One of the reasons our country is going down the toilet

[securespark]

Rang some company today.

"We are very sorry, but due to high call volumes, we cannot answer your call at present. Please call later. Your call is important to us. Goodbye."

Translation:

"Your call is so important to us we are going to cut you off in 2 seconds. We are making so much money, we don't give a **** if you get so bored trying to contact us that you give up and spend your money elsewhere. BUT, we're not making so much money that we can afford to invest in more staff to answer your call, and give you a better service. We're quids-in, because our company policy means that management, shareholders and the board are alright Jack, while the business end of our company is staffed by poorly-paid battery hens who cannot begin to cope due to constant cut-backs. The end result is that customer service is non-existent, but we don't care because we have discovered a secret formula for running our business: for reasons unknown to us, our business continues to thrive despite having a ****e customer service. So why should we bother investing money in something that does not bring a return? Now go away, you horrible person."

 

[FMC]

or send all the work to India were they dont understand you

 

[ZenStalinist]

I can't remember who, I think it was the DPRK foreign minister, who said:

'Capitalism is very good!... At producing JUNK!'

 

[kendor]

It doesn't just take the politicians to ruin a country it's populace help considerably! we wouldn't be in the situation we are now if it wasn't for personal greed amongst other things.

 

[securespark]

Of course. It's the "stuff everyone and everything else, I'm living for me here and now" mentality that a lot of people live by. Not caring about the future or anyone else, even future generations of their own families...

 

[fitter]

My pet subject, here we go.

A fairly recent survey concluded that British managment works longer hours and achieves less than any other country in the EU.

This one I find worrying:
A three year study looked at 40,000 employees and found that only 18% reached a basic level to do their job of the rest nearly " 40% are hopless, despite being the most confident in their abilities" ( their words).

The tests were conducted by job experts Cognisco and include banks, shops and call centres, in other words people that affect our lives every day.
They conclude "It's the confident mistake-makers who give most concern"

One of these days managment in this country will wake up and realise more is needed than to, walk the walk, talk the talk, wear the teeshirt
you have to know what you are doing, to do your job properly.

To all my fellow tradesmen, isn't it nice to know that apparently we are not the only w***ers in society.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Yo.

Next time someone you know says that they have a 4WD monster because it's safer in an accident, take them through the following argument.

1) They have chosen a vehicle which is more likely to be involved in an accident than a normal car because of its inferior handling. If they seem unwilling to accept that, ask them how confident they would be in hustling their 4WDM round a racetrack and/or slalom course in competition with ordinary cars with the same straight-line performance.

2) It's only safer if the other vehicle(s) are not also 4WD monsters, so presumably they hope that they won't be, and that their vehicle and occupants will emerge with less damage than the others. If they seem unwilling to accept that, ask them why they think they'll be safer - sooner or later they'll start talking about relative mass, and how their vehicle will crumple less. Which can only mean that the other vehicles have to crumple more.

3) This means that they want a crash to be more likely, and in that crash they want to increase the chances of killing and injuring other people.

4) Nice.

 

[pipme]

And the difference between a Hedgehog and a Range Rover is ?
Hedgehog has the pricks on the outside !
The old 4wds are quite prone to toppling over, if suddenly veered from the straight and narrow ...
Given the weight of the engine, transmission, suspension etc it is little wonder that the roof ends up almost on the seats on a roll-over !! Pity the poor old occupants ... they only had to think !!

A farm cart is a farm cart ..... no rally car "To be honest ...4 sure" as the old Ringmeister would say !

P

 

[AdamW]

A fairly recent survey concluded that British managment works longer hours and achieves less than any other country in the EU.

Obviously they were studying countries in a different EU. The EU I do a lot of work in is a very different story...

Take the French system as one example: for the country that claims equality and brotherhood they are very hierarchical! There is no "chain of command", all decisions are made by the boss overseeing the team. The best you can do is try to influence him. So yes, maybe he seems to get more done but he doesn't get it done right necessarily! There is no consensus. If he says "we will do it this way", despite the fact he might not have a clue what he is talking about (and believe me, that is often the case!).

People in this country are self-deprecating. We are very quick to say how badly we are doing, but no-one every says how good we are. What we need are national prestige projects, but as soon as anyone starts one you can bet that the tabloid press will start accusing the government of wasting money on this when it should be spent on something else.

British Industry may be let down by our government, but we are still doing very well.

 

[AdamW]

Yo.

Next time someone you know says that they have a 4WD monster because it's safer in an accident, take them through the following argument.

I have heard it referred to as a motoring arms-race! Everyone wants to buy the biggest toughest 4WD so that it will be bigger and tougher than the 4WD they have an accident with.

Range Rovers are pretty tiny by the standards of some things I have seen in the States! I saw one particular pick-up truck that I looked at twice because I wasn't sure if it was a flat-bed lorry!

 

[justlooking]

They used to say that a man chose a car which is an extension of his man hood.
As most 4wd are driven, it seems by woman, what can be read into that?

BTW liked the bit from fitter.

 

[pipme]

Spent almost the whole of my working life with at least two ".. national prestige projects"
One jumped into distinction in the Falklands, the other sadly passed into history in Nov 2003 ....

Where does the pride come from ? Building the recognised benchmarks I suppose.

Hey justlooking, Simple answer .... forced to drive, weekday-company-car-husbands toy .. They may be aiming it .... Just watch 'em try to reverse !!

P

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The problem with the second one was that it turned out not to be what people wanted. Irrespective of whether it had been allowed to operate widely to many destinations, or fly supersonic over land, the economics would never have made sense - the running costs were too high, and people wanted cheap travel not fast.

Yes, it was a stunning technical achievement, that nobody else could do (there's no doubt that the US moves against it were motivated by sour grapes more than anything else), and on that level it is an achievement of which we can be justly proud, and anybody who contributed to it can justly take personal pride in it, but let's not kid ourselves that this prestige did not come at an extremely high price, and I don't just mean the actual cost of the project. It fatally distracted our domestic aircraft industry for a long time whilst Boeing was busy with the pile-em-high-sell-em-cheap product philosophy, and it's only fairly recently that Airbus has had products to compete in the wide-bodied long-haul, and very important and cut-throat short-haul markets.

Yes, it was a fabulous way to travel, and I am so very glad that I did do it last year before it went out of service, but I did wonder, even if it had kept going, and even if I did have that much money to spend on crossing the Atlantic again, whether I would have used it again, or if I would rather fly first class on a 747 with room to get up and walk about, with inflight entertainment, with proper reclining seats, with toilets you could stand up in and so on. I'm not sure I would have flown on it again, and I'm absolutely certain that I wouldn't want the sort of life where saving 4 hours on a trip to New York was important to me....

And also, to pick up on one of the points above, it was environmentally extremely unsound.


On the assumption that you did not personally invent the Royal Marines, was the first example you mentioned another large delta-winged aircraft? Or is the word "jumped" a clue?

And if so, did you also at one time work on that other "prestige project" that got canned, but not before the engines had been developed, and which found their way into the second one?

 

[securespark]

double post

 

[securespark]

For those in the NW, one concorde is now parked in the viewing park at Manchester Airport. It is registered as a venue for weddings....

I personally think it is rather sad, looking at that magnificent old lump and thinking it will never fly again.

It's a bit like looking at a picture of someone you know who's died..or is that too melodramatic?