Sloppiness

I have to agree we seem to be seeing more of this.

Three weeks ago I had to take some documents into a Building Society branch for them to copy, certify and send to their head office. This morning I received a letter from the head office, they had received the copies but they had not been certified! So I had to make another journey into the branch for them to be copied again (I didn't want to risk sending originals through the post - don't get me started!!). Really all the assistant had to do was photocopy them, stamp them with a ready prepared stamp, sign them and send to head office - how difficult is that. Also the letter from the head office said they had not been able to contact the branch - what are they using carrier pigeons!!

Another thing that is really beginning to annoy me is the mistakes made on our local radio - someone will be talking and the wrong button gets pressed and a jingle is played over that person - this happened twice this morning, once when I was trying to catch what the weather was going to be like and the second time when they were giving out traffic information and were talking about an area where I needed to drive - both were drowned out by a jingle with no apology after or a repeat of the information Oh no I am turning into a grumpy old woman!

It's as if things don't matter any more isn't it? As if "good enough" is regarded as just that. As a child I was told that "good enough" is not good enough!
I have fumed over silly but (potentially catastrophic for the conscientious and nervous candidate) mistakes in exam papers (which any half competent proof reader should have spotted), I would have been mortified to be responsible for some of the c**k ups I have witnessed, but it seems to be OK to shrug and say "oh dear," and not a lot else.
The fact that DH's liver consultant was unable to rouse our health Centre by phone despite trying for over an hour is NOT "good enough" and meant I had to collect medication in person from 50 miles away (OK I was in London as it happened, but if I hadn't been?)
I'm not advocating that heads should roll (although it's a tempting thought...... ) but don't you think people need to be accountable and (frankly) more professional?

absentgrana your thread re: the book display regarding great British fiction doesn't suprise me one bit. I went to our local library because I had heard about a book about Henry V but couldn't remember the title. So I asked the Librarian Manager [!!!] if she had any idea of a new book regarding him - perhaps the Battle of Agincourt was in the title. Blank look - battle of what? Agincourt, St.Crispins Day, English long bows were pivotal in helping us win. Same blank look. I perhaps would expect some people would not have heard of it but a librarian and a so called head librarian.

The Embassy Theatre in Skegness were advertising a show starring Billie Jo Spears, several weeks after she unfortunately died. Apart from sloppiness, I thought that it was in extremely bad taste, so I emailed them to tell them so. All I got back was a reply saying that it was difficult and expensive to change advertisements for shows, but in those circumstances, I would have deemed it a necessity.

Ha! Ha! absent, they probably thought it was too risqué to say "English" fiction!

Bags I hadn't thought of that. English – i.e. English language would have been fine, but that wasn't what they were doing. (Btw I loathe What Katy Did, What Katy Did Next, etc. almost as much as I dislike Little Women, Good Wives etc.)

Aww! I love 'Little Women' ! Never did read the Katy books.

Re sloppiness I do agree that the lack of attention to detail.

Its the Victor Meldrew effect - I find myself finding fault more and more but it is very easy to see this uncaring attitude especially in the shops you would think its such dificult economic times people would be going out of their way to woo their customers but the opposite seems to be happening.

Dorsetpennt - I think I've just read the book you're looking for - 'Azincourt' by Bernard Cornwell. It was great - thoroughly recommend it! That's where putting 2 fingers up at someone originated from (so he suggests at the end).

I put a lot of sloppiness down to general ignorance....

As per QI

My son received an electric bill for £979 yesterday. Because he didn't have enough credit in his phone, he asked me to phone Scottish Power. The chap I spoke to said he owed £83 instead....and he remarked, "No-one's infallible - it's possible the meter reader's pressed a few wrong buttons when putting the reading into his machine." No apology, just a case of, 'oh well, nevermind'!
My son, who's on a very limited income, was really worried that all the time he'd been paying the wrong amount and that he really did owe £979!

Yes my friend summed it up as inefficient. Afraid I have to do things properly or not at all.

We all need to start being more demanding! I am guilty of sometimes ignoring poor service instead of being assertive and drawing attention to it. I find it really irritating when shop assistants continue a conversation with a colleague whilst serving. However I also see customers continuing a phone conversations at the counter and just nodding or gesturing to the shop assistant who is asking questions!

Yes Nanaej courtesy works both ways. I always say good morning or good afternoon to shop assistants and when I speak to someone on the phone. Most of the time it is ignored but yesterday I went to get the newspaper and the assistant smiled and said good morning before I had a chance to. It seems I have finally got through to him!

I had a whim to read 'Remembrance of Things Past' - went into Waterstones and asked at the counter 'do you have Proust?' and the assistant (bear in mind this was Waterstones) said to her colleague 'who is the author of Proust?'

Bought it in a charity shop last year, still haven't read it!

nanaej
I had the "be more forceful" conversation with DH about 30 mins ago. We have had our papers delivered from the same shop for over 20 yrs now. Unfortunately this dosen't seem to count for much since the sons took over the business. We often don't receive our papers or we get neighbours instead.

DH just laughs this off when he ges to the shop to sort it out. I told him if you actually complained ..................