Whoa hang on. I am not sure the original poster deserves that sort of response. If you are struggling to get funding then that is your issue to resolve. Personal attacks on other posters really isn't on. This isn't Twitter.
I can't believe that I am saying that to other people given my own posting record but there you go :-D

I have to point out that it does not need to take months to find your first non academic job.
It MIGHT, but it can just as easily happen overnight depending on what you are looking for.

This post fails the Turing test for me I'm afraid.

SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!

If I were you, I would close down your scam website SupremeEssays and get a meaningful job which doesn't involve academic corruption. That would make you feel better in my opinion.

You are peddling bullshit my friend but nice try.

You should try following the link to their website if you want a real belly laugh.

Who amongst us can honestly say they have not lost sleep for fear of doing something to "diminish the shot of progress"?

A wide variety of experiences above.
I was asked if I knew anyone or had any preferences or wanted to exclude anyone.
My supervisor then presented me with a shortlist of people he thought would give me a tough but fair viva and we discussed it together. The main thing was to choose an examiner who wouldn't be a total arsehole (and there are plenty of them out there) because that would have likely ended in disaster as the two of us would have clashed strongly.
In the end it was my internal who I clashed with during the viva. So much so that the external had to calm things down. I can smile about it now but at the time I was a very unhappy bunny.

Whilst you are perfectly welcome to challenge my views nige, I have not used the phrase "appalling grades" so I would appreciate it if you did not to attempt to put words in my mouth.
As regards your offers, I have attempted to explain why people with lower grades are being offered positions within PhD programs and I am doing so from the position of having completed a PhD and having routinely discussed such matters with academics themselves over several years. You may be the exception. You will find out soon enough but you need to be at least aware of what goes on before you start. Certainly you should be very careful trusting the opinions of professors regardless of which university they are attached to. This forum is absolutely packed with threads about students being shafted by academics who had previously whispered sweet nothings into their ears in the early days of the PhD. It can be brutal if you get a few months in and find you either lack or cannot speedily gain the academic background required to be successful. You are not in a position to know how you will cope until you start so it might be worth putting your wry smile on hold until you start and in the meantime taking on as much freely given and honest advice as you can get from those who have gone through the process - both on here and elsewhere. Yes, even the opinions you don't agree with.
Also, most people who attempt a PhD would appear to graduate. That was not the point I was trying to make.

If I have read your post properly, it sounds like you have been engaging in this activity as well.

It's perfectly natural to bitch about people behind their backs from time to time but it needs to be a rare thing to do and you need to be careful to only say things you wouldn't mind them finding out you'd said.

My advice? Cut it out, ditch the group and get on with your work.

When you have graduated you will have enough on your plate without wasting your time on petty stuff like this.
Once you have gone, your evaluation form will be binned if you go to town on it.
You should have chased up the uni after a couple of weeks had passed and you need to accept partial responsibility for the delay in my opinion.

I used project management software in industry but I didn't use it for my PhD.
It seemed a bit unnecessary. I used a todo list in a notebook and that served me very well.
On a personal level I absolutely hate putting physical time deadlines on anything I do unless it is absolutely essential. It's a guaranteed way to stress myself out.

I am a little confused here.
You did your research into this funding route as you demonstrate in your post and then you signed a contract without checking the amount of money you were to be paid? You also appear to have realised that some universities wouldn't allow the full rate but you didn't check whether your university was one of them and signed anyway?
I am confused about why you are venting and it is strange that you want to blame the Marie Curie awards people. It seems like you were in control of the entire process from start to finish. Learning to check the salary is an painful lesson to have to learn in this way but I suppose you won't make that mistake again. You don't appear to have done your research properly and there is nobody to blame but yourself. We all make mistakes in life and you will certainly make worse mistakes than this. Own the mistake and learn from it would be advice.

Yeah I used to be like this until I learned how to "ghost" people. I pretend they are not in the room by focussing on something else and always making sure when I move about that I do so with purpose. The first time I did it, I thought my heart would explode. Within a few days it was as though these people were simply dead to me. If your brain is fully somewhere else when you walk past them you will stop looking and feeling awkward. It's maybe time for you to learn how to daydream when walking about. BTW I would leave the lab when this person was around if it was an issue.