I have found something more annoying than apprentices.

[ARW]

It's BT engineers.

Wankers.

[Andy Burns]

Yes, but trumped by their salesmen and pre-sales consultants.

[Graham.]

If it doesn't move clip a cable to it?

[Nightjar]

You've actually seen one? I thought they were mythical beasts.

Colin Bignell

[ARW]

OK. He was "supposed" to fit 9 master sockets in 9 apartments.

All the cables were in place. He needed 9 master sockets and whatever junction box they use in the communal cupboard where the BT cable enters the building. All the cables were in place.

So what does that make him? Engineer or cable fitter?

[Graham.]

Dont know. Has he ever driven a steam loco?

So what did/didn't he do?

[Onetap]

A cable fitter, telecoms technician or whatever, IMHO.

An 'Engineer' suggests to me that he'd have some technical education, but I'm a dinosaur from when the UK had a serious engineering industry.

How did he c*ck that up?

[Andy Burns]

To the customer they'd probably refer to him as an engineer, internally he'd probably be a technician, or a jointer.

[ARW]

He didn't drive a steam loco (to the best of my knowledge, but I was not there) but he definitely did not manage to correctly fit any of the nine master sockets into any of the nine apartments where the cable was already in place:-)

[Nthkentman]

It's BT engineers.

If you can't fix it with a hammer it's an electrical problem

[The Other Mike]

So all nine master sockets lined up side by side in the communal cupboard then?

[dennis]

Well that would absolve BT of the responsibility for the internal wiring.

[Andy Burns]

Sure it wasn't alarm wire instead of proper CW1308, that's apparently the usual builder's mistake.

[Steve Firth]

It's the whole of BT. They take useless to new levels. It's why in my business they are known as OpenRetch.

[Vir Campestris]

Catch me on a bad day, and I'll ask him if he's really MIET. On a good day I'll only be quietly cross.

That works for me.

Andy

[SteveW]

Oi, don't forget us MInstMC!

We should be like the Germans on this and make it illegal for anyone to use the title Engineer unless they are qualified, experienced and registered.

SteveW

[Dave Liquorice]

Some of the Openreach "engineers" do have a technical education, the ones that won't let a fault defeat them. The engineers we get around here are generally very good, friendly and once started on a fault will work on it until they fix it. No going home at 1700...

Any other contact I have with BT is appaulling. I've been trying to move a number from a Business ISDN line to a Residential line since the end of May. I've been told many times, "yes we'll sort that out" or "I'll pass it to the right department" and that is the last I hear of any (in)action. I've given up talking to them, I wrote with all the details they could possibly need in the midle of July, got a phone call "I've passed your instructions on, they will contact you later". Have I been contacted, has the number moved. Nope. About to complain to Ofcom with copies to CEO's of BT Business and BT Retail...

[Bob Eager]

I had a long moan when I called out a Hotpoint repair person. The people on the phone called him an 'engineer', so as I had nothing better to do, I started an argument.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Builder mate of mine who did mainly 'posh' work used to call them the skirting board and architrave brigade. He'd finish 'doing up' a room - usually with all new woodwork etc and very careful decoration - and they come in and clip their cables all over it.

[Andy Burns]

Indeed, a friend of mine left school to join BT at the age of 16 while the rest of us stayed on for A levels, he got several year's worth of telecoms specific courses (probably HND or equiv), and had his turn in exchanges, up poles, down manholes. He now specialises in the 'tricky' broadband fixes, but can cope with various jobs they throw at him whenever he's on call.