Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos)
Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) MegaDork
11/7/24 5:19 p.m.
Mr_Asa said:

"No, we'll be there in the morning"

 

I am guessing that "Ok, have fun on the walk through without me" wasn't an option?

Mr_Asa
Mr_Asa MegaDork
11/7/24 5:27 p.m.
Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) said:
Mr_Asa said:

"No, we'll be there in the morning"

 

I am guessing that "Ok, have fun on the walk through without me" wasn't an option?

Never felt comfortable enough to let people into my place without me there.

Toyman!
Toyman! MegaDork
11/8/24 12:41 p.m.

I usually enjoy what I do. I don't usually work very hard and neither do the people who work for me. That has changed. We have picked up the Boeing facilities again which increased our work load by 20%. Add all the hospitals into the works as well as the county school system and we are stretched pretty thin. 

The last couple of months have sucked and it doesn't look to be turning around any time soon. I have two guys on light duty. One for a cracked vertebra and the other with a cracked ankle bone. I also have one guy who is leaving us to go back to security work. I need more trained people to keep up with the load but there is no one available at any price. The other companies in the area can't find anyone either and have basically pulled out of the area dumping that load on us as well.

I HATE being behind schedule but that's where we are and that doesn't look to be changing soon. I'm having to hold off on quoting and ordering jobs because we can't get them installed fast enough. I have a pile of materials in the warehouse I can't invoice until I get it installed. Unfortunately I have already had to pay for a lot of it which is making my cash flow keep me up at night. Paying 100+ hours of OT per week isn't helping the bank account out either. 

What the hell happened to my 30 hour weeks? 

 

 

 

Rodan
Rodan UberDork
11/8/24 2:06 p.m.

Planned obsolescence/ lack of support for appliances (most things, really)...

Our oven got wonky with keeping the selected temperature so we had a tech come out...  control board (brain) is bad.  The oven was installed (new) 8 years ago, and the part is NLA.   An internet search session found only used control boards at $300+.  A new replacement, basically the same make/model will be over $2k installed.  Ugh...

BoxheadTim
BoxheadTim MegaDork
11/9/24 2:06 p.m.

Not directed at anyone in particular, just a general life rant.

Started traveling for work again and of course on the first customer visit after a long time remote only, I get stuck with a massive flight delay due to inclement weather (DFW had a ground stop for a while) and the crew timing out. Kudos to the airline for flying in another crew and getting us home, but arriving home at the first light of dawn around 6am instead of a much more grumpy old man compatible 11:30pm was definitely a case of getting too old for this E36 M3.

Antihero
Antihero PowerDork
11/9/24 5:20 p.m.

In reply to Toyman! :

This is why  I don't want to be "big" with my company.

 

I know most people think it's crazy but the reasons you posted are the exact reasons why I won't hire 10 guys and do several jobs at once. In the end you really don't make much more money either 

 

Give me 2-4 guys, small jobs, and 30 hours or less a week and I'm happy

dan0
dan0 Dork
11/10/24 5:00 a.m.

Working for Amazon. Such a weird / E36 M3ty place to work in a DS or FC. I've tried a number of times including now and always fail. You get lured in by easy hiring, decent pay for basic work. 
 

1. I just can't do overnight shifts

2. Whatever they promise doesn't happen.

3. Some really lazy people work there and it always effects others.

4. HR is berkeleying useless. That's a whole other rant. 
 

Was hoping to just work a little bit FlexPT to pay down some bills and have some project car money.
 

FlexPT has no set schedule you choose shifts, 90% overnight or the day shifts 9am-11:50am interfere with my day job. I was hoping for some afternoon or early evenings.

 

BoxheadTim
BoxheadTim MegaDork
11/10/24 10:50 p.m.

Another general life rant...

Parsing government forms, especially when it looks like there are discrepancies between the PDF version and the online application.

I've been working on my application for naturalization for a little while, but it's become a bit more urgent since the coalition government in Germany fell apart.

i *think* I finally have it right, and it would be a massive annoyance and delay if I don't because the documents we need to get otherwise will take up to three months to get.

My wife is getting so annoyed at me that she's trying to get me to pay for a lawyer as apparently applying the combination of being a grumpy German and an engineering mindset to government forms is highly annoying.

I'm reaching "berkeley it, just submit the application" stage of form filling rage.

Toyman!
Toyman! MegaDork
11/11/24 7:55 a.m.

I told you that I could not guarantee a 6-week delivery time. 

If you send me a contract stating a 6-week delivery time before penalties kick in, I will not sign it. 

I know you don't expect people to read what they sign so you tried to slide it through anyways, but guess what ass hole. 

Try again. 

 

Duke
Duke MegaDork
11/11/24 9:10 a.m.

In reply to BoxheadTim :

Hey, look on the bright side:

I remember when official government forms were usually illegible 20th-generation photocopies because they had lost the analog original years before and no one was willing or able to create a new one.

 

slefain
slefain UltimaDork
11/11/24 9:58 a.m.

Having a close family member with mental illness is berkeleying exhausting. I keep looking for success stories but everything seems to just end with the family giving up and the person dead on the street somewhere. I should probably shift my thinking from "how can I help" to "mourn early".

Duke
Duke MegaDork
11/11/24 10:33 a.m.

In reply to slefain :

I've had friends with issues and even that is exhausting.  I'm sure being family makes it that much worse.  I can only advise you to take care of yourself first, because what you can actually do for them is limited, no matter how badly you want to help.

Best of luck to you.

 

eastsideTim
eastsideTim UltimaDork
11/11/24 10:50 a.m.

Destroyed a wheel on the highway last week.  Had a nearly new tire that seems intact, but I don't trust now.  Got a replacement wheel from the junkyard.  Went to order a tire and to have it installed.  Not in stock.  I can order it, and pick it up myself next Monday.  But they won't let me schedule an appointment for next Monday, because it isn't in stock.

So, I guess I just order it, go pick it up, then hand it right back to them and say, when can you install this?

slefain
slefain UltimaDork
11/11/24 11:12 a.m.
eastsideTim said:

Destroyed a wheel on the highway last week.  Had a nearly new tire that seems intact, but I don't trust now.  Got a replacement wheel from the junkyard.  Went to order a tire and to have it installed.  Not in stock.  I can order it, and pick it up myself next Monday.  But they won't let me schedule an appointment for next Monday, because it isn't in stock.

So, I guess I just order it, go pick it up, then hand it right back to them and say, when can you install this?

"Sorry, we don't install customer supplied tires...."

Scotty Con Queso
Scotty Con Queso UltraDork
11/11/24 11:30 a.m.

I changed a lower control arm on my wife's van this weekend due to a bad bushing.  The Amazonians brought me the cheapest Chinese replacement for around $150.  Pulled the front wheel off and a wheel stud snapped.  Great. None in stock so overnight from the Amazonians again.  The ball joint that came on the LCA was junk.  It would not go back into the spindle all the way but I didn't realize that until I went to put in the pinch bolt and absolutely wrecked the threads on the factory pinch bolt as well as the ball joint.  Fine.  Had to drive to Advance Auto - not the close store, the one another 20 minutes past the closest store to buy a Moog ball joint for $59.  Drive back home to test out the pinch bolt and hardware.  The threads on the pinch bolt from the factory were galled up.  Another 1-hour round trip to exchange the part and I'm good.  Got it all back together on Saturday and replaced the wheel stud yesterday (Sunday).

Last night after replacing the wheel stud, I decided to pull the clutch and flywheel off the low compression 5.3 LS engine I have in my garage.  I took out the flywheel bolts and all of them came out with significantly less threads.  The crank threads are basically trash too.  I don't understand.  I used factory flywheel bolts when I assembled this thing.

Either I just suck at threading in bolts or I'm cursed.  Maybe both? 

APEowner
APEowner UltraDork
11/11/24 12:54 p.m.

My annual goals are due at work today.  I'm guessing that neither "Make it to retirement with a minimal amount of BS" nor  "Find a job where I don't have to waste my time coming up with annual goals" are what they're looking for.

Kreb (Forum Supporter)
Kreb (Forum Supporter) PowerDork
11/11/24 1:11 p.m.

berkeley! We've been using uncertified, but highly competent welders for years to build things like trellis brackets, and use certified welders for things like moment frames. The structural engineers around here agree, as they don't even put on weld symbols unless it's something more critical. Now I've got a snot-nosed inspector saying that anything welded needs to be inspected. Okay, except the house that we just did used 40 brackets set in concrete pilings. Anyone with an ounce of common sense can see that the brackets are build like brick E36 M3houses.  

Building departments around here just keep on tightening the noose. Now there are three types of construction going on: For rich people, for middle-class who are seeing their life-savings disappear, and unpermitted. 

mtn
mtn MegaDork
11/11/24 1:23 p.m.

In reply to APEowner :

I've learned to make them quite specific, achievable, and verifiable. 
 

Dumb practice in 75% of my jobs. 

APEowner
APEowner UltraDork
11/11/24 1:35 p.m.
mtn said:

In reply to APEowner :

I've learned to make them quite specific, achievable, and verifiable. 
 

Dumb practice in 75% of my jobs. 

Thanks.  I do, actually know how to write them I just find them annoying but I do appreciate the tip.

Toyman!
Toyman! MegaDork
11/11/24 1:43 p.m.

In reply to Kreb (Forum Supporter) :

And the proper answer is almost always, unpermitted. 

Those who can, do. Those who suck at life become inspectors. 

wae
wae UltimaDork
11/11/24 1:44 p.m.

I'm trying to determine the exact symptoms of the leveling jacks on the motorhome so I can go about trying to diagnose them.  I worked the system a bit and wrote everything down, So I think I've got a good idea.  I decided I'd sit inside and work through the details and while I was sitting here, I would run the generator to give it its monthly exercise. 

Won't start.  Won't even crank.  This thing was working perfectly before.  Wtf?

Turns out that at some point on the last trip we took, the cable terminal for the +12 cable to the battery broke so there's no power to the starter.  I guess I should feel really lucky that the cable didn't rest on any of the metal housing that surrounds it because there's no fuse or breaker between the battery and the starter.

Duke
Duke MegaDork
11/11/24 3:58 p.m.
mtn said:

In reply to APEowner :

I've learned to make them quite specific, achievable, and verifiable.

Dumb practice in 75% of my jobs. 

Yeah, especially when you have a craptastic manager who blows everything off until the 11th hour and then just gives you all "Average" on your performance review despite exemplary performance way outside your job description.

 

ShawnG
ShawnG MegaDork
11/11/24 5:28 p.m.

The person in the seat behind me has brought almost a whole 7-11 on a 2 hour flight.

The munching noise is nuts. 

Jehannum
Jehannum New Reader
11/11/24 5:46 p.m.
ShawnG said:

The person in the seat behind me has brought almost a whole 7-11 on a 2 hour flight.

The munching noise is nuts. 

Couldn't the noise also be chips?

tester (Forum Supporter)
tester (Forum Supporter) HalfDork
11/11/24 7:31 p.m.

In reply to BoxheadTim :

Sometimes you need to pay the man. I think this situation qualifies. 

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