Modern Vespa

Was that the one with the rocker switch that just said "extra" but didn't do anything?

If memory serves the switch illuminated higher section of the speedometer which couldn't be appreciated in daylight.

Stupid people. Stupid people are pissing me off today.

And my god, they are legion.

Amen.

Chris from CLE

Egos.

Last Friday after a standup meeting at work I packed up my desk and was fully prepared to walk away.

I work in automotive, and for the 9 1/2 years I have been here I have been explaining to everyone in engineering and management that there is a crucial procedure that this facility has always done incorrectly. Mind you, I've been doing this work for 33 years now.

We have a part. A family of parts, really. If you have a pickup, you have one. It's the light over your back window that shines down over the bed and is also the 3rd stoplight. Long story short, the holes the screws go through are too small. They've caused problems off and on for years. I have been screaming for them to just order a plug gage to pass/fail them. It's a simple fix, really.

The customer complained enough they started doing some digging and realized this procedure we are doing wrong is a thing.

So, my manager decided we need to start doing things the right way and repeated almost verbatim my own words to me what we are supposed to be doing as if it was new news.

The bottom line is, all the work falls in my lap, and his stance was we (myself and my one other tech) were just going to put in a ton of overtime to turn this gigantic shipload of work around.

I was ready to walk away from three decades of career and just start over with something different. But, when I approached our corporate director to tell him I was leaving and why, he talked me off the ledge. Bot he and our regional engineering manager have said some very nice things in the last couple of days and I promised I'd let them handle it.

I am going to continue living out of a suitcase as it were until I see results. After the fact, several of the people who were at this meeting (and some who weren't, but heard about it) have told me my manager was out of line and I was perfectly justified, but, of course, none of them would stand up with me at the time. Not that I blame them, though.

At least my desk is clean now.

People deemed to be above you not listening or taking you seriously ?

I find that hard to believe.

Argh. I feel your pain. Not me, but my wife. She spent way too long working with a narcissistic supervisor, and spent way too many breakfasts discussing such. Supervisor eventually quit, but there are still management issues. Fortunately retirement looms, but it sucks to love your job but have less than competent leadership.

FIFY

It didn't need fixing. It's obviously sarcasm.

The day you leave is the day they start to implement all the ideas you suggested while you were there.

True.

The company I worked for once hired a VP of IT who had zero IT experience. He came from call center management. Next thing you know, everyone is moving into 4x6' cube with 4' walls, just like a call center. I retired before the move started.

And we wonder why companies that hold our most sensitive data can't manage to keep that data from leaking out onto the dark web.

IT is more often mismanaged than not.

This issue about immediate supervisors or managers pops up frequently. I understand, if your job is hell due to an unbearable boss, you may have to bailout and quit.

After 44 years in corporate and small business employment, I have developed what I believe is a healthy approach to the situation. Over 50% of the time my immediate leadership was horrible. Based on the good money I was making, I was not going to let that (those) individuals control my future. I regularly out survived them. Part of the healthy approach is not expecting my employer to make me happy or pleasant.

Despite this, I know your situation can be so bad that it impacts you even when not at work and you need to depart. Rule of thumb, try to get another job set up before you jump ship.

Consequently, I always treated those who worked for me with encouragement, respect and dignity. Even those I had to fire (for a ton of reasons) I treated with dignity. I even helped several find new jobs where they could excel.

Closing thought, as I get older it is tougher to keep up with the rat race that would not have bothered me when I was younger.

Bob Copeland
Theory X and Y of management. Encourage them or treat them like shit.

I have discovered that in just about every unpleasant situation caused by another person, if you like your job/position/whatever, just wait it out. That person will leave, be transferred, or just vanish and then you get an entirely new set of conditions.

There speaks the truth.

Autorecover on powerpoint, and my ineptitude.


and the really annoying thing is that it was there, just needed a new file name and be saved. but no, i closed the file.

How much time did you lose?

To be fair, not that long in the end. It was modifying a high level network diagram and it was only a day or so ago that I did the original update so it was still fresh in my head. I think i was just angry that the updated one was there, and i closed the window without questioning if it was saved.

I travel a lot for work. Very often flights are held at the gate so inbound passengers can make connections.

Last night it was my turn. My flight was late and when I landed I had five min to connect. My connecting flight not only didn't wait, but pushed back five minutes early.

It was the last flight home for the night.

To add insult to injury, this was the hotel United was willing to comp for me.

Hell. No.

It looks quite welcoming to me.

Looks like a place you rent by the hour that has a marquee exclaiming 'Color TVs.'

It looks slightly better on Google Maps. It looks absolutely empty. Still, 1 Star eh ?

I can actually hear the bedbugs through the picture.

amazon have decided no matter what i click on that i want to watch, it really means i want to watch the stupid fking NFL game they're streaming.

does the NFL think they're U2 or something?

I wonder how many people will grok that reference?

Not me

The US Healthcare System is pissing me off today.

Since I retired, I have stayed on Apple's group health care plan through COBRA for the first 18 months, then CalCOBRA for the next 18 months.

So my three years of combined coverage is ending soon, and I am now within the legally-mandated 60-day window before I have a "Life Changing Event" that qualifies me to sign up for health coverage off-cycle -- the event being that my COBRA coverage is ending.

So far so good.

This will result in increased premium payments (you people outside of the USA look away now) but I was expecting that. It's about $400 per month more expensive. But this is not what I'm pissed off about.

My coverage actually ends on November 11th, which is the 3-year anniversary of my last day at Apple. But because of some @#$% legal requirement, the soonest the new coverage can start is December 1st.

Which means that from November 12th through November 31st, I will have no health insurance. And there is no way to remedy this. They tell me that's just the way it is.

So if I get hit by a bus, or have a heart attack, or suffer any other serious medical afflictions during that time, I am just SoL. And maybe bankrupt.

Fuck.

To quote Childish Gambino, "This is America".

Oooooh, that's a lot WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?

I need to shift there for about a year so I can retire I guess. Oh, wait, I've talked to colleagues there, that money isn't going to them.

Sorry to take so long to get back to this, I was out touring the countryside on a motorcycle for four days and not really paying attention to this. Turns out the mystery fluid was nothing but my own paranoia. I sat on the side of the road for just over an hour on a hot night with the AC running. The tech expects the 'slightly oily feeling' of it was just contaminates picked up from the road.

Dealership tested/checked every system with a liquid or coolant, none showed any signs of a leak. Total damage was two bent rims, two tires, and an alignment.

I'm relieved. While there are limitations to an electric vehicle, we chose it because it suits the way we actually use our car, and it has genuinely been the best vehicle we've ever owned. I really didn't want it written off.

Craigslist Adds.

The seller posts an add with a price but then when the item doesn't sell they repost the add but with the price increased by $200.

How does that work ?

Good to hear that it wasn't worse.

Indulge me - Are the wheels Steel as I suspect or are they Aluminium ?

I believe they're aluminum.

If the seller got a lot of response with high offers, they could close the ad, and repost higher at a later date. Effectively the first ad was used to gauge interest.

Ah, I didn't think of that. I made the assumption that if something didn't sell at the original price then it certainly wasn't going to sell at the increased one.

I've seen three different add for scooters or motorcycles get withdrawn and then come back with price increases, oddly enough all in CA.

I was lucky with immediate bosses, all supportive and hands off, as long as the job was done. It was the big bosses that pissed me off.
But not anymore, I retired.

Computers -> 🤬

So, my SIL, husband and niece are visiting from Mexico for the past week or so. We've had some quite awesome experiences in chatting with people as a group of foreigners. Some very nice folks in a gas station where we stopped for coffee for example, with help sorting out the myriad of machine options, some nice conversation about where they are visiting from, etc, and to cap it off a Puerto Rican employee coming out of the back room to chat with them. Latinos being Latinos in the US and all that....

Anyway, trip was going well (other than me getting wiped out with Spanish conversations.... ) when we stopped at a place with a fish store and gift shop opposite each other. I was going for fish while they ducked into the shop. When I returned they were already in the car, which is unusual for them as they like to shop. Turns out the proprietor of the shop was talking to another patron about Mexicans....you know, "they're a bunch of criminals, cocaine-sellers" and all that. They cleared out.

FFS, people should know better. I guess you can be ignorant and have shitty opinions, but one would think you'd have enough sense not to bring it to your business.

If I'd had the full story and a bit of time to process I would have gone in and made a scene, but probably best i didn't, but I had plenty of time to stew about it.

Tempting to go off on my country and select groups of its citizens, but I suspect you can hear the same crap anywhere there is a significant immigrant population, so I'll just call out ignorant humanity in general.

I'm not tolerant of this crap in general, but when it affects your loved ones, it's a lot harder to tolerate.

Mixing politics and business is not a good idea. There is a used car dealer near me that puts up political signs before every election. Now, that is his right, but what about the people he offends with his political stance? Not very good for business.

I guess if you feel strongly enough, and business is good you can take that risk, go ahead. Still doesn't seem smart.

I've avoided shows of political leanings at work with one exception: I'd put a bumper sticker on my car years back and one of my patients gave me crap about it. Felt a bit invasive as my car was buried in a public lot, and I'd never brought my sentiments inside with me.

Racism is not politics. It's just being an asshole.