Things you hate IV

Discussion in 'Taylor's Tittle-Tattle - General Banter' started by hornmeister, Jun 25, 2019.

  1. HappyHornet24

    HappyHornet24 Crapster Staff Member

    Today I had the dubious, um, “pleasure” of catching five minutes of Loose Women for the first time in my life. Wtf is that?! The programme was only on in the background and I wasn’t paying close attention, admittedly, but they seemed to be asking some poor sap from Emmerdale to give his view on whether a female viewer of Loose Women should be visiting male prostitutes to save her marriage?! From the look on the bloke’s face, I reckon his agent was getting a heated phone call as soon as he was off camera. What a truly bizarre programme.
     
  2. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    Daytime TV genuinely makes me feel dirty and depressed.
     
  3. zztop

    zztop Eurovision Winner 2015

    I sometimes watch it for comedy value as it must be one of the most hilariously sexist programs allowed on TV. Imagine how it would go down if a load of blokes were discussing whether it was OK for a man to visit prostitutes to save his marriage!

    There was an episode on in the summer where the women were discussing the sexual performance (or lack of it) of their (past and present) partners.
     
  4. zztop

    zztop Eurovision Winner 2015

    Children's birthday parties.

    I hate them with a passion

    I say this as a father of three, and foster parent of about 30 children over the years. I've had my share of putting on these parties, running the games, bringing in children's entertainers, etc, and I thought it was the right thing to do at the time. But I am now totally against them and, I think they do more harm than good.

    I am a little upset that our 4 year old granddaughter, who we bring up, will probably be on a bit of a collision course with me as she gets older but I am fundamentally against the routine birthday parties that children are coming to expect. I must say that Mrs ZZ is not as against them as I am, but she sees them more s a "necessity" so children don't feel bad if they miss out, and I can see that point of view.

    As an example of a shocker ( I have many), we took the little 'un to a soft play centre on Sunday. Near us a little girl had her party there, with about 30 kids at a cost of £11.50 per head, for 90 minutes play and 30 mins for the burger/chips and jelly/ice cream, with a birthday cake extra cost - and I just felt it was sad and abysmal. The kids were fighting with each other, the parents were competing with each other. The little girl was reveling in being the centre of attention when she blew candles blew the candles out, but fighting for attention the rest of the time, and burst into tears several times when things didn't go her way.

    I can't help feeling that these events are more of an occasion of misery, disappointment, jealousy and often cause real financial pressure on parents feeling they need to compete with other parents or on behalf of their children. Then the friend's parents have to fork out for a present, and will have the decision of how much can they afford, and how will the present compare with the other presents? I often think that the children would be happy with a little extra attention within the family, maybe a couple friends round for a birthday "tea", and then move on, whereas the parents feel they "need" to make a big issue of it. And then of course, they have to "better" it next year, partly for their children's sake who will expect more, and probably more so, for their own credibility.
     
    Clive_ofthe_Kremlin likes this.
  5. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    I think a lot of what you say is true, but you can take sensible steps to reduce the cost and the stress. In general, those done at big venues, like soft play centres, are a bit hideous and stressful. And that’s just from taking my own child to them.

    It helps to give them a bit of structure, with defined times for them to run off energy. Looking back on them, I enjoyed every one of ours immensely and as a family we enjoyed working out a new thing to do each year.
     
  6. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    Smacks of poor planning, only get jiggy with it end of November/early December, that way any offspring will be born in the summer holidays and you can pretend you’re on your holidays.
     
    zztop likes this.
  7. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Birthday and Xmas presents.
    I couldn't give a flying fork about my own birthday or Xmas so it was a real irritation having to buy presents for family, making sure it wasn't the same as last year or what others had already bought. Amazon became a godsend so at least more recently I didn't need to leave the front door. However buying is only half of the story. Weeks beforehand I also needed to think what presents I wanted so I could give lists to others. Generally I don't want anything particular so this was a time consuming hassle. Occasionally I would buy something a month or so before my birthday and then be reprimanded, because I should have waited 4 weeks for it and had it as a birthday present.
    Fortunately over the years I have made contra agreements such that the only presents I now receive are Amazon vouchers, and the only people I buy for, from Amazon of course, are wife and mother plus a few bank transfers.
    However birthday cards remain an unneccessary hassle.
    Despite this, I am truly a joy to know.
     
    Knight GT, Diamond, Jumbolina and 2 others like this.
  8. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    My family got to the point where nobody knew what they wanted or would bother to say, so everyone just ended up swapping random gift vouchers with each other, it was totally pointless. For the past few years we’ve done a secret Santa so you just buy one bigger gift for one person, and get just get gifts for all the kids in the family.
     
  9. Robert Peel

    Robert Peel Squad Player

    Christmas I quite like as everyone is getting stuff, by my birthday I hate. I've taken years to not get in a bad mood leading up to it and the day itself and am OK with it, however I really, genuinely don't want or need any presents. I keep telling people I don't want anything and it's only now that my wife and kids are starting to listen and just get me a couple of beers and some chocolate instead of spending ages looking for stuff that I don't actually want. We've had so many difficult moments over the years where they've got me stuff and I've not even pretended to like it. Now we just go out for a meal, get me a card and a 4 pack, which is fine by me.
     
  10. Otter

    Otter Gambling industry insider

    My brothers and I are all in our 40s now, we decided about 10 years ago we didn't need to send Xmas gifts any more. We just do the nephews and nieces and my parents. My wife and I haven't exchanged gifts at Christmas or birthdays for a similar amount of time.

    It's probably about time one of your family basically says to stop doing it apart from giving to the children.
     
    a19tgg likes this.
  11. Otter

    Otter Gambling industry insider

    I wholeheartedly agree. We have done the odd party for our kids, usually hiring a hall and getting a DJ, that can keep costs down. Certainly I haven't experienced one-upmanship amongst parents in my kids' classes thankfully. Most of the time when they were at primary school, we just invited 4 or 5 of their friends to the house; like the parties I used to go to in the 80s.

    Don't start me on party bags too. In the 80s you'd go home with some cake and a pencil, nowadays you see $hit from Poundland to pad out a bag, utter waste of plastic.
     
  12. zztop

    zztop Eurovision Winner 2015

    Good idea, and I know that is tongue in cheek, but the trouble with that is the kids then havc to go through the school year with mostly older and more mature childen in their year, I think it puts them at a disadvantage.
     
    a19tgg likes this.
  13. Otter

    Otter Gambling industry insider

    My oldest son has his birthday in the Christmas holidays, it's quite easy to keep things low key as a lot of people have family around or are visiting family.
     
    a19tgg likes this.
  14. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Yes I've never been able to fake happiness for a birthday or gratitude for receiving a present I didn't want or need. As an example, my sister gave me a wallet for Xmas at a family gathering.
    I said "thanks".
    My mother said "You might sound a bit more grateful".
    I said "I've already got a wallet, so what am I going to do with this ?"
    She said "Well it's the thought that counts"
    I said "If she'd really thought, she wouldn't have just assumed I needed another wallet"
    My mother is incredibly grateful and polite whatever she is given. Which is no help as I've no idea if she actually likes what I've got her. I've often been tempted to buy something obviously inappropriate, like a years subscription to "Nuts" magazine (do they still produce those ?), see her reaction and then continue to buy something in a similar vein until she complains.
    Honestly, I'm a really great, nice guy.
     
    Otter and K9 Hornet like this.
  15. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    I’d also add that anyone inviting 30 kids to their party at £12 per head is quite demented. If each one brings a gift and they all get a party bag that’s a phenomenal load of crap for landfill.

    We once hired a drafty hut in a nature reserve for 30 quid. The kids ran amok building dens, playing chase or football on the grassy bits (there were defined areas we couldn’t go into). My son fell in a pond, was soaked through. We put on a crappy anarchic quiz after some sandwiches and cake that was a big success. It all seemed to work and other kids copied the idea for theirs. Kids really don’t need a whole lot, just space and each other.
     
    GarbeliaHornet, Otter and SkylaRose like this.
  16. Lloyd

    Lloyd Squad Player

    Christmas has become much more enjoyable thanks to the miracle of internet shopping and - now the boys are grown up - online bank transfers
     
  17. Robert Peel

    Robert Peel Squad Player

    Ha ha, sounds familiar.

    Weirdest one I had was on my 40th - a huge picture frame wrapped up, so I thought it might be something to do with my interests - Watford, the Balkans, my Armenian heritage etc. or maybe a picture of the kids. It turned out to be a large poster of all the logos of TfL services, as I had been working for TfL for about 10 years. I hated my job at the time and was so bored and unhappy. I also had never had any interest in the company other than it paying my wages, so it was just bizarre. It ended up going mouldy in the loft then in the bin.
     
  18. UEA_Hornet

    UEA_Hornet First Team Captain

    From them to you?
     
  19. Lloyd

    Lloyd Squad Player

    That'll be the day!
     
    Knight GT likes this.
  20. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    Been slowly winding down how much as a family we spend and who we dish pressies out to.
    One of my pet hates is gifts. Gifts are when you get/give something mundane wrapped up in too much packaging at twice the cost of having bought it without and more than likely something you/they didn't want in the first place.

    I tend to try and get soemthing they've wanted or soemthing useful and then a couple of jokey cheap things, like a really bad CD (2nd hand). Last year I bought my brother 500 of those hot towel things you get at the end of an Curry restaurant meal which actualy went down really well.

    My dad got a copy of the comunist manifesto. That was not really appreciated.
     
    Lloyd likes this.
  21. Happy bunny

    Happy bunny Cheered up a bit

    Virgin Media don't find it easy to reply to emails. They always say try again in an hour, or else phone a number which gives you a ******* bot which tells you to do what they told you to do last time you tried. They don't employ humans.
     
  22. Happy bunny

    Happy bunny Cheered up a bit

    Tell him to pass it on to Clive. It might open the Kremlins' eyes.
     
    Clive_ofthe_Kremlin likes this.
  23. Keighley

    Keighley First Team

    Blimey there’s a lot of ungrateful people on this thread.

    Gifts aren’t just about getting what you want, there Is also pleasure in the act of giving. Or there should be, but obviously not with you miserable old gits as recipients.
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2021
  24. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Sorry, you’ve completely lost me ????
     
    Keighley likes this.
  25. Robert Peel

    Robert Peel Squad Player

    But what if the recipient feels awkward and uncomfortable with receiving the gift, or they simply have no use whatsoever for the gift?

    What would you say if a loved one bought you a framed picture of David Pleat?
     
  26. UEA_Hornet

    UEA_Hornet First Team Captain

    Absolutely right. Happy to oblige you too by a sending a list by PM.
     
  27. HappyHornet24

    HappyHornet24 Crapster Staff Member

    Depends on the child - my youngest has an end of August birthday, but it has never held her back either socially (partly because she has an older sibling) or academically (either good genes or good luck - I’ll let you decide which :D).
     
  28. zztop

    zztop Eurovision Winner 2015

    No, of course, I mean if everything else is equal!

    Some will have the benefit of better genes :D and will thrive whenever they were born!

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23435439

    "This gap is still measurable all the way through primary and secondary school, GCSEs, A-levels and university admissions. There is no point at which these sunshine-month youngsters ever catch up with their older winterish peers."
     
  29. Keighley

    Keighley First Team

    “Wow, thanks! I’d been thinking of taking up darts again”.
     
    HappyHornet24 and Robert Peel like this.
  30. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    It's not being ungrateful, it's about not wanting a waste of time effort ,resources and money on something that will probably end up in landfil. I'd rather have nothing, something homemade, recycled or at least something with a bit of thought behind it rather than an especially boxed up/packaged xmas gift. Failing that something consumable like a few beers and not a boxed up gift set or non-comedy socks that I can actually wear.

    Celebrations are about meeting up with friends and family, not having to give them **** you can't afford and they don't need or want.
     
  31. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    I think Clive probably wrote it.
     
    Clive_ofthe_Kremlin likes this.
  32. Keighley

    Keighley First Team

    I agree with this in instances when people obviously haven’t put any effort into choosing the gift.

    But when people have tried to select something that they they think the recipient will like, but have misjudged it, it feels like ingratitude.

    In some cases (not all) it will be difficult for the recipient to tell the difference between these two scenarios.

    Gifts have been given since the very earliest times and exist in all cultures, so they clearly fulfill some basic human psychological need.
     
  33. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    Agree and I'll never throw it back in anyone's face and always be grateful. It's just the feeling that you "have to get soemone a gift" sort of cheapens the whole deal.
     
  34. Robert Peel

    Robert Peel Squad Player

    Especially if the recipient has specifically asked for no gifts.
     
    Keighley likes this.
  35. Married At First Site.

    For those that don't know. A trashy TV show full of fake nobodies who want to be famous so get fake married and live fake lives together before ultimately breaking up and trying to have a career being famous.

    I get to watch this a few times a week as the wife loves it. But geez. The people on there. Fake as hell drama queens and that's just the men. The women are worse.

    They are all just on it to be famous. To start an influencer career as they're all too lazy to get real jobs. As far as I know in the history of the show only 1 couple has ever stayed together.

    They get to choose to stay or go each week. Couples clearly hate each other but choose to stay anyway. Obviously because more screen time means more fame.

    The "councillors" ask if they want to stay or leave at then end of the week. They hate each other, can't stand the site of each other but write stay obviously.

    Such a BS programme.

    They aren't even legally married. It's just a completely fake bs show.

    Things I do for love man.
     

Share This Page