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

[Middle two kids have a little bit of skin irritation and stuff.]

Good morning, guys. I know I have only had 3 hours of sleep again thanks to kid #3 being up all night, and so what if I slept on the floor. Kid #2, thanks for screaming for 1/2 hour, but I think we're all awake now.

...

OK, time to get dressed. Let's use this special lotion Mommy got you guys yesterday ::smears it on then puts on clothes::. What's that kid #2, it stings? That's odd. It will probably go away soon.

...

Oh look, it's Mommy. Good morning Mommy! What's that? Oh, the smell, that's the new lotion you bought them. Soap? it's soap? Why didn't you tell me? You did? Crap! Ok, kids, let's go take a bath!

Tuesday February 26th I decided it would help the reliability of my Saab if I were to change the very noisy water pump. That night I cross threaded the banjo bolt for the turbo coolant line into the water pump housing, destroying the threads. Swore a bit, ordered a used housing.

Monday March 4th I got the housing and installed everything, went well.

Friday March 8th the car pukes all its coolant in the grocery store parking lot.

Monday March 11th (yesterday) I take it apart again, replace the torn o-ring, and get it back together.

Took the car for a quick drive after work today, only to arrive back at work in a cloud of steam with the car emptying itself of all its coolant. Appears I berked up the same o-ring again.

At least I'm getting pretty quick at it....

berkeley

Amber Alert on my cell phone at 6am for a missing kid in another state. Piercing tone sounds very much like I expect a tornado alert or my smoke/CO detector to sound like. Not a good way to wake up.

And bleary eyed and no glasses, I couldn't read the message bubble on how to turn it off in the future, so I hit "ok". Grrr...

Jerry wrote: Amber Alert on my cell phone at 6am for a missing kid in another state. Piercing tone sounds very much like I expect a tornado alert or my smoke/CO detector to sound like. Not a good way to wake up. And bleary eyed and no glasses, I couldn't read the message bubble on how to turn it off in the future, so I hit "ok". Grrr...

Yea. A few companies started that E36 M3. It needs to quiet the berkeley down.

Bossman: so I'm taking you off of your current project which is just barely on schedule to work on the project from hell with the individual you'll probably end up killing by having to work directly with him

HiTemp: No no, that's quite alright, I'm pretty content to work on THIS project.

Bossman: we also need people to come in on weekends

HiTemp: Sure, as long as I get 8 hours of double time no matter what and lunch provided. Otherwise, I'll go do other stuff.

Bossman: not really getting the hint

LE SIGH!

That was after the higher up bossman telling us all the things they are doing (ie wasting time and resources) to be MORE efficient. Apparently a surplus in our unit of kajillions of dollars just wasn't good enough. Anytime a boss says more efficient, he means minions work harder to get more stuff done in the same or less time. Or the minions get scrutinized with a microscrope and micromanaged so every second of their time is accounted for

N Sperlo wrote:

Jerry wrote: Amber Alert on my cell phone at 6am for a missing kid in another state. Piercing tone sounds very much like I expect a tornado alert or my smoke/CO detector to sound like. Not a good way to wake up. And bleary eyed and no glasses, I couldn't read the message bubble on how to turn it off in the future, so I hit "ok". Grrr...

Yea. A few companies started that E36 M3. It needs to quiet the berkeley down.

I just turn my cell phone off when I'm not using it ...

So Ohio taxes are still berkeleyed up from last year, they owe me ~$100 while saying I owe $490.

My OH return this year got held for $349 to go towards what they THINK I owe. Today my Federal return got deposited to checking, and it was short a good chunk. Guess how much?? $490!!! To Ohio!

Ohio now has about $1000 total of my money, that they used as an interest free loan. I'm seriously going to strangle the guy I used to do my taxes last year at this point.

Dear small demon child, It was bad enough when you woke up at 1:30AM and wouldn't go back down until 3:30. Waking up again at 3:45 made me very, very unhappy. Finally going down at 5 only to wake up at 6:30 really pushed my buttons. Now flailing about and fighting naptime for a solid 45 minutes has me contemplating how many car parts I could trade you for on GRM...

Go the BERK to sleep!!!!!!!!!!!

PS - My three cats that decided to run around the house like it was on fire, whine at the top of their lungs, claw the carpet, and attack the bed from 5 until 6:30, enjoy that marinade because this vegetarian is cooking your asses for lunch!

(No sleep makes Jav a very grumpy person)

Opening night of Quaker Steak and Lube, things we discovered:

• One 3 man bench in the waiting area
• Too many wait staff = too many people standing around
• Too many tables = wait staff and customer with no room to move
• Your entree will come out before your appetizer and salad/soup
• Your entree will be cold if it does come out
• It takes three tries over three hours to get a ribeye cooked medium
• If you want a beer, it better be a Bud, because it takes two tries even when ordering a beer on tap
• If you are hungry, order wings or a big salad. Those were the orders that came out right (out of 8 orders) and nearly on time
• Apparently a ordering a drink has limitations . . . One free refill for certain drinks
• Did I mention it took 3 hours and 3 tries to get a properly prepared steak?
• Why was I still hungry after eating 1lb ribeye?

Yeah . . . Mgmt removed all of the cold and inccroectly prepared food from our bill. It only took three different mgrs and sending the bill back twice to get it fixed.

Maybe I should go back with my riding gear on as those customers seem to have had a ball and great service.

Strike_Zero wrote: Opening night of Quaker Steak and Lube, things we discovered: - One 3 man bench in the waiting area - Too many wait staff = too many people standing around - Too many tables = wait staff and customer with no room to move - Your entree will come out before your appetizer and salad/soup - You entree will be cold if it does come out - It takes three tries over three hours to get a ribeye cooked medium - If you want a beer, it better be a Bud, because it takes two tries even when ordering a beer on tap - If you are hungry, order wings or a big salad. Those were the orders that came out right (out of 8 orders) and nearly on time - Apparently a ordering a drink has limitations . . . One free refill for certain drinks - Did I mention it took 3 hours and 3 tries to get a properly prepared steak? - Why was I still hungry after eating 1lb ribeye? Yeah . . . Mgmt removed all of the cold and inccroectly prepared food from our bill. It only took three different mgrs and sending the bill back twice ti get it fixed.

Never ever go to opening night of a chain restaurant.

That said, Quaker Steak and Lube berkeleying rules.

I've been to plenty on opening night, and that was the worst experience I've had in long while. It almost like mgmt didn't know what to say or do.

Me: "God morning. How ya doin?"
Contractor: gives name

Did I ask your for your berkeleying name? No. So answer the goddamn polite question rather than walk in and blert your name out in my face, chickenberkeleyer.

Shop rant:

So, we had a customer call up asking if we could install a smaller supercharger pulley on their 2011 or so Range Rover. Our sales people jumped all over that, $500 pulley and an additional $2000 to have a person from the pulley company fly out and put a tune to match the smaller pulley. So we get the pulley a couple of days ago and the customer brings his Rover in yesterday. Instructions call for cutting the old pulley off . Our mechanic finally gets the pulley off. Apparently, it is a interference type fit where the shaft of the charger is larger than the pulley's hole that fits on it. So the instructions say to pack the shaft of the charger with dry ice to shrink the metal and the new pulley will slip on like butter.

There was nothing butter about it. We started the pulley on the shaft and had to basically tap it on... not so gently. We noticed the pulley gets to the point where wit won't even turn anymore. We also notice that the pulley isn't far enough on, as it is still about 2 ribs off of the rest of the ribbed belt pulleys.

At this point we think we berkeleyed up the super charger. Beeeeerk!

With nothing to lose at this point, to hell with the instructions! We modify a pulley puller to fit and attempt to yank the new pulley back off. We inspect the pulley and notice there is no berkeleying way the pulley was machined right. Looking at the original(mangled up) pulley we notice there is a drop machined out of the stock pulley that is not in the new, smaller pulley. We call to tell the company that it doesn't look right. Even sent a pic of them side by side. They assured us it was right and to put it back on and throw the belt on and start it. We said no berkeleying way and told them to send another pulley with their tuning guy that was flying out the next day.

When the guy showed up, they showed him the differences in the pulleys and said, "Yep, that's not right. We will pay for it to get machined local to the right dimensions. We farmed out the machine work to a new company in the US."

Wait a minute... They are sending these pulleys out and have not even inspected them to see if the dimensions will work properly? Are we the first shop to notice this? Or are there other people running around with $100K SUVs with incorrect pulleys that just "slap the belt on there and start it".

I am the new guy at the shop and just supposed to be a "tire tech" but am trying to un-berk the situation. Everyone one, including sales people, was around the Rover while I was hammering the pulley on. I finally snapped when someone was standing in my way and said "We really don't need 15 berkeleying people standing around here while we are doing this." I just don't like having a bunch of people around me while I am stressed the berkeley out working on something.

But the damn thing is on, running fine and the new guy helped save the day. I even got to yell at everyone including my boss.

Berkeley you, snow. We got our first snow in late October, its now the middle of March, and I can't lift the shovel high enough to clear the banks on the lawn. Quit, already.

As an aside- a physics/behavioral problem: Fresh snow on the car...snow brush, obviously, is inside the car. Open door as gently as possible, but a combination of gravity and pressure change as the door opens ALWAYS causes the snow to land in the middle of the drivers seat. Berkeley you, snow.

Both of my cars are currently asploded.
Car I'm borrowing ate a screw in the sidewall, meaning I got to buy my roomy a new set of tires (yay AWD)
aaaaand I'm sick for the second time this month.
out of sick time, don't roll over until june.
/crap

I would like to curse whomever made the salad I bought at the grocery store on Tuesday to save time. Couldn't you have washed your hands or whatever? At least I stopped puking. Too bad about the other end...

slowride wrote: I would like to curse whomever made the salad I bought at the grocery store on Tuesday to save time. Couldn't you have washed your hands or whatever? At least I stopped puking. Too bad about the other end...

Related.

Salad bar, two pounds of toppings because I had lettuce at home. Turned out to be a bad idea to get the chicken, tuna, and ham salad. E36 M3s for days.

berkeley nissan engineers.
WHY OH WHY would you make the fuel pump in the murano so ridiculously difficult to install?
it's insane.
you shouldn't have to have three people to put a fuel pump in a CAR. You shouldnt have to use two pry bars on top of the special tool to push the pump and ring down enough to lock it in place.
all you have to do to get to it is lift the damn seat, why cant the rest of it be like the other cars?

corytate wrote: Idiot Salesmen: stop selling cars before they go through the shop! just berkeleying stop it! I'm sick of getting something at 3:30 on saturday that's already sold. We close at 4 you shiny happy person. I hope you learned your lesson with the last one you sold then ran through the shop for a UCI: $1800 in labor alone. almost ALL E36 M3 that has to be done to pass inspection I hope the customer reamed you outafter they found out they had to wait two days for parts for the car they just bought, maybe next time you won't show them cars that haven't been looked over yet.

Dear salesperson;

We check cars over FOR A REASON. Ever heard of 'Sandy cars'? Like the Ram pickup last month with a transmission full of strawberry milkshake and all the connectors under the seats oozing green corrosion? Yeah. So when you whisk that (insert vehicle here) away to sell it before it goes in the shop, damn you rolling some big ol' dice.

Even in the best of conditions, it's STILL A USED CAR. That someone else MAY have beat the E36 M3 out of then traded before it sawed something expensive in half. Like that non-ZO6 Corvette with the remains of a wideband tuner under the dash and a red anodized pulley bracket on the engine. DING DING DING it had a SUPERCHARGER on it recently! We let you know and you look at us as if we have all grown a third head. Okey doke. You gonna find out just how pricey LS1 guts are soon.

Dear original builder of my home:

Thank you for providing a challenging remodeling environment to really test my skills and patience. It was clever of you to make sure there was not a square corner or true level surface anywhere in the whole bathroom.

I do love using a coping saw for everything.

PS: Thanks for improperly installing 300 sq ft of glass and ceramic tile, a whole shower and knee wall so I had this great opportunity to not only replace the whole subfloor and walls in the bathroom - I get to enjoy replacing the kitchen ceiling when I'm done.

You rock!

Computers and the berkeleying Internet...

Trying to be nice to the family that 99% doesn't want to hear the ALMS Sebring coverage on SPEED.... So I am attempting to connect to the ALMS site for streaming coverage, but still haven't made connection after 5 minutes. WTF doesn't account for a surge in web traffic in this day and age of "cheap" hosting options.... Or the "splash" of colors that amount to about nothing except slow down sites.

Maybe it's my 3yr old Black Friday deal Acer laptop that needs an overhaul... Since it doesn't hold a charge for more then 15 minutes off AC power that flickers because the aftermarket power cord is universal fit and 1yr old....

SIGH

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Dear original builder of my home: Thank you for providing a challenging remodeling environment to really test my skills and patience. It was clever of you to make sure there was not a square corner or true level surface anywhere in the whole bathroom. I do love using a coping saw for everything. PS: Thanks for improperly installing 300 sq ft of glass and ceramic tile, a whole shower and knee wall so I had this great opportunity to not only replace the whole subfloor and walls in the bathroom - I get to enjoy replacing the kitchen ceiling when I'm done. You rock!

Perspective.

Give me a hand on my latest renovation, and you'll be happy, no, thrilled with the way your house was built. 125 year old farm house that was gutted and redone by a not too bright, ham fisted (only one because the other is a hook) and half blind Russian that took the concept of recycling to new and exciting levels.

The crooked, bent, out of square and curved 1" thick (plaster on drywall?) walls are one thing, but the 3X6 rough studs on 13"-18" centers makes hanging cabinets almost as much of an adventure as replacing the exterior doors that were set in 3" of poured concrete. I won't talk about the wiring because I'll just start twitching again.

To the roofers who did chez Curmudgeon, REPEAT AFTER ME:

Thou shalt NEVER have an exposed nail or screw head ANYWHERE.

Thou shalt learn to properly install flashing at skylights etc, not cover up your ineptitude with the aforementioned screws and nails.

Grizz wrote: Related. Salad bar, two pounds of toppings because I had lettuce at home. Turned out to be a bad idea to get the chicken, tuna, and ham salad. E36 M3s for days.

Here is where I wish the episode of Futurama where the parasites from the gas station egg salad sandwich improve Fry was true. Damn you, cartoons!

On the plus side, I think I lost almost 10 pounds.

Can't get things done!

Too many things breaking. Curmudgeon nailed the master cylinder in the Cruiser, my water heater needs a dip tube and anode, the bathroom vanity is falling apart, just fixed the upstairs toilet, trying to fix the garden boxes... ugh.