Nighmare day

you wanna be a garbageman..............


"Carpy" wrote in message
...
Just had a really annoying day today & thought I'd vent on here to see if
others have the same problem.

Had a job for these 2 sisters - both about 60 - both single and cat
mad.......you get the picture.

Existing aerial hanging via string in loft, producing an average signal of
about 32dBuV at the main TV location. Lots of pixelation. Quoted
previously & today was installation.

Had to install aerial outside, run 4 points internally with sockets /
patch leads and fit amplifier in loft. Nothing too strenuous.

Anyway, the 2 sisters had been really nice to me all day long, made me
coffee and even asked me to play their piano when I let slip I played in a
rock band for several years (keyboards naturally!). I'd almost finished
(system all up and running - just a few bits left to tidy)......then I
hear one of them calling me & she sounded quite distressed. I wander in to
the main TV room and find out what's up.

She says "The pictures nowhere near as good as it was
before"................

I have a quick scan of what she's doing, and she's watching Freeview
through a Sharp PVR.

She says "The pictures really bad. It was perfect before".........

I try to glean some information from her, and she is claiming the Freeview
picture through the Sharp PVR is nowhere near as good as it used to be
with the old aerial (in loft with string 32dBuV....)

She claims not to have touched anything, not played with any settings on
TV or Sharp PVR etc......but is adamant that the Freeview picture now is
more "blocky" than with the old aerial. I ask if she's talking about
different channels but she says resolutely "no BBC1 now is much worse than
it was with the old aerial, on Freeview, with the Sharp PVR". The picture
looks fine to me, but I wonder if she's managed to change one of the
settings.......... but after checking, the box is outputting RGB, and is
connected properly to the RGB on the TV (Samsung LCD). All the Sammy
settings are good too. No problems anywhere...........

Everything is good, and I can see the picture on the Samsung is exactly
what I'd expect given her setup. She is however insisting something is
wrong with the signal, and it must have been "stronger" before. I then
explain to her how it really doesn't work like that on Freeview, but she's
not having any of it. She's sitting about 3 ft away from the 36inch screen
now staring at it, pressing the remotes wildly, going slightly red in the
face, and saying "the signals nowhere near as good".........I suggest she
moves back from the screen a bit to the sofa (normal viewing location) but
she ignores me and carries on muttering to herself about the picture being
bad.

I'm starting to get a bit concerned about her now, and although part of me
is tempted to pack the van up sharpish & screech away in a cloud of tyre
smoke, I decide that I want to try and put her mind at ease and explain
things properly. but she doesn't listen.............and she starts firing
out solutions such as "can you put in a more powerful amplifier to make
the picture better", and "Crystal Palace must be the wrong transmitter,
because it's an awful long way away", and "I know I'll retune it that will
help" .........then "no no no it's nothing like it was before - the
picture is much worse".

I know what the signal levels are here already, but regardless I go off to
get the analyser and run her through each mux trying to explain how it
works, and showing her all the signals etc but she's not listening. She's
nodding and saying things like "ahh" and "ohh" but then when I'm finished
she keeps on pressing the buttons on the Sharp PVR and flicking through
the channels occasionally saying "ahh yes that looks better", but then
seconds later "oh no its much worse".

I'm getting a bit frustrated at this point because I've explained it all
to her (bitrates on different channels included etc) but she's not
understood..She then comes out and tells me that the picture quality WOULD
be better if I increased the signal, because the box has a "frequency
wavelength modulator" which shows the signal. I find out that she means
the signal level bar in the box settings, but I explain this away pretty
sharpish,

I decide to let her have a play around which I go and finish off a few
bits. She's still there when I am done - tuning away and muttering to
herself.

To cut a long story short, I stayed for about another 20 minutes chatting
and explaining things in various different ways, but just could not get
through to her at all. There really was nothing wrong with the picture,
picture settings on the PVR or TV, leads, signal or anything else.

I need to go back there early next week to fit some trunking that I didn't
have on board (2 awkward runs she didn't want chased) and I'm really not
looking forward to her voicing her disappointment with the picture
quality, when I know the job was done really well. I imagine most firms
would just get in and out and ignore her completely, but she's local and I
want her to be understand she's had a good job done, and the perceived
problem is just down to her setup. The Samsung she's got isn't great with
an SD signal, but I know if I start down that road she'll tell me how much
she paid for it & how it was fine before etc. I just want to put this one
to bed, but at the same time make sure she's not unhappy with the work
I've done etc.

Any suggestions, or what would you do in this situation? I don;t think
she's ever going to accept my arguments because she "knows" it was much
better before...................

I then had another one to do afterwards.........which was a piece of cake!
Log periodic, short mast, wall bracket, small run of WF100, tune in a
Freeview box and job done. What a relief it wasn't a big one!

Who remembers the days - probably twenty or more years ago - probably
before the 'already set-up' TV's arrived. How many people said they had
a 'coloured' television?

My next door neighbour called me round one day - they were watching
Wimbledon - and the picture was bright green (we're talking retina
burning here) and they thought it was fantastic. I beat a hasty retreat.

Similarly today, how many people watch with far far too much contrast?



--
Woody

harrogate three at ntlworld dot com

I'd be worried she might be in the early stages of Macular degeneration and
really she should see a doctor of the old eyes. The blurring of central
vision and possible mismatch between eyes is often a giveaway.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"Carpy" wrote in message
...
Just had a really annoying day today & thought I'd vent on here to see if
others have the same problem.

Had a job for these 2 sisters - both about 60 - both single and cat
mad.......you get the picture.

Existing aerial hanging via string in loft, producing an average signal of
about 32dBuV at the main TV location. Lots of pixelation. Quoted
previously & today was installation.

Had to install aerial outside, run 4 points internally with sockets /
patch leads and fit amplifier in loft. Nothing too strenuous.

Anyway, the 2 sisters had been really nice to me all day long, made me
coffee and even asked me to play their piano when I let slip I played in a
rock band for several years (keyboards naturally!). I'd almost finished
(system all up and running - just a few bits left to tidy)......then I
hear one of them calling me & she sounded quite distressed. I wander in to
the main TV room and find out what's up.

She says "The pictures nowhere near as good as it was
before"................

I have a quick scan of what she's doing, and she's watching Freeview
through a Sharp PVR.

She says "The pictures really bad. It was perfect before".........

I try to glean some information from her, and she is claiming the Freeview
picture through the Sharp PVR is nowhere near as good as it used to be
with the old aerial (in loft with string 32dBuV....)

She claims not to have touched anything, not played with any settings on
TV or Sharp PVR etc......but is adamant that the Freeview picture now is
more "blocky" than with the old aerial. I ask if she's talking about
different channels but she says resolutely "no BBC1 now is much worse than
it was with the old aerial, on Freeview, with the Sharp PVR". The picture
looks fine to me, but I wonder if she's managed to change one of the
settings.......... but after checking, the box is outputting RGB, and is
connected properly to the RGB on the TV (Samsung LCD). All the Sammy
settings are good too. No problems anywhere...........

Everything is good, and I can see the picture on the Samsung is exactly
what I'd expect given her setup. She is however insisting something is
wrong with the signal, and it must have been "stronger" before. I then
explain to her how it really doesn't work like that on Freeview, but she's
not having any of it. She's sitting about 3 ft away from the 36inch screen
now staring at it, pressing the remotes wildly, going slightly red in the
face, and saying "the signals nowhere near as good".........I suggest she
moves back from the screen a bit to the sofa (normal viewing location) but
she ignores me and carries on muttering to herself about the picture being
bad.

I'm starting to get a bit concerned about her now, and although part of me
is tempted to pack the van up sharpish & screech away in a cloud of tyre
smoke, I decide that I want to try and put her mind at ease and explain
things properly. but she doesn't listen.............and she starts firing
out solutions such as "can you put in a more powerful amplifier to make
the picture better", and "Crystal Palace must be the wrong transmitter,
because it's an awful long way away", and "I know I'll retune it that will
help" .........then "no no no it's nothing like it was before - the
picture is much worse".

I know what the signal levels are here already, but regardless I go off to
get the analyser and run her through each mux trying to explain how it
works, and showing her all the signals etc but she's not listening. She's
nodding and saying things like "ahh" and "ohh" but then when I'm finished
she keeps on pressing the buttons on the Sharp PVR and flicking through
the channels occasionally saying "ahh yes that looks better", but then
seconds later "oh no its much worse".

I'm getting a bit frustrated at this point because I've explained it all
to her (bitrates on different channels included etc) but she's not
understood..She then comes out and tells me that the picture quality WOULD
be better if I increased the signal, because the box has a "frequency
wavelength modulator" which shows the signal. I find out that she means
the signal level bar in the box settings, but I explain this away pretty
sharpish,

I decide to let her have a play around which I go and finish off a few
bits. She's still there when I am done - tuning away and muttering to
herself.

To cut a long story short, I stayed for about another 20 minutes chatting
and explaining things in various different ways, but just could not get
through to her at all. There really was nothing wrong with the picture,
picture settings on the PVR or TV, leads, signal or anything else.

I need to go back there early next week to fit some trunking that I didn't
have on board (2 awkward runs she didn't want chased) and I'm really not
looking forward to her voicing her disappointment with the picture
quality, when I know the job was done really well. I imagine most firms
would just get in and out and ignore her completely, but she's local and I
want her to be understand she's had a good job done, and the perceived
problem is just down to her setup. The Samsung she's got isn't great with
an SD signal, but I know if I start down that road she'll tell me how much
she paid for it & how it was fine before etc. I just want to put this one
to bed, but at the same time make sure she's not unhappy with the work
I've done etc.

Any suggestions, or what would you do in this situation? I don;t think
she's ever going to accept my arguments because she "knows" it was much
better before...................

I then had another one to do afterwards.........which was a piece of cake!
Log periodic, short mast, wall bracket, small run of WF100, tune in a
Freeview box and job done. What a relief it wasn't a big one!

You know it's a nightmare doing stuff for Joe Public. I have decided to
stop dealing with end users and support Businesses instead. I am a
Computer nerd, and set up VOIP and Networky stuff for people, and you
never get this sort of rubbish from Companies.

People just don't understand you are doing a good job for them.

Rob.

Same here .. I spent too may years in the TV trade dealing with them and
since we left that and have an industrial customer base .. exactly as
you say.

I sometimes reckon that Joe Pillock deserves some of the cowboys they
get;!....
--
Tony Sayer

In article , Bill Wright
scribeth thus

"tony sayer" wrote in message
...
Perhaps she fancies a bit of young and wants you back;-)....

This scenario is by no means unheard of. I will draw a veil around further
disclosures.

Bill



What!, one of them was wearing a veil;?....
--
Tony Sayer

In article , Woody
scribeth thus
Who remembers the days - probably twenty or more years ago - probably
before the 'already set-up' TV's arrived. How many people said they had
a 'coloured' television?

My next door neighbour called me round one day - they were watching
Wimbledon - and the picture was bright green (we're talking retina
burning here) and they thought it was fantastic. I beat a hasty retreat.

Similarly today, how many people watch with far far too much contrast?




I'm coming to the conclusion that its those who have digital sets...
--
Tony Sayer

"Woody" wrote in message
...
Who remembers the days - probably twenty or more years ago - probably
before the 'already set-up' TV's arrived. How many people said they had a
'coloured' television?

My next door neighbour called me round one day - they were watching
Wimbledon - and the picture was bright green (we're talking retina burning
here) and they thought it was fantastic. I beat a hasty retreat.

Similarly today, how many people watch with far far too much contrast?

I spent about 20 years in the TV trade and I confess setting the contrast
on an LCD display is quite a challenge for me.

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

In message , Graham.
writes


"Woody" wrote in message
...
Who remembers the days - probably twenty or more years ago - probably
before the 'already set-up' TV's arrived. How many people said they had a
'coloured' television?

My next door neighbour called me round one day - they were watching
Wimbledon - and the picture was bright green (we're talking retina burning
here) and they thought it was fantastic. I beat a hasty retreat.

Similarly today, how many people watch with far far too much contrast?

I spent about 20 years in the TV trade and I confess setting the contrast
on an LCD display is quite a challenge for me.

Indeed. We put a working Sony CRT set into mothballs [1] and replaced it
with a Sony LCD set. After a couple of weeks of careful tweaking all
that was capable of being tweaked, I eventually got a
more-or-less-just-about-sort-of-acceptable picture.
[1] So far, I have resisted my wife's demands to take it to the dump. No
way, sez I!
--
Ian

"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
om...
I'd be worried she might be in the early stages of Macular degeneration
and really she should see a doctor of the old eyes. The blurring of
central vision and possible mismatch between eyes is often a giveaway.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"Carpy" wrote in message
...
Just had a really annoying day today & thought I'd vent on here to see if
others have the same problem.

Had a job for these 2 sisters - both about 60 - both single and cat
mad.......you get the picture.

Existing aerial hanging via string in loft, producing an average signal
of about 32dBuV at the main TV location. Lots of pixelation. Quoted
previously & today was installation.

Had to install aerial outside, run 4 points internally with sockets /
patch leads and fit amplifier in loft. Nothing too strenuous.

Anyway, the 2 sisters had been really nice to me all day long, made me
coffee and even asked me to play their piano when I let slip I played in
a rock band for several years (keyboards naturally!). I'd almost finished
(system all up and running - just a few bits left to tidy)......then I
hear one of them calling me & she sounded quite distressed. I wander in
to the main TV room and find out what's up.

She says "The pictures nowhere near as good as it was
before"................

I have a quick scan of what she's doing, and she's watching Freeview
through a Sharp PVR.

She says "The pictures really bad. It was perfect before".........

I try to glean some information from her, and she is claiming the
Freeview picture through the Sharp PVR is nowhere near as good as it used
to be with the old aerial (in loft with string 32dBuV....)

She claims not to have touched anything, not played with any settings on
TV or Sharp PVR etc......but is adamant that the Freeview picture now is
more "blocky" than with the old aerial. I ask if she's talking about
different channels but she says resolutely "no BBC1 now is much worse
than it was with the old aerial, on Freeview, with the Sharp PVR". The
picture looks fine to me, but I wonder if she's managed to change one of
the settings.......... but after checking, the box is outputting RGB, and
is connected properly to the RGB on the TV (Samsung LCD). All the Sammy
settings are good too. No problems anywhere...........

Everything is good, and I can see the picture on the Samsung is exactly
what I'd expect given her setup. She is however insisting something is
wrong with the signal, and it must have been "stronger" before. I then
explain to her how it really doesn't work like that on Freeview, but
she's not having any of it. She's sitting about 3 ft away from the 36inch
screen now staring at it, pressing the remotes wildly, going slightly red
in the face, and saying "the signals nowhere near as good".........I
suggest she moves back from the screen a bit to the sofa (normal viewing
location) but she ignores me and carries on muttering to herself about
the picture being bad.

I'm starting to get a bit concerned about her now, and although part of
me is tempted to pack the van up sharpish & screech away in a cloud of
tyre smoke, I decide that I want to try and put her mind at ease and
explain things properly. but she doesn't listen.............and she
starts firing out solutions such as "can you put in a more powerful
amplifier to make the picture better", and "Crystal Palace must be the
wrong transmitter, because it's an awful long way away", and "I know I'll
retune it that will help" .........then "no no no it's nothing like it
was before - the picture is much worse".

I know what the signal levels are here already, but regardless I go off
to get the analyser and run her through each mux trying to explain how it
works, and showing her all the signals etc but she's not listening. She's
nodding and saying things like "ahh" and "ohh" but then when I'm finished
she keeps on pressing the buttons on the Sharp PVR and flicking through
the channels occasionally saying "ahh yes that looks better", but then
seconds later "oh no its much worse".

I'm getting a bit frustrated at this point because I've explained it all
to her (bitrates on different channels included etc) but she's not
understood..She then comes out and tells me that the picture quality
WOULD be better if I increased the signal, because the box has a
"frequency wavelength modulator" which shows the signal. I find out that
she means the signal level bar in the box settings, but I explain this
away pretty sharpish,

I decide to let her have a play around which I go and finish off a few
bits. She's still there when I am done - tuning away and muttering to
herself.

To cut a long story short, I stayed for about another 20 minutes chatting
and explaining things in various different ways, but just could not get
through to her at all. There really was nothing wrong with the picture,
picture settings on the PVR or TV, leads, signal or anything else.

I need to go back there early next week to fit some trunking that I
didn't have on board (2 awkward runs she didn't want chased) and I'm
really not looking forward to her voicing her disappointment with the
picture quality, when I know the job was done really well. I imagine most
firms would just get in and out and ignore her completely, but she's
local and I want her to be understand she's had a good job done, and the
perceived problem is just down to her setup. The Samsung she's got isn't
great with an SD signal, but I know if I start down that road she'll tell
me how much she paid for it & how it was fine before etc. I just want to
put this one to bed, but at the same time make sure she's not unhappy
with the work I've done etc.

Any suggestions, or what would you do in this situation? I don;t think
she's ever going to accept my arguments because she "knows" it was much
better before...................

I then had another one to do afterwards.........which was a piece of
cake! Log periodic, short mast, wall bracket, small run of WF100, tune in
a Freeview box and job done. What a relief it wasn't a big one!




Thanks for the replies. I've had similar things to this in the past but I'm
pretty adept at sussing the people that are a bit mad right from the off. If
I decide to do the job anyway I expect some kind of strange behaviour so
don't place too much importance on it when it happens. But this lady was
pretty on the ball & had been fine all day which is why I tried explaining
it to her, rather than just baffle her with information then change the
subject sharpish.

If she mentions it when I go back next week, I'll just ask her to keep an
eye on it & tell her it should "settle down" to how it was before after a
few days ..........

Virtually all the public I deal with are quite polite / normal / hospitable
etc and it's very rare to have problems when it comes to getting
paid............Some commercial work however can be harder to get paid for.
I recently had to tell a huge building contractor that I refuse to work for
him in future after I had to chase him for months over a £700 payment.

"Woody" wrote in message
...
Who remembers the days - probably twenty or more years ago - probably
before the 'already set-up' TV's arrived. How many people said they had a
'coloured' television?

My next door neighbour called me round one day - they were watching
Wimbledon - and the picture was bright green (we're talking retina burning
here) and they thought it was fantastic. I beat a hasty retreat.

Does anyone remember the 'colour tv screens' that were marketed when colour
was just coming in? They were made of flexible plastic with blue at the top,
green at the bottom merging together into a sort of orange in the middle.
You cut it to size and then stuck it to a b/w TV screen to give an
impression of colour. Which? actually tested them. I think they decided they
weren't much use.

--
Max Demian