[Maeniel]

I think that Mr./Mrs./Ms. Firstname Lastname is perfectly appropriate; that's how we began letters at my old job. If you think it's a little formal but don't want to come out and say 'Dear Ben,' you could always just eschew the title/prefix and keep the full name for a middle ground.

Though I suppose since you don't know the preferred form of the first name, just sticking with Mr. X would be your best bet - that way, you sound formal and don't make a mistake that yells 'I'm supposed to send you this letter, but I don't really know you.'

Or you could look them up on the internet and see what their peers call them; that could give you a good indication of how to address the letter if that's how they go about the professional world.
_________________
Keeper of Zaebos' and Jormand's powers.

[Nem]

Google continues its attempts to kill off content creators by hot-linking and embedding high-res photos in their search results page....

http://www.sandraandwoo.com/gaia/2013/01/30/google-goes-too-far-with-new-image-search/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gaiacomic+%28Gaia%29

I really dislike Google as a company. They make a lot of nice things, which I really like the ideas behind, but equally they're so incredibly evil. What they do is to me, morally if not legally, little different from daylight robbery.

Stopped using them for my main search engine a while ago for entirely that reason. I do still use, I must admit, some google services - but it basically comes down to the fact that my phone runs on their operating system and all the alternatives are evil as well at this point. Everything else.... Just trying to steer clear of interacting with them.

Edit: oh and they own youtube now don't they? That's gonna be a wrench to give up. Though I suppose they've been making it harder and harder to use. Maybe it is time to go hunting for alternatives there too. Stupid google, why'd you have to be evil? You make such yummy cookies.
_________________
Never forget,
We stroll along the roof of hell
Gazing at flowers.
- Issa

[Asa]

They've owned Youtube for a long time now. And also the new image search isn't as good as the old... I liked the small zoom-in feature. Oh well. I've stopped caring what developers do, they're all evil, as you said.
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Self-styled Forum Grandmother, because I hand out nicknames and hugs whether you want them or not. ^_^

Keeper of the Library and the Gateway to Haven

Nem: "It's the sort of face you just know is getting ready to poke you with something sharp."
BS: "...then insist you eat a brownie."
__________________
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this and all is mended...
Give me your hands if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

[Asa]

Excel just started doing this thing where it refused to open separate workbooks in separate windows. Who else is annoyed by this? I know how to be productive myself, thanks... The only way to get around it is to open a new instance of Excel from the start menu. Way to take a giant step backward, Microsoft...
_________________
Self-styled Forum Grandmother, because I hand out nicknames and hugs whether you want them or not. ^_^

Keeper of the Library and the Gateway to Haven

Nem: "It's the sort of face you just know is getting ready to poke you with something sharp."
BS: "...then insist you eat a brownie."
__________________
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this and all is mended...
Give me your hands if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

[Nem]

I haven't been annoyed by Microsoft Office since I defected to LibreOffice. That happened around the time they brought the ribbon in and totally killed usability.

...

Possibly not that helpful if you have to use it for work though. Sorry ^_^;
_________________
Never forget,
We stroll along the roof of hell
Gazing at flowers.
- Issa

[Asa]

Is LibreOffice the fancier version of OpenOffice? They look suspiciously similar. And OpenOffice didn't do much for me, really.
_________________
Self-styled Forum Grandmother, because I hand out nicknames and hugs whether you want them or not. ^_^

Keeper of the Library and the Gateway to Haven

Nem: "It's the sort of face you just know is getting ready to poke you with something sharp."
BS: "...then insist you eat a brownie."
__________________
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this and all is mended...
Give me your hands if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

[Nem]

More or less. They split off from open office a couple of years ago.

So, come to think of it, I must have been using open office for a bit first :/ Still, regardless. Yeah ^^;
_________________
Never forget,
We stroll along the roof of hell
Gazing at flowers.
- Issa

[Allicat]

[Asa]

I suppose level-headed discourse is out of the question? Ask for a checklist that you can meet every week, and to which they will limit themselves. They aren't your parents, it's not their job to tell you how to keep your apartment. You might also go back to your initial contract and see what that says, and then compare it to what they're actually doing.

Regarding the fee, can you ask for an individual assessment and a guarantee that you won't be charged the fee? Since your flat isn't one of the horrible ones?
_________________
Self-styled Forum Grandmother, because I hand out nicknames and hugs whether you want them or not. ^_^

Keeper of the Library and the Gateway to Haven

Nem: "It's the sort of face you just know is getting ready to poke you with something sharp."
BS: "...then insist you eat a brownie."
__________________
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this and all is mended...
Give me your hands if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

[Nem]

Wow, that sounds awful. Almost violating law awful (wonder whether it does?)

I don't suppose it's possible to move somewhere else?
_________________
Never forget,
We stroll along the roof of hell
Gazing at flowers.
- Issa

[Allicat]

I'm glad you guys don't think I'm overreacting! They've provided a checklist which we can stick to, and a rota for cleaning every week. All of the flats are shared, so I think they must have had problems with one of the others. I'm guessing they won't charge us unless the flat is really awful.
_________________
He who does not eat cheese will go mad. ~ French proverb.

Keeper of the fallen leaves. 'Cos they're still pretty.

[spellingmistax]

What did you sign? Does the small print allow them to do that?


Unless dialogue can sort this out quickly I would suggest moving. I would have had ...words after the first shower incident.

I agree with ASA, they are not your parents they do not get to tell you how clean your apartment has to be.

To me it looks like you have a right to be angry
_________________
"He gave you a life and you should cherish that treasure." - Benny

while Udina asked the usual inane civilian things that came about while under attack: "What's happening? Who is shooting at us? I'm squishy and not wearing armor and I'm a liability, get me to safety, etc.
dubbed Anthrax by Asa
Spellingmistax = mistax = ax = anthrax

[Allicat]

I'm only here for another couple of months and renting anything other than student accommodation here is prohibitively expensive, so it's something I have to put up with for a while longer at least. *sigh*

I'll let you know how strict they are at enforcing the cleaning fines.

EDIT: Spoke with the housing association lady today and asked what the deal was. They've had complaints from other students who have to live with someone who doesn't clean and they've been asked to implement some kind of penalty to keep the peace (and in some cases, health) intact. It looks like it's only repeat and serious offenders who will face the fines.
_________________
He who does not eat cheese will go mad. ~ French proverb.

Keeper of the fallen leaves. 'Cos they're still pretty.

[Nem]

Come, Nem shall give you some heuristics:

When someone tells you they're going to do better, is it:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time based

This is a model for management by objective. But it's generally useful in separating nonsense from truth.

There are similar heuristics for checking if someone knows what they're talking about:

Does the person:

Give a, seemingly, simple answer to a complex question?
Fail to provide statements that can be, even if just in principle, adequately falsified?
Speak in vague terms where they could reasonably be expected to have numbers?
Say something that lets you predict new/different things about a subject if it's true as compared to whether it's false, (i.e. is their explanation actually an explanation of something unknown or just a way to excuse a lack of knowledge.)
If they give numbers:
Are those numbers provided with a suitable basis for comparison?

It's amazing how many people just seem to be spouting either childish truths or complete nonsense when you actually think about what they're saying.

In related news I spoke to my sister for the first time... I believe... in four months today.
_________________
Never forget,
We stroll along the roof of hell
Gazing at flowers.
- Issa

[Nem]

Why do job adverts insist on telling you about the company? Do you honestly think I care for your lies about company culture or the trivia of your history? The role's the role - you're not special. Stick the job spec in a spreadsheet so we can do the things efficiently rather than wasting hours rummaging through your poorly written collection of lies and trivia for the few bits we actually want.

What does someone reading the thing want to know?

Experience required - qualifications required - the main things they'll be doing (i.e. don't just include planning in the search terms when it shows up once as plan travel for executives - if someone's looking for a planning related job that's not going to be it.)

Honestly, companies aren't even trying to get people to work for them these days, their job adverts read more like an ego trip than anything else.

Prose, because school told you that the best way to communicate with people was to put everything in the same form regardless of how the structure of the data suits their underlying requirements.



Also, your spelling is frequently atrocious. Grammar I could understand, since it hasn't really been formally taught in the UK in going on two generations now, but there's a spell-checker built right into your word processor....
_________________
Never forget,
We stroll along the roof of hell
Gazing at flowers.
- Issa