r/AskUK

I went to a friend of a friend's house to get my nails done and the sheer mess in the house (along with the smell) made me never go back again. That, and the tarantula in the tank right next to my head 😬😬😬

In my college days we’d watch Early Doors or Los Dos Bros or Jam/Bruiser/Brass Eye when getting in from a night out.

A bit older something like Archer on xbmc or a Jay&Silent Bob film on dvd

Now its most likely ukgold or e4 in the hope its an 80s/90s sitcom or The Inbetweeners.
Maybe something on Shudder at a push

So what dvd/channel/streamed prog/dodgy download was your viewing of choice whilst you sobered up with a takeaway pizza/carried on drinking at home?

I'm 37 and I've just had my first child. It feels like school was 5 minutes ago. I was quite popular, I knew by my teens how not to get bullied and I had a wild social life. However, once I turned 30 I FIRMLY became an old woman. Not the cool kind of old woman with pink hair and a saucy sense of humour. Just old.

&gt;> Inserting an edit: I feel old. Me. I embraced it fully. I became a homebody that crochets and consciously gave up trying to be cool. I was not implying anyone else above 30 is old and I am not putting myself down. <<

I don't have social media. I don't have any idea what music is popular today. I just Googled that and 10 names I've literally never heard of came up. I don't know what clothes kids wear. We used to wear baggy tracksuit bottoms and if they weren't at least 2 sizes too big it was 'I like your tights bruv...' - now tracksuit bottoms appear to be worn like leggings. I've never listened to a podcast. I hate Tik Tok videos. We had phones, I'm not that old - but social media just wasn't a thing until we were leaving school. We wouldn't have worn second-hand if you paid us, now everyone 'thrifts'. And don't get me started on crocs. What even happened there?!

So, for those still young enough to actually know - what's school like these days? Are the popular kids still arseholes? Any tips for setting my son up for success at any given age? What's fashionable? What do you avoid at all costs? We don't want to give him a phone until 16. What's the experience of kids in school without phones now?

Thanks in advance very cool young people type dudes fam... cheerio

I told my young daughters yesterday i don’t want them to go in a helicopter, especially the tourist sight seeing type ones.
Can reel off so many high profile fatal helicopter crashes over the years both UK and abroad and a colleague of mine and my wife’s died in a high profile crash a few years ago.
Helicopters are always fighting to be away from the ground and consist of thousands of components flying in close formation.
I’ve never flew in one and never intend to either.

Am I really going to go “Hang on, I need to look for that one email from 17th February 2013!”. Has anyone wiped all their emails to free up space before because Outlook or Gmail say you’re nearly maxed out? Has anyone felt the repercussions of doing so later in life when they needed to find a very specific email for a very specific reason?

Title: bloke in a chippy queue paid for my food and just said "welcome" - is this normal here or did I get lucky

so this happened last week in Sheffield and I'm still a bit confused/touched by it ngl, wanted to ask if this is just a normal UK thing I never noticed before

moved here from abroad about two months ago for work, still getting used to how everything works tbh, still get lost more than I'd like to admit lol. was queuing in a chippy near my flat counting out coins bc I wasn't sure how much everything would actually come to with the different sizes and sides and all that

this guy behind me, maybe mid 50s, just quietly goes to the person at the till "put his on mine as well" before I'd even finished ordering. I turn round like completely confused and try to say oh no you don't have to do that, and he just goes "nah you're alright, welcome to Sheffield" and that's it. didn't want to chat, didn't ask where I was from or anything, just paid and went straight back to his phone like it was nothing at all

I said thank you like four times and he just nodded lol. genuinely made my night ngl, especially bc I'd had a rubbish day getting the wrong bus twice before that

so basically just wondering, is this the sort of thing that happens here a fair bit and I've just never clocked it, or was that a proper one off. not trying to start a "britain good/bad" thing, genuinely just curious if random small kindness like that is normal or if I should go buy a lottery ticket lol

Always wondered this, it seems like a bit of a random fashion choice for older women!

In the last few days I have seen an awful lot of posts with pic/videos of burst water mains. I know there has always been burst pipes but I seem to be seeing a lot more. Is it due to the temperature drop?

I'm currently applying to jobs and a fair few in my field are around Bath, Oxford and Cambridge. While I'm looking for a new job to advance my career, and so the job itself is important, I'm also looking at improving my personal life. Where I currently live is great for children and retirees, but the main activity for people between these ages is pub or to travel an hour away to more fun places.

I'm 29, work standard office hours, drive and don't drink. I would like to live somewhere with a variety of social activities that take place in the evenings and on weekends; hobby clubs, games nights, classes, ice skating, beginner sports, a climbing gym?

I'm not very familiar with Bath, Oxford and Cambridge, though I have done short visits to each. Please could people fill me in on what these places are like to live, what social opportunities they have etc

Edit: general opinion seems to be

1. Bath
2. Oxford
3. Cambridge

I feel like I'm losing my mind. I've been in the sitting area of a Welcome Break service station for an hour and the speakers have been almost exclusively playing AI music. I know because I used the 'What's playing?' feature on my phone and it took me to an 'artist' on Amazon music that had an AI photo and no other information. Same for other songs.

Has anyone ever noticed this at a service station? How long has it been going on for? It's dystopian to say the least.

For context, I have an elderly Great Uncle. He lives on his own, and is imo extremely vulnerable. He has learning difficulties and I think gullible would be an accurate description.

Recently he seems to have acquired a “new friend”. He is much younger, apparently a neighbour (although I can’t get to the bottom of where he lives), and spends a lot of time at my Uncles house, cooking him food, cleaning, doing the garden, decorating, shopping. I have asked him if he is being paid, and I have been told no. My uncle has a cleaner and a Home Help which is paid for. Every time I visit, he is there. I’ve tried going on different days, at different times and he is always just there…He seems friendly enough, doesn’t hide away from me, but something feels off.

I’ve reported it to my Uncle’s Social Worker, but now I’m wondering if I’m over dramatising the situation? Is he genuinely a good person who is simply helping out?. If so, I wouldn’t want him to get into any trouble. Do genuinely decent good people still exist?

I've been using Persil, but I'm ready to branch out. Which is the best combination of cost to effectiveness ratio? Let's add in nice smell and stain removal.

I've never been drawn towards getting a tattoo because of the fuzzy green mess I always saw on the older generations that had them. When my peers were going for it I raised it as a question.

Aren't you concerned about it fading to an unsightly green mess?

I was told by several people at the time, late nineties, that the inks were better and wouldn't fade like old tattoos. I have drifted away from these people to ask them.

So how are 25-30 year old tattoos holding up? Was it true?

Edit: Seems the answer I got at the time holds true. Most responses are that the designs stayed sharp. Some have faded a little but that's a mixed bag as well.

Thank you for your answers.

I live in rented terraced housing, and previously at uni my flatmates never took the bins out and would let it pile up. In my first year in 2018, it got so disgusting that it was actually a bit traumatic.

Well anyway, I am now renting as an adult about to turn 27 next month, and I always seem to be taking the bins out, wiping the tables etc. After what happened, I will always be on top of it unless im away.

I have a 2014 Hyundai i20. It went into my insurer's repair shop for some collision damage after an uninsured driver hit my parked car. Mileage at that point was XXX68. (trying not to be identified). Petrol gauge was showing one bar over half full when it was loaded onto a low loader to go to the garage. I keep my instrument display on "miles left with current fuel", when it came back it was showing Trip A 0.4 miles and XXX69 but the fuel was now showing exactly 1/4 tank. I have photos proving both of these.

Unfortunately they hadn't completed all of the repairs so it went back on the truck to the insurer's repair shop again.

2 weeks later it came back to me again but this time the display read Trip A 0.0 miles and the mileage was on XXX68 again.

I had complained about the missing fuel so it came back to me with just over 1/2 a tank.

I have concerns that they have used the ODB thing to alter the mileage. I do not trust them to have done things properly and yet again it has had to go back to them to fix an incomplete repair.

Who do I go to with these concerns? I lodged a formal complaint when the car came back the first time but still haven't had a response.

One of my office colleagues is getting married and there is a workplace collection for a wedding gift. I won’t be attending the wedding.

I’m originally from Asia, where there is often a fairly standard amount people would contribute in this situation, so I’m not sure what is considered normal in London.

For a colleague you get on with but are not particularly close to, how much would you usually put into the office wedding gift collection? Would £20, £30 or £50 be typical?

If you could make up one pointless rule that everyone had to follow, and nobody ever questioned it, what would you choose?

It can’t hurt anyone or cost anyone money.

For example, whenever you get in a lift, everyone has to face the back instead of the doors. Nobody knows why, it’s just always been the rule.
What would yours be?

I (F29) live in France, and have for 6 years. I have a job out here, but it's not the most stable, and friends here, although I don't live near them currently.

I often get homesick and have been asking myself whether I really want to stay here for the rest of my life, for several reasons.

• The first being simply that I miss my home
• I miss people - family, friends, the sense of humour, the fact that when I'm home I don't feel like a foreigner
• Although I speak French well (I'd never say fluent because I know I still make the odd mistake, but well enough that I can make friends and hold down a job here), it's never the same as speaking English - anyone who speaks multiple languages will understand me when I say that you kind of have a different 'personality' for each one. I feel like I can't really always express my whole personality in French.
• Career progression - I teach English as a foreign language (in the private sector to adults, not in public education), and given that opportunities for career and salary progression are really limited in this job, I'd like to change careers. The problem being that for ANY job that's not minimum wage, you will need a professional certification and probably a degree in whatever field you are going into. Whereas an employer in the UK might be more willing to hire you if you have the relevant skills for a job even if you don't have the degree or certification for it, that's not a thing in France. At all. I'm totally willing to do an online degree (I've already found a few from French universities), but after having already been to one French university and hating my time there, I am very reluctant to repeat the experience in person. I know the job market in the UK right now is in the toilet but my chances here of working anything that lets me take home more than 2100€ a month after tax aren't particularly optimistic.

I left the UK partly out of a desire to use my degree and also because I knew the cost of living abroad would be lower, which it was and still is. Am I crazy for wanting to give that up? My family give varying answers so I'd appreciate feedback, especially if anyone here has been in a similar position.

I started a new job last week. The mandate is three days in the office, two days WFH. However, I have two health conditions affecting my ability to work in the office, a chronic injury and late effects from a previous cancer diagnosis. I informed my manager about this before starting my job and signing the contract to make sure it would be okay. He said it would be fine to work more flexibly after a couple of months, however last week I was in a lot of pain so I asked whether we could bring the discussions about my flexible arrangements sooner. He said HR will be in touch with me about this, but I’ve not yet heard from them.

I’ve been assigned a workplace “buddy“ who is supposed to train me, let’s call her Gertrude. I met her in the office on my first day last week. I went in three days last week and it was extremely painful for me.

On my very first day, Gertrude saw our manager setting up my second laptop, (I have one for the office and one for home because I can’t carry my laptop into the office) and she seemed kind of annoyed. Gertrude brings her laptop in a suitcase when she works in the office. Our manager explained to her that it is possible to have two laptops, one for home and one for the office, and that previous employees have also had this arrangement.

Gertrude saw my equipment (special cushion and chair) and noticed I was very frequently having to change positions so she asked me if I’m uncomfortable. I didn’t mention the cancer but mentioned my chronic injury, which I’ve had surgery and multiple medical interventions for (unfortunately, nothing has worked and some things have made it worse).

I think Gertrude was under the assumption that I would work from home/in the office on the same days as her, which I did last week.

On Monday this week, I worked from home and she worked from the office. She asked me why I was working from home and said that communicating via Teams is going to be difficult. I replied that our manager said it was fine. She asked why (which imo is none of her business) and that’s when I informed her about the cancer and again about the injury, which I didn’t really need to. She saw it but didn’t comment on that at all.

Today I’m working from home due to pain. I informed Gertrude and told her that management is aware and that she should drop me a message if there is something to look over. She said that it’s a shame and that there are several things that she wants to show me but it is hard showing them over Teams and said “I will just do them myself”. I told her that I’m determined to learn, but I’m WFH today due to my circumstances. I expressed that I’m keen to keep progressing with everything that I need to learn and asked that she still shows me anything of relevance that comes up today, and we can work through it together. I also said that from everything that we’ve been over together already, I actually found it easier to learn over Teams.

She then sent me a nasty message saying that I’m only considering the training from my point of view, that I don’t seem to realise that she has to do her own busy job whilst training me and that teaching me over Teams slows her down considerably.

I have been trained in even more complex roles remotely before, I know this job can be taught and learned both in the office and from home.

I was in the office yesterday and struggled to concentrate due to the pain I was in. She was WFH yesterday so she taught me things over Teams.

I think she’s salty about my reasonable adjustments for some reason, and I don’t know why.

She seems to be quite an unreasonable person. For example, she was talking badly about another employee who left earlier this year for a different job. She was “cross” with the employee because she had resigned during a busy period. I don’t really see this as a reason to be annoyed with the employee who left, if the company is understaffed it’s not the employee’s fault, it’s a management issue.

I’m new and don’t want to escalate unnecessarily, but I found her messages very hurtful and unprofessional. I also want to make sure my rights are protected given my health conditions.

Should I send screenshots of the conversations to my manager and ask someone else to train me since she finds it difficult to train me over Teams, raise it with HR, or leave it for now? I was also contemplating contacting that former employee on LinkedIn and asking about her experience in the role. Any advice welcome.

Edit: To clear up confusion, when I had the same in-office pattern as Gertrude during my first week, which was last week, she taught me a process over Teams and she was fine with it, it was actually her who reached out to me to teach me that particular process over Teams. We operate from a shared team mailbox so she doesn’t have sole responsibility for incoming requests, it’s joint responsibility across the whole team. We also don’t have any targets for number of cases resolved. When Gertrude trains me over Teams, we do a screenshare where I watch her do a task from the mailbox whilst she explains or I do a task from the mailbox whilst she instructs me. This clears up outstanding tasks from the joint mailbox whilst I learn.