What grinds my gears!

Gilbert · Fri 14/12/2018 09:01:36

I don't know. Maybe what I'm saying is just BS, but maybe it's possible that the limit on available copies was imposed in order to meet some law/contract/whatever requirements that only a particular number of licensed copies can be sold?

Maybe.

Blondbraid · Fri 14/12/2018 11:22:29

I'm certain it's due to artificially limiting goods for sale is a tried and tested method of driving up demand, and by driving up demand they can eventually drive up prizes.
It's another way of tricking the costumer into thinking what they're buying is rare and exclusive and that they have to buy it soon before it becomes unavailable again,
just as all big chains do with seasonal versions of their video game DLC/latte/hamburgers, not because they can't produce that all year round, but because it drives up
sales once they do have those things for sale.

josiah1221 · Fri 14/12/2018 20:33:46

It is a bit odd, I always laugh a little whenever I see a "while supplies last" notice with digital goods.

Frodo · Sat 22/12/2018 17:08:50

What grinds my gears, is those stupid, REALLY annoying pre-recorded answerphone messages when you're trying to call a company.

- Press 1 for Electrical
- Press 2 for Home Furnishing such as settees and chairs
- Press 3 for Kitchen appliances

*I press 3*

- Press 1 if it's a shop's own brand
- Press 2 if it's any other brand

*I press 2*

- Press 1 if you're waiting for a delivery
- Press 2 if you wish to cancel your order
- Press 3 if you wish to change your delivery date
- Press 4 if your appliance has broken down

*I press 4*

- Press 1 if it's still in guarantee
- Press 2 if it's not in guarantee

*I press 1*

- Press 1 if it's the original 2 year guarantee
- Press 2 if it's the 5 year extended guarantee

*I press 2*

- Press 1 if you'd like to talk to us about your product
- Press 2 if you'd like to arrange an engineer to come and visit you

*I press 2*

Thankyou for your call. Your call is very important to us. We record these calls for quality and training purposes. Please hold for the next available person. Otherwise, please..........

AAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH

josiah1221 · Sun 23/12/2018 05:43:20

UGHHHH! I miss the old days of talking to an actual human being!

Danvzare · Sun 23/12/2018 17:35:32

Here's how you get around those annoying things.
Just keep pressing an invalid number. Eventually you'll be put through to a real person.

This is especially useful for when the dialog tree for those pre-recorded answerphone messages ends with "Get lost and go online." Which I've had.

Frodo · Sun 23/12/2018 18:38:45

Quote from: Danvzare on Sun 23/12/2018 17:35:32
Here's how you get around those annoying things.
Just keep pressing an invalid number. Eventually you'll be put through to a real person.

This is especially useful for when the dialog tree for those pre-recorded answerphone messages ends with "Get lost and go online." Which I've had.

Ahhh, good tip Dan. Thanks.

Stupot · Mon 24/12/2018 03:32:14

Just go to any pathway that leads to any human and then tell them what you want. Either they'll patch you through to the correct department or sometimes they can still help you. I've never worked in a call center so I might be talking rubbish but I'm pretty sure that sometimes the calls go to the same people anyway. It's just that they can put the right hat on before answering your call.

Frodo · Mon 24/12/2018 10:07:08

Quote from: Stupot on Mon 24/12/2018 03:32:14
Just go to any pathway that leads to any human and then tell them what you want. Either they'll patch you through to the correct department or sometimes they can still help you. I've never worked in a call center so I might be talking rubbish but I'm pretty sure that sometimes the calls go to the same people anyway. It's just that they can put the right hat on before answering your call.

I also think the calls go to the same people.

But there's never an option at the start, to 'Speak to an actual person' - you always have to jump through so many hoops first.

Tycho Magnetic Anomaly · Tue 25/12/2018 14:03:19

pretending to find christmas cracker jokes funny.

selmiak · Thu 27/12/2018 10:43:23

I know absolutely no christmas cracker joke, please tell a christmas cracker joke TMA, then I can at least pretend to find it funny

Slasher · Thu 27/12/2018 13:52:33

Who hides in a bakery at Christmas?

A mince spy.

Buckethead · Thu 27/12/2018 13:53:20

Christmas crackers are mostly just very bad puns, atleast in my experience. Here's an example:

What does Santa suffer from if he gets stuck in a chimney? Claustrophobia!

Mandle · Thu 27/12/2018 14:07:06

Quote from: Buckethead on Thu 27/12/2018 13:53:20
Christmas crackers are mostly just very bad puns, atleast in my experience. Here's an example:

What does Santa suffer from if he gets stuck in a chimney? Claustrophobia!

That is an awesome joke!

Danvzare · Thu 27/12/2018 15:09:50

Quote from: selmiak on Thu 27/12/2018 10:43:23
I know absolutely no christmas cracker joke, please tell a christmas cracker joke TMA, then I can at least pretend to find it funny

What do you get when you cross a snowman with a crocodile? Frostbite!
I think I encounter that one every year. Or at least a similar variant. Sometimes it's a vampire.

Quote from: Mandle on Thu 27/12/2018 14:07:06
Quote from: Buckethead on Thu 27/12/2018 13:53:20
Christmas crackers are mostly just very bad puns, atleast in my experience. Here's an example:

What does Santa suffer from if he gets stuck in a chimney? Claustrophobia!

That is an awesome joke!

It really is.

I've never heard that one before.

dactylopus · Thu 27/12/2018 19:48:41

Quote from: Danvzare on Thu 27/12/2018 15:09:50
What do you get when you cross a snowman with a crocodile? Frostbite!

That was actually my Christmas cracker joke this year.

josiah1221 · Thu 27/12/2018 20:17:39

I don't know anything about Christmas crackers but I do love corny jokes!

Danvzare · Fri 28/12/2018 15:23:30

Quote from: dactylopus on Thu 27/12/2018 19:48:41
Quote from: Danvzare on Thu 27/12/2018 15:09:50
What do you get when you cross a snowman with a crocodile? Frostbite!
That was actually my Christmas cracker joke this year.

I said that it appeared in every pack of Christmas crackers.

Personally, with how bad Christmas cracker jokes are, I kind of wish they'd go all the way and make them anti-jokes. It would actually make them funnier in my opinion, because you wouldn't expect it.
What do you get when you cross a snowman with a crocodile? A snow crocodile!
How do you stop a skunk from smelling? Spray it with perfume!

jahnocli · Fri 28/12/2018 16:07:59

Quote from: Danvzare on Fri 28/12/2018 15:23:30
Personally, with how bad Christmas cracker jokes are, I kind of wish they'd go all the way and make them anti-jokes. It would actually make them funnier in my opinion, because you wouldn't expect it.
What do you get when you cross a snowman with a crocodile? A snow crocodile!
How do you stop a skunk from smelling? Spray it with perfume!

No, that doesn't work. It goes beyond anguished groans and into uncomfortable silence broken by dry coughs...

Mandle · Mon 14/01/2019 14:37:38

What's really grinding my gears lately is the backlash against science by certain religions, woo-peddlers, and other cults that promote ignorance over the massive amount of knowledge that mankind has built up over time and depends on to just basically survive (so far) at our current population level.

Now, I cannot argue back against anti-vaxxers because I'm not a doctor or a medical scientist. Even if I learned everything I could about vaccines and how they obviously help humanity it wouldn't matter. People should just watch a video by an actual medical professional instead.

I cannot argue back against any religion because every argument ends with "God works in mysterious ways."... (I do have a few ideas to combat religious cults but they would take time and money I don't currently have... Reserved for a future project)

But there is one destructive cult that I know of that I know how to fight back against:

THE FLAT-EARTH MOVEMENT!!!

Sounds hilarious, right? Well, I thought so as well and started watching the whole circus of the flat-earth being defended and debunked on youtube. I even thought at first that it could be just a brilliant conjoined plan by the proposers of Flat Earth and the debunkers to gain exponential views and money on youtube.

But, the more I learned about what was going on the more I realized what a dangerous cult Flat Earth is. Still sounds silly, though, right?

The more I learned about the Flat-Earth movement the more and more I recognized it as a genuine cult which destroys lives... Many have lost their employment, their marriages, and the respect of their family and friends over this rubbish.

And what is even worse: Many of these people that believe the earth is flat are home-schooling their children into this belief, and/or are telling their children to remain skeptical whenever their teacher is talking about any topic concerning the earth being a globe.

So... I cannot fight anti-vaxxers (I'm not a doctor)... I cannot fight religious cults (yet)... But I know how to fight Flat Earthers!!!

One thing they always ask for (because they distrust any math or science) is repeatable and observable experiments that they can do themselves. And their own videos of their "experiments" are very, very shitty. So I'm appealing to that level of shitiness in the hope that this makes more of them identify with what I'm trying to do. Well, good videos are also really hard to do and usually fall short and are cringey... Aim low and I'll never fail!!!

So here is my playlist of exactly that so far:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT_hbdAMiUJp7ElOqhGewGOkf4VskmZkX

I would really appreciate it if people could become even silent subscribers to my channel as the youtube algorithm doesn't care and it helps push my content up on search lists.

Like I said before, if I can save even one person from ruining their life over something so silly like Flat-Earth that it should be a Monty Python skit, then making my shitty videos will have been worth it.