EBay madness

[MartinWales]

18 hours ago, SteveyDee68 said:

 

Would one expect any less from the infamous Mr G?! 

You could always add a fishy smell to it. That would really make it R@RE .L@@K!

[jonny777]

3 hours ago, petethemole said:

There are currently only two copies that I can find online.  One is that one, also available through Amazon, Worldofbooks own site and Abebooks (at really silly money). There is one other (new) on Amazon Marketplace at 71.99.

 

The person bidding for this one might be in for a tidy profit....

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/384211434534?epid=97725021&hash=item5974c93c26:g:l08AAOSwFPxgv3nz

[PhilJ W]

Hopefully he's bidding because he wants it.

[petethemole]

Interesting that my ebay search didn't get that one.  I've noticed this before when looking for comparative prices for a listing.  Doing a search from my My ebay pages and via Google, for instance, may pull up some different items.

[Paul H Vigor]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124771933431?hash=item1d0cfc9cf7:g:jTgAAOSw87Rgx4xK

 

Home to little green men/women?? 

[Enterprisingwestern]

9 hours ago, Paul H Vigor said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124771933431?hash=item1d0cfc9cf7:g:jTgAAOSw87Rgx4xK

 

Home to little green men/women?? 

 

If that's "playworn", I'd hate to see "totally knackered and only fit for the bin".

 

Mike.

[Grizz]

Holy crap…I think I can get a real coach for less. There were some MK3 sleepers, straight out of traffic, going for less. 
 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144059442842?hash=item218a9ca69a:g:HvsAAOSwgBpgwlLZ

 

 

[PhilJ W]

24 minutes ago, Grizz said:

Holy crap…I think I can get a real coach for less. There were some MK3 sleepers, straight out of traffic, going for less. 
 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144059442842?hash=item218a9ca69a:g:HvsAAOSwgBpgwlLZ

 

 

It seems that vendor has cornered the market in 'Coming soons' at £99 each.

[Grizz]

29 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

It seems that vendor has cornered the market in 'Coming soons' at £99 each.

Yeah but it is showing £999.00.....although I do expect that it was meant to be £99....

[Bucoops]

22 hours ago, SteveyDee68 said:

 

I just noticed your signature - Rich. Still got my modelling L plates

 

Gave me a proper laugh that, until I realised that mine should probably read - Steve. Failed the modelling theory test twice already

 

 

I plan to change it when I actually finish something.

 

So probably not this year, and next year's  not looking good either.

[PatB]

19 hours ago, jonny777 said:

This is bit steep...

 

https://tinyurl.com/39at92xu

 

I would not have thought the book was that rare. 

Having put the title into Google, this seems to be the cheapest of Amazon's options. Waterstones list it at 23.99 but haven't actually got it. So, if someone really wants it, at the moment that seems to be what it will cost. Whether anyone does actually want it that badly, of course, remains to be seen. Me, I'd be waiting to see if it turns up in Waterstones again.

[Northmoor]

45 minutes ago, Bucoops said:

 

I plan to change it when I actually finish something.

 

So probably not this year, and next year's  not looking good either.

See you at the World Procrastinating Championships!  I was hoping for a medal this year, but the event's been deferred until 2022.  They're always doing that.....

[Paul H Vigor]

2 hours ago, Grizz said:

Holy crap…I think I can get a real coach for less. There were some MK3 sleepers, straight out of traffic, going for less. 
 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144059442842?hash=item218a9ca69a:g:HvsAAOSwgBpgwlLZ

 

 

'You have left eBay. You have entered The Twilight Zone!' 

[SteveyDee68]

47 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

See you at the World Procrastinating Championships!  I was hoping for a medal this year, but the event's been deferred until 2022.  They're always doing that.....

 

A little like the Agrophobics Association of America (AAA) Annual Convention ... every year they book a great venue, fantastic meal, superb after dinner speaker, and every year nobody turns up ...

 

Hat, coat, door* ....

 

Steve S

 

 

* Unless a member of thr AAA that is

 

 

 

(No offense intended towards anybody suffering with that condition)

[SteveyDee68]

52 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

See you at the World Procrastinating Championships!  I was hoping for a medal this year, but the event's been deferred until 2022.  They're always doing that.....

 

You never see anybody at the World Camouflage Championships, though ...

 

Hat, coat, door ...

 

[Bucoops]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

See you at the World Procrastinating Championships!  I was hoping for a medal this year, but the event's been deferred until 2022.  They're always doing that.....

 

Nail on the head there - had an assessment not that long ago and it came back that I procrastinate a lot. I thought I was just gibbering a bit but turns out there's a medical term for gibbering over something.

[SteveyDee68]

15 minutes ago, Bucoops said:

 

Nail on the head there - had an assessment not that long ago and it came back that I procrastinate a lot. I thought I was just gibbering a bit but turns out there's a medical term for gibbering over something.

 

I had an "annual review" with an HR representative at work a while back. After a long, boring and pointless (other than to justify HR's existence) discussion I was asked, "Do you think any differently about yourself from last year?" I attempted to inject some humour into the situation and replied, "Well, last year I thought I was quite indecisive ... but now? Well, I'm not so sure."

 

(It's an old joke, everybody's heard it.)*

 

She nodded, and wrote it down, and suggested I did some training. Sense of humour, much?!

 

HR staff - you can't train someone to do the job, they have to hatch, fully formed, from beneath rocks, under the cover of darkness...

 

HOURS OF FUN!

 

* I had her again the following year. She asked the same question. I said, "I used to think I was a werewolf, but I'm alright nowooooooooooooo!" Not a flicker. "You're not taking this seriously, are you?" she asked. "That was rhetorical, wasn't it?" I replied. She just made another note. I don't think she knew what 'rhetorical' meant...

 

** I once also overheard a colleague (my mentor, an ex policeman) speaking with her - "Why won't you teach maths in the room assigned to you?" "Would you teach a maths class underneath a car ramp?" "It's not up to me to make that kind of decision, why are you asking me?" "Why are you asking me if you can't make a decision about whether it is safe to teach in such an environment?" "Why do you answer all my questions with a question?!" "So you recognise that I've answered your questions, then? Good. We're done here."  ... He was a legend, my seng sei 

 

[Northmoor]

Yep, this kind of sums up my experience of HR departments, although one company I worked for briefly they were very good.  They actually asked the right questions at an exit interview (being invited to one was a first for me) and genuinely listened to the answers.

In general, they do seem to target recruitment for HR departments at people who can follow instructions to the letter but are probably unable to work out that the form they cannot understand how to fill in, is upside down.

[Bucoops]

Our HR department is pretty good to be fair. Although when I started they didn't have one but they picked well and they do genuinely care which is great.

[andytrains]

When I retired I was not contacted by HR until two weeks after.

The person asked me to come in for an Exit Interview.

I asked if I would get paid for it, to which the answer was no.

I told them, not much point then and put the phone down.

I found out later that my exit interview was done over the phone, two weeks after I retired.

[The Johnster]

When I retired on medical grounds from my last job, Royal Mail HR bless 'em, representing my employer in such matters, had tried to sack me on poor attendance grounds despite my illness.  The union, UCW, successfully fought for me to be medically retired; my pension was at stake.  The union's national rep was on the way down from London on the train when they decided to grant me the medical retirement;  I was due in the office for the final interview with the union rep accompanying me at 11.30 in the morning, and had been told I would be clearing my locker.  At 11.00 am a mail van turned up outside the door with a note from HR telling me not to attend, as a decision had been taken to grant me the retirement and the pension. 

 

They deliberately took a negotiation that had been going on for 6 months as they worked through their discipline process of warnings, final warnings and so on all the way down to the wire despite my increasing problems with depression and anxiety which their actions were making worse.  I have nothing but contempt for these scum, who very nearly killed me out of spite and a refusal to countenance the idea that they might be wrong.  Royal Mail (In)Human Resources; actually, not fair to call them scum as that is an insult to scum.  Not incompetent as some of the above examples, or failing to understand a problem, these were mendacious and vicious, completely uncaring that their actions were causing needless harm and suffering while being fully aware of it.  Faceless beauracracy, but personal, bullying, and vindictive at the same time. 

 

Thank goodness for the union!

Edited June 15, 2021 by The Johnster

[Paul H Vigor]

7 hours ago, SteveyDee68 said:

"I used to think I was a werewolf, but I'm alright nowooooooooooooo!"

The Dirtville Werewolf, by any chance??

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=the+dirtville+werewolf&rlz=1C1GGRV_enGB755GB757&oq=the+dirtville+were&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j33i160.9902j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[Paul H Vigor]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313567355225?hash=item4902122159:g:GBwAAOSwJGlgyST5

 

Who wants to build a 28xx?? 

[Enterprisingwestern]

6 hours ago, Paul H Vigor said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313567355225?hash=item4902122159:g:GBwAAOSwJGlgyST5

 

Who wants to build a 28xx?? 

 

I don't know much about GWR engines, there's not that much missing is there?

In close relation to the above, isn't just as close to building any one of the other GWR locomotives as the one it purports to be, based on the knowledge that all GWR engines look the same?

 

Mike.

[Blandford1969]

This feels a bit odd writing this here but it has been bothering my anxiety since reading the comments about HR further up the thread. 

 

I've worked in HR all my career and there is another side. I'll give you some examples that maybe you might just give a little bit more thought to a different view. 

 

In one company I worked in the Production Director was an unpleasant man. He had lights outside his office red, do no enter, green enter. If he did not like what you said he would bang his fists on his desk and shout at you. More to the point disagreeing with him only got one result. He and and MD said they wanted someone sacking. I pointed out the legal reasons why they could not and what they would need to do. Suffice to say shortly afterwards 'I did not fit in' . The one good thing there was with any disciplinary the Shop Stewart and I would have had a 'boiler room chat' discussed the merits and he would help me to keep the manager on the right lines and in fairness both agreed on where we thought it should end up. He wanted to see fair play too. 

 

In that same firm another Director did not think one of their managers was performing and again was making their live uncomfortable, whilst still being friends with them on Facebook. As all of this was behind doors I could not say anything to the person, which did not sit well with me and felt like being two faced. 

 

I moved to another company and things were good for quite a few years. Some places did what they wanted and then conveniently said 'HR had told them' even though they had never spoken to or emailed me! 

 

Things were fine till a new manager arrived who then did not like that I had supported an employee in a disciplinary who said they had depression. That resulted in a complaint and me being taken out of that job.  Now I just get micro managed at times. 

 

We are 'used' as excuses sometimes by managers who want an easy way out. I don't miss doing HR and the politics that goes with it and which can be exhausting. You are expected to do the company's bidding and just get on with it, all the time of course there is no one you can talk to. 

 

So please give some slack not all are bad.  All I know is whilst having written this has set my anxiety off in relation to some of the things in the past both near and far at least I have given a different side.

 

Now back to madness