14 Things to say Goodbye to in 2022
Because, in case you were wondering, no, saying goodbye to two underwhelming Prime Ministers, low interest rates, affordable heating and a legendary Queen was not enough.
Let's start by acknowledging the fact that what we all really, REALLY want to say goodbye and good riddance to, above all else, is the cost-of-living crisis and sense of prolonged instability we have been experiencing in recent years.
That said, some of our office banter recently got us talking about other things that either really annoy us, or we're tired of hearing about - and would love to not take with us into this brand new, shiny and - as yet - unspoilt year.
In no particular order, here's our pick:
Harry and Meghan drama
They're leaving. They left. They're coming back. They're not coming back. They want privacy. They're on Oprah. It's great – and only fair, we guess – that they have had the chance to tell their side of the story (for a mega fee, however...). But, can they be in America and just Be. In. America, so we can go back to having actual news in our newspapers? We don't like or dislike them - we're just mind-numbingly bored of it all.
Love Island/Naked Attraction/The Undateables, etc
Can we, please, collectively agree that this kind of tv has perhaps run its course? One episode for curiosity's sake, maybe even a series for the hell of it. But do we really need to encourage any more fame-hungry people to bare their souls and bodies and call it entertainment? Surely, we can all see where this will likely end if we don't stop it now... the Naked Undateables' Love Island. And if that doesn't fill you with dread...
Temporary traffic lights
They arrive unannounced, often accompanied by hundreds upon hundreds of cones, disrupting circulation as much as humanly possible. Workers start some half-hearted digging and then disappear for days on end, doing absolutely no work in the meantime. Oh, and they also instal more temporary traffic lights on other artery roads in your village/town/city, knowingly creating a total collapse, just for the fun of it, making school runs and commuting absolute hell. Please, please, someone, make it stop.
FOMO
Can we all just agree that we have enough to worry about right now (climate crisis, cost of living crisis, energy crisis… just pick a crisis), without the added pressure that comes from needing to wonder/worry/obsess over what we may or may not be missing out on. Perhaps the thing we're missing out on is far less exciting or pleasant than we imagine, and not being there is actually a blessing. Let's just decide what we want to do, or not, be happy with our decisions, and focus our energy elsewhere, shall we? Otherwise known as JOMO, we believe - the Joy Of Missing Out.
Single-use plastic
Does anyone know exactly what it is we are waiting for, in order to finally say goodbye and good riddance to disposable plastic? Why are plastic bottles still being produced at a rate of a million a minute. A. Million. Per. Minute. And have you seen the criminal amount of take-away coffee and drinks lids overflowing from bins in these days of caffeine-and-junk-food-fuelled Christmas shopping? Of all the silly regulations being made and passed, it honestly baffles belief that there isn't a ban on producing single use plastic in place already.
Annoying drivers and Reckless Overtakers
We all know them. Maybe, sometimes, if we're ever so honest, some of us ARE them. There are the people who drive their cars at a constant 40mph irrespective of the actual speed limit - so 40mph in a 30mph zone but also 40mph in a 60mph zone. Then, when your patience runs out and you try to overtake them, they suddenly find the accelerator and speed up to 60mph. And then we also have the daredevil overtakers who, rather than wait for a nice stretch of straight road, choose a curve with zero visibility, a roundabout or even a turning to zoom past you. We are not fans, not at all.
Chatbots
No, it is not the same as talking to a real person, and yes, you can completely tell the difference. Give us real live humans, please. It's quicker, it's nicer and it is far less irritating. (All of our live chats are with real flesh-and-bones people with real names, real faces and working brains, incidentally!)
Prepaid car park charges by the hour
As is already the case, by law, in most of Europe, can we please have a minute-by-minute calculation, and never have to pay before we've finished.
Estimated bills
Our webmaster recently moved into a new home and has been asked to pay based on the charges of the previous owners who had their heating on all year round. Call us revolutionary, but how about we pay based on what we actually consume?
Phone consultations with specialists
We're all back to work after covid. Well, we are, at least. Can we please stop with the phone consultations, and actually see a member of staff, rather than having to explain our private medical details to the receptionist, a nurse and whoever else may calls?
Spoilers
Or, to be more precise, the people who do the spoiling - the spoilists? It's lovely you’ve managed to binge-watch the entire series before we've got through the first episode. Or you've watched Eastenders every night on the correct night and aren't waiting for the weekend to catch up. But please keep it to yourself. For the record, everything you say after these words: “Don’t worry, it's not a spoiler, but...” IS ALMOST CERTAINLY AN ACTUAL SPOILER.
Spam emails
The occasional email is fine. Daily harassment is definitely not, and has us reaching for the unsubscribe button faster than you can blink. Life is hard enough, without having to de-clog our inbox to rid it of countless spam. Quality not quantity, people.
Mismatching books from the same series
When you're an avid reader and book collector, it creates all sorts of unwanted chaos to an otherwise orderly shelf when the publisher suddenly decides to change the cover design or, worse still, the book height, so that it no longer matches the rest of the series.
Paper timesheets/ clock-in cards/holiday request forms
Well, we couldn't let a chance like this pass by without a shameless connection to what we do now, could we?! If you haven't moved to a cloud-based system yet, let's make 2023 the year you do. Paper timesheets/ holiday forms are a recipe for disaster, and are frequently lost, damaged, manipulated and subject to human error. Save your business time, money and hours upon hours of hassle, by switching to cloud-based time and attendance software such as uAttend now.