Use this emoji? Don’t make me laugh!

In Issue 647 you asked which emoji we find most irritating. For me, it’s the ‘crying with laughter’ face, which people use all the time on Whatsapp groups I belong to. I’ve nothing against emojis when used appropriately, but too many people use this particular emoji at the end of bad-taste jokes or sarcastic comments. It usually feels misplaced to me.

The heart emoji is easily the most overused and therefore the most annoying. I can understand sending a heart emoji to a loved one on a special occasion, but I often see messages with hearts after the most banal comments, such as expressing what a nice day it is. You’ve heard of verbal diarrhoea? Well, emoji diarrhoea is the modern version of this disease.

Essentials social tariff (www.snipca. com/44464). I thought the easiest method would be using the website, but no – it kept crashing. I didn’t want to phone BT because I knew it might mean ages waiting on hold, and so it proved. Somebody finally answered after 30 minutes. They checked whether I was eligible (I’m on Universal Credit), and said a verification email would be sent within a few days.

I thought this would override my next quarterly bill from BT, but I was still charged for my ‘normal’ broadband plus phone line. That meant another phone call to BT. They said my tariff hadn’t been processed, which confused me because I had confirmation that it had been activated. It took another fortnight to finally switch.

I wondered out loud to the lady dealing with me whether BT would have made a similar error had I asked to upgrade to a more expensive contract. She laughed as if to vindicate my suspicions. I predict a surge in applications for social tariffs as public awareness of them grows, so providers like BT need to do better at managing them.

David is one of several readers to have told us their internet provider has taken too long to move them to a social tariff. In the worst cases, support teams haven’t even known what these discounted deals are, and instead try to move customers on to more expensive packages. It would be interesting to hear from readers who have actually had a good experience switching to a social tariff.