Sorry rant alert…….AIBU? Please join in.

I really don't like my food served on a wooden board in restaurants, what is that all about? Bad service really irritates me and not being able to get through to a 'real person' when phoning a company and having to listen to horrible music instead. But mostly glass is half full! I think you should definitely use the holding deposit with unscrupulous people Sago, how lovely to have a second property though. I often daydream of a bolthole in France!

Aveline

Well firstly sago nobody likes a thief so you're quite right to be cross about people stealing from your holiday let.
Re food. I'm not so sure. Personally, I'm not bothered about hot plates and don't use condiments. So when it comes to food in restaurants I'm not with you on that.

I'm bothered about hot plates, I went out for an Italian meal yesterday which was spoilt because the past was completely cold when I had only eaten half of it.
As for food in towers, I've only ever had cold food in towers, other than a stuffed mushroom with a couple of layers which could not be served in any other form. Serving hot food in towers does sound silly,

Sorry, obviously should read "pasta" rather than "past"!

nanna8

That horrible little game advert with a king moving red and blue squares around that comes up all the time online. Temu and Wish that send texts and adverts constantly even after being blocked. Most of our politicians, sick of hearing their lies.

I hate the ads between games. I would download the game if I wanted it.
When I set up my present laptop I remember a button which asked if I wanted Ads. I clicked NO and do not get many ads. I wish I could do the same with my new IPad. One of the worst is the bbc Lunchtime Genius which has more ads than content.
Google doesn’t take any notice if you click on the options to remove the ads. It just refers to that particular one.

Mel1967

Cars that don’t indicate at roundabouts or just don’t indicate full stop 😠

Oh yes! So annoying and ill mannered. Roundabouts are dog eat dog these days!

Oh yes, and the television suddenly going loud when adverts come on (I can't pre-empt this as husband guards remote like a lion! and I'm constantly saying turn it down, turn it up!)

I’m with you on the review requests. I review items I’ve purchased but I refuse to review the delivery driver every delivery!!

the holiday let and stealing is just one of those things, same with hotels, the eating out, i am very precise, i say do not stack the food, i tell them if i want mustard, sauce etc when they take the order, fish and chips, no salad and no lemon, burgers place i order at the counter, i always ask for no ice in my drink, if it is then they pour another, if i want sauce i ask for it, i try the chips before i leave the counter and if cold, they take them back, i am not fussy but i don't see any point in the waiter/waitress or myself going back and forth to get things like sauce etc. reviews mainly amazon, i read on average 3/4 books a week, i am asked to review every book, one review i gave was a supernatural book and the main guy was gay(not a problem), i said the story was really good and if you want to know how exactly 2 guys have sex in great detail....then this is the book for you., it should have been listed under porn rather than supernatural. as another person said, the please and thank you, one of my bug bears, i hold the door and you ignore me and walk in, i say, excuse me....the word you are looking for is thank you, and i make sure they hear me and as for queue jumpers i always speak up, this was something that was bad during covid. thank you for this post....i enjoyed my rant.

Cold callers, especially those at the front door.
Certain acquaintances who obsessively bang on about their health issues and everything in their past going back to the dark ages they are peeved about - on every occasion I have endured with them.
Arrogant drivers.
Bad cyclists and scooter riders, especially those riding on the pavement.
Shrinkflation and being ripped off by supermarkets.
Our skunk-smoking, shouty swearing next-door neighbour.
The horrible cold wet weather this time of year.
Sick of all of these, and having to work so hard not being a grumpy old woman about it all!

I notice in air BnB’s they often leave only two or three DW tablets. In one place, where we were self-catering, I just bought a box a took them home (ok if you’re in the car).
I did swap out my book for one from the shelves somewhere else we stayed though, but wouldn’t dream of taking a coffee table book!

What do you do about the review? Just not give one?

TBH at your holiday let I would provide a shop bought handwash not in a dispenser, 7 dishwasher tablets ie one for each day, and no washing powder or tablets. My OH is allergic to one brand of washing machine powder so others may be. Perhaps also only one magazine on the coffee table - most people will bring their own if they read. Sounds mean but I'm sure that's adequate and will cut down your losses. Best wishes ❤️

I don’t do reviews since I tried to review an Amazon delivery and found no way to complain
Lately it’s been so rainy and I was mortified when a client walked in bearing 4 soggy packages- just dumped on the step even though there’s a shed by the door plus the door itself is usually unlocked and stuff can be put in the lobby
Serves me right I guess for ordering through a company that lacks ethics
I also find the term ‘racist’ annoying
It seems now to be applied to any remark about racial differences, which flies in the face of genetics
I am half Irish and half Belgian
The Irish are a joke to the Brits the Belgians are a similar joke to the French
We are seemingly not protected by the threat of being called ‘racist’ if jokes are made at our expense (nor do we much care as the Irish at least have a sense of humour!)
I’m fed up with the new gospel of anti-‘racism’ which seems to me to protect obsessively certain groups but not others
We all just need to be less touchy about words and a lot kinder to each other in deeds

RE people stealing things.

How about a little message saying, 'Occasionally guests inadvertently take our things home with them by mistake, so can we ask you to double check before you leave?. Much appreciated. .....signed by your name

People steal from you ? That is horrible can't you invoice them? I recently stayed in a hotel and they had shampoo dispensers screwed to the wall, I liked it because it is more sustainable, I dint thing about thieves.
Cars parked on payments, cars who do not stop at zebra crossing or worse scream at you when you on one. People who littler, spit and let dogs foul on the street. People who tie pooh bags to trees. People who don’t say thank you when you let them pass or open a door for them. People who jump in a que ignoring the long line.
Reviews yes and this constant signing in and security checks over and over on everything a bit over zealous at best. Also this we use cookies accept or tick for ages to disallow

Drivers who park their cars halfway across the pavement. Drivers who hoot at me when I use my mobility scooter on the road BECAUSE the pavements are half full of parked cars. People who moan about mobility scooters in general……do you really think I wouldn’t rather walk if I only could?

Tailgaters, cars parked halfway or more on pavements, SUVs generally (sometimes they are needed. trout pout, mansplaining and people who don't thank you for letting them go first. And many more....!

lixy

Current 'small things' rant ... a jar of preserved lemons that is defying all attempts at opening it. I've even tried sneaking up on it in the dark but to no avail. Humph.

Have you tried holding the jar - lid end first- under the hot tap? This sometimes works.

Agree with you all about reviewing - I have started just deleted the requests, hoping that if enough people do so all the time, the sellers will stop sending them.

On the lack of indicators' front: If a car in the oncoming traffic starts turning, you cannot, if on a bike, see the off-side indicator, so it makes no difference at all whether it is on or not. I have got to the stage of braking automatically if a car looks as if it might, just might, be going to swing across my front.

I agree with all who post about non- signalling motorists. It is not only at roundabouts, where a couple of days ago, someone suddenly changed lanes at a roundabout, almost taking my car off the road, but non signalling anywhere. Maybe cars don't have indicators any more?!
Evri couriers do get a bad press generally, but I have a lady courier who, by agreement as I have a long, difficult driveway, leaves any parcels in an agreed hay barn which is easier to reach and a safe place. The inly time a delivery 'got lost, never to be found' , was when she was off with a broken leg!!
I also have been asked for how many stars I give goods - only just ordered. Have stopped responding to any of these requests now.

1. The man whose dog ran at me and knocked me off my bike one day as I cycled through the park. He called to the dog as though nothing had happened and never apologised 😤.

2. The delivery man who refused to move up a couple of inches to let me drive past and was rude to me when I asked him to. He left me waiting until he had finished his delivery, got back in the van and never apologised 😤.

3. The man who accused me of overhanging his drive by an inch when I parked outside my sister's house, and when I showed him that I was not overhanging at all, became aggressive and called me 🤬🤬🤬.

4. The man who, when I stalled briefly at the mini roundabout, leant on his horn and made aggressive expressions, which I could see in my rear view mirror.

5. Oh, and so as not to leave out the ladies, the woman who careered straight onto the roundabout in her car, and blamed me for being in her way, shouting and raging like a maniac at me. Not cool. 🙄

Yes, yes and yes Sago!

People who don't pick up after their dog and racists, both as disgusting as each other.

Mel1967

Cars that don’t indicate at roundabouts or just don’t indicate full stop 😠

Thoughtless drivers of any kind. Today I have seen parking on school zigzags, driving almost over the crossing patrol lady, pulling onto the pavement to get past an oncoming car while children are walking on it, parking on a blind bend, lots of pavement parking.

Drivers who refuse to adjust speed to cut in on slip roads when there is loads of space even no other vehicles behind.
I just ignore review requests unless I have not been wholly satisfied or have received exceptional service.

I have decided that some drivers have their indicators disconnected - they certainly don't use them. And people who don't know how to manoeuvre around a mini roundabout.

Local chocolate shop with a sign say 'never bin near a Belgian', they might think it's funny, I think it's racist.

I really don't mind if there are just enough d/w tablets for the number of days we are staying in a holiday let or if the soap bottles are from Aldi. I do find it annoying staying somewhere that has no salt/pepper/mixed herbs or a minimum amount of cleaning stuff. In such cases I take anything I have bought back home with me.

This is my rant and it happened to us earlier.
We were waiting to go through a manned checkout at a supermarket. A young couple were in front of us and the woman was stood there for what seemed like an eternity scrolling through her phone. I suspected she was on the app looking for any offers when she finally said to the checkout assistant no there’s nothing on there. Aaagh and then the man she was with seemed to take forever packing. Apps are fine but in cases like this it just holds matters up. I know when I used a bus more regularly similar occurrences happened when people used to get on and using the app for the bus company. Just to say I can be slow myself sometimes but am aware if I’m holding up a queue etc.
Rant over.