Things that annoy you (9 Viewers)

[Otis]

Ditto that. We always end up not seeing all the teachers. It is impossible and we now have a parents evening on Thursday. It's going to be a disaster.

They start around 4.30 and we are usually allocated to be in at around 5-5.15. By then they are already way behind.

On Thursday we have been allocated our first one at 5.55pm.

I am guessing by then they will be at least 45 mins plus behind.

So, just had the parents evening and oh what a surprise. First appointment at 5.55, last one at 6.55. Got there 5 mins early for the first one at 5.50 and a set of parents were in there. They took 20 mins and there was then another girl to go in next before us.

Our next appointment was 6.05. Finally got in to see the first teacher at 6.25. We were then massively behind. By the time we got to 7.20 we had only seen 4 teachers out of 7 alloted. Went to all the remaining classrooms and all the teachers had gone home.

Happens every time.

 

[oakey]

Impossible to see all parents in time available. Blame the management who insist that every parent's concerns must be addressed but only give 5 minutes. I may teach 150 kids in one year group and have 180 minutes available to see them per year. I am given 5 minutes and told to leave 5 minute gaps. I can manage 18 appointments. Given that some parents won't take the hint when I try to wrap up the conversation and others repeat the same things over and over, and others want to tell you all the child's idiosyncrasies, anecdotes and troubles PLUS other parents try to push in without an appointment and play the really worried about ... card it's a very tough task for the teacher. After 30 years I am quite good at it now, but you should try it before you get too down on the teachers. BTW I do 7 parents evenings per year plus 3 open evenings, plus new year 7 evening, 2 awards evenings, 2 concert evenings, 1 or more school production. The parents evenings and open evenings are contracted hours. The rest are unpaid.
I have been on the parents side of the desk and know it's rubbish for them too. It is a logistical impossibility.
As an aside: Imagine if a GP had to see all their patients in a given time period. They have well over 2,000 patients each, on average.
At 10 minutes per appointment it would take them 334 hours. My surgery has 4 hours per day, 5 times per week. So it would take a GP 17 weeks to see each one.

 

[eastwoodsdustman]

All of the famous actress's coming out moaning about Weinstein touching them up and basically being a perv. They are and have been complicit in their silence over the years. A lot of them are high enough profile to have been able to say something but they're more worried about their next payday than blowing the lid on him.

 

[eastwoodsdustman]

So, just had the parents evening and oh what a surprise. First appointment at 5.55, last one at 6.55. Got there 5 mins early for the first one at 5.50 and a set of parents were in there. They took 20 mins and there was then another girl to go in next before us.

Our next appointment was 6.05. Finally got in to see the first teacher at 6.25. We were then massively behind. By the time we got to 7.20 we had only seen 4 teachers out of 7 alloted. Went to all the remaining classrooms and all the teachers had gone home.

Happens every time.

Sadly parents get the blinkers on when it comes to their kids. From parking at school, driving like idiots to get them to school, always beleiving their kids are right and taking up way too much time at parents evenings as theirown kids are the most important thing in the world and sod anyone else and their kids.

 

[Otis]

Impossible to see all parents in time available. Blame the management who insist that every parent's concerns must be addressed but only give 5 minutes. I may teach 150 kids in one year group and have 180 minutes available to see them per year. I am given 5 minutes and told to leave 5 minute gaps. I can manage 18 appointments. Given that some parents won't take the hint when I try to wrap up the conversation and others repeat the same things over and over, and others want to tell you all the child's idiosyncrasies, anecdotes and troubles PLUS other parents try to push in without an appointment and play the really worried about ... card it's a very tough task for the teacher. After 30 years I am quite good at it now, but you should try it before you get too down on the teachers. BTW I do 7 parents evenings per year plus 3 open evenings, plus new year 7 evening, 2 awards evenings, 2 concert evenings, 1 or more school production. The parents evenings and open evenings are contracted hours. The rest are unpaid.
I have been on the parents side of the desk and know it's rubbish for them too. It is a logistical impossibility.
As an aside: Imagine if a GP had to see all their patients in a given time period. They have well over 2,000 patients each, on average.
At 10 minutes per appointment it would take them 334 hours. My surgery has 4 hours per day, 5 times per week. So it would take a GP 17 weeks to see each one.

I am not down on the teachers though. I have not blamed the teachers at all here. I am blaming the system.

Would also query on the impossibility issue too. Clearly not impossible for some, because some get all their appointments in. Heard one parent last night walking past saying 'just one more teacher left to see and then we're done,' so they got to see all their teachers. And this was around 6.15pm.

You have to argue how it is fair that one parent gets to see all their child's teachers and another parent misses out on nearly half of theirs.

It is easily rectifiable. Obviously a parent who has their appointments allocated between 4-5pm is going to get to see all their teachers. A parent who has appointments allocated between 6-7pm is not. We have never, ever been able to see all of our child's teachers. Last year was worse. We got to see just 2 out of 7.

Spoke to at least 3 parents last night though who got to see all their teachers. We have never been given a early slot, so I guess it is the luck of the draw, but at the same time this is our child's future.

It is the system that is wrong. Our last appointment was at 6.55pm, but the teachers were all packing up and leaving at 7, so we had absolutely no chance at all.

Very simple solution is to split it over 2 days. You then have double the amount of parents being given earlier slots were there is no backlog because you are first in the queue.

 

[Otis]

Sadly parents get the blinkers on when it comes to their kids. From parking at school, driving like idiots to get them to school, always beleiving their kids are right and taking up way too much time at parents evenings as theirown kids are the most important thing in the world and sod anyone else and their kids.

Yep, totally agree. I am always looking at my watch and trying not to overrun. Some parents though insist on 20 mins with each and every teacher and that just buggers things up entirely.

Some teachers though are too chatty as well. Last night we were waiting to see one teacher who was chatting to a parent and it seemed to be going on and on and a girl out in the corridor overheard we were waiting and said 'Oh, I will go and tell them. My dad at Mr. Sweeney are talking about church, cos they both go to the same one.'

 

[Otis]

All of the famous actress's coming out moaning about Weinstein touching them up and basically being a perv. They are and have been complicit in their silence over the years. A lot of them are high enough profile to have been able to say something but they're more worried about their next payday than blowing the lid on him.

I have a great deal of sympathy with them. It's not just about a next pay day, these movie bosses can have you ostracized and end your career just like that in an instant.

Just think about your own job and think that if you spoke up that would be the end of your career in whatever your skill is.

Completely and utterly understand why people haven't spoken up. Apparently this is rife in the film industry and these movie moguls and producers wield such power.

 

[eastwoodsdustman]

I have a great deal of sympathy with them. It's not just about a next pay day, these movie bosses can have you ostracized and end your career just like that in an instant.

Just think about your own job and think that if you spoke up that would be the end of your career in whatever your skill is.

Completely and utterly understand why people haven't spoken up. Apparently this is rife in the film industry and these movie moguls and producers wield such power.

Surely if they 'ALL' knew about it a it was an open secret they should have stood up to it.I can understand the young kids not doing it but when you have the really famous ones coming out years later saying that they knew it went on then it doesn't wash with me I'm afraid as they're the ones who had enough fame and power to make a stand.

 

[Otis]

How many people stand up to domestic violence? How many are scared to speak up?

We are talking sexual abuse here and accusations of rape committed by very powerful people.

 

[Johnnythespider]

Surely if they 'ALL' knew about it a it was an open secret they should have stood up to it.I can understand the young kids not doing it but when you have the really famous ones coming out years later saying that they knew it went on then it doesn't wash with me I'm afraid as they're the ones who had enough fame and power to make a stand.

It doesn't happen when they're really famous, it happens when they're on the way up, so if they speak up at the time people's reaction is " who's she, obviously trying to make a name for herself". It's not so easy to be believed when nobody has heard of you. Emma Thompson summed it up best for me when saying Weinstein is not a sex addict but a sexual predator. I believe there was also an investigation into this before and no action was taken against him, I think we've heard this scenario before.

 

[Covstu]

Impossible to see all parents in time available. Blame the management who insist that every parent's concerns must be addressed but only give 5 minutes. I may teach 150 kids in one year group and have 180 minutes available to see them per year. I am given 5 minutes and told to leave 5 minute gaps. I can manage 18 appointments. Given that some parents won't take the hint when I try to wrap up the conversation and others repeat the same things over and over, and others want to tell you all the child's idiosyncrasies, anecdotes and troubles PLUS other parents try to push in without an appointment and play the really worried about ... card it's a very tough task for the teacher. After 30 years I am quite good at it now, but you should try it before you get too down on the teachers. BTW I do 7 parents evenings per year plus 3 open evenings, plus new year 7 evening, 2 awards evenings, 2 concert evenings, 1 or more school production. The parents evenings and open evenings are contracted hours. The rest are unpaid.
I have been on the parents side of the desk and know it's rubbish for them too. It is a logistical impossibility.
As an aside: Imagine if a GP had to see all their patients in a given time period. They have well over 2,000 patients each, on average.
At 10 minutes per appointment it would take them 334 hours. My surgery has 4 hours per day, 5 times per week. So it would take a GP 17 weeks to see each one.

My wife is a secondary school teacher and has exactly the same problem. She had parents evening last night and only 6 out of 35 parents turned up!

 

[Otis]

My wife is a secondary school teacher and has exactly the same problem. She had parents evening last night and only 6 out of 35 parents turned up!

Well everyone seemingly turns up at my daughter's school. There was a queue for every teacher.

 

[Nick]

I go to every parents evening, can understand teachers have a set amount of time but there are in so much of a rush they may as well just sent it home as a school report every so often as you can't really ask them much away from the set notes they have on each kid.

 

[Ranjit Bhurpa]

I go to every parents evening, can understand teachers have a set amount of time but there are in so much of a rush they may as well just sent it home as a school report every so often as you can't really ask them much away from the set notes they have on each kid.

We have just booked our appointment for the next parents evening during the first week in November. It is all been done on one evening and appointments are for 10 minutes duration. There are 28 children in the class, so if everything runs on time it is nearly 5 hours straight through for the one teacher.
Thinking not just of the parents needs here but for the teachers as well, the reality will probably be nearer 7 hours. Surely there must be a better system for managing this?

 

[Nick]

We have just booked our appointment for the next parents evening during the first week in November. It is all been done on one evening and appointments are for 10 minutes duration. There are 28 children in the class, so if everything runs on time it is nearly 5 hours straight through for the one teacher.
Thinking not just of the parents needs here but for the teachers as well, the reality will probably be nearer 7 hours. Surely there must be a better system for managing this?

Ours does it over a week I think, makes it easier

 

[Otis]

Ours is just one single evening.

Very well thought out concept obviously.

 

[Johnnythespider]

Thankfully my youngest left school in the summer so I don't have to go through this anymore, a possible solution could be that parents only see the teachers of the subjects their offspring are struggling In, surely it's a waste of everybody's time to sit down and listen to a teacher saying how well a child is doing in a particular subject, a simple letter home could fill this element. This time should be spent flagging up potential problems in a child's development.

 

[Sick Boy]

Grown men cycling on pavements

 

[covmark]

Russell Howard. Russell Brand.
Come to think of it, anyone called Russell.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[skybluegod]

Grown men cycling on pavements

And Women, let’s not have positive discrimination if they want to be ‘equal’

 

[I_Saw_Shaw_Score]

People that refer to friends, actually anybody that isn't their child's "Auntie" & "uncle" as "auntie" & "uncle".

 

[Terry Gibson's perm]

I think I may have said this before but here we go again baby showers buy your own stuff you tight arses.

 

[Otis]

People that refer to friends, actually anybody that isn't their child's "Auntie" & "uncle" as "auntie" & "uncle".

My missus does that, but I think it's a Russian/Eastern European thing. She talks of her brother when she only has a sister. She means her cousin. It's dead confusing. She also talks of historical relatives as if they are still alive.

'It's my great grandmother's birthday today!'

'Oh, is it? Wow! How old is she?'

'137!'

I used to think she came from a really massive family, with 20 uncles, but seemingly she just has one sister and 2 aunties.

 

[eastwoodsdustman]

The adverts at premier league grounds, especially the dog chasing the ball along the side of the pitch. Saw it on MOTD this morning and its really distracting.

 

[Gazolba]

In my day when a married couple were expecting a baby, the wife was said to be pregnant. Nowadays both the wife and husband are pregnant.
As in "we are pregnant".
Annoying.

 

[Astute]

It is hard these days to get a coffee. Just an ordinary cup of coffee of decent quality. I like the occasional latte. But most of the time I just want a nice large ordinary cup of coffee. But all they want to do is sell you something with a fancy name and charge you a few quid for it.

Try getting one though. I only drink coffee and beer. When on a long journey I can't have beer. But when you try asking for an ordinary cup of coffee you just get a blank look back. Or 'Is that a Latte, Americano or Cappuccino?' No. I want a nice strong ordinary coffee. Then they have to work out how to make one. I get extra shots of coffee. Then they charge me more for the extra shots of coffee.

Why can't coffee shops sell ordinary coffee? I'm not a snob. I don't need my coffee to have a posh sounding name. I'm happy to pay a few quid for a cup of boiling water and a few spoons of coffee in it. Just have the knowledge on how to make one.

 

[richnrg]

Grown men cycling on pavements

my wife likes to shout 'doesn't your mum let you go on the road?' at them. Has no effect but makes her feel better.

 

[richnrg]

It is hard these days to get a coffee. Just an ordinary cup of coffee of decent quality. I like the occasional latte. But most of the time I just want a nice large ordinary cup of coffee. But all they want to do is sell you something with a fancy name and charge you a few quid for it.

Try getting one though. I only drink coffee and beer. When on a long journey I can't have beer. But when you try asking for an ordinary cup of coffee you just get a blank look back. Or 'Is that a Latte, Americano or Cappuccino?' No. I want a nice strong ordinary coffee. Then they have to work out how to make one. I get extra shots of coffee. Then they charge me more for the extra shots of coffee.

Why can't coffee shops sell ordinary coffee? I'm not a snob. I don't need my coffee to have a posh sounding name. I'm happy to pay a few quid for a cup of boiling water and a few spoons of coffee in it. Just have the knowledge on how to make one.

also, when you do actually crack and decide to ask for a Latte (pronounced Latt -ay), they then confirm your order and attempt to correct your (alreay correct) pronouciation by saying "OK Sir, 'one Lar-tay". Arggghhhh!

 

[Otis]

my wife likes to shout 'doesn't your mum let you go on the road?' at them. Has no effect but makes her feel better.

I tried that a couple of weeks ago but it didn't go down too well cos the bloke on the bike must have been about 89.

Am guessing that if his mum isn't dead she must be quite unwell.

 

[Sick Boy]

my wife likes to shout 'doesn't your mum let you go on the road?' at them. Has no effect but makes her feel better.

Hahaha I am usually a lot less polite to them.

 

[skyblueinBaku]

My missus does that, but I think it's a Russian/Eastern European thing. She talks of her brother when she only has a sister. She means her cousin. It's dead confusing. She also talks of historical relatives as if they are still alive.

'It's my great grandmother's birthday today!'

'Oh, is it? Wow! How old is she?'

'137!'

I used to think she came from a really massive family, with 20 uncles, but seemingly she just has one sister and 2 aunties.

My wife is the same, Otis. Sister or brother seem to be more or less the same as cousin. My wife's mother is from Azerbaijan, and the number of cousins, aunts and uncles that my wife has is bewildering.

 

[eastwoodsdustman]

Drivers wearing headphones.

 

[I_Saw_Shaw_Score]

Happened in Coventry.

 

[Gazolba]

Happened in Coventry.

Happened to me a while ago, someone threw several eggs at my car and van parked in my drive.
Took hours and hours over several days to clean it off but it still permanently damaged the paintwork on my van.
You can still the streaks now.

 

[Deleted member 5849]

Where I used to live (not Cov!) the locals used to throw rocks at the ambulances, fire brigade, buses... bonfire night, my flatmate was on one of the buses as some local charmers got on and threw fireworks down it. Not sure how everyone got out unharmed, bar cowering under seats for a while.

Anyway, said locals then couldn't understand why they stopped the bus services and made everyone walk over three quarters of an hour to the nearest bus stop... made commuting a right bugger, I can tell you.