some directions. It's still customer service. Glad it worked out in the end.

[BlackCurtains]

Thank you

Teffeta, that's so frustrating! I'm glad you were able to call a taxi.

Good news! The cat litter did the trick getting up the oil The smell is gone now.

Bad news! There's a wildfire somewhere (odd because of all the rain we've had - must have been intentional) and we have a smoke advisory. The pollen is also high, so my allergies are going nuts. I had a massive coughing attack and I had to use my inhaler. My windows are still open  because another cold front is coming. On top of all that, the landscapers were here yesterday and mowed then used the leaf blowers to send grass bits and dust flying everywhere.

Remember when I said we had a boil notice because there was sewage in the water? I read today that the county water will be raising rates. My water bill already averages 50 bucks and I'm one person. Plus, just the audacity to have non drinkable water and then say "oh by the way, your water bill will be more expensive!"

[Beth3346]

i just realized i need to run to the grocery store today. they were out of the eggs i usually buy last time and i thought i wouldn't need them. then i realized we need the deviled eggs it's not a big deal but i was hoping to be done with shopping Monday.

Holidays are less fun now that i'm an adult.

[BlackCurtains]

Today has been very frustrating so far. For one thing, the internet keeps going in and out. I saw a Comcast truck earlier. They are supposed to send a text when they are working on something, I got no such text.

I slept for 12 hours and still feel miserable. I woke up so stiff and sore. I want to visit my mom but my decrepit body won't work. I ordered some thing from Walmart and they were delivered early this morning since I was up. One thing was another 32 pack of water. When the lady handed it top me, it was so heavy I almost dropped it. When did I become such a weakling?

The mailman yesterday was someone else and he didn't bother coming to my door to get the package I need to send. I really hope the regular guy comes today. I want the stuff in my mailbox.

I need to work on these ponies but my motivation is in the negative. I'm so sick of working on ponies. I want to do something else! I'm never taking commissions again after this.

[Ponyfan]

Taffeta, that sounds terrible.   I'm glad you were able to call a taxi.   I'm  surprised that a bus driver would just tell a passenger to get off the bus and follow a stranger instead of making sure that all of the passengers were in a safe area or had a way to get to another bus or home.

BC,

I started feeling lightheaded today to the point where I wasn't sure if I would be able to stand in a checkout line holding the item I was going to buy without dropping it.  I had eaten lunch before I went out so I'm sure if I didn't eat enough or if I just used up all of my energy.  When I got home I drank a bottle of juice, but it didn't seem to help that much. I feel a little better now though.

I've been waiting almost a year for a chance to see the Nutcracker ballet.  I've never seen it live and thought it would be nice to go at least once.  With everything that's gone on this year though, I'm almost afraid to ask for tickets for it.  Every time there's a show advertised on TV playing at the same even center the Nutcracker is at my dad complains about all of the traffic and crowds there even though we've never gone to anything there.  That's another reason I don't want to ask for tickets.


It looks like everything that I was planning on going back to get at Ulta sold out.


Ponyfan

[Taffeta]

On the bus situation - we have 3 companies running buses in our area at the moment (+1 which I don't count as it travels into the west midlands proper and thus outside of the county).

No commercial bus company is perfect. But. Details in spoiler tags so as to not derail the thread.

Spoiler

One company runs most of the buses in the area. All the commercial and our bus (now the only one, used to be 5), a council supported service. Their garage is close by and so replacement buses come quickly when there is an issue. I also know the garage manager after several years of dealing with our buses and so stuff gets done - like I asked for a timetable in the local bus station because the Council couldn't be bothered to provide one, and so the garage manager arranged it. So yeah. Not too bad overall.

One I know very little about. The buses seem to run fine. The drivers seem nice. The main garage is a long way away but that is the only issue. They run three or four services but are relatively new to this area.

And the final one, who run 2 services, one in our region and one in the wider county, which I caught the other day. And let's just say they have a reputation for stuff like timekeeping, buses turning up at all, etc. I have been on the one that runs in our region before, where a driver decided to terminate the service early and dump passengers off so he could have a longer lunch break...

But I have taken that bus before, lots of times. First time this has ever happened. The sad thing is that the bus caused a massive tailback, and even if I had waited with it, chances are I would've been there hours and had to get a taxi anyway, which would not have been able to get to where I was. It was just a terrible place to break down, but yeah. I think the driver could've done more.

Onto my new complaint of the day. Last night (I think, I only noticed it last night) I chipped a tooth. It's a tooth that's root filled so it's dead...it's the first tooth I ever had root filled years ago so it was inevitable this would happen sometime. That's a complaint in its own right, but my real complaint is that my dentist has suddenly decided (after being NHS and despite still advertising being NHS online) that they are going private. They apparently introduced this on 1st November but failed to tell anyone yet - no material, literature, anything has gone out to explain it. They do have an insurance plan but looking it up online it doesn't look very helpful.

My dentist is lovely. The place she works is run by idiots.

In the past, one of the receptionists left ableist and derogatory comments on my patient record, which I saw in surgery on the dentist's screen...and we had to make a formal complaint (comments were removed, that staff member has also since left although those two things were not connected. The comment was noticed and removed after the staff member had left).

There's still at least one receptionist who is fundamentally evil. I hate waiting rooms, because they're noisy and stressful - the last thing you want to deal with ahead of a dental appointment. But my dentist has a room upstairs and originally there was a waiting room up there for her room. A nice quiet place to wait. Until they (again without notice) decided nobody could wait there, forcing me to wait in the zoo or in the hallway. Both of which left me too stressed out to actually undergo any treatment. So we arranged with the practice, with my dentist's support, that I would still wait in the upstairs waiting room (which now has no chairs, so it means sitting on the floor). Everyone was fine with that but EVERY time I go in that one receptionist not only queries it, but in a very loud voice tries to tell me that it's not allowed. Like it's on my record, but I still have to deal with her trying to stop me every single time. She also tried to charge me double for a treatment process that was still within the cycle of the previous, although my dentist (again, my dentist is lovely) said there was no charge to pay (and backed me up when the receptionist phoned her 'to check;).

So having to deal with that issue whenever I go is already annoying. But now I'm worried about being able to go to the dentist at all when I need to. We don't have many other NHS options here as it is.

I have an emergency appt tomorrow. It will be charged at a higher rate but not the full emergency rate, apparently. But if that person is on the desk, I guarantee she will try and charge me the higher rate and then complain loudly about my going upstairs in front of everyone else in the waiting room, forcing me to (Again) publically explain my disability in order to get her off my back.

No idea what will happen from that point on. I will talk to my dentist and see what the situation is :/ I know I can't afford private dental care, and I have no transport to anywhere else that might provide it...so it's a bit concerning. Especially since I finally have a dentist I can trust.

...I don't even want to start on the Autumn Budget Statement.

[Beldarna]

Everything is just piling up and I feel like crying. Ninja has started to groom himself a lot between his back legs and are constantly seeking contact. Our regular vet in town are closed for lunch. I hope they can squeeze us in once I get a hold of them or there might be another taxi ride out to the district vets.. He just got flushed two and a half weeks ago and is still on Metacam. I'm walking around feeling like this can't be happening again, not so soon. It's just too much .


EDIT The local vets couldn't help, they had no slots. Going to the emergency vet 30 minutes out of town. This time we ditched the taxi idea and rented a car. Not allowed to have pets in rentals, but he will be in a cage. It's more likley to be contaminated by the cathair from our clothes.

Hubby is nagging on me for not being still. But I can't sit down for more than a few minutes at a time and I'm ugly crying.

[Beth3346]

@Beldarna I hope Ninja is ok

[BlackCurtains]

Oh no I hope everything works out

[Ponybookworm]

Beldarna!!!  for you & for Ninja xxx

[lovesbabysquirmy]

oh how stressful

[Beldarna]

What a day. I wrote a long timeline in WYP. He had PUS IN HIS PENIS! They pushed out pus and flushed him. He's on antibiotics now! Always trust your gut! You know your pets! Don't hesitate! I am so glad we reacted. He is home. He is drugged. He refuses to lay on a bed in a dark warm room. He's on the floor in the hallway. He wants to be alone. Simba washed his face.


I am so tired now. I feel dead inside.

[BlackCurtains]

Omg, how awful for him! My female cat had infected anal glands that were full of pus. They had to sedate her and get it all out, they told me some of it was green. She was 12 when that happened and I was so worried but afterwards she felt much better.

It's good you went with your instinct.

I hope the antibiotics work and he starts to feel better. I hope YOU start to feel better too. My animals are my babies and I know how stressful it can be when one is sick. You took care of him for now, so remember to take care of yourself