Early Risers.

[J. S. Bach]

20 minutes ago, Ashcombe said:

After a year in the US when my ex husband was on a GM Scholarship,  we couldn’t board the plane home in June, 1972 without a certificate to prove we had both paid local, state and federal income tax. 

Sounds like a hassle to me.

[Gwiwer]

Evening all.  Just a quick check-in at the end of the working week.  All continues to be well Upon the Hill of Strawberries with supplies being delivered regularly and occasional items sourced from the local shop.  Today we received a fruit box, vegetable box, chicken and beef joint all from one of the catering suppliers-turned-retailers.  One we had used before and been very happy with.  A further order has been placed with them for future delivery and we have Ocado due next Saturday.  Those two should satisfy most needs.  If anything we are over-supplied with potatoes, dry pasta and lemons right now.  I can't come up with any recipe using all three!   St. Austell brewery has also kindly topped up the beer supplies.  

 

By general agreement there have been more passengers about all this week at the House of Fun.  Not so many as to be a serious concern but enough to notice and spread across our morning rather than entirely concentrated in the first hour.  We have both noticed more people about locally during our various perambulations and sense that there is less stress and a hint of relaxation about things now.  

 

SWMBO threatens to spend the weekend quilting while I waste time and bandwidth on the computer.  I still have a video to make and two magazine pieces to write; with the amount of time available under house arrest safe keeping there should be no excuses ..... 

 

It's Friday.  The only traffic about is the delivery scooters.  I am allowed to play late not having to work in the morning but am already tired.  We shall see if the second wind arises or the eyelids droop.  

 

Best wishes to all.  Sleep safe and sound.  

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. The west facing wall of next doors extension was covered in insects this evening sunning themselves with the last rays of the setting sun. They look like flies but are probably a species of solitary bee attracted by my california lilac which is just coming into flower. Muggatee awaits so its be back later.

[pH]

1 hour ago, brianusa said:

It is amazing isn't it, my UK pension is more than some of my wages in the UK ...

 

Yeah, but yours is indexed! 

[Ozexpatriate]

What are pensions?

 

OK I'm being facetious. These are rare in the US these days. I spent five years in my first job in the US (about 30 years ago) and became eligible for a pension. It is small and is now owned by the Boeing Corporation. They offered to buy me out with a one-time payout, which after taxes might have paid the mortgage for a few months. The way Boeing is going perhaps I should have done this.

 

While there is Social Security (a greatly debated but mostly untouchable 'entitlement' program), many people in the US resort to employer-sponsored investment programs (labelled 401-k) for their financial security in retirement. (You can imagine what has happened to these in the last month.)

 

Pensions (particularly those offered to government employees) are hotly debated in this country.

 

A requirement to pre-fund pensions in a 2006 piece of (-) federal legislation is about to bankrupt the US Postal Service. No other public or private entity is required to do this. the USPS was granted a deferral in 2009. The USPS was forbidden to raise postage prices this year. Further delving into this topic would violate my sense of decorum regarding political discussion.

 

A big political football in Oregon is the PERS (Public Employee Retirement System) program - a pension for people like teachers and other state government workers. 

[tigerburnie]

Had a quiet day today, brightened by Hermes delivering a new loco I won on ebay, it's a split chassis Bachman J39 that the previous owner had very nicely converted to dcc adding a Hornby chip into the loco, seems to be working well.

Gnight all

[JohnDMJ]

Friday night - two days away from the asylum mad house that constitutes work!

 

I've already told one telephoner (not quite so bluntly) that he's wasting my time on more than one occasion and when he did place an order, I went for broke with every surcharge I could muster! (We have record of an instance where a customer in Spain wanted a Peco 6ft way gauge in N scale. A then 20p piece of plastic cost him nearly £10.00! We won't mess about!)

 

We are aware that many of our customers (retail or trade) are unable to accept that we are at 30% staff levels with over 1100 orders to process (where's the order I placed two days ago??!!). ISTRC Bruce Forsythe's catch phrase - good game, good game!

 

We are also aware that, having called all of our trade customers to check if they can accept deliveries, we are still getting some returned to us. This ain't rounders; ONE strike and you're out!

 

Forgive me if I am preaching to the already inflicted, but I'd be interested to know how many others in this situation find themselves this deep! Given that we are currently two days behind picking orders,  my colleagues and I on the 'phones don't need any more stabs in the neck, but we will still get them!

 

Phone lines re-open on Monday but be prepared to listen to our hold music for a while!

 

By all means, call in for a chat and advice (I'm on every option except accounts! [But if they're packing your parcels, I might even pick those up!]), but, please, be prepared to be truncated in favour of other incoming calls.

 

Thank you!

 

(Mods: please copy /move to a more appropriate thread if you feel the need! Just please respect that these are my own views / insights, not necessarily those of my employer)

[Ozexpatriate]

On 14/04/2020 at 14:08, tetsudofan said:

Clicked on this link and got an advert for the "Cutest Bras for Older Women" with a picture of a number of rather large women sporting rather large bras and the contents therein......

Ads by Google was considerably kinder to me today. On an only slightly related theme, they presented me with an advertiser named "spicy lingerie". The photographs lived up to the tagline, and then some.

 

Why, I don't know. My browsing habits are not prurient. Honest! I haven't clicked on them. While titillating, I don't really want to be inundated with this sort of thing every time I open a web page.

[Barry O]

Evening!

Tried to post earlier today..it bounced. Pah!

A mixed day. Some things muddling wise worked well..others didn't work ay all. However, nothing ventured nothing gained as they say.

 

Her indoors has got the garden sorted. She has even got the hanging baskets ready..so putting them up is 9n my slop chit for tomorrow).

 

While it has been sunny all day the wind has been fresh. Same tomorrow apparently. Pah! I have some spray painting to do...

 

John, remember every customer is your only customer ( in their mind). The fact you have loads of customers to helpjust flies past most people.

 

TTFN

Baz

 

[br2975]

Evenin' all

.

Only sad news to report.

.

Well known lifelong South Wales railway enthusiast, and RCTS member Rowland Pittard (Tondu) passed away toward the end of last week.

.

Rowland's passing was the result of a somewhat protracted illness, and unrelated to the current pandemic.

.

Rowland had been contributing to the Railway Observer for over fifty years, his vast sources and contacts were second to none, which resulted in accurate and timely information being disseminated to members.

.

I recall bumping into him once, waiting for a steam special which was obviously running late....."hang on a minute" he quipped, pulled out his 'phone and said "I'll phone Port Talbot panel, they'll know where it is ....."

.

Undoubtedly 'one of a kind' he will be sadly missed.

.

Brian R

Edited April 17, 2020 by br2975

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[AndyID]

14 hours ago, AndrewC said:

Screwdrivers: slot = merde, phillips = tres merde, posidrive = ok. Robertson = near perfection. 

 

 

Nah, Torx is (are?) better

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I-94? (Or perhaps some kind of addendum to I-94 or I-129) Long ago (>30 years) on my then H1-B Visa, I was required to keep a customs/immigration form in my passport when leaving the US (which I think was an I-94) but I don't recall ever needing proof of tax payment. A new one was issued on re-entry. Back then of course the visa was stamped / pasted into my passport.  It's all so long ago it's a bit of a blur. I expect it's much the same for you.

 

 

'twas long ago now but on one occasion I went back to the UK while still on an H1-B and I had to have it renewed at a US embassy. The company immigration lawyer told me it would be better not to leave the US at all but if I did go I should not use the embassies in London or Edinburgh but to go to Brussels instead. Apparently they were not so picky.

[newbryford]

1 hour ago, JohnDMJ said:

 

 

Forgive me if I am preaching to the already inflicted, but I'd be interested to know how many others in this situation find themselves this deep! Given that we are currently two days behind picking orders,  my colleagues and I on the 'phones don't need any more stabs in the neck, but we will still get them!

 

 

 

We constantly have callers/emailers who wonder where their stuff is. Only having placed the order the previous day.

As Baz says - as far as they are concerned - they are their only customer, but many just do not get "it".

Whilst I appreciate that good customer service is a priority, there does come a time when some folks really need to wake up and smell the roses. And that time is now. ( I have had bit of a rant on the Hattons 66 thread)

 

I've only just about caught up with the mass of emails received over the Easter break. Reply to some and then get extra questions in return, as well as keeping with the extra generated by those that now have more time on their hands.

 

When I explained this to a similar phone enquiry today, he asked if that was code for "get off the line". It took a lot of self-control not to say "yes.

 

I calmed my nerves by doing some grass cutting at wife's work. (Pictures of a different pattern of stripes than last week to follow later)

 

The virtual pub was "zoomed" tonight and the world was generally put to rights.

I can only wish that the hangover will also be virtual.

 

The bedside alarm is turned off.

I have a non-virtual lie-in planned for tomorrow.................

 

Catch up Saturday-ish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[Ozexpatriate]

14 minutes ago, AndyID said:

... on one occasion I went back to the UK while still on an H1-B and I had to have it renewed at a US embassy. The company immigration lawyer told me it would be better not to leave the US at all but if I did go I should not use the embassies in London or Edinburgh but to go to Brussels instead.

I never had that issue, though there was a period where, during my H1-B renewal period, I could not leave the US*. There were certain status situations where colleagues were required to leave the US to renew their visas. One Chicago-based colleague went to the US consulate in Monterrey in Nuevo León, Mexico via the border crossing in Brownsville, TX. He was Indian. I think Monterrey likely processed very few visa applicants from India.

 

* There's a good story there, but I'll save it for another day.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Well I never made it to the workshop, the work in the cellar took up most of the day. However, I did manage to print out a few diagrams that I’d drawn up on the computer whilst having a muggertea. During dinner Sheila enquired about a towel rail that I’d been working on in the cellar and asked if it was easy to get at. This is a subtle hint to get it finished, so after dinner I dug it out of the corner and continued removing the paint from it. It’ll actually do me a favour because it’s one more item that’s not cluttering up the place (tongue firmly pressed in cheek)!

 

The night was rounded off with a nice bottle Shiraz and catching up on some recorded TV.

 

 Goodnight all 

[southern42]

As a customer over the last few weeks, it only seems sensible to me to check the seller's situation or be accepting and patient when an incoming email indicates a longer than usual delivery service.  With two items, one for me and one for Sis, currently in transit somewhere, I must admit I check the trackers just as much as normal.  Another one will not be here until the end of the month or so but since the brass bits need things to go onto them, I have plenty to do while I am waiting.

 

And one headlamp is changing colour more often than a chameleon.  Get the colour right, leave it, come back and it is wrong.  Get the colour right again, leave it, comer back and it is wrong...  Another look a short while ago...and...yes...it is wrong... Tomorrow I will get it right...just a bit of white...a bit of metal grey in the right places...and pop the lens in.  In other words, it is nearly there.

 

On that positive note, ' night all and nos da.

_________

Best wishes

Polly

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, southern42 said:

As a customer over the last few weeks, it only seems sensible to me to check the seller's situation or be accepting and patient when an incoming email indicates a longer than usual delivery service.  

I ordered some stuff on 5th Apr, and got an email the following day to say the order had been processed.

 

I'm still waiting (patiently) for it to arrive.

 

Some stuff is getting here very quickly, other items are taking well over a week.

 

Providing the weather holds then there's plenty of gardening to do.

[BR60103]

We are supposed to do Social Distancing of 6 feet (or so many meters).

https://www.guelphmercury.com/news-story/9941364-can-you-keep-your-distance-on-toronto-sidewalks-this-viral-video-shows-that-can-be-literally-impossible-/

 

We are going out a lot less now that the newspapers are being delivered.

 

Pensions. In Canada, to be tax deductible (for the employer) a pension plan has to be registered. This includes certain limits/requirements on the benefits and requirements on the funding. Deficits have to be paid off over 15 or 5 years (depending on how incurred). However, government plans find that tax deductibility is irrelevant, so they ignore the funding requirements.

Towards the end of my career, someone in the accounting profession noted that "Other Post-Retirement Benefits" were going to cost a lot of money and very few companies were setting anything aside systematicly. 

[AndyID]

6 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I spent five years in my first job in the US (about 30 years ago) and became eligible for a pension.

 

I "vested" after five years at ITT. The monthly amount is not much but so far I've received about $17,000. Better than a poke in the eye with the proverbial blunt stick.

[AndyID]

I just read that the wholesale price of gasoline in Fargo, North Dakota is down to $0.12 per US gallon. (About 3 cents per liter.)

[JohnDMJ]

These are interesting times! Speed of response to orders depends on not only the trader with whom you are dealing but also their delivery associate. We have suspended our Next Business Day service (which, to be blunt, we could never guarantee because once it left the building, what our courier did was out of our control)

 

We have heard stories (backed up by the fact that the package ends up back with us) of the delivery van being seen by the recipient outside their location then just drive off without any attempt to even get out of the van!

 

6 hours ago, newbryford said:

 

We constantly have callers/emailers who wonder where their stuff is. Only having placed the order the previous day.

As Baz says - as far as they are concerned - they are their only customer, but many just do not get "it".

Whilst I appreciate that good customer service is a priority, there does come a time when some folks really need to wake up and smell the roses. And that time is now. ( I have had bit of a rant on the Hattons 66 thread)

 

Unfortunately, it's not only retail customers; some of our trade accounts are bitching as well! One, who I am restricted from identifying, springs to mind! Most of our trade accounts are 'taking it in their stride'.

 

6 hours ago, newbryford said:

I've only just about caught up with the mass of emails received over the Easter break. Reply to some and then get extra questions in return, as well as keeping with the extra generated by those that now have more time on their hands.

 

When I explained this to a similar phone enquiry today, he asked if that was code for "get off the line". It took a lot of self-control not to say "yes.

 

I calmed my nerves by doing some grass cutting at wife's work. (Pictures of a different pattern of stripes than last week to follow later)

 

Emails are taking low priority for now (even internal 'high priority' ones); it's the 'phones which rule! I have already, hopefully politely, told some callers (both trade and retail) to go forth! (Please don't multiply ;))

 

The telephone: the rudest invention ever made! It interrupts and demands attention!

 

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I ordered some stuff on 5th Apr, and got an email the following day to say the order had been processed.

 

I'm still waiting (patiently) for it to arrive.

 

Some stuff is getting here very quickly, other items are taking well over a week.

 

Providing the weather holds then there's plenty of gardening to do.

 

With due respect, that depends very much on your supplier. If they are a company with, say 10 orders per day, then even now, I would not be surprised by a quick turnaround.

 

We currently have in excess of 1100 orders to fulfil and, with only approx. 30% of our full staff on site, are at lease two days behind in generating said email.

 

Then, we have to pass the stuff to the courier. It's unbelievable how much is being returned to sender!

 

HH: if you're getting stuff within a week, then the supplier either has a multi thousand staff and hundreds of outlets or a small trader to whom more than 10 orders per day sends them into panic mode! Again, time to arrival is down to the delivery company. Good to hear that you are being patient in the circumstances, unlike too many cockwombles out there!

 

Just offering an inside perspective!

Edited April 18, 2020 by JohnDMJ

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

When I mentioned mental health yesterday I should have anticipated that the Cambridges would not be far behind.  It has to be good news that Royalty takes a keen and conspicuous interest in this most important subject, for it warrants the high profile that they give it.  I was interested to hear Prince William arguing a role for social media in enabling the contact with others that is a fundamental part of dealing with mental health difficulties.  I should have mentioned this to my e-friend Harry when we were conversing yesterday afternoon because he reckons that social media is a cause of mental health issues.  The answer is, of course, that it depends what you mean by social media.  Sadly some people use some platforms in unhelpful ways and there can be tragic consequences which are easily blown out of all proportion.  I say: don’t blame the medium, blame the user.

 

In my conversation with Harry I was lamenting the strong possibility that my Swiss trip at Christmas and New Year will not happen.  The festive season is eight months away but pandemics are not easily consigned to history.  Some of what my young friend said is worthy of babes and sucklings.  Silly question 1: “Would you want to go even if they run it?”  Let me put it this way: I fear for my mental health if I have to stay in the UK for the festive season.  Silly question 2: “Won’t it be dangerous travelling?”  If there is any likelihood of danger, the trip will not happen!  The conversation arose because I posted to tell him about a Channel 4 documentary about Amazon, at 9 pm on Tuesday.  I’m waiting for the one about people selling stuff through Amazon and how the process is managed.  That’s what Harry does.

 

Worth seeking on Facebook is a montage of three visual accompaniments to the BBC News sig tune.  In addition to Ciaran Algar’s admirable fiddle work there is weatherman Owain Wyn Evans playing the drums in a very smart suit and weather lady Joy Dunlop doing a fine Irish dance.  Be amazed.  Be very amazed.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris