The advice thread for random problems #4

[Rodneytrotter]

It might possibly be getting the rabbit food, make sure the food is way at the back of their cage/hutch so they aren't spilling any of it out, if it's going after the neighbours bird feed it can't be helped but making sure there's absolutely no food around your garden will hopefully help discourage it

we had a field mouse get in the house an it went straight for my room an got into my rabbits food, we seen it in the hall one night an it was like a frigging scene from a TV show with my mum running about screaming, my dad trying to grab it in this tiny little container (like I don't know what tf he was hoping to do with that) me trying grab the rabbit an the rabbit trying knock the hell out the thing in the end a humaine trap worked an we released it like a mile from the house, didn't look pleased but it wasn't staying

Oh god this thing was huge I hope it never gets in it could be after the rabbit food, the children feed them so they might be spilling some. Also the rats might like the
Hay which gets everywhere. I wish I'd never had decking to be honest.

 

[Snippysnips]

Oh god this thing was huge I hope it never gets in it could be after the rabbit food, the children feed them so they might be spilling some. Also the rats might like the
Hay which gets everywhere. I wish I'd never had decking to be honest.

It shouldn't get in, the hutches are quite good at keeping things out with the wire mesh, but id probably be getting a trap for it? I know b&q have rat traps for quite big rats, are the rabbits vaccinated? (I am assuming you are UK) If it's going close to the hutch to pick up food/hay you don't want the rabbits trying to sniff at it, since myxomatosis can be carried on skin/clothes/shoes etc you don't want to take the risk it's on the rat especially if it's going out into the wild an there's wild rabbits about

 

[becca7721]

Ive just seen a rat in my garden do I need to do anything?

Where I live we have a massive rat problem - in both senses of the word. Our council decided to radically reduce our waste collections to once a month, from Monday one black bag per building, cos that’ll help loads (and they’re doing away with that section of environmental health as well, gotta save them pennies)

I reported ours to the council and all they did was have a go at people - those with bird feeders were made to get rid of them, those putting waste out before collection (literally, none of your popping your waste out before the lorry heads down the road for us, nope we gotta be up at 5:30am and sit by the window on the off chance they turn up before 6pm) and those not taking in their waste when it’s not been collected

Ours are huge, I know smaller ones can manage drain pipes and scale walls so that’s something to keep an eye out for. Ours cant. They’ve no need anymore.

You know it’s bad when they literally sit there staring you down, even during the day, as if YOU are the vermin, despite taking a broom to them and yelling. Eventually it, literally, wandered off. No doubt muttering to itself ‘who does she think she is?!?’. It was distinctly unimpressed by my attitude.

 

[sallygsoton]

Thanks, it's definitely not wearing a chef hat i think it might live under my decking. I have rabbits and think it might be after their bedding. Also next door have those bird feeder things.

Sorry to post this but when we rats in the garden and called out the "Rat Man" he said that in the trade they call decking "rat bungalows", they love living under them apparently.

The buggers were coming into our garden from next door and had tunnelled under the fence.

I ignored them for a while until one huge one started sunning itself ON the decking and looking at me through the patio doors!

The stuff of nightmares for me

 

[Rodneytrotter]

Sorry to post this but when we rats in the garden and called out the "Rat Man" he said that in the trade they call decking "rat bungalows", they love living under them apparently.

The buggers were coming into our garden from next door and had tunnelled under the fence.

I ignored them for a while until one huge one started sunning itself ON the decking and looking at me through the patio doors!

The stuff of nightmares for me

Cheeky rat!

I've noticed today that it had been coming up from the drain so ive put a plant pot over it. Where I live our gardens are all attached to each other and we live next to the woods. Ive just made sure that there is nothing of interest in our garden. Apart from the decking that is

 

[Hmmm?]

Does anyone know how to report a YouTube channel without signing in?

I was scrolling down my feed this morning and came across what claims to be a ‘yoga’ channel posting full blown intimate parts photos. It seems the owner of this channel is a yoga teacher promoting ‘nude’ yoga by literally showing their private parts.

This should have no space on YouTube where kids can’t stumble upon this nonsense. I’m honestly disgusted this wasn’t filtered by YouTube.

I reported an account for that exact thing on YouTube. It came back as no violation!!

 

[WeHadFunRight]

Sorry but I’m really not sure where to put this, so hope someone can offer some wisdom.
My daughter is 5 (nearly 6). She’s a very sensitive, sometimes anxious, little girl. My husband’s parents both passed away before she remembers them, my FIL passed away when my husband was about 12 and his mum left us in 2020. For some reason them dying has created some worry in her and now she is very scared of dying, even way into the future and leaving her children. And she’s worried her best friend might die and she won’t get to see her anymore. I was just doing bedtime where she said “mummy I’m so excited for Easter!” And then about a minute later she said “mummy, I’m so scared of dying, I’m not really excited about Easter at all, all I can think about is going to heaven” we did her hand breathing to calm her down and I talked to her about thoughts about things we can’t control and thoughts about things we can control, and I said well keep telling her brain that it doesn’t have any control over it and it’s not going to happen for a long time anyway so let’s not worry about it now - and I said well say the same thing to your brain tomorrow too, and that seemed to help but she seems so much more sensitive and thoughtful than I ever was when I was little I don’t know how to help her really.

Update on this, she said she’s tried telling her brain that she’s not going to think about it but has decided instead to accept that that is how she feels because that’s what a cartoon character (Dee in Oz) did and that seemed to work for her.

 

[House of Tea]

Random problem is my husband. It was his birthday a few days ago. We are away in a nice place. I bought him some presents but tonight he is being treated to a meal by me at a great restaurant. Except he is in a sulk because we are leaving tomorrow and reality looms large. I asked him if he was looking forward to the meal just now and he said he wasn’t hungry. I feel like chucking him a pack of crisps and saying Happy Birthday you ungrateful git. All I said was, you could have lied and said you were looking forward to it. Such a spoilt brat at times. No advice needed. Just ranting.

 

[Pinhead Larry]

Is it rude to take the service charge off a bill even if the service has been good? I’d rather just leave a cash tip at the end of the meal if the service has been worth leaving one.

The other week we were in a restaurant we go to a lot for over 4 hours because the service was that slow. I asked to remove the service at the end which I felt was justified but then I felt dead uncomfortable asking, like they’re gonna be really offended and I don’t know if I am overthinking it.

I worked in a restaurant about 10 years ago which charged a service charge on the bill, and you got an extra £1 an hour added to your wages. Not entirely sure what happened to the rest of it, felt like such a scam as a waitress. If someone asked to remove the service back then a manager had to come and do it and they’d be asking you loads of questions about why they want it removed which was so uncomfortable.

we’re going to London for the weekend and have a few meals booked in quite nice places and I can’t decide if taking off the service is going to be a situation

 

[loveanatter]

Is it rude to take the service charge off a bill even if the service has been good? I’d rather just leave a cash tip at the end of the meal if the service has been worth leaving one.

The other week we were in a restaurant we go to a lot for over 4 hours because the service was that slow. I asked to remove the service at the end which I felt was justified but then I felt dead uncomfortable asking, like they’re gonna be really offended and I don’t know if I am overthinking it.

I worked in a restaurant about 10 years ago which charged a service charge on the bill, and you got an extra £1 an hour added to your wages. Not entirely sure what happened to the rest of it, felt like such a scam as a waitress. If someone asked to remove the service back then a manager had to come and do it and they’d be asking you loads of questions about why they want it removed which was so uncomfortable.

we’re going to London for the weekend and have a few meals booked in quite nice places and I can’t decide if taking off the service is going to be a situation

I pay it if the service is good. If there’s any issues, I ask to remove it and pay cash to the waiter/waitress.
I know it’s controversial as I’ve had friends that won’t take it off but usually it’s 12-15% which is hell of a lot on top of your meal for something that wasn’t all that x

ETA - especially in one off restaurants! Different if they’re ones you go to regularly where it’s probably worth paying for future! X

 

[littlepup]

Is it rude to take the service charge off a bill even if the service has been good? I’d rather just leave a cash tip at the end of the meal if the service has been worth leaving one.

The other week we were in a restaurant we go to a lot for over 4 hours because the service was that slow. I asked to remove the service at the end which I felt was justified but then I felt dead uncomfortable asking, like they’re gonna be really offended and I don’t know if I am overthinking it.

I worked in a restaurant about 10 years ago which charged a service charge on the bill, and you got an extra £1 an hour added to your wages. Not entirely sure what happened to the rest of it, felt like such a scam as a waitress. If someone asked to remove the service back then a manager had to come and do it and they’d be asking you loads of questions about why they want it removed which was so uncomfortable.

we’re going to London for the weekend and have a few meals booked in quite nice places and I can’t decide if taking off the service is going to be a situation

They are increasingly adding 20% service in London, then doing things like adding £2-5 a head for filtered water or “invisible chips” which is a £3 charity donation without explaining or consulting you. It’s an absolute piss take and I’d have no qualms saying ‘take it off’, espically if it’s somewhere I’ll never go back to.
(Though I generally get annoyed with “do you want to round up for charity?” so they can then say “we donated millions to charity” as though it’s coming from profits.)

Many moons ago when I waitressed a tip paid by card went into a kitty and divided end of the month with kitchen staff, chefs etc whereas a cash tip went directly to the server. It was frustrating to be on shift with someone who made no effort but still got a share so I’ll often ask now.

 

[Rxt156]

Is it rude to take the service charge off a bill even if the service has been good? I’d rather just leave a cash tip at the end of the meal if the service has been worth leaving one.

The other week we were in a restaurant we go to a lot for over 4 hours because the service was that slow. I asked to remove the service at the end which I felt was justified but then I felt dead uncomfortable asking, like they’re gonna be really offended and I don’t know if I am overthinking it.

I worked in a restaurant about 10 years ago which charged a service charge on the bill, and you got an extra £1 an hour added to your wages. Not entirely sure what happened to the rest of it, felt like such a scam as a waitress. If someone asked to remove the service back then a manager had to come and do it and they’d be asking you loads of questions about why they want it removed which was so uncomfortable.

we’re going to London for the weekend and have a few meals booked in quite nice places and I can’t decide if taking off the service is going to be a situation

I don’t think it’s rude but even if it is rude … it’s your money to spend as you wish!

I think it’s cheeky of restaurants to automatically charge you for something especially as sometimes they do it when the service hasn’t been great

I don’t really like tipping anyway coz it’s not my job to pay someone’s wages (i’m a teacher and certainly get no tips for doing my job properly) but that’s for another chat another time

 

[OnlyHereForTheLolz]

Is it rude to take the service charge off a bill even if the service has been good? I’d rather just leave a cash tip at the end of the meal if the service has been worth leaving one.

The other week we were in a restaurant we go to a lot for over 4 hours because the service was that slow. I asked to remove the service at the end which I felt was justified but then I felt dead uncomfortable asking, like they’re gonna be really offended and I don’t know if I am overthinking it.

I worked in a restaurant about 10 years ago which charged a service charge on the bill, and you got an extra £1 an hour added to your wages. Not entirely sure what happened to the rest of it, felt like such a scam as a waitress. If someone asked to remove the service back then a manager had to come and do it and they’d be asking you loads of questions about why they want it removed which was so uncomfortable.

we’re going to London for the weekend and have a few meals booked in quite nice places and I can’t decide if taking off the service is going to be a situation

Don’t feel bad. I feel it’s an absolute cheek to add a service charge without asking first. I’ll only tip if I thought the food and service was goo and then it’s up to my discretion

 

[Pinhead Larry]

Thanks for your responses! You’ve justified my thinking I’m gonna just ask them to take it off. What happened to the days you’d just put £3 down after a cheap meal and £10 if it was somewhere a bit more fancy

 

[AshMay]

I hope we don't get more and more like the US with tipping culture. It's expensive enough! I prefer the option of tipping for something standout rather than it being expected.

 

[didisaythatoutloudoops]

I hope we don't get more and more like the US with tipping culture. It's expensive enough! I prefer the option of tipping for something standout rather than it being expected.

Exactly this. I always take the service charge off and give cash if it was really great - because I really think this automatic gratuity being added is going to reduce the stable wages of hospitality workers.

I see the government in a few years time going '80% of diners tip, so to reflect that and encourage restaurants to hire more staff, we're going to remove minimum wage for service staff'. And then we'll be on the American system, which I think is disgusting.

 

[mochibean]

I hope we don't get more and more like the US with tipping culture. It's expensive enough! I prefer the option of tipping for something standout rather than it being expected.

I do get it in the US because oftentimes the servers rely on tips as they don't get a proper wage, but here they get paid an hourly rate.
I only tip if the service and food are good. I dislike tipping culture, I'm paying enough already for the food I don't want to pay service charges and tips on top of it.

 

[becca7721]

After an incident involving police and a neighbour and me ending up in a state and being taken by police to place of safety (which wasn’t but that’s another story) the police spoke to my landlord about my situation, as they’re concerned for my safety, given the only options I have are to go back to DV or the street.

The landlord has told the police, council housing (who told them to evict in the first place!) and charity housing worker that they are not going to evict as we are are so close.

BUT

They won’t put this in writing and refuse to confirm this is the case to me - bearing in mind they’ve already tried to force me out by changing the locks (Christmas night when they thought I’d gone away along with everyone else in building) and my notice ends in days. I’ve also been told I must pay all costs including bailiffs for eviction. I can’t register with housing as their website won’t work on my old device (so they told me to use my phone to access it - my phone being a specialist adapted phone that doesn’t do online) because the council are paperless so there’s no other way.

I’ve been told I’m being paranoid and overthinking about my landlord (had police around again) and the incident. I’m not blaming police to be clear.

Am I being paranoid expecting this in writing? I finally got an advocate and therapist for hoarding but that’s on hold right now due to mental health being so poor.

 

[Moth]

After an incident involving police and a neighbour and me ending up in a state and being taken by police to place of safety (which wasn’t but that’s another story) the police spoke to my landlord about my situation, as they’re concerned for my safety, given the only options I have are to go back to DV or the street.

The landlord has told the police, council housing (who told them to evict in the first place!) and charity housing worker that they are not going to evict as we are are so close.

BUT

They won’t put this in writing and refuse to confirm this is the case to me - bearing in mind they’ve already tried to force me out by changing the locks (Christmas night when they thought I’d gone away along with everyone else in building) and my notice ends in days. I’ve also been told I must pay all costs including bailiffs for eviction. I can’t register with housing as their website won’t work on my old device (so they told me to use my phone to access it - my phone being a specialist adapted phone that doesn’t do online) because the council are paperless so there’s no other way.

I’ve been told I’m being paranoid and overthinking about my landlord (had police around again) and the incident. I’m not blaming police to be clear.

Am I being paranoid expecting this in writing? I finally got an advocate and therapist for hoarding but that’s on hold right now due to mental health being so poor.

Bit confused. You said the landlord told the police that they won't evict you but also that your notice ends in days and that you've been told that you must pay the landlord's costs of evicting you.

Re. costs of eviction, if you stay beyond the end of your notice period and the landlord has to get an Order of Possession (which is the court telling you to leave) or even a Warrant of Possession (which the court making you leave) you will probably be told by the court to pay the landlords costs for those legal actions.

Which council are you trying to register with?

 

[becca7721]

Bit confused. You said the landlord told the police that they won't evict you but also that your notice ends in days and that you've been told that you must pay the landlord's costs of evicting you.

Re. costs of eviction, if you stay beyond the end of your notice period and the landlord has to get an Order of Possession (which is the court telling you to leave) or even a Warrant of Possession (which the court making you leave) you will probably be told by the court to pay the landlords costs for those legal actions.

Which council are you trying to register with?

I’m confused too!! That’s exactly right. They’ve told police I’ve nothing to fear I won’t be evicted. They’ve told me I will.

Thank you for information regarding costs!

Council is Ceredigion (mid wales) but their website just simply says my device needs updating (which I can’t afford).