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TTIM: Things That Irk Me


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1 hour ago, NewConvert said:

Really? My GP and specialists do not charge me a thing for letting me know the results over the phone. In person they charge the minimum amount on Medicare.

Absolutely. Last week my wife's GP charged $100 for telehealth call to report to her the results of her recent pathology tests. This coming Tuesday one of my specialists will call me with the result of a "discussion" she is to have with another specialist in the same practice and the practice has already emailed me to say that the fee will be $100.

The other thing that really pisses me off about this behaviour is that barely had my wife put down the phone when the practice called me and demanded immediate payment over the 'phone.

In recent months I've had two new specialists because of retirements, and they both charge like wounded bulls.

The whole thing is outrageous.

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  • 1 month later...

TTIM...the big banks. They are so bloody disorganised.

For years I've had a credit card with one of the big four banks, my only account with them after I closed the others a long time ago. Finding I could not reduce my limit below a number that was uncomfortably high for me, I closed the account earlier in the week. Destroyed the card immediately as per instruction. All done.

Today I get a text message to say my new card is on the way.... FMD.

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  • 2 weeks later...

FMD, I have just received notification of the change in charges introduced by AGL for my electricity account here in Moorabbin.

Peak rate: Increase by 25.84%
Off-peak rate: Increase by 38.98%
Supply charge: Increase by 17.99%
Solar feed-in tariff: Decrease by 5.7%

So much for the Australian Energy Regulator. In passing, did you know that the AER has between 50 and 200 employees, and back in 2015 the CEO pulled in $512,000 per annum?

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23 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

FMD, I have just received notification of the change in charges introduced by AGL for my electricity account here in Moorabbin.

Peak rate: Increase by 25.84%
Off-peak rate: Increase by 38.98%
Supply charge: Increase by 17.99%
Solar feed-in tariff: Decrease by 5.7%

So much for the Australian Energy Regulator. In passing, did you know that the AER has between 50 and 200 employees, and back in 2015 the CEO pulled in $512,000 per annum?

I seriously wonder what they do sometimes.

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3 hours ago, NewConvert said:

I seriously wonder what they do sometimes.

You'd be interested in https://www.aer.gov.au/ and various other pages such as office locations at https://www.aer.gov.au/about-us/contact-us#office-locations, organization chart https://www.aer.gov.au/system/files/aer-organisation-structure-june-2023.pdf and stakeholder links here https://www.aer.gov.au/industry-information/stakeholder-links and many many more.

Unbelievably bloated organization...so many agencies ripping money out of the ordinary taxpayer.

Of course, some States have regulators too. Victoria one of them.

Seriously, this shit needs to be cleaned up right throughout Australia in every area in every level of government. Robodebt is of course another topical example. Price Waterhouse Coopers and Berejikulan others. NDIS and DHA (immigration) no better.

We are just stupid to put up with it.

Edited by jw1739
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  • 2 weeks later...

TTIM...

A lot of things but today it's utility bills. It seems as if every time I'm sent a new bill the format and way it's all calculated have changed. I'm sure it's done just to make it harder to see that I'm being charged more with every bill....

Edited by jw1739
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On 24/07/2023 at 12:14 PM, jw1739 said:

TTIM...

A lot of things but today it's utility bills. It seems as if every time I'm sent a new bill the format and way it's all calculated have changed. I'm sure it's done just to make it harder to see that I'm being charged more with every bill....

And I am. FMD just got my two-monthly gas bill from AGL. We're using less than this time last year, simply because we're turning down or off our gas-fired ducted heating, but the bill has come in at $685!

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TTIM...And here's another one. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-28/victoria-bans-gas-new-homes-housing-developments-emissions/102659636 No way I could save an extra $1,200 from my solar panels unless the feed-in credit rises very substantially... and where are we going to get all that extra electricity, where are the generators and where are the transmission lines?

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21 hours ago, jw1739 said:

TTIM...And here's another one. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-28/victoria-bans-gas-new-homes-housing-developments-emissions/102659636 No way I could save an extra $1,200 from my solar panels unless the feed-in credit rises very substantially... and where are we going to get all that extra electricity, where are the generators and where are the transmission lines?

Not to mention the inevitable increase in the use of solar panels and storage batteries, manufacture thereof, recycling thereof, disposal thereof...has a full life-cycle analysis been done on all this? Where is everything going to come from - and go to? - we have almost no manufacturing or recycling industries left in Australia.

I also question how many new homes are expected to be built in Victoria over the periods from now to 2035 and 2045, and how many people living in existing homes connected to gas are going to make the change voluntarily at their own expense, particularly older people who will never see a return on their investment.

To me this is like forcing people to buy electric cars without reducing the need for a private car in the first place.

Crikey, in my working days I was dealing with this stuff 30 years ago - remember the "Greenhouse Challenge?" Scientists and Environmental Managers throughout industry were on our knees begging their employers and governments to act whilst the impacts of change were still manageable, but to no avail. Ignorance, profit, self-interest and politics got in the way.

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7 hours ago, jw1739 said:

Not to mention the inevitable increase in the use of solar panels and storage batteries, manufacture thereof, recycling thereof, disposal thereof...has a full life-cycle analysis been done on all this? Where is everything going to come from - and go to? - we have almost no manufacturing or recycling industries left in Australia.

I also question how many new homes are expected to be built in Victoria over the periods from now to 2035 and 2045, and how many people living in existing homes connected to gas are going to make the change voluntarily at their own expense, particularly older people who will never see a return on their investment.

To me this is like forcing people to buy electric cars without reducing the need for a private car in the first place.

Crikey, in my working days I was dealing with this stuff 30 years ago - remember the "Greenhouse Challenge?" Scientists and Environmental Managers throughout industry were on our knees begging their employers and governments to act whilst the impacts of change were still manageable, but to no avail. Ignorance, profit, self-interest and politics got in the way.

I actually thought about cooktops as the most efficient ones are induction but that means a whole new set of pots and pans. Kids starting out today forming their own home are screwed, specially if they are on low incomes.

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38 minutes ago, NewConvert said:

I actually thought about cooktops as the most efficient ones are induction but that means a whole new set of pots and pans. Kids starting out today forming their own home are screwed, specially if they are on low incomes.

That's precisely the sort of thing that just hasn't been factored in. My late wife bought our kitchenware when we were first married, and it's still in use to day. Not only the kids who will be screwed by the decision, but as I mentioned, what elderly house-owner is going to change?

And I noted too, OK you're going to ban gas connections, but you're not going to mandate solar panels, you're not going to mandate insulation, or a certain level of allowed construction - half today's new home are clad in plastic - and so it goes.

It just hasn't been thought through.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

TTIM...the way some medical practitioners are using Telehealth. My wife's GP charges Medicare a telehealth consultation just for telling my wife that the result of a blood test is OK. I reckon that's a rort. Sure, if some subsequent treatment is required then perhaps fair enough, but not when no further action is required.

In contrast, I only ever hear from my GP (different practice) after a blood test if there's something that I need to change - a dose, or adding or stopping a medication.

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  • 2 months later...
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On 21/11/2023 at 8:45 PM, jw1739 said:

TTIM: How nice to try to log in to my MyGov account only to find that it has been locked because it has been "compromised." So I have to set up a new account...

So much for Government cybersecurity...

They want to push everyone into "digital identity" there's little evidence that they could keep any private information safe. Plus it's a slippery slope into the totalitarian surveillance that China uses on the people...

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  • 1 month later...
On 08/02/2024 at 9:45 PM, NewConvert said:

TTIM: Cyclists who use the road slowing the traffic but when there is a perfectly good cycling path separated from vehicular traffic a mere 10m away. As far as I am concerned they are trying to commit suicide by car.

Likewise adults with or without children who ride on the footpath in the suburbs who come up ringing their bells furiously expecting you to step aside for them. Fuck off because I'm an old guy. Unless a designated shareway or cycle path only children <12 are legally allowed to ride on a footpath.

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I don't understand anyone wearing black at this time of the year... Or people out "training" or "exercising" at our summer temperatures. They are just damaging their kidneys for later.

TTIM...being a Melbourne City supporter, member and fan...it's like a habit that you can't give up.

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  • 4 weeks later...

TTIM...Cost increases on existing contracts between consumer and provider that give no reasons.
Today, two:
- Health insurance - premium increasing by $20 per month
- Our two smartphones - $8 per month

Only benefit - increased "data" on the phones that I don't need, don't want and didn't ask for. 

It's such a hassle to change "plans" these days. You're talking to some fuckwit in a call centre.

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TTIM...people aged over 13 who ride their bikes on the footpath and think that because they ring their fucking bell I should get out of their way...when they shouldn't be on the footpath in the first place.

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21 hours ago, kingofhearts said:

TTIM: People who always say to you "lets catch up!!!" But never organise shit

Do they say lets catchup or we should catchup. Because the two are very very different.

I should drink less, eat less takeaway and exercise more, but thats probably not what im gonna choose to do.

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21 hours ago, kingofhearts said:

TTIM: People who always say to you "lets catch up!!!" But never organise shit

With age I've found that this actually acknowledges a friendship that reached its peak a while ago and has started to drift. It's no longer "active."

I suspect that it happens more often than we would like to think. Age, retirement, moving house, a new job, children no longer at the same school, illness - a raft of factors. Not least the drift away from face-to-face contact in all aspects of our modern society. 

TBH I've learned to accept it, but sometimes it's sad. Loneliness is actually a a big social problem in Australia, and it's not confined to one particular demographic. Society as a whole is fracturing. The neighbourliness of my youth has gone.

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