Furious Ranter

So they say an apple a day keeps the doctor away and lately I've been finding that a rant a day does the same thing!  I guess it really is better to get it off your chest....so here we go.  One rant a day on whatever takes my fancy, or annoys me actually!  There is normally at least one thing or person each day that irriates the hell out of me and as a busy mum of two I dont have time for idiots or things that waste my time.  So I will save my sanity by writing it down (hopefully every day..children willing) and adding photos where I can.

A little about me then.  Im 31, stay at home mum of two - Jacob and Tabitha - and I live in Herefordshire.  I grew up here but have lived all over for the last ten years including Cardiff.  I met my husband Andy at Cardiff university..  Im pretty normal I would say, well no underlying mental issues anyway - they are definately all out in the open :).  Here I am

 

Ok....Day One;
Todays furious rant has been coming for a while and its.....drum roll please....other drivers!  Ok, yes I know its all been said before and its hardly a new topic but my god am I fed up with other people's shocking driving!  Really, do people's cars suddenly not have indicators, do people think that slamming the brakes on without warning is a good idea??  Aaaaahhhhh!  Its been a day of driver wankers (Im adapting bus wankers from the Inbetweeners here) as I have followed dawdling and infuriating drivers all across Hereford!  I have been getting angrier and angrier until I finally snapped and asked one bloke if his car did not have indicators.  Did I have to stop the car and roll down the passenger window to shout this question at him, well yes maybe, but really!  Ok so I may have overreacted, we all make mistakes when driving but lets discuss the situation in more detail.  I followed the driver across a junction where he seemed to be uncertain about which way he was going so I hung back to give him room to make his mind up.  He then proceeded to ram the brakes on every few yards causing me to do the same with both kids in the car.  He then stopped to allow 12 people to cross the street, not at a crossing I might add and not in a group either, just individuals meandering around.  By this point I was getting a bit twitchy and my trigger finger was inching towards the horn when all of a sudden he sped up.  "Great" I thought until he then pulled over to the side of the road with NO indication WHATSOEVER!!  It was at this point I lost it, wound the passenger window down and enquired as to whether or not he had working indicators.  I may then have added "asshole" to the end of that sentence.  Well, really it was one mistake too far.  Did I overreact?  I dont think so!  In a day of bad driving and abysmal drivers he was without a doubt the worst and to be honest he is lucky I did not have a full on meltdown.  Twat.  On that note, bed is calling and I shall hopefully be back tomorrow for some more furious ranting!  Whatever you can do to stay sane in this world do it! FR

Day two;
Ok today summer is the problem....to be precise insects, bugs and flies.  I have spent today at a primary school fete (researching schools for Jake to attend) and there are bloody bugs everywhere.  Now dont get me wrong I know they have to exist for the eco system to work etc but do they really have to exist in the same space as me?  We moved to our new house about 6 weeks ago and since then we have been inundated with these weird flies that are kind of long and have speckled wings (they look a bit like water boatmen off ponds) and they hover for ages and then fly at your face!  Not fun!  I have tried everything to figure out where they have come from and how to stop so many of them from being in the house, my house, not theirs where I pay the bloody rent!  I have tried shutting doors and windows, opening all doors and windows, taping up vents, fly spray, swatting and good old fashioned screaming and swearing (much to Jake's delight I might add).  For two days I was distraught, they were everywhere, nothing seemed to get rid of them and I was so angry.  Then I became resigned that they would just co-exist with me and the kids and if I did indeed have some strange insect bites on my derriere then it was probably from something else and in  no way connected to these flies (I am like the ostrich - stick your head in the sand and pretend its not happening!).
Anyway so until today I had been content to just smack them half heartedly if we passed in the hall and let Jake pummel them with his toy hammer!  However, today I have been extra tetchy and when confronted with an inordinate amount of bugs at the school fete my anger began to simmer and bubble out of control.  There were spiders in the grass, ants on the path and as many flies and insects as you could NOT want milling around.  I know Im in their natural habitat and they have to live somwehere but I think they had all bloody moved to that field today.  My fury reached boiling point when my husband, Andy attempted to take Jake into the tent to see the bunnies and guinea pigs only to hurry back about ten seconds later jabbering about tarantulas and pulling a bewildered child with him (ours thankfully).  I ascertained that inside said tent there were several types of giant spider and being even more scared of spiders than me Andy had had to bid a hasty retreat.  I then had to be the one to 'man up', 'get lad points' and generally 'take one for the team' by going back into the lions den (ok tent with spiders in) with Jake.  This really fucked me off - what business do people have traipsing their wierd and downright terrifying 'pets' (and I use this term loosely here) to fetes!!  As if I had not had enough of bugs, here was a woman who thought snuggling up to tarantulas of a night was ok, intruding on my carefully planned afternoon of what I thought would be cream teas and maybe a donkey ride (probably not for me admittedly!)
Right so having had enough of pretending I didnt think she was weird for having stick insects and bird eating spiders as pets I left and returned home.  I was feeling pretty tense all the way home and then was confronted by about a million of these buggering fly thingys when I got there.  I have had enough.  There are now a million flies squashed to our walls (again much to Jake's delight - me jumping round screaming "die you blasted flies, die" is apparently hilarious to a 2 year old and also this time by husand's disgust).  See below pictures of a fly then some squashes - NOTE - contains scenes of a violent and angry nature!
So, flies of the world beware, furious ranter is out to get you.  Land on my wall, door, bed, child and feel my wrath/flip flop!!  Over and out.  FR.

Day three;
Its been a long day!  Asda has truly pissed me off.  Supermarkets as they go are pretty tedious places to attempt to navigate with children as most parents will agree.  However, when you have been up since 5.30am and have spent a fractious hour in Tescos already the last thing you want is the next supermarket you get to, to not have a trolley to put your kids in!!
So I parked in the mother and baby spaces (which I was pleasantly surprised about as normally I cant get a space in Hereford Asda) and then got my pound ready for the trolley.  Leaving both kids screaming in the car (Jake bit Tabitha and had been told off!) I ran (well as much as you can run with love handles and post-baby weight) to the trolley shelter only to find it was empty apart from single trolleys for one child.  See below

Right so my problem is this....where the hell am I supposed to put the other child??!!  So leaving the trolley shelter I went racing round the car park (extremely conscious that some old people had gathered near my car and were probably muttering about bad parents leaving their children in the car) and tried to find a suitable trolley.  Forget supermarket sweep I couldnt even find the bloody trolley!  I tried outside the main store, inside the entrance and all the trolley shelters but nothing.  All I could find were trolleys like the one above or one for twins (see below) which I could not attempt to ram Jake in at nearly 2 years old!

These are for twin babies and the ones at Asda are a lot more horizontal too so no fitting Jake in them.  Unsure as to my next move I went back to the car to try and placate the kids and encountered a 'trolley boy'.  Pretty sure thats not the politically correct term but dont care!  I asked him if they had any of the trolleys with a baby seat and a toddler seat or even one with two toddler seats.  See below.

He was about as much help as a chocolate teapot.  After muttering "stay here" he walked away across the car park and started pushing a twin trolley back to me. I shook my head to indicate that no, I could not wedge my 2 year old in the seat and he just shrugged and walked off!!  Bloody wanker!  I was so irate by now that I contemplated leaving the shopping but as it included the kids nappies I decided I had no other choice.  Ramming a by now, furious Jake, in a single seater trolley and wedging a bewildered Tabitha under my arm I strode towards the store.  Now that could have been the end of the matter, I have always quite liked Asda (if you can manage to look past the chavs, there is always some good stuff in store).  But no, once inside I continued to get funny looks off people and not only did no one offer to help me but actually several people refused to move out of my way in aisles ( noticeably by the cakes - as I said chavs!) even though I was obviously struggling to steer the trolley one handed, whilst holding an eight month old with the other!  The checkout was a similar story with the cashier asking if I wanted bags and then throwing my items down the belt at me.  "Do I look like I can pack my shopping without help" was almost out of my mouth when I thought better of it and decided to complain at customer services instead.
Long, boring wait later I was told (in a snotty voice by a jumped up jobsworth - you work in Asda - #realitycheck), of course they have toddler and baby trolleys for parents who have older babies no longer in carry car seats and that that trolley must be in use.   Yes you heard me, that trolley, as in singular, one, ein, un, uno.....ggggaaahhhhh!!
So Asda here are a list of my problems with you having a singular trolley for parents with different age children;
1)  Hereford has a population of approx 180,000
2)  One third of this popuation (about 60,000) live in the city
3)  Population has increased by 5% since 2001
4)  2013 is set to see a massive baby boom (thanks @50shadesofgrey)
5)  Asda have at least 5 twin trolleys (I counted!!) so they are saying that its statistiacally more likely that I will have twins than two children at different ages are they??  Idiots!
6)  Its just stupid.

So my sister told me that Morrisons nappies are cheaper than Asda's anyway....well at least I know I can get a trolley that suits my (I'm pretty sure average) family and with free parking in the mother and  baby section I may well be making the change!  FR


Day Four;
Ok so I've already beeen infuriated today and its not even lunchtime!  Dcotor's receptionists..really?  Im sure there are some nice ones out there but I have yet to meet them!  If you have the unfortunate predicament of being ill or having a sick child well then you have to face the hell that is actually getting past the doctors receptionist to get an appointment!  Really, what more could you want when your head is stuck over a toilet than to have an argument with a receptionist about whether or not its actually an emergency and could you not wait till a week Tuesday for an appointment?  No actually I couldn't, if I have taken the time to stop vomiting and actually ring you, chances are I really would like an appointment moron!!  If I could wait then I wouldnt be phoning!
Worse still, if its actually your child thats ill and you have to run the receptionist guantlet trying to beg for an appintment with an accompaniment of screaming and projectile vomiting happening if the background.  They are children, we are their parents, we have to look after them and sometimes they need to be seen by a doctors.  Sorry for actually expecting you to do your job and book a bloody appointment but if you take a job dealing with customers, then really you should probably not mind dealing with people!  I have been staggered in the past by the sheer unhelpfulness of doctor's receptionists.  Once I was given appointments for myself and Tabitha in 2 different surgeries, 5 minutes apart.  When I asked the receptionist how I would manage to make them both, she replied that "it really wasnt her problem".  Really?  Well, who's problem is it then.  You see countless signs in doctor's surgeries detailing missed appointments but if the front line customer service in doctor's wasnt so unhelpful Im sure this number would go down.  If you felt able to say actually that appointment is not convinient or that, God forbid, you actually work and cant just rock up at 10am on a Monday morning then maybe more appointments would be cancelled so others could benefit.
I could go on for ever about doctor's receptionists, I have been on the verge on writing complaint letters many times but usually real life (and sick children) take over and I let it slide.  I would urge more people to take a stand though.  Why should we put up with such lacking customer service from these people, especially when we are not feeling 100%.  Its shocking that we allow ourselves to be spoken to as if we are naughty children just to try and get an appointment.  Its not a 'golden ticket' to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory for God's sake, its the NHS and we are allowed appointments, whether the receptionists think so or not.  Lets leave it up to the doctors to decide whether its important or not eh??  FR.

Day Five;
Right well I have made it a whole five days of ranting and so far managed not to hit anyone or indeed be hit!  Today's rant was just too easy...bad customer service.  I am so fed up with people acting like they are doing me a favour when actually they are just doing their jobs!!  I can honestly say I have had very good customer service today as well, which did improve my day and for which I was very grateful..but...thats not what this blog is about.  Its about the ranting!
Right today started ok with me driving Andy to work in Cwmbran rather than just dropping him at the train station like  normal.  We enjoyed a chat on the way to work whilst the kids slept in the back - very peaceful.  I then enjoyed a catch up with a very good friend before heading to the shops.  Now Im a big believer that good customer service is the only thing that will stop this country becoming totally an online shopping mecca.  If someone is nice to me and makes me feel good about a purchase then I am far more likely to go back to that shop and buy again, even if I could get it for a couple of quid less on ebay.  However, I am also one of those people who holds a grudge.....annoy me once and Im gone for good.  If I have a bad experience in your shop then I will never darken your doors again and will tell everyone I know how crap the service was.
Well today's shop person was rude from the outset, barely making eye contact and when she did it was just to glare.  I asked a few questions, got one word answers and then had to wait for a good couple of minutes whilst she chatted with another staff member.  All in all a shockingly bad experience!!
Before I left I asked to speak to the manager only to be told she was the manager...well that explains a lot!!  SHOPS BEWARE - these people work for you...as managers apparently.  That is one shop I wont be going back to.  FR