Minor rant thread. Post your rants o' the day here!

dculberson said:

Not so minor rant.. that railroad derailment here in Ohio has polluted the waters of a creek system that is basically my 8 year old's happy place in this world. She absolutely loves Little Beaver Creek and we've been there several times in the last six months despite a three hour drive to get there. I don't even know how I'm going to tell her. Norfolk & Southern also had a derailment next to my office building about 25 years ago, severed our power lines and inundated the ground around our building - fortunately with coconut oil but it could have just as easily been as hazardous as the East Palestine stuff they're spewing. I'm so done with hazardous chemicals being toted around basically unmonitored.

The Dancer and I for a while were on a kick of watching a show called 'I Survived...' where people who survived potentially fatal events told their stories- things ranging from getting swept out to sea on a small boat to (lots of) domestic violence to getting stuck outside in a blizzard. After each episode The Dancer would typically ask me which of the situations (each episode usually had 2-3 different situations that it alternated between telling) I would choose to be in if I had to. Many of the stories are horrible- but the one that by far we both agreed was THE WORST of any that we'd seen was a couple whose house was right next to a massive train derailment near San Antonio that spilled chlorine resulting in the area being covered by a plume of chlorine gas. *shudder*

In reply to Beer Baron :

You can't work for someone and be their friend. Frankly, a real friend would never do these things to you. You need to get past the idea that he's your friend. 

I have a similar relationship with some of our family. They treat my wife and kids like warm dog E36 M3 360 days a year, but when they decide that we should all get together I have to pretend that I'm having a great time. It may work for them but it doesn't work for me. 

Someone who puts you in constant internal conflict is NOT your friend.

In reply to Ashyukun (Robert) :

I read a story about someone who was involved in a car accident with an asphalt truck. They were buried/burned alive. Ever since I read that story I've given trucks carrying hot chemicals extra wide berth.

Adult onset asthma. Wasn't much of a surprise given family history. But the damned Albuterol. I'm down to about two or three hits a month, but every time I get feeling anxious and shaky, and forget about sleeping properly tonight. But I suppose breathing is better than not breathing. 

Sigh. 

We put in a ticket to the datacenter to grant a guy access to a particular cabinet in our cage.  No big deal, right?  Well, despite the guy having access to that cabinet, he still can't get to it.  Because we didn't explicitly ask that he be given access to the door to enter the cage.

This has been a very frustrating day for me....

On a whim, I Googled "How much insulin does it take to stop my heart?"

I probably shouldn't be doing that.

You help a buddy swap the clutch out on his Mini (PITA in itself) and he just takes all the removed bolts and drops them all in a bucket.

So is that a trans or suspension bolt???

GPz11 (Forum Supporter) said:

You help a buddy swap the clutch out on his Mini (PITA in itself) and he just takes all the removed bolts and drops them all in a bucket.

So is that a trans or suspension bolt???

GPz11 (Forum Supporter) said:

You help a buddy swap the clutch out on his Mini (PITA in itself) and he just takes all the removed bolts and drops them all in a bucket.

So is that a trans or suspension bolt???

I picked up a project like that once...  The meth head that started an engine replacement on an S10 just had a giant pile of parts on the floor.  No organization, no labels, nothing.  Just everything he removed from the engine bay along with all the new parts were just laying in a heap.

We need to renormalize punching idiots in the face in public.

For the second time in a week some middle aged white woman (different ones) double parked her vehicle, slammed her door into mine, then smiled and laughed when I asked "what the berkeley is your problem?"

Not like the excursion is hard to see. 

RevRico said:

We need to renormalize punching idiots in the face in public.

I can get onside with that

In reply to RevRico :

I returned the favor the last time someone did that to my car. The belligerent berkeley thought it was funny to ding someone's car, laughing with his buddy until I opened my door. At the time I was driving a freshly painted 1978 Delta 88 coupe. The doors were close to 4' long and weighed a couple hundred pounds. He chipped my paint, I caved in the driver's door on whatever POS he was driving. For some reason, he didn't think that part was funny. 

That's another car I miss. 

RevRico said:

We need to renormalize punching idiots in the face in public.

For the second time in a week some middle aged white woman (different ones) double parked her vehicle, slammed her door into mine, then smiled and laughed when I asked "what the berkeley is your problem?"

Not like the excursion is hard to see. 

Carry around a bottle of brake fluid. They might take notice of a giant dick melted into their hood's paint.

Copied from a letter I wrote to the WSJ editor:

Dear editor,

My fellow Americans, regrettably including my boss who claimed "but inflation might go back down" upon me balking at my recent annual pay increase, do not understand inflation. After reading this article, I am not sure you're helping. 

Recall basic high school math. Inflation is a measure of the slope of the increase of the cost of goods. Moving to precalc, it is defined as the derivative of the prices over time. Decreasing inflation means prices are still climbing. You provided a pretty graph of the change of inflation, which is a double derivative of the prices over time. While potentially interesting, it serves to confuse your readership without excellent explanations, which this article lacked.

Inflation is still abysmally high, and despite being lower than it was last month, prices, the real things which really matter to real people, are still hopelessly high and climbing.

Your earlier article "Cooler pay gains add to debate on when fed might pause rate hikes" from Jan 31 2023 makes me worry that perhaps you don't understand that impact either. The pretty graph in that article topped out at under 1.5%, whereas the corresponding inflation graph showed an eye watering 9.1% high. This mismatch is absurd, and that's the real story.

In reply to tuna55 :

On a related note, here is what one large corporation says about inflation and it's (lack of) effect on your salary. This ties into your post because again it talks about inflation going up or down and not the cost of goods. It looks like the target "merit" raise this year is 3.5%. As a close friend would say, this isn't a raise, this is a mitigated pay cut". :

Inflation is on everyone’s minds. We’re all hearing more about it and feeling its effects on our daily lives. This article highlights how MegaCorp approaches inflationary pressure, with a particular focus on employee compensation.

First, here’s what you should know about pay and inflation:

·Salaries are determined by the cost of labor in the labor market, not by variations in the cost of living or inflation.

·Talent shortages in a hot job market can also impact salaries because companies often offer higher salaries to attract top talent, irrespective of inflation.

·Inflation goes up and down regularly, typically salaries only go up.

·Salaries should not be adjusted based on short-term inflation; doing so leads to higher inflation and can be problematic when market conditions change.

Second, here’s how MegaCorp is responding:

·We’re consistent in our approach: Over the past 20 years, MegaCorp provided salary increase budgets greater than or equal to the rate of inflation 85% of the time.

·We’re investing in you: 2022 MegaCorp salary budgets in most geographies remained steady or increased; we expect the trend to continue in 2023.

·We’re rewarding you for your performance: We continue to reward strong performance through promotions and salary market adjustments. This is in addition to our annual merit budget.

·We’re adjusting where needed: MegaCorp diligently monitors pay to ensure we’re paying our workforce competitively and adjusts when needed.

This meeting is going on forever and I am freaking hungry.

In reply to NY Nick :

MegaCorp is right. 

I would love to pay everyone that works for me $50/hr and throw in the best benefits package ever seen. 

Unfortunately, I live and run a company in the real world. While my name is on the check, pay rates aren't set by me. They are set by the prices my customers are willing to pay for a service, less the cost of required insurance and my share of their taxes. Consequently, pay rates are as high as I can get away with and still stay in business making them a good bit less than $50/hr. 

NY Nick said:

In reply to tuna55 :

·Inflation goes up and down regularly, typically salaries only go up.

·We’re consistent in our approach: Over the past 20 years, MegaCorp provided salary increase budgets greater than or equal to the rate of inflation 85% of the time.

Just picked the most annoying two.

First note: Inflation going down does not mean things get less expensive. How do they not get this?

Second note: If the goal is to match inflation, then it isn't merit based. If it doesn't match inflation, it is a pay cut. 

In reply to tuna55 :

They get it, they just hope that you don't get it.  

"Inflation goes up and down while salaries only go up" is as meaningless a statement as could be, while sounding like they want pity.

It is called the ratchet effect.  They take advantage of inflation to give people a pay cut while the numbers on the check technically go up.

Truly minor rant--

Ordered wife's new truck. Unfortunately, a heated steering wheel is not available due to supply chain issues. 
 

The other supply chain related missing features aren't things SWMBO would notice, but that one she will. 

In reply to Toyman! :

I understand your point and I think it would be obscene to raise your employees pay to $50 an hour (assuming they were at something like $25-30 before this. That being said Mega Corp has seen their stock prices go up 6.2% in the past year, the CEO has seen an 11% raise to just north of $23M and the average employee on the floor is going to see 3.5% in a market that has seen the cost of goods and services go up by more than that. 

I am free to go whenever I see fit so they don't owe me anything but the whole "we have to work through the tough times together" E36 M3 when they furlough everyone for 1-2 weeks in 3 of the past 10 years while stock prices go up and the company buys back $6B in stock and the CEO gets another nice raise can grate on the working people.  

Glasses.

I hate picking out new frames, and I hate getting new lenses even more.

The glasses guy is great, I've been dealing with him for years. But his kids are working with him now and as nice as they are, I'm not convinced they know what they're doing.

I get home last night, there's something wrong with these things. I put on my old ones and have a look. Holy E36 M3, look at how crooked that bifocal is. I take them back and Dad looks at them, wow this frame is bent, too, probably to offset that crooked bifocal, I'll have a new set for you next week.

That's fine but how was I even allowed to walk out with these things?

I left the hitch ball over at the shop.  So to install the winch today I have to go to the shop first to get the ball and then over to storage to get the trailer and then back to the shop.

The bid date is in 5 days. You sent an addendum that goes through the plans one page at a time and basically says to throw out each page and replace it with a new page. So the hours of work I have done so far have to be completely redone. No indication of what has changed. Nothing, just throw out the original plans and use this new set. 

Thanks for that. Add this to the many reasons I don't particularly like architects. 

In reply to Toyman! :

Sounds like the price just went up.