Today at 12:10pm (aka peak lunch rush hour) I walk into a Panda Express. There is one customer ahead of me who has not ordered and a cook, a manager and an order taker/food disher/checkout gal = 3 employees.
1st customer steps up and places order. More customers dribble in behind me. My turn. Phone rings. Order gal stops talking to me and answers the phone. Manger does not backfill. Cook cooks. More customers dribble in. Order gal is clearly waiting on a phone order where the caller does not have their E36 M3 together and is taking their sweet bleeping time to make the together happen to their E36 M3. Backup in the line counting me is now at 7.
I pantomime to the order gal to put The Loser on the phone on hold and help the rest of us. (I used my arms in a sweeping gesture. Maybe I could be a Mime?) She stays on the phone. Manager continues to manage from afar. Total count is now up to 9. At approximately T+5 minutes the Loser's order wraps up and the order gal returns to taking care of my now very grumpy ass. I ask her why she didn't put The Loser on hold. Manager pipes up and says those most famous and helpful words: "It's our policy." For some reason, that didn't make much sense and it also did not make my grumpiness go away. So I asked his managerial ass if he thought that the "policy" was either fair or reasonable when there are 9 people in line in the physical world of his store.
He said no that he agreed with me but that it was my job (meaning me the grumpy guy) to complain to their corporate HQ. He doubled down by further stating that they would get in trouble if corporate found out that they delayed in answering a call - regardless of how many people were in line. My gut reaction to both of these statements was summed up by what came out of my mouth - "that's bullE36 M3." There continued to be 9 customers backed up. (I'm leaving out my order making that was going on at the same time - I didn't want to be The Loser#2 by holding up the other 8 people while I tried to correct this flaw in the universe. I was happy just being the Grumpy Guy.)
My final effort was to switch to "Be the solution, not the pollution" mode. I told the corpro-phobic manager that it would be better if they answered the phone quickly, then let The Loser know that they were number whatever and that they were being put on hold, then periodically return to the call while metering the physical customers along. He was apparently a one-trick pony because he reminded me that coming up with good ideas was my job not his. I became more grumpy as soon as this statement left his mouth. I don't think manager guy is going to get very far in his career. Then again, he'll probably become the CEO of Panda Express because of his focus on rules and mediocrity.
I got my to-go order, paid, said goodbye to the other people in line and left. I'm considering invoking a lifetime boycott of Panda Express. If I invoke the boycott solution they will join the ranks of Sprint and Wells Fargo and will feel the full rath of my economic punishment!
Gosh I feel better now! This rant thread really works!
the windshield on the landcruiser decided it didnt like the cold so it has cracked.
MrChaos said:
the windshield on the landcruiser decided it didnt like the cold so it has cracked.
My Silverado just agreed.
slefain
PowerDork
1/21/20 5:24 p.m.
slefain said:
Pardon me if I don't believe the car insurance company when they say "trust us" when I ask about the weasel word language they tacked on my initial property damage settlement check. No I don't trust you. In fact, I trust you so little I already had a chat with my state's insurance commissioner's office to confirm that indeed yes, this was a B.S. tactic. I didn't go so far as to quote the actual state law (O.C.G.A. 33-6-34) that forbids trying to shoehorn binding language into a settlement check memo area, I'm holding that one for their next B.S. reply.
Heard back from the insurance company. They can send me another check without the weasel words, but it will take 7-14 days. You know what, yeah, let's do that, I got time. So they are going to cancel the first check and send me another. I replied that while we are waiting they can begin the internal process for getting me a rental van while my own van is in the shop. Considerting I'm dealing with Hertz's own self-insurance company, I bet they know a place I can get a van for a few weeks.
I have been pleasant up to his point. Very understanding. But when things started to drag out and I wasn't getting any replies, the weasel word text on the check was the last straw. Now it is strictly business, no quarter.
Dusterbd13-michael said:
MrChaos said:
the windshield on the landcruiser decided it didnt like the cold so it has cracked.
My Silverado just agreed.
at least i have windshield coverage so its only $100 instead of $350
And now, it's my turn to deal with car insurance company. A Geico customer turn right from the center lane while I was traveling straight in the right lane. My car lost although his didn't fare too well either. His car took most of the damage in the doors and b-pillar which meant that it was at least driveable.
My car.
His car.
When this took place, my head hit the glass and the driver side door, and my left thumb it seems, caught on the steering wheel somehow. That's still pretty sore.
I talked to my insurance company and found out pretty quickly that his insurance company did accept liability for this and they have put me in a rental car as of today.
Unfortunately, this competition yellow MX-5 is one of a very small number out there, and one that took me a while to find. I bought it five weeks ago. I have a loan on it. I have paid State registration fees and taxes etc etc. The last thing I want is for the car to be totaled and have to go through that again. Unless I end up fixing it myself, which is on the edge of possibility.
Geico is aware of the injuries that took place at the accident and I was seen by an ambulance crew at that time. I doubt I will need to pursue any medical claims but that door remains open.
Wish me luck... I suspect I'm really going to need it.a
Sonic
UltraDork
1/21/20 6:01 p.m.
Greg, if you want to run questions by someone in the industry in your state who has no stake in your situation, let me know. abbottcd at the gmails
Sorry Greg, but just to chance a non-professional eye on your miata.. it's toast
mad_machine said:
Sorry Greg, but just to chance a non-professional eye on your miata.. it's toast
I'd say fixable. The fender isn't pushed back into the door, so most of the impact went into the suspension. Left front suspension, crossmember, an hour on the frame machine, fender headlamp and bumper cover. If the car is worth the repair, it's easily done by a competent shop.
Streetwiseguy said:
mad_machine said:
Sorry Greg, but just to chance a non-professional eye on your miata.. it's toast
I'd say fixable. The fender isn't pushed back into the door, so most of the impact went into the suspension. Left front suspension, crossmember, an hour on the frame machine, fender headlamp and bumper cover. If the car is worth the repair, it's easily done by a competent shop.
My main concern on that one would be the suspension pickup points. I suppose that's what a frame machine is for, but still. 50/50 for me.
Sad news though. Glad you fared as good as you did, dad.
it's the suspension and it's pickup points that scare me. While entirely fixable, I doubt that the insurance company is going to bother with such an old car
Does the NC have any pickup points on the shell?
I thought they had everything but the top of the shock going to the subframe, which does get mangled but also generally leaves the shell okay.
There's a guy localish to me that has a junked '93 850Ci w/ fire damage. Missing wheels (5x120, easy fix), the driver door glass (not so easy fix), seats, part of the front bumper, and interior door panels. Nothing too crazy to replace/fix/go without.
The problem is, is that he doesn't want to sell it as a whole. Fine. Whatever. You do you.
But he's been sitting on this damn thing for years now. Before I bought my wagon, 2-3 years ago, I remember seeing this on Craigslist, same pictures, same things missing. Still didn't want to sell it as whole.
I'm half-tempted to offer my E30 as a straight trade, even though I know it'd be dumb on my part. But I already have electrical removal ideas, trying to delete one of the two batteries ideas, and engine swapping ideas. Plus it has POPOPOPOPOPO POP UP HEADLIIGGHHTTSS.
In reply to FuzzWuzzy :
8 series.... drool... (Well, original 8 series at least.)
In reply to AWSX1686 :
Agreed. It just looks like the typical 80s/90s "affordable" supercar. Sure, it did 0-60 in a little over 6 seconds...but just look at it.
I could only imagine just how expensive it'd be to get this back in to a respectable manner, but I still want it. I really don't know why.
This bullE36 M3 illness I have is getting on my nerves. Everything is fine for a while, then I have a coughing fit that lasts like 10 seconds.
Also, it seems the Subaru has decided to idle at 1500 RPMs if I leave it in gear with the clutch down. If I take it out of gear, it drops to a regular ide.
Likely culprits are the IACV or the cruise control cable. Checking either one involves taking off the intercooler, and I'm just not feeling it at the moment.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
Pregnancy test. Means my block is berkeleyed.
In reply to EvanB :
I may take you up on that.
I could grab a B5244T5 from a late P2, which had an 81mm bore but the same pistons and rods as the B5254T4 in the R. Swap the cylinder head from my car to it, drop it in, have the engine out and in over a long weekend. I know I can do it, using a lift at work and dropping the mess out the bottom and working on the ground. But these are no longer $500 engines, the cheapest locally is $2000.
OR, I could buy your B5234T3 engine, put forged rods and good pistons in it, maybe find a 2.5-stroke crank, and have something even more bulletproof. Still need the head and oil pan from the R, though, the coolant passages are completely different to any other Volvo engine.
Although the 2.4l -T5 block (man it is fun that Volvo used the same letter-number arrangement for car models and engine codes, that mean different things...) is known to be tough with stock internals to ridiculous horsepower. And it would be much closer to stock.
Incidentally, fairly sure this is where the coolant has been going at the rate of about a quart every 2-3 months. And that this is what killed the converter. I only checked it today because we are dead, and sometimes the low coolant light will come on while under boost for more than 5-10 seconds. (Level is not low) I think the coolant in the tank was getting aerated enough that the float stopped floating.
Also, am fairly sure this is all entirely because I dropped $800 on a new converter yesterday.
In reply to Knurled. :
There is an 04 s60r that has been on facebook marketplace for awhile in Akron for $1000, slightly crashed.
Of course then you need space for a whole car.
EvanB said:
In reply to Knurled. :
There is an 04 s60r that has been on facebook marketplace for awhile in Akron for $1000, slightly crashed.
Of course then you need space for a whole car.
Dumpster and sawzall. Problem solves itself.
Or, free sign on craigslist. Again, problem solved.
